Make Mine A Double

Wine Review: Puglian Wines in the 2023 SuperValu Italian Wine Sale

2023’s edition of the SuperValu Italian Wine Sale runs from Thursday 18th May to Wednesday 7th June, so that’s 3 weeks to pick up a few bargains with your weekly shop. Or, if you’re like me, you might stock up on a few in advance of barbecue season.

Millefiori are now in their fifth generation of winemakers in Puglia. They have invested in modern premises to vinify their grapes from Salice Salentino and Manduria, and produce wines in a modern style. Here are two of their entry level bottlings:

Millefiori Puglia Pinot Grigio 2022

Millefiori Puglia Pinot Grigio in the SuperValu Italian Wine Sale

Most Italian Pinot Grigio is grown in the north of the country where it produces light, fruity and fresh wines that are omnipresent in pubs and restaurants of the UK and Ireland. Some of them can be a little on the neutral side, as flavour is lost in favour of higher yields.

This example comes from the warmer climes of Italy’s “heel”, Puglia, where it is a relatively recent newcomer. The nose is great, full of ripe orchard fruits. The palate is a little more subdued; those orchard fruits appear again on the mid-palate, but are replaced with linear acidity and archetypal Pinot Gris texture on the finish. Wait, Pinot Gris now? This does have some commonality with drier versions of Alsace Pinot Gris, so for me that’s a positive.

If you like Pinot Grigio from Italy – or elsewhere – then this is definitely worth a try. If you normally avoid Pinot Grigio then this could be one to change your mind!

  • RRP: €10
  • ABV: 12.5%
  • Source: sample
  • Stockists: SuperValu

Millefiori Puglia Primitivo 2021

Millefiori Puglia Primitivo from the SuperValu Italian Wine Sale

Primitivo is of course the same grape as California’s Zinfandel, though it is often quite different in style. In Italy it can be somewhat rustic, even a little earthy, compared to the jammy fruit bombs of California. This Millefiori Primitivo is actually a dead ringer for the Cali style, with exhuberant dark fruits on the nose then an explosion of red, blue and black berries on the palate. There’s a touch of earthiness still, but it’s just a single note among the cacophony of fruit. There’s definitely a little residual sugar here – as in the norm for commercial Zinfandels – so it would be great for marinated barbecue. This is a real crowd pleaser than really punches above its price.

  • RRP: €10
  • ABV: 13.5%
  • Source: sample
  • Stockists: SuperValu

**Click here to see more posts in the Make Mine a Double Series**

 

Tasting Events

A few treats from SuperValu (part 1)

The wine market in Irish supermarkets is a tough one to get right, balancing what consumers think they want, what they actually want, and trying to stock better and/or more different wines in a low margin, competitive environment.

One key trend – which is not unique to the Irish market – is the preference among many consumers for richer red wines.  At the lower end of the market, many of these wines contain significant amounts of residual sugar, but consumers think they only like dry wines – and what they don’t know can’t hurt them, I suppose.  It’s not for me to tell people their tastes are wrong, it’s just that I don’t share them.

Here are some of the delicious reds that I tasted recently at SuperValu’s Secret Garden Party:

 

Trisquel Family Collection Magnum 2013 (14.0%, RRP €49.99, currently €20, at SuperValu)

Aresti Family Collection

This is top of the bill for a very good reason – the special offer!  Unlike many wines with such significant reductions (Hardy’s Crest, I’m looking at you), this is actually worth the full price and isn’t a label that just exists to be discounted.  The wine is built on Bordeaux grapes Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), Merlot (20%) and Petit Verdot (8%), with a little Rhône included for interest in Syrah (12%) and Petite Sirah (10%).  The nose is just amazing, luscious black fruit, chocolate, coffee and exotic spice.  On the palate it is a little restrained, so it could play a good role with food as well as on its own.  I’m dropping a few hints to the family about a bottle for myself!

 

Albert Glas Pfalz Pinot Noir Black Label 2014 (13.5%, RRP €19.99 at SuperValu from 20th August)

Riesling BL 2017

Like the equivalent Riesling (see part 2) the Black Label Pinot Noir from Albert Glas is made with  premium fruit and fermented in local oak barrels.  Thankfully, the oak isn’t overdone so there is only a little noticeable on the palate.  Instead, the oak adds textures and depth to the plush red fruit.  For my money this is nicer than most Burgundy at the same price.

