Seven Bridges Road
Tuscan Vermentino | Ordinary Bordeaux
If you have a $100 to spend on a bottle of wine, you could do a lot worse than the 2022 Oreno from Sette Ponti, one hundred and thirty bottles of which are circulating through the LCBO Vintages program this month (click here for the listing). I know because Stefano Maggini told me so. And, though it’s hearsay, because I haven’t actually tasted the 2022 that’s on the shelves, I believe him.
I believe him because he brought with him to dinner last week the Oreno 2023, which was just fine, thanks. He also brought, or got his agency Noble Estates to procure, a bottle of the 2015, as well as a magnum of the 2010. And, just my colleague, Read Between The Wines' Pierre Ferland, and I got a broad view of the range of the premium Sette Ponti wines, before any of this was tasted, we tried the 2023, 2016 and 2006 Crognolo, the last also in magnum. It was, in wine writer’s terms, a hard night out of the office.
Sette Ponti means seven bridges, they’re not the seven bridges the Eagles sing about, they’re the ones across the Arno River on the way from Florence to Arezzo. One of them is thought to be over the shoulder of da Vinci’s La Giaconda. The estate was originally a hunting lodge for the Duke and Duchess of Aosta, who planted the original Sangiovese vineyards in 1935. It was bought in the 1950’s by the architect and fashion magnate Alberto Moretti, whose family continues to own and operate it.
Oreno was developed later, in 1999, as the Arno Valley’s answer to a Super Tuscan, with “International varieties” grafted onto older vines. The blend is consistently 40% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Petit Verdot. The line flavour through the 2023 and older vintages was intense black fruit, but with a fresh lift and a smoky herbal Mediterranean forest character.
Crognolo, on the other hand, is a 90% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot “IGT” blend. There is still some of the 2022 around in the LCBO Vintages program for $35 a bottle (click here for the listing). The blending recipe could have been a for a Chianti DOCG, which still allows “foreign grapes” like Merlot in the blend, though it’s increasingly out of fashion. I’m not sure why it’s labelled “IGT”, it might have to with ageing, or barrels or something. The point is that to me the Crogonolo wines struck me as old school Tuscan, with intense black cherry and herbal notes, against a fresh food friendly line of acidity.
Maybe you have the Crognolo with your pappa alla pomodoro or panzanella, and graduate to the Oreno for bisteca? Tutti va bene, in any event.
ICYMI: TORONTO WINE CLUB
I am still recruiting wine club members for a summer mixed case. See details below…
MJ Wine Box started as a COVID wine club, where my friends and neighbours pooled our money to buy cases of wine that you can’t buy at the LCBO and split them up into mixed cases. It was all about mitigating risk; if we ended up with a couple bottles we didn’t love, it was OK because there were other bottles in the box of wine to try. If we found something we liked, we could always order another case from the importing agent or Ontario winery.
I am going to do it again, and I am looking for about two dozen fellow wine enthusiasts to join me in a buyers club. They have to be MJ Wine Box subscribers and live in Toronto (so I can drop off the case of wine). My target is to find six different bottles of wine (two per case to make twelve) with an average price, including taxes and any delivery fees, of $35 a bottle. That’s $420 a case. NEW: half a case (one bottle each of six wines), can also be bought for $210.
If this is of any interest, contact me directly. I’ll send you the full terms and conditions next week, and you can decide to join or not.
Just to be clear: this is a buyers club, and I am not going sell wine.
MJ Wine Box is a subscriber supported venture. If you’re not already a paid subscriber to the MJ Wine Box Substack, consider upgrading now, and receive a discount of 20% for life.
WINE RECOMMENDATIONS
Yes, there are still well made, pleasing to the palate wines out there for under $20, like this Tuscan Vermentino, or Right Bank Bordeaux red.
San Felice Vermentino 2024
Price: $18.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: San Felice
Country: Italy
Region: Chianti Classico
Appellation: Toscana IGT
Grapes: Vermentino
Alcohol by Volume: 12.5%
Sugar Content: 2 grams per litre
Vermentino is most closely associated with the white wines of Sardinia, so what’s it doing on the other side of the Tyrrenhian Sea in Chiantiland? Who cares? This is a deal of a white wine from one of Chianti Classico’s preeminent producers. Though maybe not surprising: the everyday is a Vintages Essential and is also democratically priced at $21.95.
Vermentino (Sometimes called Favorita in Piedmont, or Pigato in Liguria) is one of Italy’s great, crisp and fresh “V” white grapes, along with Verdicchio (mostly in the Marche) and Vernaccia (concentrated around the Tuscan tower town of San Gimignano). I love Vermentino for being quite fresh with acidity, but also quite alive with fruit and a bit of weight on the tongue. The San Felice has an interesting note of grapefruit citrus, and lime and a bit of peach. It’s an aperitif wine, and bit of a thirst quencher, but could be very happy next to grilled fish dressed in olive oil, or a vegetable pasta with a good measure of pecorino cheese.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/san-felice-perolla-vermentino-2024-222802
Château Hyot 2022
Price: $17.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Domaines Alain Aubert
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
Appellation: Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux AOC
Grapes: Merlot (70%), Cabernet Franc (20%), Cabernet Sauvignon (10%)
Alcohol by Volume: 13%
Sugar Content: 3 grams per litre
The appellation of Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux used to just be called Côtes de Castillon, but if I was in charge I would change the name to St. Emillion Orientale, or maybe just East Emillion to keep it simple. Actually, that would be a back to the future move, as the Vins de Bordeaux website tells us that the region was colloquially called Près Saint-Émillion. It turns out the the Castillon vinyards are not just near and to the east of their more famous and pricier neighbour region, they sit on the same limestone plateau north of the Dordogne River.
That’s exactly 100 words to say that if you like $30 Saint-Émillion, you will probably like this $18 Castillon from Château Hyot.
As in S-É, Merlot dominates the Château Hyot blend, in a fresh blackberry way. This wine is 100% inox (stainless steel) fermented and elevated, so the tannins are all skin, and though they are pronounced they add a pleasant Bordeaux typical structure. It wants food, like a steak grilled rare and finely sliced (a summer roast beef)… or maby a Father’s Day burger.