Isole e Olena: Genuine Italian Reds at Salem Wine Imports

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Isole e Olena: Genuine Italian Reds at Salem Wine Imports

Posted 08/26/2008 at 09:19 PM by Cathy

(Originally published on April 23, 2008)

It wasn't that my mind needed to be changed about Italian reds, exactly. I liked them just fine, especially when I wanted something that's generally assertive and powerful on the palate, something that's bold and full-bodied, something that hits me like a ton of bricks but in a good way.

"Finesse" and "elegant," in other words, were not two of the first words that came to mind when I thought of Italian red wines.

Not, that is, until tonight.

Tonight I met Paolo di Marchi at a tasting at Salem Wine Imports. Di Marchi is proprietor and winemaker (and very genuine salesman) of Isole e Olena in Tuscany. After every wine of his I tasted – from the Chianti Classico to the Nebbiolo to the Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon – I thought to myself, "This is red wine from Italy?" They were nothing like I was expecting, because they were refined, and they were elegant, and they were softer versions than I'd normally found of each of these grapes. Softer, to be sure, was not what I was expecting.

I stand corrected, and I'm glad.

I started the tasting of reds with Isole e Olena's Chianti Classico. I sniffed and swirled and tasted then turned to di Marchi and said, with some degree of astonishment I'm sure, "It's mellow!" It was restrained, but not in a tightly-wound-about-to-blow kind of way; it was restrained because it was the kind of wine that sits in the back of the room, unflashy, understated, substantive, essential, a winner. I love being surprised by a wine and what surprised me about this one was how clean, balanced, and simply enjoyable it was.

Di Marchi smiled, and told me he wants the Chianti to be very approachable and easy to drink with a meal. I'd heard that so many times before, but this time it hit me like a ton of bricks. In a good way. I'd drink this with a meal, I thought, and I'd drink it before a meal and after it too.

Then we moved onto Isole e Olena's Cepparello, which received all kinds of hype when it was named by Decanter magazine as one of Italy 50 greatest wines ever. I asked di Marche to tell me about the Cepparello and he told me that the Sangiovese grapes he used to make the wine enjoy the view from the top of the hills of Tuscany just as much as people do. They thrive there. They're loving life. And that's what you get from the wine.

The entire tasting was a lesson in that kind of agricultural personality. From the soil conditions on either bank of the Po river to the age of the Dolomites compared to the age of the Alps, you get the feeling di Marchi is on intimate terms with the history (and geological context) of each of his vines. You also get the feeling di Marchi's vines are well-schooled somehow: articulate but not excessive, elegant but not trendy, expressive but not brash.

It's a beautiful thing to taste.

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About the Author

Cathy Huyghe

Cathy Huyghe writes about drinking wine every day in the Boston area. She finds the quirky characters, the after-hours events, and the surprising stories that make up Boston's vibrant local wine scene. But no matter where she is, what she's doing, or who she's with, she mostly just wants to drink the stuff.

Her first restaurant gig was at Chez Panisse, when she knocked on the kitchen's back door and asked if she could work there. She's also worked for Jean-Pierre Vigato in Paris and Thomas Keller in Las Vegas. She went to graduate school at Harvard (twice), and her writing has run in Boston magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Edible Boston, and on Nevada Public Radio and Grist.org.

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