By Duane Pemberton

Feudo di Santa Croce Malnera Negro Amaro Salento is a friggin mouthful no matter how you slice it – in fact, Leave it to the Italians to produce wines that are much more wordy than they need to be or should be for the American market; don’t they know that most of us are a little too ADHD to read labels with that many words on them?

If’ you’re not familiar with Negro Amaro, you’re not alone – it’s a grape that’s native to Southern Italy and nearly exclusive to Puglia and Salento.  It’s name, literally means “bitter black”.

We sourced this wine from our friends at Wine Chateau in New Jersey – if you’re ever looking for great prices on wines, I’d highly recommend them. Because of that, I don’t have any of it’s technical data and the normal information I’d provide.

Nose: Deep black fruits on the nose along with a good sense of chocolate, shoe-polish and leather.

Taste: Good amount of both bright red fruit such as raspberries and charries along with blackberries and black cherries. The fruit continues to the mid-palate where it picks up notes of vanilla, big-league chew (google it) and some red licorice. The finish has some decent acids which are great with tomato-based pasta but is a bit short for me to call this a daily drinker – but still pretty good for it’s current price of $10.

W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Ruffino is a family-run, Italian winery that has been producing wines since 1877. It makes wines that cover the full gamut of pricing and quality. The baseline wine it makes are widely available and priced in such a way to help those on a budget get a quality wine.

2007 Orvieio Classico Price: $9 – W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Nose: Lemon peel, petrol, blue stone, grapefruit pulp and white pepper

Taste: Good clean start with nice acidity off the bat that’s married to really good fruit overtones of kiwi, lemon starburst candy, lime zest and a hint of blood orange. Solid finish that hangs out for a while – a very good food wine.

2007 Chianti Price: $9 – W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Nose: carmel, cherries, plum-sauce, black pepper and touch of charred bell pepper skin.

Taste: Blackberry and carmel with great acidity up front that’s shredding my tongue with goodness. The mid palate presents very firm tannin structure and again – that classic italian red wine acidity which goes so well with tomato-based pasta dishes. A decent finish – touch on the hot side – but still a solid effort for the money.