Fourplay: the Italian Blend with the Naughty Name

Normally, I'm not a fan of cutesy wine names. Just tell me the grapes in the bottle, and make good wine. However, there are many, many people who do buy wines because of the name or the packaging (remember Bitch Grenache??). No matter if you're a fuddy-duddy like me, or someone who likes tongue-in-cheek wine service, I've got a bottle for you to check out: the 2007 Dievole Fourplay (suggested retail $14.99; available for $11-$14)

This is a terrific Sicilian red wine made from a blend of equal amounts of Nero d'Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Frappato Nero, and Nerello Cappucio. Luscious aromas and flavors of cherry, blackberry, and licorice are accompanied by a smoky tobacco note. And the licorice is what made the wine stand out for me, and consider it to be excellent QPR. The wine is still a bit tight and young, so give it some time to open up with help of some air (via vigorous swirling or decanting) or buy a case of it and drink it over the next two years.

Dievole's Fourplay is an excellent pizza and pasta wine, with enough cherry fruit to make it good as a stand-alone sipper, too. But I'd advise pulling it out to go with your mushroom pizza, some spaghetti with meatballs, or any other traditional Italian fare that involves a tomato.

Full Disclosure: I received this wine as a sample.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #42: An Italian Red in 7 Words

It's time for the 42nd edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the online tasting event founded by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours. This month Andrew Barrow, from the UK wine blog Spittoon, is our host. Inspired by BBC 6's challenge to describe what you did last night in just a handful of words, he charged wine bloggers around the world with this task: drink an Italian red and review it using seven words (or less).

As it's Sicily month at GWU$20, I decided to drink a Sicilian red. Primitivo would have been the classic choice, but I'm trying to drink outside the normal range of grapes so I selected an indigenous Sicilian grape called Frappato instead. Frappato is the gamay of Sicily--lighter and fresher than Primitivo. Mondosapore's Terry Hughes (aka Italian Wine Guru), gives valuable (longer) tasting notes and serving suggestions over at his site, so if you are interested in this unusual grape, you may want to check those out. I tried a later vintage of the wine he discusses in his post, the 2006 Valle dell'Acate Frappato ($17.99, K & L Wines; available elsewhere for between $15 and $18)

This has to have been the most devilishly difficult WBW yet. So, without further ado, the review:

Musky flowers perfume this bright, cherry wine.

Finding the perfect pairing for a Frappato turned out to be a challenge. It was so-so with pizza, even with a slight chill on it. I tried pasta with turkey and sun-dried tomatoes, and it was also kind of bleh. Then I made some chicken souvlaki--and the wine just sang. The Mediterranean spices went well with the brightness of the wine, and finally I felt like I understood its charms.

Check back here for the roundup of tasting notes and details about WBW #43, hosted by Joel of Vivi's Wine Journal (now the Wine Life Today Blog). Thanks to Andrew for a fun and enlightening WBW that underscored the value of words in describing what it is that we drink.