Monte Antico - Sangiovese

Price: $10.99
Region: Toscana
Year: 2004

With the next wine that makes my top 5 default wines, I stray a bit from the normal mold of California or Australia. I know based on wines like this, I should more often choose wines from Italy and France, etc., but I just always seem to gravitate to those regions I know better. Anyway, this is probably the first wine that I would classify as something I bought on a regular basis. I'm not even sure why I picked it up other then I read something a few years ago recommending it. Once I gave it a try, it was easy to see why it came highly recommended for the price.

When you first pour a glass, you can notice the deep, dark red coloring. Nothing weak looking here. Equally as noticeable is the pleasant aroma. I don't like using this term, but it just seems to fit here.. Bouquet. Just generally very appealing. In my opinion however, what makes this wine worth coming back to time and time again, is the flavor. It would be hard to call it unique, but it is definitely unique to what I usually drink. I think having a standby Sangiovese is very important to enjoy with the myriad of pasts dinner that seems to show up more often then not. To tell you the truth, this is my favorite wine to have with a plain old cheese pizza. The combination just hits the spot every time. This is the definition of what my default wines are all about. Don't have to think about what to grab when I run into the wine store when I ordered a pizza, I just know I want the same wine that made the dinner so enjyable the last time.

Rating: 3.75 Corks (My default Italian wine)