Echinosum
Posts: 598
Joined: 1/28/2021
From: Buckinghamshire, UK
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: recotte
quote:
ORIGINAL: penguinoid
quote:
ORIGINAL: Eduardo787
One other grape that comes to mind at least for me is Nerello mascalese. I know many of you like it and I went ahead and bought 4 bottles from $20 to $35. I really hated them all, like very very bad. I dont recall exactly what I did not liked at all, but I believe it was the similarity I find with sangiovese and its high acidity.
Interesting -- this is not a grape I'd have thought of as being divisive. I've only ever had Nero Mascalese from Etna, but I've always liked them. They are relatively high in acidity, especially given the warmer climate there -- from a cooler climate, I can imagine that it might be too much. I could easily see that someone who didn't like Sangiovese or Pinot noir might dislike them.
Does Nerello Mascalese grow anywhere other than Etna? I mean, probably, but.... In any event, if higher acidity isn't your thing, that's going to knock out a number of wines, including Sangiovese, Nerello, Nebbiolo, and cooler climate Pinots.
There's plenty of Nerello grown in areas of Sicily outside the Etna DOC, with designations such as Terre Siciliane, and some other local DOCs. But as far as I can see, not outside Sicily. There is a degree of confusion, because there is also the closely related Nerello Capuccio, which is often blended with it, to add colour and alcohol. They are both closely related to Sangiovese.
In general, Italy seems to have quite a lot of high acid, high tannin, red grape varieties. And they can be rather challenging to drink young.
The first bottle of NM I drank, €7 from a Sicilian supermarket, just a generic Terre Siciliane, I found very unpleasant. But I have had something nicer since, that encouraged my interest, and now have a few wines in my cellar. I won't touch them until they are at least 7 years old. Maybe in practice rather more, as I tend to find "drink from" dates rather, er, optimistic. Quite a few people are very enthusiastic about them, but they are distinctive. I think you also have to be careful. A merchant I know sells some rather expensive ones, and several of them have very damning tasting notes on CT, from people who I think know what they are talking about. There does also seem to be some material vintage variability, and I have taken care to buy wines from a good vintage.
They are similar, in some ways, to South African red Cinsault, though this is never as harsh to drink as NM can be. Outside South Africa, it's not a variety much vinified as a varietal red wine. Most of it goes into pink wines, and most of the rest is a minor blending component in Rhone-type wines. These cinsault varietals are not as challenging as NM, but taste a bit distinctly odd if you get them before they are ready. Again, I really didn't like my first bottle, which tasted a bit like bubblegum or candyfloss. But I had 6 of them, and as they aged they developed very attractively, with pinot-like characteristics. The very pale colour also darkened. I have now bought some better ones to lay down for longer.
_____________________________
A discriminating palate can be a curse.
|
Printable Version
Which wines are not for everybody ? - 
.
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread