Italy has always been my ‘go to place’ for wine excitment. It has an extraordinary collection of grape types, wine styles, and enough ‘gung-ho gumption’, to keep us all on the lookout for something genuinely interesting. Indeed SuperValu wine buyer, Kevin O’Callaghan, recently told us that his customers are looking for, ‘excitement and direction on new wines, regularly‘. Come on in Italy!

This week SuperValu rolled out its latest excitement from the vineyards of Italy. It’s a Sale that looks good, begins today, May the 20th!

One of the winemakers involved in the sale is Piergiorgio Castellani in Tuscany. Listeners to our podcast at Kevin Ecock’s Wine Pod might remember that we recorded with Piergiorgio at his Poggio al Casone vineyard back in May of 2019. Our blog of that memorable meeting is HERE and our podcast at Kevin Ecock’s WinePod is HERE.

At the time I wrote that, ‘A Castellani labelled wine can be trusted to deliver. These are people who really understand Sangiovese and have a vision as to where they would like to bring it‘.

It seems that they also understand the white Vermentino! At a virtual SuperValu tasting recently Piergiorgio described his Corte alle Mine Vermentino (a €10 bargain in this Sale) as, ‘ ..slightly aromatic with balsamic undertones and a lot of Mediterranean and Riesling character’. It’s a really good summer wine. Highly recommended.

To get into the swing with Sangiovese SuperValu has given us options. The Baffo Rosso (€9.00) from Castellani is a crowd pleaser and a modern expression of the grape (lots of softened fruit) while their Arbos Toscana (€8.00) is more traditional. Both top class value. If you want to try a very interesting expression of the grape then the Corte alle Mine Vino Nobile di Montalcino at €15.00 is a top notch wine.

This sale doesn’t hold back on bringing us some very well made traditional styles, Try the Ricossa Barolo (Nebbiolo with its hint of warmed asphalt) and the Costa Mediana Amarone della Valpolicella (Veneto at its best), both at €20.00.

It’s not all traditional packaging. In this Sale SuperValu has brought us a magnum of the Masi CampoFiorin at only €25.00 (that’s a 75cl eq of only €12.50!) Then to one side you’ll find a 3litre bag in the box of the Barone di Montalto Passivento from Sicily for €28.00 (that’s a €7.00 eq!). And how about the six bottle case of the very acceptable Vivaldi Valpolicella Ripasso for only €50.00 (Mind you, I noticed one store selling this fro €40.00 – think I’ll go back .. single bottles can be found around the world selling at €25.00 …)