Voting the wine list

One of the fortunate side effects of ordering your favorite vino off a restaurant’s wine list is that you are actually joining others to “vote” for a particular brand.  With a little luck, as time goes on and the brand increases in popularity, volume goes up, and the wine becomes easier to find.  A wine democracy?

Let’s hope so, because more volume often means better prices.  And this is just what happened with a selection that has been featured for some time on the wine list of at least one of our valley restaurants, VinciTorio’s in Tempe.

At any rate, the wine of interest is produced by an estate known as Tormaresca (tower by the sea) located in the southern Italian province of Puglia, right on Italy’s heel.  They simply refer to it as “Niprica” and it comes off as an old Italian smoothie to just about everyone.  Surprisingly, it is produced entirely in stainless steel with no barrel aging.  What you get is all in the natural terroir and fruit.  Considering Niprica’s robust personality, this is quite telling of its home.

Its pleasant dark berry bouquet seems basic enough at first but it soon opens up with cocoa, licorice, and plum plus a leathery earthiness that is definitely Italy.  It finishes with nice deep fruit with well-balanced acidity that is smooth enough to be enjoyed solo.

The rounded character of this Nigroamaro, Primitivo, and Cabernet Sauvignon (NiPriCa) blend works quite well with Italian pasta dressed with a lighter tomato sauce such as a vodka sauce as opposed to a marinara sauce.  Note: In Puglia they use olive oil sauces extensively, so you may want to try that combination too.

One of the only Phoenix area retail stores that sells this wine is Total Wine and they are currently offering it at $10.99.  This is an excellent price for a vino that has this much character and there is still stock available representing the 2011 vintage.  Even though the various vintages seem about the same, you may want to search them out, do a comparison for yourself, and set a few aside.

As for future production, there is an excellent chance that things will continue to expand because the operation has been owned by Italy’s Antinori family since 1998.  They are well known for making the beauty of affordable Italian wines available worldwide and there is no sign of that changing anytime soon.  Salute!