Billionaire's Vinegar
First off, when I get a bottle of wine, I don't want to see a description on the label of what's inside. To me it's a telltale sign that the producer doesn't think it can stand on its own, or that I'm an idiot. You only over-explain what you're doing when you feel like what you're doing might not be on the up-and-up. Like when you're at a party and the hostess catches you looking through her medicine cabinet. Anyhow, just tell me the region, the year, the varietals, maybe, and the alcohol content. (And also that spiel about how it will impair my ability to operate machinery. It damn well should!)
My mom buys wine with descriptions on the label. So there you go.
Castello Sonnino Chianti has nothing of the sort. And the label's a traditional, low-key deal, which is good. (I have another possibly irrational belief that the more money spent on printing the label, the less money spent on the wine inside. I have a lot of crazy beliefs. Ask me sometime about the Illuminati.)
Right now I'm finishing up Benjamin Wallace's Billionaire's Vinegar,which is about a counterfeiting scandal that nearly crippled the old wine market in the late 90s. It's awesome, and interesting on many levels, especially if you revel in the misfortune of old men with too much money and time on their hands.
Reading this, I've learned a lot about old wines that I will likely never taste in my lifetime. Par example:In terms of red wines and aging, Bordeaux fare the best. Chateau Latour is one of the more desired estates. (In fact, the Chateau Latour 1886 is so well known in pop culture that it was actually featured in the Simpsons.*) The 1869 inspired wine writer H. Warner Allen to write: "The palate recognised a heroic wine, such a drink as might refresh the warring archangels, and the perfection of its beauty called up the noble phrase 'terrible as an army with banners.'" [Incidentally, that last phrase is from the Scriptures...Song of Solomon.]
This is the silliest thing that has ever been written about wine. And that's saying a lot.
Today, I am coming at you on the Straight Talk Express, which I was able to purchase from John McCain for a very reasonable price (and he even had it detailed and Simonized for me). There's much that can be said of the 2007 Castello Sonnino, but none of it is biblical. Because that is stupid.
With the Sangiovese and Chianti varietals (which are "autochthonous" to Montespertoli--fun vocab lesson!), it has all the qualities that you like about Chianti: It's medium bodied, so it won't overpower what you're serving it with--which makes it an incredibly versatile bottle to have on hand, or to bring to a dinner party. It has those berry and herbaceous notes. Great color. We drank it with an assemblage of sauteed vegetables and quinoa, and it paired really nicely with the red Swiss chard we heroically saved from moldering in the crisper.
Two other great things about the 2007 Castello Soninno: It's drinkable RIGHT NOW. You don't have to wait 135 years. Also, it's under $15 at Vine**, as opposed to $20,000 at Christie's. Don't be a sucker! Buy this instead of the 1886 Chateau Latour.
* This part was not mentioned in the Billionaire's Vinegar. I knew it already, because I am a nerd.
** Warring archangels not included.