Ruby red in color, Vino Rosso d’Italia has the typical scent of Sangiovese and intense notes of blackberry and cherry, a lovely bouquet of ripe black cherries, with a hint of spice. Fresh on the palate, well balanced with flavors of black fruit.
Winemaking Techniques
The grapes are both hand and machine harvested. After de-stemming and pressing, the juice is fermented in 1000 hl tanks at 18°C for 10 days and stored in a stainless-steel tank until it is
bottled.
Vineyard Notes
AREA: Italy
SURFACE: Hills and plains
ALTITUDE: 0-150 m
SOIL TYPE: Calcareous and clay
PLANT DENSITY: 4.500 vines per hectare
VITICULTURAL TECHNIQUE: Guyot, both double and single
HARVEST PERIOD: End of August, beginning of September
Specs
Alcohol: 11.5%
Appellation: Italy
Residual Sugar: 10g/L
What’s Included
3-bottles:
3x 2019 Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend 1.5L
Case:
6x 2019 Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend 1.5L
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $174/case MSRP
About The Winery
Winery: Cantoro Artisan Wine
This exclusive label is blended with grapes sourced from Emilia and Romagna and Sicily. Central Italia meets southern Italy in this wine that’s perfect for any dish with tomatoes including pizza or pasta. A fun wine in a party size at an amazing price.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
@klezman Cast your mind back a decade and recall the 2012 rpm Magical History Tours… dust off the memory of rpm talking about the Wine Institute doing research in the '50s and '60s that showed most drinkers of table wine (as opposed to dessert and deliberately sweet wines), regardless of the fact that they said they preferred dry red wines, actually preferred reds with 1-2% residual sugar… which is why so many California reds were finished with 1-1.5% residual sugar even in the days when grapes were harvested around 22 degrees Brix…and now that wines are made from grapes harvested at 24-25 degrees Brix, even with alcohols running up to the high fourteens and even >15%, residual sugars at 1-1.5% are more and more common… One suspects this import is a wine made with the same drinker in mind as the ones who bought California ‘Chianti’ style wines years ago…
@rpm True, and I realize that 1% may not actually come across a “sweet”. And certainly no problem with making mass market wines - Prisoner and Apothic are quite popular! (Or as you’ve called it, “sound commercial wine”.)
@kaolis I was suspecting that. I can’t comment on the wine, but Cantoro’s is a great place to shop for Italian products. They have one of the more extensive Italian wine selections I have seen.
Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend 1.5L (The bottle does not have a vintage designation)
Italy (2/22/2022) - but now it seems to be Michigan from @kaolis post above
PnP into Casemates glass, followed for three days over a few hours each
Nose is expressive with cherries and blackberries. Clear ruby in the glass. Palate is rather faint, light-medium body, slight cherry but not fruit forward and quite muted. No discernible acid or tannic structure. Seems integrated, but no brightness and honestly, just not a lot of flavor overall. Soft on the mouthfeel, clean drinking with a finish that leaves an ever so slight hint of bitterness at the back of the palate. Not sweet.
Tasted over a three day period with almost no change from day to day. Not offensive, but not a stunner. Tried with Morgan Ranch sirloin (cooked to rare with fresh cracked pepper and sea salt as seasoning) which brought out a bit of acid and a slight peppery finish which was a welcome profile and created at least some interest. Dark chocolate overpowered the wine.
Drink now or hold for a few years. I don’t see this aging long term but happy to be wrong.
Thank you to the entire WCC team for the opportunity to labrat.
@chefjess Nice notes. No I’m sure the wine is from Italy, but it is a bottling that Cantoro Market had labeled for them whether exclusive or not who knows. For some reason I was wondering if it was actually a vintage bottle or NV. The fact you don’t see a vintage on the bottle leads me to think it is in fact NV, not 2019. But I know nothing, just like to yap too much sometimes…ha!
@kaolis
There is no blend description, no region designation, and no vintage listed so when I saw the posting with 2019, I went back and looked again. I actually had my notes as NV and then removed the NV when I posted adding the note that I didn’t see a vintage listed as it may very well be a 2019. There is simply a bottling date on the back label, but I’m not sure a 2020 bottling date would guarantee a 2019 vintage?
@chefjess Ok, you can tell I’m not doing anything constructive today…Don’t think that’s a bottling date. That stamp seems to signify that it was bottled by Caviro, a large cooperative in Forlì. The lot number stamped on the very bottom would tell when it was bottled. I think.
The bigger question here, is what was the winemakers intent? ha!!!
@kaolis
Interesting. I thought that was the bottling date since the notes above say harvest was Aug/Sept so maybe Oct could be possible for bottling? Your decoding makes more sense.
That’s a good question. I don’t think we’re going to hear from the winemaker.
I got the golden ticket! After some confusion about launch date I got to take some time in trying this out. We were traveling out of town to see some friends so we took this big boy along to share.
After twisting off the top and pouring a glass we all immediately noticed the light color. On the nose it was fruity with lots of berries. On the palate it was much lighter. Worked okay with our charcuterie plate filled with cheese, meats, and some some chocolate. Didn’t stand up nearly as well to the lasagna for dinner.
Probably a good crowd pleaser for people that shy away from big wines. Not my cup of tea…errr glass of wine but could work for others.
