La Valle Del sole – Offida Rosso (Montepulciano) – 2018

The story: “Which is your favourite wine, Rob?”  Certainly not a question that can be answered in a snap however many times I’m asked …BUT… this one is always high up on the list. It’s just pure joy to drink.   Usually, after 20 years, vines are dug up and replanted with new ones.  Most farmers replace their vines every 12 years. Why? Well, as with everything in nature, as the vines get older they produce less. There are fewer grapes and that makes lower quantities of wine for the farmers to sell. Big producers need the vines to produce more and more so their bottles can keep selling in masses.   Now, they may produce less, but what the old vines do produce, is of a much, much higher quality.  So when I tell you that the vines that create this Montepulciano are over 50 years old, you’ll start to get an inkling of both the quality of the wine and the type of producer we’re working with. These vines would have been replaced 5 times over if this was a mass-producing, money-orientated business. Some of the vines in the vineyard are even over 70 years old. LVDS are focused on quality. They produce wines of an incredibly high standard. They’re not interested in quantity when it’s to the detriment of taste. And for that, I love them.   This wine spends 6 months ageing in cement and then 18 months resting and maturing in the bottle. Now that’s commitment to wine making. Mind you, I think any wine maker would struggle in not giving a 50 year old vine this level of respect.

Tasting Note: Big, bold and beautiful! This has everything you could possibly want from a Montepulciano (not to be mistaken for a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo). Medium-bodied yet  brimful of black cherries, blackberries and plum, with a finish of tart red fruits.

Pair it with: Due to elevated acidity, it can cut through fattier, more calorific dishes such as Mac & Cheese, pork belly or a meat feast pizza.