An Innumerate Baker’s Dozen of Interesting Wines

by Andrew Chalk

There is still shopping time before New Years Eve. Here are a couple of budget sparkling wines to help you celebrate.

First,Zardetto Prosecco (SRP $16) from Italy is made from Glera grapes from vines planted almost 20 years ago. Owner Fabio Zardetto has made wines since 1969. I tried this wine last night and it left a distinct impression. It has a tartness and clay minerality that makes it suitable for accompanying a meal as well as the traditional uses of Prosecco for toasting, mixing into a Bellini, and quaffing. Try it with turkey, ham or pasta dishes with cream sauces. Definitely a distinctive example.  

Another Prosecco to consider this New Year is Cupcake Prosecco (SRP $12) is a clean, light example of this Italian wine made from the Glera grape. Prosecco sales have surged in the past few years in large part because the wine typically sells for less than half the price of the axiomatic sparkling wine, Champagne.

Cupcake Vineyards is an interesting concept. Based in Livermore California, the company sources already made wines from all over the world. Cupcake therefore becomes the brand. It is a kind of super-négociant. Other examples of companies like this are 90+ Cellars and Cameron Hughes.

Look for Cupcake Vineyards wines in supermarkets all over town as well as in wine stores.

Finally, I may have run across the most intriguing full-bodied red table wine that you have never heard of in the 2008 Perticaia Sagrantino Montefalco D.O.C.G. (SRP $48). It comes from the Italian province of Perugia in the region of Umbria. It is made entirely from the Sagrantino grape. It is this grape that gives Perticaia’s memorable example its character. The Sagrantino grape is highly tannic and intensely pigmented producing opaque wines that are purple when young. Although aged for 36 months before it heads to the store, this wine will reward another decade of ageing. Look for intense aromas and flavors of black cherry blackberry and prunes with spice notes of cinnamon. The wine also evidences its 12 months in French oak barrels.

This wine can be ordered online and may be appearing in Dallas stores soon.

Disclosure and procedures: Wine sent by vendor(s) at no cost to reviewer. The local reseller named after a price quote is the one who, on wine-searcher.com, had the lowest price. Wines sent by vendors may not be reviewed and will not be returned. Wines considered the most meritorious in the opinion solely of the reviewer, are the ones most likely to be reviewed.