Cheap grocery store Italian wine. It usually frightens me to some degree and I avoid it. Trader Joes. It usually excites me (affordable organic goods and free food samples at all times) and I never avoid it. Although, the wine aisle of TJ’s is another story. Yes, I realize my behavior may seem a wee tad wine snobby, but I would rather get bottles that are nearly as affordable from my fav neighborhood shop selling interesting wines from quality producers. Today, as I was loading up on groceries, I decided to venture into the scary unknown. If I was going to take a studied look anywhere, of course, it would be the Italian section. I approached with an open mind and hope that possibly I have been mistaken all this time. There must be something exciting…
No. No, there wasn’t. The prices ranged from 2.99 (!!) up to $19.99. That price belonging to the omnipresent Santa Margherita pinot grigio. There was also a $16.99 Amarone and a 2005 Barolo from La Loggia for $14.99. Really? The white wine theme = pinot grigio. The red wine theme = chianti. Nothing surprising. I began to turn the bottles around to see who was importing this stuff and the same three California importers, unknown to me, dominated the shelves. D’Aquino (with 2 organic wines from Abruzzo among others), Americal Beverage Group and Santini.
Enough looking, I had to take one home to taste. Because I wasn’t really keen on any bottle in particular, I searched for the wine that had the most bottles missing from the shelf. What is everyone buying? The Marchese de Petri 2008 “Il Valore” sangiovese from Puglia. The price: $2.99. No wonder it was the most popular. But, I do have to say it “gives good label.”
“Smooth and fruity with a touch of red berries.” I guess that was true, just with a touch of cough syrup as well. OK- it wasn’t offensive. Just entirely forgettable. Which is fine, but why is anyone importing and shipping this all the way across land and ocean to get it here? And $2.99 a bottle is usually how much it costs just to bottle and label the thing. How much are the people making the wine even profiting? You can find these prices at wineries in Italy, but that is because you are getting the young wine directly from the source, no shipping involved. When I see numbers this low on imported wine, it just makes me suspect.
Marchese de Petri, the “winery”, also makes a Chianti riserva with the same “Il Valore” label. I couldn’t get much more info but all the wine is bottled in Pisa by one C. Campagna Gello. Hmmmm…..A mystery I don’t care to solve. I guess what I am ultimately feeling from this little trip down vino lane, is a bit of sadness. And confusion. The market is so overwhelmed with stuff like this, that some of the real stars of Italy don’t ever get a spot on the shelf. But, maybe my idea of a real and affordable star is a wine that could never be mass produced for the US market anyway. And for that, I’ll just have to get shipped back to Italy to get.
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