To commemorate the publishing on our new book, Decoding Italian Wine: A Beginner’s Guide to Enjoying the Grapes, Regions, Practices and Culture of the “Land of Wine,” I will be reviewing a string of what I think (and hope) will be awesome Italian wines I found at Costco in December.
This one jumped out at me as I was perusing the Costco shelves. You don’t frequently see the name Ornellaia on a bottle that costs $25; their wines usually start closer to $100 and go up quite significantly from there. I was anxious to give their low end wine a shot.
The Le Volte is an interesting Super Tuscan blend of 50% Merlot, 30% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. I‘ve been enjoying the Merlot dominated blends lately (something you’re seeing more of in Napa too) so it was good timing to come across this bottle.
Aromatic nose of red fruit and pepper spice. In the mouth, the wine is bountiful, with more fruit flavor, raspberry and a little darker fruit flavor of blueberry, some leather notes toward the finish, which is dry, chalky. Overall, a nice wine; nothing to complain about for $25 at Costco. If you enjoy Super Tuscans then this one is worth a look.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 90 points
Costco item number: 305809
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA