A Winter Thaw & an Italian Merlot

March 1st is the day when summer lovers know that their favorite time of year is only around the corner: longer sunnier days, barbecues, long vacations, and yes lighter wines. But while our palates may be longing for the tastes of summer, the winter weather is still drifting snow over most of the country, and as such we still need some good red wines to warm us up until we can finally turn off the radiator for the season.

This "winter thaw" provides the perfect time for some alternative red wines beyond the classic heavy American & French Cabernet (like we can afford most of those anyway :P), and that is exactly the second wine I found at the Tuscany tasting I attended 2 weeks ago.

Podere Ciona's Semifonte is a unique member of the class of Super Tuscans in that it is Merlot based and instead of Sangiovese (the grape of Chianti) it contains a little known grape called Alicante Bouschet (Al-Ee-CAN-Tay   Boo-SCHET).

Alicante Bouschet is part of a very small collection of grapes called Teinturier (Tin-Tur-Ee-AY) grapes. What sets these grapes apart is they have red juice in addition to their red skins.

Most wine grapes are similar to table grapes, while their skins may be one color, their juice is always clear. The color found in red wines, as we know, come from the skins which sit with the juice either before or during fermentation. However, Teinturier grapes have both red skins & red juice. So what does this mean for the wines they create?

These grapes give the wine a very unique tannin structure. Whereas tannins from wood are felt along the sides of the mouth & cheeks, and grape skin tannins cling to the teeth, grape juice tannins are much softer and are present in the middle of the palate creating a rich dense wine.

Whereas most wines with teinturier grapes contain only 5-10%, this wine has a whooping 25% providing a really unique juicy structure. This in combination with the 75% Merlot made for one tasty wine with notes of tart red and black fruits like black cherry. Common to most Italian wines, this wine also showcases notes of fresh basil and vanilla from the french oak.

This wine is a smaller producer, less then 5000 cases so online or a shop that specializes in Boutique producers is going to be your best bet to find this wine. At $20 this maxes our budget, but was just too cool of a wine to keep its small production all to myself :)