Saturday, January 31, 2009

#109 Vermentino Nero

"Vermentino!" I can hear all of my avid readers cry out in unison, "That's a repeat!" Sure enough a little over a year ago on January 11th 2008 I did in fact have a Vermentino from Sardenia. This however is a Vermentino Nero and it is a very difficult to find red from Tuscany.

From what I understand this wine is almost never available outside of Tuscany and it was a stroke of luck that allowed to me to pre-order this bottle from a now rapidly capsizing Chicago wine retailer. This retailer is a victim of a private equity buyout whose managers seem to believe that jamming gallons of Yellowtail down the consumer's throat is far preferrable to bringing them interesting varietals. Quantity over quality is their new rallying cry. It is very lucky for me that I was able to complete this quest before this famous retailer drove out all of the founding family, nearly all of their very experienced employees and most of their interesting wine. With sadness I tip my hat to a once great wine store and wish their employees all the best. I am graciously thankful for all the great wine they have secured for me in the past. For me I am now shopping almost exclusively elsewhere. I wish them loads of luck trying to become a wine version of wal-mart. Oh yes, where was I? Oh right.... the wine!

This bottle greeted me with a deep rich violet nose. Surprisingly the body of the wine did not hold up to the promise of the nose. That is to say that the wine wasn't a big juicy blockbuster but a lighter finer wine. Most remarkable was the bracing acidity. This bottle did run me closer to $40 if I remember correctly. I wouldn't repurchase it at that price but I would certainly enjoy the chance to try more efforts.... as difficult as that now appears to be.