A Ligurian Red That Dresses Up--or Down

I'm finishing up with my whirlwind tour of Ligurian wine as part of my ongoing trawl through Italy's wine regions and grape varieties.

Even though I spent more than $20 on this wine ($25.99, to be precise), I'm still pretty pleased with the very good QPR on the 2005 Azienda Agricola Durin Ormeasco di Pornassio. ($25.99, Wine Expo--and I can't seem to find it anywhere else!) This is a classy, distinctive wine that offers up lots of character for the price.

Ormeasco is Ligurian for Dolcetto, I discovered, and one of the things I like best about the grape is that it's a wine that is just as good with pizza and spaghetti with meatballs as it is with grilled beef, roasts, and more elegant fare. It's a dress-me-up, dress-me-down kind of wine. This was a really lovely example of what Dolcetto/Ormeasco is all about. First, Dolcetto is a treat for the nose. There were aromas of licorice (which I love and it can be hard to find in a wine), cherry, fresh green fennel, and blackberry that you had to coax out of the glass at first, but which were worth the wait. I found echoes of all these notes in the flavors, with additional grilled herb nuances emerging in the aftertaste. There are cheaper Dolcettos out there, but they are far simpler than this wine turned out to be.

This wine would be fantastic with dishes that involve rosemary or fennel (to pick up the herbal notes), with meats (chicken, duck, and beef), and with anything that is Mediterranean in its culinary influences.