AcmeShorts

I had a great glass of 2000 Vallone Brindisi Rosso Riserva at the bar at Lippa. It reminded me so much of my precious Apollonio Copertino Rosso Riserva 1993 (also from Puglia and also negroamaro) that a tear came to my eye.

The Brindisi was poised, elegant, slutty, “sweet” and dry! (Remarkable trick of that Puglian Negroamaro – makes it so darn food friendly, cheese-friendly for chrissakes! I mean, how many dry reds have you had that go well with cheese? Yah, like, none; that’s what I thought.) It was earthy, musky, downright muddy; it made me feel dirty. But it also had a focused, ripe, clean raspberry aroma, pure and innocent. Imagine a beautiful, dark-haired, church-going Southern Italian maiden, armpit hair o’erflowing, crotchless leather trousers, pubes wild and unkempt. She hasn’t bathed in four days, she’s lordosed and squashing a handful of raspberries into a pile of mud and fresh dung as the aroma of her ripe womanhood wafts over her exposed bonch and 'sfintere.' That’s what the Brindisi was like!!!

I had never been to Bari, but I imagined the air redolent of Brindisi and Copertino; I saw the sun-drenched olive groves and the glistening Mediterranean in the distance like a jewel. This wine was a jewel - a wine of paradox. It both danced lightly on the palate and clumsily announced its awkward presence. It was cheap and drank like money.