Montezovo, Bardolino, 2009, more commonly referred too as drink up.

The Corkscrew, €12ish quid

Truth be known I have been awash with disappointments with wines of late a corked Spanish wine being replaced only to be found on its last legs, fruitless, empty, and bitter ready to turn over to a vinegar. Bordeaux with honourable exception has become a stalwart of disappointment for me, anything and everything that it has thrown my way failing to live up to even basic expectation. Outside that safe haven for the pretentious and over-paid France was failing again, now in Cote D’Oc, a Cab Sauv, which opened with so much freshness turn to a decaying hunk of meat within 20m minutes not too long ago to add to all this.


Effectively if you hadn’t guessed by now my disillusionment with the old world was growing so I did what any sensible wine lover does, I turned to region that first stole my heart. Veneto. If you ever find time to potter through our old archives before we expanded the team, you’ll see this regions name pop up more than some might see reasonable. However I argue, find me a grape that performs like Corvina. Back to the point, I resorted in the wee hours of this morning to an old friend for whom I have unwittingly many fond memories, not only for the wine but for its homeland, Lake Garda, where I would see my first vines in the flesh at a relative’s wedding, long before I would ever hear a pop of a cork.

Enter Montezovo’s Bardolino, enter with what can only be described as the reason I feel in love with vino for, a nose of fresh succulent cherry, not your bog standard bite that is dressed up as cherry so often but the cherry flavour only Crovina packs.

Now, this little reminder of why Italy can in my eyes be seen as the a last stand against the rise of new world wine, does not simply rest on the  grounds of a single flavour I am very fond of, no, this little vino is a text book old world classic, subtle, elegant and complex.

Beautifully light on the palate, it is both clear and transparent, yet holding the most beautiful crimson of reds, again a text-book Veronese characteristic.

On the nose, one can only say in the words of Thobias Inkblot – boom. Or in my own turn of phrase “*four letter Profanity* me sideways”, a beautifully changing and flowing side between cranberry and the cherry I’ve mention ensued and every once in a while up would pop a fleeting strawberry, only to subside and offer a herbaceous note that too fleeted and again like a film reel on a continuous loop began the dance of cherry and cranberry until a half hour later our cranberry emerged victorious from the duel and began running rampant and delightfully on the nose.


Then on the palate this beautifully refreshing light red revealed itself and I began to understand what Chris from the Corkscrew had meant by the wine being “interesting”. Fruits way beyond its weight began to emerge and display their merits, the aforementioned red fruits; strawberry, cranberry and most prominently the cherry I am clearly raving about. This was all dancing merrily around the palate until finally a new comer to the scene introduced themselves, a note if I am not passing into insanity, of cola, a tweaked and delightful addition to this already brilliantly curious Venetian wine.

Sounding as if this wine is ruled out of a foodie’s night in? Wrong, make yourself a pizza, and watch as what seems on the palate harmless acidity harasses the fat of the cheese into a flavour-overdose. Now before I fall into the trap of typing all night I ought to review this wine, bearing in mind the harsh review Empty heads other than myself have offered Bardolino in the pass, I will stay on the side of caution with this score as not to review this for myself (In which case the score would be “How much is that a case”), I would be more than happy to offer this and 80’s score, personally high eighties if drank now, however to suit all Empty tastes let’s say a healthy 82. I finish by advising you all to pop down to The Corkscrew, and pick up a bottle for that midweek pizza, especially when this wine jumps in at a more than respectable weighing in around €12.

Captain Hungover,
Robo