How much more would you have saved by buying 6 magnums?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2019 Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend Magnum
2019 Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend 1.5L
Tasting Notes
Winemaking Techniques
Vineyard Notes
Specs
What’s Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $174/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Mar 21 - Friday, Mar 25
Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend Magnum
$49.99 - $79.99
@ilCesare for 3 bottles and 6 bottles!
1% residual sugar? Yikes!
@klezman Sure looks like liquid sugar if the deets are accurate.
TA would help to assess, as will, hopefully, Rats.
@klezman @rjquillin
Back in the day my 18 year old self would have been all over this offer!
@klezman Cast your mind back a decade and recall the 2012 rpm Magical History Tours… dust off the memory of rpm talking about the Wine Institute doing research in the '50s and '60s that showed most drinkers of table wine (as opposed to dessert and deliberately sweet wines), regardless of the fact that they said they preferred dry red wines, actually preferred reds with 1-2% residual sugar… which is why so many California reds were finished with 1-1.5% residual sugar even in the days when grapes were harvested around 22 degrees Brix…and now that wines are made from grapes harvested at 24-25 degrees Brix, even with alcohols running up to the high fourteens and even >15%, residual sugars at 1-1.5% are more and more common… One suspects this import is a wine made with the same drinker in mind as the ones who bought California ‘Chianti’ style wines years ago…
@rpm True, and I realize that 1% may not actually come across a “sweet”. And certainly no problem with making mass market wines - Prisoner and Apothic are quite popular! (Or as you’ve called it, “sound commercial wine”.)
That label looks like it came from a bottle of Uncle Giuseppe’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
@warpedrotors That’s what was bugging me about it…totally looks like an olive oil label!
Appears to be a house bottling from an Italian market in Michigan
https://www.cantoromarket.com/
@kaolis actually that’s what it is, there is an Instagram post with pics saying to try our own red
@kaolis Were they charging $29 for it?
@wardad No idea, just the try our red statement.
@kaolis I was suspecting that. I can’t comment on the wine, but Cantoro’s is a great place to shop for Italian products. They have one of the more extensive Italian wine selections I have seen.
@kookie00 Yep not knocking Cantoro at all, don’t know the operation but it looks pretty impressive.
Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend 1.5L (The bottle does not have a vintage designation)
Italy (2/22/2022) - but now it seems to be Michigan from @kaolis post above
PnP into Casemates glass, followed for three days over a few hours each
Nose is expressive with cherries and blackberries. Clear ruby in the glass. Palate is rather faint, light-medium body, slight cherry but not fruit forward and quite muted. No discernible acid or tannic structure. Seems integrated, but no brightness and honestly, just not a lot of flavor overall. Soft on the mouthfeel, clean drinking with a finish that leaves an ever so slight hint of bitterness at the back of the palate. Not sweet.
Tasted over a three day period with almost no change from day to day. Not offensive, but not a stunner. Tried with Morgan Ranch sirloin (cooked to rare with fresh cracked pepper and sea salt as seasoning) which brought out a bit of acid and a slight peppery finish which was a welcome profile and created at least some interest. Dark chocolate overpowered the wine.
Drink now or hold for a few years. I don’t see this aging long term but happy to be wrong.
Thank you to the entire WCC team for the opportunity to labrat.
@chefjess
Back label
@chefjess Nice notes. No I’m sure the wine is from Italy, but it is a bottling that Cantoro Market had labeled for them whether exclusive or not who knows. For some reason I was wondering if it was actually a vintage bottle or NV. The fact you don’t see a vintage on the bottle leads me to think it is in fact NV, not 2019. But I know nothing, just like to yap too much sometimes…ha!
@kaolis
There is no blend description, no region designation, and no vintage listed so when I saw the posting with 2019, I went back and looked again. I actually had my notes as NV and then removed the NV when I posted adding the note that I didn’t see a vintage listed as it may very well be a 2019. There is simply a bottling date on the back label, but I’m not sure a 2020 bottling date would guarantee a 2019 vintage?
@chefjess Ok, you can tell I’m not doing anything constructive today…Don’t think that’s a bottling date. That stamp seems to signify that it was bottled by Caviro, a large cooperative in Forlì. The lot number stamped on the very bottom would tell when it was bottled. I think.
The bigger question here, is what was the winemakers intent? ha!!!
@chefjess @kaolis We have no problem with Yappers!!! We welcome the opinions of ALL!! Make this site greater by Yapping!!
@kaolis
Interesting. I thought that was the bottling date since the notes above say harvest was Aug/Sept so maybe Oct could be possible for bottling? Your decoding makes more sense.
That’s a good question. I don’t think we’re going to hear from the winemaker.
@chefjess @kaolis but that price!!
I got the golden ticket! After some confusion about launch date I got to take some time in trying this out. We were traveling out of town to see some friends so we took this big boy along to share.
After twisting off the top and pouring a glass we all immediately noticed the light color. On the nose it was fruity with lots of berries. On the palate it was much lighter. Worked okay with our charcuterie plate filled with cheese, meats, and some some chocolate. Didn’t stand up nearly as well to the lasagna for dinner.
Probably a good crowd pleaser for people that shy away from big wines. Not my cup of tea…errr glass of wine but could work for others.
Since there’s not even ONE giphy today…
/giphy cheesy-tidy-weather
How much more would you have saved by buying 6 magnums?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2019 Cantoro Vino d’Italia Red Blend Magnum