By Rick Riozza
Many of you loyal readers know by now our favorite go-to subjects in the game of wine. For the last 13 years, CV Weekly’s Vino Voice has covered the wine waterfront discussing everything wine related and more. Of course we love California, French, and Italian wines particularly and we’ve covered them whenever given the chance.
When it comes to wine geography, we’ve covered most of the wine producing countries on earth and we’re open to discussing all of the new countries getting into the wine game due to climate change, i.e., Scandinavia, Siberia, and Antarctica.
But clearly, we do write a lot on Cabernet Sauvignon when it comes to wine (certainly an all-time favorite), and, Italy when it comes to a wine producing country (Italophiles please chime in here!).
We’ve been covering a lot of Cab Sauv lately on our 2022 Bordeaux vintage coverage. And most wine folks applaud Cab Sauv for how well it does in California and in France; and, these folks are quite comfortable accepting that be because Cab Sauv feels like a California grape and a French grape.
But for some folks, when you start talking about Cabernet Sauvignon—hanging out in Italy, when Italy already has its plentiful share of red wine grapes throughout, enough is enough!
But have you considered the Italian Super-Tuscan wine category? Sure, by now we know the very famous and quite expensive Super Tuscan wine names that include: Solaia, Tignanello, Sassicaia, Ornalaia, where the very Italian Sangiovese is blended with traditional Bordeaux varietals to produce a “modern” world class Italian wine that matches up and can compete with the best Barolos, Brunellos, and Amarones.
Yup—like it or not, for over forty years now, top Italian wine producers in Tuscany have had their hand in mixing/blending their cherished Chianti grape—Sangiovese, with Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Franc—and even a touch of Syrah and Pinot Noir, and producing the world class “super’ Tuscan red wine.
And yes Martha—Cabernet Sauvingon grows well in Italy. The use of Cabernet Sauvignon in Super-Tuscan blends is a key factor in their distinct characteristics and aging potential. It contributes to the wine’s structure, complexity, and long-term aging potential.
These wines have become collector wines and sold for hundreds if not thousands of dollars, depending on the vintage. They embody the best of the Italian grapes and Bordeaux cross-overs made by the best Italian winemakers.
As Italian Professor, Attilio Scienza, states in his stimulating book “The Lineage of Wine”, “when we talk about Cabernet Sauvignon, we are dealing with a grape variety capable of “combining rusticity, that is, the ability to produce regularly in very different environments, and excellence, thanks to the qualitative characteristics of its grapes”.
I’m not sure you readers desire a little Cab Sauv heritage history, but, modern grape DNA studies can bring us up to date: The origin of this grape, currently cultivated all over the world, is the love child of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.
The Lineage of Wine continues: “if we wanted to go even further back in the family tree, Well, then we should refer to the ships of Greek merchants that docked in southern France, and which probably also carried among their cargoes the plants of those vines from Epirus (more or less present-day southern Albania), characterized by a thick layer of bloom on the skin and an almost tar-like flavor.
“Arriving in France, inside the Benedictine monasteries, more or less in the Carolingian era, these vines would have crossed with the local domesticated ones, in this case Sauvignon Blanc, whose name betrays its “wild” (sauvage) origin.” Fun stuff—if like that type of info,
In Italy, apart from all of the blending Cab Sauv in the Super Tuscan genre in Tuscany, Cab Sauv mainly adorns the vineyards of the Italian north, which enjoys a cooler climate than the south: Trentino, Alto Adige, Veneto, and Friuli Venezia Giulia, often in the company of Cabernet Franc.
In its more ambitious versions, it can produce excellent results even in terms of aging capacity; but necessarily aging doesn’t have to be its destiny. It can be used, in fact, to produce more immediate wines, which, however, manage to preserve the varietal characteristics by declining them in fascinating and intriguing nuances.
And now: these are some of our favorite inexpensive Italian Cab Sauvs: From the Veneto region, 2021 Colli Euganei Cabernet Èspero-Vigna Ròda. ($20) This wine is all Cab with a quick splash of Carmenere. It provides fresh aromas of plums, violets and spices that expand in the palate. And it shows nice complexities for the price. A fun wine for Cab lovers who wish a sexy slant with their red pasta sauce.
From the Friuli Venezia Giulia region—mostly known for its white varietals, does it quite nicely with the Cab Sauv from the splendid hills of Rosazzo. The 2020 Cabernet Villa de Puppi ($15). A delightful ruby red wine that starts out fruity with licorice and herb aromas, then comes off intense due to the balsamic and spice notes. It’s soft, full, and velvety with delicate tannins.
And finally a Tuscan Cab for only $30! The 2020 Brancatelli Valle delle Stelle is pure Cabernet Sauvignon, that is full of dark fruits, black cherries, black pepper, leather & tobacco with a sensation of blackberry jam! The taste is smooth, with thin tannins, and a crescendo finale.
With the help of enologist Graziana Grassini, the winemaker for the famous Sassicaia, the Brancatelli wines are in a class of their own. Certified Organic. Saluti!
