Querciolaia 2004, Mantellassi
21st June 2008
It is now around thirty years since the great Tuscan wines were discovered by the rest of the world, and their prices are no longer competitive. Delicious as they are, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile, and the so-called Supertuscans – Tignanello, Sassicaia and the like – nowadays offer poor value for money.
Part of the blame lies with the Euro, which has been grossly overvalued since its inception. But mostly this is a problem of fashion. Ever since the British and the Americans fell in love with Tuscany, they have all wanted souvenirs of their summer holiday in some picturesque casa colonica. What better memento than a bottle or ten of those smoky reds they drank with their bruschette and T-bone steaks? Up went the price, and the rest of us had to look elsewhere for affordable good-quality vino.
Some abandoned Italian wine altogether. Others found decent substitutes in the obscurer parts of Italy, such as Molise and the Marches. Yet even now there do remain one or two good-value Tuscan wines. Strangely enough, one place to look for them is the Maremma, along the southern Tuscan coast.
I say “strangely” because the Maremma is the home of Sassicaia, the original dementedly expensive Supertuscan. (My own favourite Maremman wine, Lupicaia, now fetches around $150 a bottle, which is preposterous. It is good, but not that good.) Amid the insanity, the Maremma still produces a few sensibly-priced quaffers. The best known is the bright red Morellino di Scansano. The least known, I should guess, is this dark, dense Querciolaia.
Alicante is a place in Spain. It is also the name of a grape, thought to have been brought to Tuscany from Spain during the 1600s. Fattoria Mantellassi have been growing it for around thirty years. Their Querciolaia is a 100% Alicante which spends at least a year in oak, then a few months more in bottle. It weighs in at a bruising 14% alcohol, and though not exactly delicate, it is better balanced than many a Syrah of the same strength. Its tannins are soft, and on the palate it suggests berries and earth, with a hint of nougat. The 2004 costs around $25 in the US, £12 in the UK.
