There are wines that are born old and remain so. As if they had overlooked their golden youth. However, being “born old” has nothing to do with growing old or dying young. It’s more uplifting than that. Less banal, in short. There are wines like this 2011 Salice Salentino Riserva from family-owned Cosimo Taurino, based in Puglia, Italy, that sold for a whopping $17.40 (411892) that subscribe to this definition.
A rare bébite, a strangeness, not to say an anomaly, this red where malvasia nera completes a solid base of negroamaro, a “bitter black” which runs counter to fashions, styles, even the expectations of young consumers. who thrive on novelty, not to say the convenience of the times. To put it bluntly, this red will not interest them at all, who will think they are dealing with these garage wines — not those of Thunevin and others in Bordeaux, but those concocted by the Italian father-in-law in his own garage. house where hints of volatile acidity bring their dose of spice to the pinard.
Don’t worry, however, on the winemaking side, this red performs well even if it is neither natural, sulphur-free, organic or biodynamic. No doubt it is this singular atmosphere, a bit old-fashioned and outdated that digs here and there a few wrinkles in the profile, but let’s admit all the same that with more than a decade in the bottle, this “old” is not necessarily relegated to the dustbin of history. Especially since at less than 20 handsome dollars, they are extremely rare, birds of this species to be ahead of other “youngsters” who have already thrown in the towel for quite some time.
A peasant grape variety
To fully grasp the “ageism” of the situation, you have to go to the grape variety in question, Negroamaro. This thick-skinned, heavy-yielding black grape is just one of thousands of native varietals in the Italian nursery, but above all it possesses a fierce individuality. It would be treated according to the technique ofappassimentolike the corvina veronese of Veneto – without being able to confirm here that the style exists in Puglia – that it would find common traits with the great amarone.
It is above all a rustic grape variety that gives a rustic wine, but with an intriguing scope. A peasant grape variety that sticks in every way to its corner of the country where water is scarce, dry stone houses whitewashed, torrid days, captivating aromatic herbs and tarantulas so venomous that they make you dance the tarantella. A country so harsh, located south of the south, that you already have your feet in the water just to watch the Ionian and Adriatic seas refresh with their fresh breath a vineyard weighed down by the diurnal star.
How to describe it? If it piques curiosity, it is above all the palate that it piques because of its natural vivacity in wanting to raise bitters where one does not venture, alas! too infrequently. A bit like its primitivo colleague — the local tribidrag or zinfandel — which quickly convinces you that you need to swallow a piece to contain both the power of the speech and the gripping chewiness. The locals accompany it with cutlets stuffed with pancetta (bombshell), ear-shaped hollow wheat pasta with rapini sauce or others (orecchiette), sausage and vegetable stuffed turnovers (panzerotti) or even a classic touch of potato focaccia.
The aromatic register is wide, fresh, eloquent and deep, as if pressing the essential oils of thyme, tarragon and star anise against a background of dried plum, licorice and coffee grounds, all transported yet another times by an acidity-bitterness tandem which surprisingly saves the day in this remote corner of the captive country under a fiery sun. By closing your eyes and imagining that this red is very dry, you could drift slowly into the universe of the great vermouths of this world. All this for $17.40 including tax. In any case, less expensive paid in terms of your carbon footprint than the 6729 kilometers that separate you from this corner of paradise!