Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (2007)
From my experience, Avignonesi is the flagship Vino Nobile available in the US. This may, of course, vary from region to region, but this is the wine I have found most easily from New York to South Carolina, at least. In Tuscany, around Montepulciano, Fattoria Cerro was the most commonly available, and generally the cheapest Vino Nobile available at the “supermarkets”, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.
I find Avignonesi to be a great example of the style. It’s not the best one I’ve had, but it represents the region well, and would be a good, easy-to-find, reasonably priced (~$25) way to try Vino Nobile if you haven’t had it before. If you’ve ever been to this region of Italy, I think you’ll agree that this wine is it’s essence in a glass.
We paired this with a wild boar ragu (a rare find at Wegman’s this week – D’Artagnan wild boar!), which certainly contributed to the “essence of Tuscany” thing. Really, this wine can go with a wide variety of Italian fare – from grilled meats to pizza and pasta. If you can’t get wild boar, try it with pork chops with garlic, sage and white beans.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma highlights mushrooms and leather. Flavor is mostly ripe cherries, with a bit of smoke and earth. A touch of oak spice on the finish. Medium body, medium tannin. Very nice, as usual. Brief decant helps a bit.
90
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Wait a second, Wegman’s has wild boar?
Haha, they have a small D’artagnan section, which typically has just duck and maybe some sausage, but one day I happened to see a wild boar roast, which I obviously wasn’t going to pass up. It was only about $10 for a pound too. I must say, however, that it didn’t have the depth of flavor of the boar I had in Tuscany.
Hi there, nice blog! Big fan of Italian wines myself, especially from Tuscany, which I’ve visited. It sorta helps, doesn’t it, to have seen the beauty of the place and associate that with the wine. I’ve not had the Avignonesi Vino Nobile, but had one from another big commercial producer – Ruffino Lodola Nuova, and found that it offered pretty good value – simple but delivering classic Sangiovese characteristics. The nice, ripe 2007 vintage certainly helps, I wonder if the Vino Nobiles can be aged decades like the Brunellos…
Keep up the good work, I’m starting a wine blog myself