Pepi – Sangiovese – 2004

Date: 13DEC07

Name: Pepi

Varietal: Sangiovese

Vintage: not known, likely 2004

Copy: not known

Price: $6.75 per glass

Preface: I tried a single glass of this wine at lunch today.

Appearance: Gorgeous, lush, deep cherry red that simply glowed. Instead of being relegated to the penumbra and seen only as a sad little strip, the color of this Pepi was eye-catching from the crimson middle to the bright edge. I tilted my glass at various angles, playing the liquid against the overhead restaurant light through to the table below, and studied the beautifully mesmerizing patterns of dazzling, spidery light that shone through, here forming a brilliant, interconnected web, there gathering in a golden orb of shimmering movement. Clear and medium-bodied this is the prettiest wine I’ve ever seen – I was astounded.

In my reading I’ve picked up a little bit about what to look for in a wine’s appearance, and what the appearance might say about how the wine might taste. I’ll relate a little of that here, and perhaps expand on it in my next Critique. Most of the information below I have quite liberally quoted or paraphrased from www.bacchuswinecellars.com and www.winepros.org.

The visual attributes of a wine can be judged on the basis of its appearance, its color and its body.

A wine’s appearance can be brilliant – which denotes a wine with sparkling clarity, – merely clear – lacking that same sparkle, – dull, which comes with a slight cloudiness and some floating particles and finally cloudy, which dutifully describes the sad state of a wine that does not reflect any light at all. Completely clear is the norm for well-made wine, and some sediment in mature reds is ok, but should be allowed to settle to the bottom of the glass before serving, and should not otherwise give the wine a cloudy appearance.

Color in a red wine runs from brickish red and nearly transparent (may be older, mellow) to deep opaque bluish-purple (expect young, brash, tannic), with some mahogany and amber thrown in for good measure. Clues as to the grape varietal identity and the age of wine can be revealed by its hue and transparency or opacity.

A wine’s body refers to the substance of a wine. To me this is a little abstract – I mean, just what is substance? More concretely, you can make some solid observations about a wine’s body by swirling the wine around in your glass, and then observing how the wine flows down the sides of the glass. A full-bodied wine will flow down in heavy, thick sheets. A medium-bodied wine will break into rivulets or “legs,” and a light-bodied wine will not cling to the sides of the glass at all as it flows back down into the glass.

Nose: Back to amateur hour, but I’m going to gush over this Pepi Sangiovese once again. What an incredibly delicious burst of cherry, fruit and plum. I’ve already used ‘delicious’ but I’m going to use it again: this glass of wine smelled so delicious that I couldn’t stop swirling and smelling. There was no portent of astringency, no hint of future tannic attack, only smooth cherry that wafted in a rich envelope from the bowl (correct term?) of my stemware. My wife – not! a wine drinker – loved the smell, as well. A last superlative: best wine I’ve “nosed” yet.

Taste: I want to do justice to this portion of the Critique, but I’m unable due to not having the wine with me as I type so I can sip and think and write, and even if I did, I still lack the vocabulary to fool anyone into thinking I know what I’m talking about. Given that excuse, I will report that this wine was fruity, semi-sweet, had the best, cleanest finish I’ve encountered and, overall, was the best tasting wine I’ve ever had the pleasure to drink. It’s delicious, folks. I will be looking this wine up at World Market or even online because even as a self-styled non-wine drinker, this stuff is really good. I’m looking forward to finding more wines like this and since this is still at the low end of the $$$ range, I hopefully have a lot to look forward to.

Tellings: First things first: my wife and I will be getting iPhones. Groggily emerging from the rock I’ve been living under and witnessing a coworker use one of these things, and then going to the Apple Store and playing with one like its never been played with before – I’m hooked, so is my wife, and so we will be getting iPhones. Way cool devices.

Some housekeeping: I’ve added the heading Varietal and, when appropriate, Preface. Not including the heading Varietal from the start is another one of those things that is embarrassing to me as it should have been clear, even to a neophyte, that wines are produced using different varieties of grapes. As this changes the appearance, nose, taste – everything that makes a wine what it is – it’s essential for a reader to know the varietal in question. Preface is merely any tidbit of information that a reader might need before reading the Critique to make sense of what is to come. Knowing that I tasted – loved! – the Pepi Sangiovese in a restaurant makes it easier to follow along.

For lunch my wife and I ate at the Kona Grill located in the Shops at La Cantera mall. When in San Antonio, please visit this fresh and uniquely designed, water-feature laden, outdoor mall nestled in the South Texas Hill Country and below the sprawling La Cantera resort, alongside West Loop 1604,just south of I-10. Featuring a fusion of – hell, I don’t know, probably Asian and some other ethnic cuisine* – Kona Grill offers a semi-intimate atmosphere, good if not great service, above-average to fairly-priced dishes and a wine list featuring a must-taste Sangiovese by Robert Pepi Vineyards. I enjoyed a Thai Peanut Chicken Pasta dish that was spicy and more nuanced as I made my way to the bottom of the dish where I found less peanut and more pepper and onion, and my wife devoured Kona’s signature dish, a “Macadamia Nut Chicken served with shoyu-cream sauce, pineapple-papaya marmalade, white cheddar mashed potatoes and wok tossed vegetables.” I tried a bite and though the cheddar was way up front, it tasted good. Just like I’m no wine connoisseur – yet! – I’m likewise no food critic. Our server was a bit garrulous but the resulting palaver was made enjoyable because she was very easy on the eyes. My wife agreed with me on this point. Water for her, wine for me, total pre-tip damage: $31. We’ll surely eat there again, if only to ogle the immense aquarium and its showboaty puffer fish.

*Their website claims they serve American food, but what do they know?

On a sadder note, Kona Grill is situated next to a Sleep Number by Select Comfort bed store. As usual the sales clerks listlessly looked up as we strode by, their lonely eyes searching ours, imploring us to stop by and just visit, just talk!, just provide human contact. Such sadscapes – dare I coin a word? – by mall employees usually filter down to the parent company’s stock price. Select Comfort (SCSS), I’m looking at you. SCSS will be making an appearance in the Capital Loss column of next year’s tax return, thank you very much. Folks, stop in, say hi, check out a Sleep Number bed. We have one, we bought our daughter one, and we think they’re great. If you don’t like it, fine! Merely adjust the firmness and it’s a new bed! What else can you ask for?