Terre di Chieti
Tuscany, Italy2009
A dry red that is so dark it is almost purple. Has an oaky smell and very strong, bold taste. We reviewed this wine with our dinner at Louise's Trattoria. They have half off a bottle of wine on Friday and Saturday night. Getting a bottle of wine at Louise's on a normal night isn't worth it. They charge $32 for a bottle of Gnarly Head!
Colin: A Sangiovese that deserves a nice Italian meal. When brought together, you can guarantee that each will complement the other. A viscus fruit body dissolves into a biting finish without leaving a bad taste in your mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating: 8 out of 10 glasses
Rachel: This wine has a very strong initial taste. Its a full bodied wine and does not lack in flavor. However, this wine has a bit of a sour finish. Other Sangioveses that we have had have been a much smoother finish. There's hints of vanilla and currants. It would be higher if the finish tapered off more smoothly, but that bite is what some people like about a wine like this.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Where can I find it?
Searching high and low on the internet will lead to you a dead end (or to the Cantina Tollo website). You'll find plenty of reviews and mentions, but you cannot find out how to buy this wine. Cantina Tollo doesn't even list this as one of the wines they sell. Our suspicions lead us to believe that this is a restaurant only distributed wine, which is too bad, because this is a great wine. If anyone does find this outside of Louise's, please post!
Had no luck chasing this on wine-searcher or Google. However, after much effort, I think I've nailed it down. The wine has been on sale in the Seattle area under the label of Villa Castello, distributed by Click and imported by Nardone.
ReplyDeleteI bought two bottles a couple nights ago at Ken's Market on Greenwood Ave for $8.99! Cracked them open with a couple of my wine geek buddies, and we all gave the wine a raving two thumbs up. At the price point it's darn near unbeatable. Reminds me of the days when Monte Antico was the best deal around for $7.
The rep at Click says they are now shipping the 2010 vintage, and that it also rocks. Ken's had a floor stack of four 2009 cases, don't know how much was still in the back room (if any).
I was also told the wine is inexpensive because of some screw-up in labeling, or that it was a "special" label. I have no way of confirming that, but it might explain why the bottle at Louise's carries a different label.