Well… not entirely, as this so called “Super Tuscan” is composed of only 50% Cabernet with the remainder being 20% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot and some 10% Cabernet Franc. Using these Bordeaux varietals in Bolgheri has become pretty standard nowadays; it used to be revolutionary 35 years ago when Antinori initiated this movement illegaly (read the story here). Podere Sapaio is an estate that has only been founded in 1999 by a bunch of passionates wanting to express the best of a land composed of quaternary and flood deposits with sandy beds and calcarous soils. The estate has quickly established as a bargain Supertuscan (although it still costs around 40 Euro a bottle) – I managed to get my hands on a bottle of 2008, let’s see how it showed. Read the rest of this entry »

Again I was lucky to attend one of those tasting events mostly organized for professionals of the industry. This time it was all about Italian wines. And I got to admit that I always feel like a total wine newbie each time I get a hold of it. So many regions, so many varieties, and the regulations and labellings are probably more confusing than the German ones. But I don’t complain about that – I get along with it and declare it as a lack of experience: Thus an easy solution to my problem is that I have to taste more Italian wines. And I can live with that! :)
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