Gluggy

Get Real

By Sylvia Jansen, DipWSET, CSW, Sommelier

If you ask our buyers about buying at wine shows and through their travels, they will tell you it is easy. Well, easy to find wine (there is a lot of it in the world)—but that is where easy stops. It is difficult to find modestly priced wines that are truly authentic: good wines that speak honestly of their place of origin, and of the people who made it, without carrying a big price tag. Authenticity is something that makes a Tuscan Sangiovese so different from a Spanish Tempranillo, or a red blend from the southern Rhône in France.

Our buyers also face the challenge of pricing. To arrive on the Manitoba market under $20, a wine must be produced with ridiculously tight budgets for the grower and the winemaker; it has to be shipped, usually in heavy, breakable glass, using fuel and money; it has to go through imports and taxes; and getting into our province means it is subject to the high levies.

Considering all of these factors, it might seem like a fantasy to get something authentic on a budget. Can it be done? Or do we need to resign ourselves to drinking whatever is a reasonable price, even if the Spanish tastes the same as the Italian, which is the same as the French or Chilean? The answer is yes—and no. Yes, we can get authentic wines on a budget. And no, we do not need to resign ourselves to something less.

So, what makes a wine “authentic”?

One factor is climate. Cool climates in general produce lighter-bodied wines with higher acidity, and hot climates produce wines that can be big and soft, with ripe fruit. We should expect that wines from cool climates like Niagara or France’s Loire Valley will taste different from wines from hot climates like central Spain or the Central Valley of California.

Another factor is the fruit. The grape variety, or varieties, are a huge part of a wine’s character. Certain grape varieties have distinctive signatures that are modified by the place they grow. Sangiovese, for example, produces distinctive wines of lively acidity, with a dusty, cherry core, and a nice tannic structure. The variety needs a warm place, like Tuscany, to ripen well. If the wine reflects that fruit character, it will be

Poggio Anima

One gem is the Poggio Anima line of Italian wines. Their goal is to use great fruit from vineyards of growers they know and offer up wines that convey their origin honestly. These are not bulk wines or leftover juice from someone else’s winery, but rather the expression of place, fruit, and culture. The packaging is a bit of modern play on an ancient theme: white wines are named after religious archangels and reds are named after fallen angels. Each wine is made from a single grape variety and even from single vineyards, making them models of authenticity— and each for the very affordable price of $16.99.

From left to right: Poggio Anima Lilith Primitivo, Poggio Anima Samael Montepulciano, Poggio Anima Gabriel Pecorino, Poggio Anima Asmodeus Nero d’Avola, Poggio Anima Belial Sangiovese

a great pizza wine, because the acidity is lively enough to cut through the fat, even if it might be a bit tart on its own.

A third factor is the people who make it, or, more generally, the culture that the wine reflects. If the winemaker is aiming for a wine that speaks of his or her culture, it will be a different wine than one targeted to a particular audience. If our buyers select only wines that are made for what producers perceive North Americans want, we will have a lot of wines with a similar character. That character will not be particularly authentic to the people, the varieties, or the culture of the wine’s origin.

Luckily our buyers are looking for authentic—and on budget. It is a tall order, but they get it done. 