Wine Review - 2012 Luna Argenta Negroamaro Primitivo Appassimento: Amarone Style Makes For Good Wine

As we go through our purchases from the NSLC Port of Wines Festival in September we continue to hit high point after high point.  This wine is another award winner and is a really nice wine.

A blend of Negroamaro and Primitivo grapes this wine is made in the appassimento style which is to say that grapes are dried and pressed into the wine.  This is particularly popular with the Italian Amarone della Valpolicella.  It adds a lot of round bold flavours to a wine that can be categorized as a little thin at times.  This wine benefits from that style of winemaking.

The wine is a very dark purple with mahogany edge in the glass and has very quick legs on the swirl.  Really nice and it looks older than it is.  You can thank the wine skins for that.  Well done.

There is a fiery nose with notes of sugar plums and black pepper.  The beauty of the appassimento style is that body and nose.  Excellent.

The body is much larger than if the wine was traditionally fermented and that is a great thing.  The flavours start on the front-end with cinnamon sugar and nutmeg.  Really interesting and this is definitely a great Winter wine.  It warms the heart.  The mid-palate is sour cherries or more to the point choke cherries with a very tart and tannic finish.  Though the wine is not super balanced, it is very rustic and nice.

	Tasting Notes:	Score:
Sight (0-5)	Dark purple with a mahogany edge, looks like there is age on it when there isn't.	4.5
Smell (0-5)	Fiery nose with sugar plums and black pepper.	4.0
Taste (0-10)	Fuller bodied, with cinnamon sugar and nutmeg with sour cherries on the mid-palate and a tannic finish.	7.5
	Total:	16.0 / 20 (80%)

So for $20 you get a fairly nice tasting experience.  The price seems to fir the wine and we would be happy to have this with Italian food or on its own.  Worth the uptick from from many table Chiantis.

Keep on tasting!

Chris & Shannon