wine unleashed

"I am allergic to red wines and WU is comfortable just shipping me white wine and will alert me to some other white wines that are not regular wine club selections." — Kevin Bulivant, Wine Enthusiast

See this month's

Wine Club
Selections



See a slideshow from Angela's recent visit to Sono Montenidoli:



The wines of Sono Montenidoli


Sono Montenidoli Vernaccia Tradizionale

2005 SONO MONTENIDOLI, VERNACCIA, TRADIZIONALE, DI SAN GIMIGNANO, ITALY

If you really want to taste what Vernaccia is all about, this is your wine. According to the winemaker, they leave the skins in contact with the wine much longer than the norm so that the native flavor permeates the final product. I would not classify this wine as a cheap wine, but at $20, it is an incredible value. There is a lot of great winemaking born in the glass and complexity. On the nose, you can sense the denseness and integration. The citrus and mineral notes are hard to distinguish. I would drink this on its own or with shellfish. I would even dare to pair this with asparagus/artichokes. There is enough heft here to take on pork loin with soy/Asian flavorings. A great food wine and just a pleasure to drink. Organic since 1965, way before the trend was even a trend!
$20

Sono Montenidoli Il Templare

2003 SONO MONTENIDOLI, "IL TEMPLARE", TOSCANA, ITALY

Da Vinci Code fans will be intrigued by this wine. "Il Templare" is named for the Knights Templar since this area was used as a way station in the Middles Ages. It is very likely that the Knights imbibed a similar wine because the grapes that are grown here now have been growing there forever. An order given to the knights directs them to "drink wine according to necessity to defeat the cold." Each had the right to determine how much wine to drink each day to counter cold: coldness of body, coldness of heart, coldness of spirit. This wine is a blend of Vernaccia, Trebbiano, Malvasia Bianca, Semillon, Verdicchio and Grechetto. Basically, a blend from all the white grapes in the old vineyards. It is rich, complex, full of citrus elements, with nice acidity and integrated wood. It is extremely balanced, so you can drink alone or pair easily with salads to fish. So try a wine that the Knights Templar may have drank long ago for a history/literary moment or just to enjoy an incredibly balanced, rich wine.
$20

Sono Montenidoli Vernaccia di San Gimignano Fiore

2006 SONO MONTENIDOLI, VERNACCIA DI SAN GIMIGNANO FIORE

For a very elegant version of Vernaccia, you must try Fiore. It is made from the free-run must that emerges from the destemmed grapes before they are pressed. It ferments in steel and rests long on the lees, acquiring character and a unique, long, round finish.
$23

Montenidoli, Sono Montenidoli

2001 MONTENIDOLI, SONO MONTENIDOLI, TOSCANA, ITALY

Here is a wine that you can lay down in your cellar. Personality and a fabulous food wine.
$50

Some info from their website:
At Montenidoli the best bunches of Sangiovese are vinified separately, with a long maceration on the skins. Each year the Tonelleries Taransaud sets aside the new barriques in which the wine matures and stabilizes; it's bottled unfiltered to maintain its intense, powerful personality intact.
It's called Sono Montenidoli because it represents the spirit of the land, the hills overlooking San Gimignano and facing Chianti Classico: I am what I am.
It saw the light in 1971, and in 1975 Luigi Veronelli praised it at length in one of his first wine reviews. In 1979 Krista Klauke called Sono Montenidoli "one of the Paladins of the Italian Wine Renaissance," in Alles Uber Wein. In 1988 Horst Dhom selected 60 great Italian reds, including Sono Montenidoli, for Frankfurter Allgemeine. In 1999 Der Feinschmecker ranked Sono Montenidoli among the hundred best wines in the world.