{"id":95,"date":"2010-12-07T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=95"},"modified":"2011-09-08T17:28:50","modified_gmt":"2011-09-08T17:28:50","slug":"four-handsome-italians-for-claret-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2010\/12\/four-handsome-italians-for-claret-lovers\/","title":{"rendered":"FOUR HANDSOME ITALIANS FOR CLARET LOVERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Solaia; Italian names which have become the preserve of the rich, alongside those of\u00a0Chateau\u00a0Latour, Lafite and anything Rothschild. But take heart in the fact that Lea & Sandeman still produce class acts from Tuscany’s own ‘bordelais’ vineyards which are affordable and extremely drinkable, as well as\u00a0appealing to the most conservative of claret drinkers. Castello del Terriccio’s<\/a> vineyards, an hour’s drive south of Pisa,\u00a0overlook the coast towards the Islands of Capraia and\u00a0Elba in the far distance, and are planted with Cabernets, Merlot and Sangiovese. The two best value wines here are Capannino<\/a>, the simplest wine of the estate and described by thewinegang<\/a> as being ‘sheer class’, and Tassinaia<\/a>, the estate’s best seller, included in Jancis Robinson’s ‘100 sure fire reds’ this week and described as a ‘very mellow, polished Bordeaux blend with Italian verve’. Either of these wines could be served to the grumpiest of Father-in-Laws over Christmas, and guaranteed to put a smile on his face.<\/p>\n

Further down the coast in the famous vineyard district of Bolgheri, the Le Macchiole<\/a> estate has come of age and while their iconic wines (Messorio and Scrio)\u00a0are now expensive, the entry level\u00a0Bolgheri Rosso<\/a> is a great bargain and already so flattering, while their unique Cabernet Franc, Paleo Rosso<\/a> is a wonderful class act that will sit happily alongside many of the top Bordeaux wines and a perfect foil to the Christmas Goose (though perhaps too good for the Mother-in-Law<\/a>! ).<\/p>\n

All of these wines are given similar oak ageing to their counterparts in Bordeaux (both new and used small French oak ‘barriques’) and share the same sort of fruit and tannin structure, but the introduction of Sangiovese in some and the identity of ‘terroir’ in all,\u00a0while keeping them unique to their origin at the same time makes them so much more approachable in their youth. All four wines are wonderful for drinking this Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As affordable claret becomes more difficult to find, it is time to turn your attention to Italy’s Tuscan alternatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,8],"tags":[23,12,787],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italy","category-tuscany","tag-christmas","tag-claret","tag-tuscany"],"contentshake_article_id":"","yoast_head":"\nFOUR HANDSOME ITALIANS FOR CLARET LOVERS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As affordable claret becomes more difficult to find, it is time to turn your attention to Italy's Tuscan alternatives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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