I love Wines from Southern Italy

We always think of Tuscany when we think of Italian Wine, sometimes we think of Barolo, maybe even Amarone. What we don’t traditionally think of is wine from the southern part of Italy. The interesting thing is, many producers from Tuscany and Northern Italy are now purchasing vineyards in Southern Italy and producing fantastic wines for a very reasonable price. It’s almost like their alter egos, the challenge is to find that special plot and produce a world class wine for half the cost.
I’ve been to Apulia and Calabria and drank the local wines and couldn’t believe the price value that was available. You could purchase a magnum of local Aglianico wine for about five or six euro, or a Primativo from Apulia for around the same money. Dining out was incredible, we ate with a group of five of us, including wine for about seventy-five dollars at dinner and left with a complete feeling of satisfaction.
On our way to Calabria one vacation, we stopped in Avellino and had a tour and lunch at Feudi di San Gregorio. One of the things that amazed me the most was the fact that the winery was designed by a Japanese architect. When you pull up to the winery you immediately notice the fact that this isn’t your typical Italian Winery, the simple minimalistic approach to the design and layout of the winery is striking. We all fell in love with the cellar, Feudi has a man made stream running through it for humidity and classical music playing to sooth the wine. We all had this eery feeling of calm touring the facility. The highlight was the lunch, served in their stunning dining room with views of the vineyard, of course the wine paired with our lunch was perfect.
Feudi has now become a player in Southern Italy, purchasing the 125 acre estate Ognissole in the town of Fragngnano in Apulia’s Manduria region in 2000. Ognissole Primativo di Manduria DOC is one of those wines that fall into the category of great drinking wine at a very reasonable price. It is one hundred percent Primitivo with a deep ruby color. The nose is prunes and wind cherry and the finish is velvety smooth. There is a nice balance of acidity and tannins, making this a great food wine, particularly red meats and rich pasta and risotto dishes and a range of cheeses.
At Varano’s, we strive to find these wines from all over Italy and bring them to our customers, the key is to find great value wines that we can feature in our restaurant that you wouldn’t normally have access to. Watch for the Ognissole arriving in April, I recently re-tasted it with the export manager and immediately called my distributor to order some.

I look forward to sharing with everyone,

Dick Varano