The Red Wines of Calabria: Fruity, Funky, and Fabulously Affordable

This month I've been getting to know the red wines of Calabria--and they've surprised me. When I mentioned Calabrian wine to most people--even Calabrians!--they scoffed at the quality of wine produced in this region of Italy. But I liked the rusty funkiness, the fruitiness, and the great value that I found in the wines I tasted. And though these wines came from southern Italy, they reminded me of French wines from Burgundy and the Beaujolais.

Take the 2004 Vintripodi Arghillà ($19.99, Wine Expo) This wine, a blend of Nerello Calabrese and Alicante, has the certain funky pungency that is characteristic in my (limited) experience of Nerello, and reminds me of a good Beaujolais. The wine showed some tawny edges around the dark purple juice at the center of my glass. The aromas were of sour cherry, earth, and funk and the flavors followed suit. This was certainly not a boring, same-old red and I think it would go just as brilliantly with stews as it did with our pasta dinner.

The other Calabrian wine I tried was the 2006 Ippolito Cirò Liber Pater ($17.99, Wine Expo; available elsewhere for $17). Made with a native Calabrian grape called Gaglioppo, I wasn't familiar enough with the variety to know what to expect. What I discovered was a wine that was nicely poised between a Pinot Noir and a Nebbiolo in terms of flavor and style. There were minty, brandied, and currant aromas. Following up were leather, plum, and currant flavors with a long, savory finish with notes of soy sauce. The juxtaposition of the berried, herbal aromas and the savory qualities of the flavors was intriguing and made this wine memorable.

Some may raise their eyebrows at Calabrian wine, but you won't catch me doing it. Give a Calabrian wine a try. They were a delightful surprise as I wrap up my journey through Italian wines. All that's left is Emilia-Romagna--and we'll head there in November.

A Contradictory Mourvèdre Coco Chanel Would Have Loved

Coco Chanel, the legendary French couturier, is reputed to have said "my inner contradictions fascinate me." I think contradictions are a beautiful thing, both in people and in wine. Contradictions in a wine keep your brain cells firing while you're tasting as you try to figure out if you really taste leather and roses at the same time and, if you do, do you like that?

Mourvèdre is a grape that would make Coco Chanel proud. It has dusty and sweet flavors, flower notes, earthy notes--you name it, you can find it in Mourvèdre. It can be hard to find a 100% Mourvèdre, because it's most commonly used in blends with Grenache and Syrah. I happen to love Mourvèdre when it's bottled on its own, however, because all of its seemingly contradictory flavors and aromas can produce wines that please your intellect as well as your palate.

Lately I had the chance to try a 2006 Telmo Rodríguez A1 Muvedre from Spain's Alicante region. ($9.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar; available elsewhere for $10 to $17) This was an excellent QPR example of all of the glorious contradictions of which Mourvèdre is capable. It had Mourvèdre's characteristic deep yet bright garnet color and aromas of blackberry and marshmallow when the bottle first opened. These aromas gave the wine an initial, sweet impression, but the flavors were much leaner than the aromas suggested. While my mouth was set for a fruitbomb, instead I got black fruits, a touch of tar, and a slightly green and stemmy note in the aftertaste followed quickly by catch of rose petals in the back of the throat. The wine felt very satiny as you sipped it, but afterwards the dusty tannins made your mouth feel a bit dry.

Because of the drying tannins, this wine was much better with food than it was without it, and I wanted to find a recipe to try with it that would be just as full of contradictions as the wine. I located a new take on a classic Spanish soup from the Rioja region that used sweet potatoes and linguica instead of the traditional potatoes and chorizo. It was a little sweet, a little salty, a little spicy, and just delicious. The recipe calls for linguica, but I had chorizo on hand and substituted that for the linguica with good results. It was particularly good at pulling out the wine's fruity and satiny features, while the smoky notes of the sausage and the tarry note in the wine were good partners.

I loved this wine, but it will not be to everyone's taste. I am a fan of Telmo Rodriguez's wines in part because he makes such a wide variety of bottlings, from luscious fruity treats to wines like this one that are full of surprises. Even better, as this 2005 article by Food & Wine's Lettie Teague explains, Rodriguez is not ashamed to make value wines. So even if you don't give his Mourvèdre a try, keep on the lookout for the name.

AVIN8947916852397