 

Dona Ermelinda Reserve Palmela Red 2015 (14.5%, RRP €85 for 6 at SuperValu, will be on offer at €50 for 6 from 20th August)

dona ermelinda palmela

The Palmela region is close to Lisbon and best known for its reds.  Here local grape Castelão is the mainstay with 70% of the blend, and the international Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon make up the balance with 20% and 10% respectively.  This is a proper Portuguese red, with rich and powerful black fruit framed by tobacco notes and soft tannins.  An excellent wine for a barbecue!

 

Nugan Estate Langhorne Creek Single Vineyard Zinfandel 2015 (15.0%, RRP €16.99 at SuperValu from 20th August)

Single Vineyard Zinfandel - bottle shot 1

California’s Zinfandel is of course also known as Primitivo in Puglia and (the harder to say) Tribidrag and (the even harder to say) Crljenak Kaštelanski in Croatia.  All of these are warm climate areas, so why not also in South Australia?  It’s a big and bold wine, lots of fun and nicely straddling the red and black fruit border.  There’s a touch of sweetness on the finish but the tannin stops it becoming too jammy.

Make Mine A Double

Make Mine a Double #06 – Spot the Difference, Puglia Style

This series of articles each covers two wines that have something in common, and most likely some point of difference. Compare and contrast is the order of the day – so make mine a double!

Vigneti del Salento I Muri

I Muri Primitivo & I Muri Negroamaro
I Muri Primitivo & I Muri Negroamaro

The I Muri Negroamaro has been a firm staff and customer favourite at Sweeney’s of Glasnevin (Dublin) for many years – it even featured as one of my favourite reds from their wine fair earlier this year.  Now Sweeney’s are also stocking its twin, with a very similar looking label (don’t ask me the colour difference, I’m partially colourblind).

So where are they from and what is the difference?

Salento
Salento

Salento is the south eastern part of Puglia (technically Apuglia in English I suppose), the heel of Italy. This peninsula separates the Adriatic Sea from the Ionian Sea, and thus no point is ever more than 30 kilometres from the sea.

The wine here has often been quite fiery – powerful but rustic – and was historically used to (illegally) beef up the paler reds from further north in Italy.  The grapes most planted are the local specialities Primitivo and Negroamaro – and that’s exactly what we have here.

Winemaker Filippo Baccalaro is the driving force behind Vigneti del Salento, owned by the Farnese group.  He likes producing fresh whites and soft, approachable reds with as little intervention as possible.

Vigneti del Salento I Muri Primitivo IGT Puglia 2013 (€16.50, Sweeney’s and other independents) 14.0%

Vigneto del Salento I Muri Primitivo IGT Puglia 2012
Vigneto del Salento I Muri Primitivo IGT Puglia 2013

After years of guessing it was finally proved that Primitivo is the same variety as California’s Zinfandel.  Some Puglian producers are now even using oak to make their wines in a pseudo Californian style and using Zinfandel on the label for exports.  Further research showed that the impressively unpronounceable Crljenak Kaštelanski from Croatia is the same grape, before finally (for now) finding the oldest ancestral name of Tribidrag down the Dalmatian coast a little.

This Primitivo is far from rustic – it has the expected dark colour, full body and firm tannins but delivered in a smooth package, where each of the components are well balanced.  There’s a milk chocolate character to the texture, topped off by blueberry and red berry fruit.

Vigneti del Salento I Muri Negroamaro IGT Puglia 2012 (€15.95, Sweeney’s and other independents) 13.0%

Vigneti Del Salento I Muri IGT Puglia 2012
Vigneti Del Salento I Muri Negroamaro IGT Puglia 2012

Even a basic proficiency in Italian will give you a clue as to how Negroamaro tastes – black and bitter.  But not so bitter that you can’t drink it; like many Italian wines there is a certain tartness or bitterness to the fruit, but all the better for it.  Who would choose tinned black cherries over fresh ones?

The rougher edges of the grape have been rounded off by four months in French and American oak (not much of which was new, I suspect).  Black cherry and blackberry fruit are accompanied by spice and dark chocolate.  Acidity is prominent to keep it fresh but not so much that it tastes sour.

Comparison and Preference

This is very much a question of style and preference rather than a difference of quality; do you prefer dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Tasted side by side at a barbecue hosted by D, a fellow DNS Wine Club member and a food blogger, the group was almost evenly split on which they preferred – and everyone liked both of them, with just a minor preference for one.

So my advice is: buy both, and choose according to your mood!