2020 Avignonesi, Cantaloro, Toscana IGT Rosso, Tuscany, Italy.
The 2020 Cantaloro by the famous Avignonesi winery, based in Montepulciano and known for their excellent Vino Nobile, is a tasty fruit forward blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet, Merlot and tiny amounts of Canaiolo and Syrah from their property in Cortona with a ripe and smooth full bodied palate. The nose is certainly Tuscan with Sangiovese leading the way with dark florals, crushed berries, sage, laurel and hints of wood toast that follows in the mouth along with blackberry, cherry, plum and currant fruit, as well as subtle loamy earthiness, licorice, cedar and tangy minty herbs. Value priced and generous, this is delicious stuff, especially with meat, hard cheeses, think pecorino, and or woodsy mushroom dishes. I had this Cantaloro Rosso recently in Minneapolis, but tasted Avignonesi’s lineup of wines at the San Francisco Slow Wine tasting, with the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wines being very authentic terroir bottlings, with the Nobile being the star, along with the 100% Merlot Desiderio, which I reviewed earlier. This wine usually is 50% Sangiovese, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot and the rest small lots of Syrah and local varietal Canaiolo, with the Sangiovese taking center stage. This Cantaloro Rosso, or baby Super Tuscan is a no brainer bargain, perfect for your midweek meals and a crowd pleaser for parties, plus it is a great way to start exploring the full Avignonesi lineup.
Avignonesi says the Cantaloro Rosso is their basic everyday wine with easy to love fruit and soft tannins, making it perfect for early drinking and great for bistro pours, as I had recently, where it went nicely with a lamb pasta dish. Avignonesi uses all sustainable grapes, all de-stemmed and cold soaked with primary fermentation done in stainless steel vat, then after extraction and alcohol fermentation is complete the wine is then matured for 18 months in a combination of large old Slavonian Botti (oak cask) and some newer French barriques, to give that opulent mouth feel and soft tannin profile. This wine is a gateway offering to Avignonesi’s premier collection of bottlings, in particular their mentioned Nobile wines, which I’ve reviewed many times here. Avignonesi, a historic estate is owned by Virginie Saverys, who took over in 2009 and who has a collection of about 444 acres of vineyards in Montepulciano and Cortona regions, all of which fully certified organic and biodynamic in the southern part of Tuscany. These Avignonesi wines all shine, especially in their price ranges, with their top wines easily competing with Brunello (same clone of Sangiovese) but being close to half price in many cases. I highly recommend visiting this region and especially the hill top beauty of Montepulciano, with Avignonesi being a first choice stop where you are there.
($15 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive