A Bucking Bronco From Italy

The Bronco Wine Company is widely known as a purveyor of inexpensive wines - think "Two Buck Chuck" and others.  The winery has thousands of acres of vineyard land in California's Central Valley, which is not on the list of great places in the Golden State for grape growing.

I have been aware of Bronco Wines for quite some time, but I never realized they sold wines from other countries.  This one is made in Verona, Italy, the 2019 Poggio Della Robinie Superiore Valpolicello Ripasso.

This wine is a blend of four rather unusual grapes.  The corporate website shows that the breakdown is 60% Corvina, 20% Rondinella, 10% Corvinone and 10% Negrara.  I have seen other sites dropping the last two grapes and substituting 20% Molinara.  Whatever grapes they were, they were vinified using the Ripasso technique.  The Ripasso method of making wine involves fermenting on the dried skins of the grapes, then putting the wine away for a year in oaken barrels.  The dried grapes bring a rich and deep flavor to the wine.  Alcohol tips in here at 13.5% abv and I paid $20 for a bottle at my neighborhood Whole Foods Market.

The winery offers tasting notes that give wild cherry as one of the flavors.  That assessment is right on the money.  The red fruit - cherry, red currant - is bright and complex, with a dark, earthy edge pushing in from the side.  It's a darkly tinted wine, with a smooth mouthfeel.  I paired it with a beef tenderloin for our New Year's feast, and it was great.  I also used it in a wine sauce for the meat, and it was superb.

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Italian Red Wine Grapes

A special occasion is always made better with special company, and a special wine.  During anniversary week for Denise and I (the 20th!) we had several special meals at places which mean a lot to us.  The Beverly Hills Italian restaurant Da Pasquale is one of those places.  Not only have we never - not once - been disappointed with a meal there, they seemed to put on an extra special table for our day. 

I wanted a Primitivo wine for that meal, but they said they were out of that variety.  I shifted gears and took our server's suggestion that I try a different wine, and I'm glad I did.  It's nice to have people around who are trustworthy.

Allegrini's 2014 Palazzo Della Torre is a blend of Veronese Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella grapes, with a splash of Sangiovese.  Here's the twist: the winery says, "A small percentage of the harvested grapes are left to dry out until December and then added to the previously vinified fresh grapes."  That gives a fleshy, meaty mouthfeel to the finished wine. 

You can't taste it, but the wine is named after what's called a "splendid masterpiece of Renaissance architecture now owned by the family."  Aging went on for 15 months in used oak barrels, with another seven months in the bottle.  Alcohol sits at 14% abv.  It looks like it sells for about $20. 

The wine shows a bit hot on the nose at first, but settles down quickly.  Aromas of stewed figs and red fruit come paired with autumn spices and earth.  It's a hearty red, with red plums, cassis, and more spice on the palate.  I paired it with pappardelle and lamb shank, to much delight. It also went well as a mate to risotto with beef and mushrooms.


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