The Future Of Italian Rosé?

The Antinori family is widely known in Italy as a great source for wine, since they've been producing it for more than six centuries.  They are reportedly the 10th oldest family-owned company in the world.  If they decide to make a wine, it’s difficult to carve out a reason not to try it.

They are hitting rosé season right in stride, with the Tormaresca Calafuria Rosato Salento IGT 2020.  Tormaresca was founded in 1998 by Marchesi Antinori, and it was named after the old seaside towers in Puglia.  Calafuria refers to the bays of the Puglia region.  This pink wine is made from Negroamaro grapes which were grown at the Masseria Maime estate in Salento, Puglia.  The alcohol is an easy-drinking 12% abv and the retail price is $15.

Tormaresca’s brand manager, Vito Palumbo, says he is seeing "a shift away from traditional Italian grapes to those which are lesser known."  He feels that Negroamaro is poised to be the next big thing in the current emergence of Italian rosé wines.  

The wine is beautiful enough, but the label is an eye-catcher as well, designed by illustrator Valeria Petrone.  The image is said to be that of a woman dreaming of Puglia.

This pink wine’s nose is laden with ripe, red fruit - cherries, strawberries - and a touch of citrus - lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit.  There is also an herbal note, a sort of greenness than leans into minerality.  The palate brings the red fruit first, followed by the citrus.  The acidity is great, and the mouthfeel is quite full - it drinks like a red wine.  If Negroamaro is the future of rosé, bring it on.

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Cantele Negroamaro 2010

Cantele Negroamaro is an Italian wine from the Puglia region with an I.G.T. Salento classification.  It is produced in the heel of the Italian boot, Salento, in the province of Leece, in a town called Guagnano.  It’s 100% Negroamaro, a grape known for a bitter quality in the taste.  I hear that amaro is Italian for bitter, but the grape’s name is more likely a combination of two words meaning black.  More Negroamaro grapes are grown in Puglia than anywhere else.

The 2010 Cantele Negroamaro was ordered at Cube in Los Angeles, where it cost $10 by the glass.  Denise and I love to get a cheese and charcuterie plate with a nice Italian wine.  The wine list is loaded with good Italian selections at Cube.  We had four cheeses - Camembert, vintage cheddar, benedictine and bleu - with prosciutto, sopressata and salumi mole also on the plate.

The dark red wine is aged in stainless steel, so the freshness of the fruit is not cut by oak.  Aromas of blackberry and black cherry fly unfettered from the glass.  A big, dark and fruity palate shows plums, blackberries and a nice earthy element that fits perfectly.

The unoaked quality of this wine is so impressive - I wish more red wines in the US were made that way. The freshness and the pairing with the food are heightened in the absence of oak treatment.

Whenever I have Italian wine with food, I am always struck by how well the two go together.  It was the same at this meal, with the wine bringing out highlights in the meats and cheeses.


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