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December 14, 2005 - BOTTLES WITH A STORY | ON WINE More than just drinks, they have tales to tell By Stephen Meuse, Boston Globe Correspondent:: "It's the season for gift-giving, when a special bottle of wine can be a good way to express love, friendship, or just say thank you. It may only be a stocking stuffer, but the occasion demands it come from the heart, and have some heart of its own. Wine with a heart isn't made a million cases at a time, isn't the subject of marketing campaigns, and doesn't answer to a board of directors. That much we know. What actually gives a wine its pulse -- if it has one -- is less certain. But you can bet that every wine with heart has a great story to tell. Adding a wine with a great story to your gift list takes a little research. To get started on ours we asked four merchants who buy wine at the source to tell us about one bottle they love and the story behind it. Coturri Winery Richard Kzirian of Violette Imports in Cambridge claims that if a law required the listing of wine ingredients, all Coturri labels would read simply: 100 percent grapes. At their winery outside Sonoma in Northern California, brothers Phil and Tony Coturri start with all organic fruit. Wild yeasts undertake fermentation, and finished wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined (not clarified) -- by hand. None of the scores of additives permitted by law finds a home here. Who else makes wine this excruciatingly authentic? ''Almost no one," says Kzirian. ''This is the wine I taste to remind myself what wine tastes like." A quality choice CoturriÉ. makes numerous wines. What follows is our pick of one wine from the estate that is reasonably priced and in good supply at Massachusetts outlets. "Coturri ''Albarello" Sonoma Valley Red Wine 2004. A hugely flavorful, spicy mouthful with beautifully pure flavors and surprising zip. But what isn't surprising here? All the grapes in this red cocktail (40 percent zinfandel, 40 percent petit syrah, with some carignane, barbera, and even a few white grapes thrown in) are sourced from a single Coturri managed vineyard. A fasten-your-seatbelt kind of wine. About $22. Available at The Wine Bottega, North End (617-227-6607); Formaggio Kitchen, Cambridge (617-354-4750); Vintages, West Concord (978-369-2545)." |
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