Welcome to the first “Regular Guy” Wine Review. This site is, at its core, about having a good time and finding things in life that add some fun or help get you through a little easier. We avoid things that make it complicated and reviewing wine like the “professionals” do is just that…complicated. You are not going to find any foo-foo descriptions here, just some thoughts on why you will or will not enjoy a bottle of wine. I’ll also toss in some definitions along the way to make things a little easier.
First up is Rosso Piceno Superiore from Saladini Pilastri in the town of Spinetoli, Italy. Located on hillsides that slope down the coastline to the Adriatic Sea, the winery has been producing for three centuries so it’s fairly safe to assume they know what they’re doing. They use Sangiovese (high acid/light body) and Montepulciano (low acid/deep color) grapes.
As expected, it has a very dark, rich color that I try to keep off of my carpet. It smells spicy with a ton of fruit, almost like peppery cherries. The taste is pure smooth. My wife and I both gave that look of “oh wow that tastes like more” to each other. This is certainly a wine that is going to disappear fast so I would recommend buying a few if you have friends over. What I like about it most is that I would feel great pairing it with most of the foods that I love (they mostly contain grilled or roasted meat).
The day I broke this bottle open I happened to be making a beef stew from scratch. I strongly believe in the mantra “don’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink” so my light bulb went off. I decided to pan sear the beef with a light flour coating. This gave me a nice crust on the meat but it also left me with a lot of goodness in my skillet. I decided to deglaze using the wine and let me tell you I was not disappointed with the decision. I added onions at this stage then more wine plus butter to make a sauce (and maybe a little more for me as well). Once all of these flavors combined, I added it to the stew. The deep flavor that the wine gave the sauce was amazing and took it in a direction I wouldn’t have had if I used chicken stock to deglaze.
So now here I am with an empty bottle, an amazing beef stew and my first wine review. Rosso Piceno isn’t going to break the bank so that makes it a must buy for me. It is a nice option for friends that don’t know what they might want to drink when it comes to wine.
