No, today is not World Glaucoma Awareness Day. That’s on Monday 12th. Red wine helps maintain good eyesight, so try these lovelies and never cock up your calendar again.
Matané Primitivo Puglia IGT 2015 $21.99
If you thought all primitivo was in the ‘big gun’ class, then here’s your happy place because this slippery, spicy and succulent example from the Salento peninsula is ‘easy like Sunday morning’ in the sipping-stakes. Fruitcake, cherries, damson plums and boysenberries are warmly wrapped in a cardigan of cocoa and liberally laced with raspberry liquorice on the finish.
Sip with: lamb kofte’s.
www.poshslosh.co.nz
Secco-Bertani Original Vintage Edition 2014 $43
A classic-yet-powerful Veronese blend of 80% corvina, 10% sangiovese, and 5% each of syrah and cabernet sauvignon, this is a monster-good wine. It’s a new arrival and there’s precious little available, so you’ll need to jump quick. Bursting with violet, cranberry, pomegranate, and cherry aromatics, plus redcurrant, cedar and a snifter of cola on the finish, it’s incredibly bright and vibrant to drink, yet underpinned with earthy complexity.
Sip with: venison osso bucco.
info@artigianoimports.co.nz
Bosco del Grillo Governo All’Uso Toscana IGT 2015 $22
Even though it’s basically a Chianti at 80% sangiovese, because the Bosco team blended in 10% merlot, 5% cabernet sauvignon and 5% colorino grapes means the wine has to slap on the IGT tag instead. But they ain’t ‘bovvered,’ and I couldn’t be happier. It’s an elegant, generous wine with lashings of violets, spice, and dried herbs and a layer of dark cocoa on the deliciously dusty finish.
Sip with: Vine leaf-wrapped lamb rumps.
info@artigianoimports.co.nz
