Wine Review - Cavatappi Sangiovese

The Sangiovese grape is the primary component of Chianti (at least 90% of any given Chianti more often than not), and has a reputation of having a hard time ripening, which can lead to inconsistency depending on where the grapes were grown. Our mission this time around was to see how this Sangiovese from the Yakima Valley stood on its own.

Lest you think that it's all fancy meals and wines every night at the Bunker household, we decided to bring food in and keep it real with some Zagi's pizza. I had ambitious plans to make my mean Chicken Marsala, but it was a work night, and also workout night, and hey why not?

The Cavatappi Winery is located in Kirkland, WA, and specializes in Sangiovese and Nebbiolo wines. Their grapes come from Red Willow Vineyard, located in the Yakima Valley.

The Yakima Valley AVA was established in 1983, the first of all the Washington state AVAs. Unlike other AVAs in the Columbia Valley, the soil is alluvial backup from nearby Lake Lewis, from during the Missoula Flood period. It has a (relatively) cooler climate than the surrounding areas, and currently is home to over one third of Washington's vineyards.

The wine:

2003 Cavatappi Sangiovese, Yakima Valley, WA
Alcohol 14.1%
Retail (approx): $9.95

Italian food turned out to be the right choice for this Tuscan grape. The wine had a nice ruby red color, and a mellow berry aroma to it. On first taste, it had a medium body, and mild fruity flavors; we were reminded of a blended "red table wine", which would explain its large role in Chianti, a wine that has probably logged more hours with Americans serving Italian meals than any other wine in the past 30 years.

As such, and as predicted, it went very well with the pizza. Fortunately Zagi's allows you to buy pizza by the (very large) slice, and we were free to experiment a little. With a plain cheese slice the wine held its own, but it was pretty apparent that the wine didn't have enough distinct and crisp flavors to elevate either slice or wine above anything beyond passable. Next we kicked up the spice with a slice that had some sort of spicy pepper, olive and sun dried tomato on it. The pizza was really spicy, and while the mellow wine did balance it out a bit, we were reminded of why you generally don't order wine (especially red wine) with your Mexican or Thai food.

I went traditional with the third slice, straight up pepperoni (my wife gives me no end of grief for always ordering pepperoni), and the more moderate spiciness of the meat complimented the wine very nicely, and vice versa. I had a flashback to the "red wine" you'd order at a simple pizza parlor back in the day, although the Sangiovese was a notch above, to be certain.

The last and champion piece was a specialty slice that wasn't on their menu (Zagi's likes to give the pizza slingers some leeway with the per-slice pizzas, a fantastic idea), one that was topped with a garlic olive oil sauce, gorgonzola, fresh tomato, and marinated bell peppers. Our mouths about fell off from glee at this combination. The wine cut the olive oil just right, and was a smash balancing out the piquant (or "stinky" if you prefer) flavor of the gorgonzola. But then considering that both cheese and wine come from Northern Italy, this shouldn't be too surprising.

For the post meal chocolate test, we reverted to snob mode and had some chocolate that friends sent us from Switzerland for Christmas. The Frey "Mandomiel" (that's almond/honey/nugat in English) went quite well with the wine, which was the opposite of our previous experiences. It had just enough character to bring out the berry in the wine; I think in this instance a simple milk chocolate would have given us a bland mix, as we saw with the plain cheese pizza.

Lesson learned: This Sangiovese is step above your average red table wine, but definitely should be handled under the same circumstances, food-wise. Avoid anything overly plain or overly spicy, but a little spice and/or a flavorful cheese (I'm thinking lasagna or the like) will really bring out the quality of this finicky grape.

3.6/5