Read more of Cristina wine picks
Cristina Mariani-May is family proprietor and co-CEO of Banfi Vintners, America’s leading wine importer, and the award winning Castello Banfi Vineyard Estate in Montalcino, Tuscany.
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A Season with a Reason for Wine
Cristina Mariani-May
co-CEO Banfi Vintners
America's Leading Wine Importer
May and June are great months for wine, at least around my house. Then again, around my house, every month is a great month for wine! But at this time of year it just seems like we’ve got so many more reasons to open something fun and different.
We celebrated Mother’s Day with a white that conjures up the princess in all of us tomatoes – Principessa Gavia. This crisp clean white from Piedmont, made from the Cortese grape, bears a personality that is very ladylike; when you first start to sip her, she is elegant and refreshing, but reticent to let on her full character. Get to know her a bit more, perhaps over some hors d’oeuvres or a light dinner, and her full charm comes out. Think she doesn’t have the oomph to stand up to those hearty dishes? Just watch her strut her stuff!
This month we also celebrate my oldest son’s birthday, with a wine that I believe will quite accurately describe him someday soon – L’Ardí, which is Piedmontese dialect for a dashing and bold young man. Like him the wine is not too overpowering, but quite charming and well rounded. You just won’t be able to get enough of this wine… or him! L’Ardí is made from the Dolcetto grape, whose name translates, aptly, into ‘the little sweet one,’ and it makes a dry but fruit forward wine.
And my father’s birthday is also this month. We toast him with Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, a classic wine for a classic guy. It is austere (just like he can be sometimes) and complex (yes, that too), with notes of spice and leather (how manly). Made purely from Italy’s native Sangiovese grape, it is a long lived wine (we won’t say how old Dad is but like Brunello, he holds up quite well) with deep character, and of course improves with age (yes, of course, like Dad), though sometimes we wonder if it is really we who grow to appreciate our wines and our Dads as they (and we) age a bit more.
Last but not least, the name of this month is also the family name of my husband, as you can tell by my byline. For him I chose BelnerO, a wine that we refer to as a new classic – from good stock (predominantly Sangiovese) but small contributions from two other grape varieties (just enough to add character, but not to far from a thoroughbred). A moderately aged wine that still bears the charm of its youth (sigh…), BelnerO is at once rugged but refined, at times brooding and deep but always vibrant and approachable (sigh again…), just like the man who swept me off my feet.
Oh, and I almost forgot about all those college graduations we’ve been invited to this month! We’ll celebrate those with Cum Laude, a blend of four grape varieties (Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah) which undergoes a balanced education in our winery (each varietal aged separately for months in oak, then blended and aged some more), leaving with a thorough preparation for the new adventures that lay ahead of it. Use it to raise an appropriate toast to future success!
May’s Wines:
Principessa Gavia Gavi – Piedmont’s premier dry white wine with an intriguing crispness which exalts the fruitiness of this historic and noble wine. Average national retail is around $14.
L’Ardí Dolcetto d’Acqui – A lively and quaffable red wine made from Dolcetto grapes from Piedmont. Ruby colored and redolent of fresh grapes and ripe cherries, with a dry finish. Average national retail $11.
Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino – Rich, round, velvety and intensely aromatic, with flavor hints of licorice, cherry, and spices. Brunello di Montalcino possesses an intense ruby-red color, and a depth, complexity and opulence that is softened by an elegant, lingering aftertaste. Unfiltered after 1998 vintage. Average national retail $72
BelnerO Proprietor’s Reserve Sangiovese – A refined cuvée of noble red grapes perfected by our pioneering clonal research. This dark beauty, BelnerO, is produced at our innovative winery, chosen 11 consecutive years as Italy’s Premier Vineyard Estate. Fermented in our patented temperature controlled French oak and aged approximately 2 additional years. Unfiltered, and Nitrogen bottled to minimize sulfites. Average national retail is around $40.
Cum Laude – A complex and elegant red which graduated “With Honors,” characterized by aromas of juicy berries and fresh spices. Average national retail is around $37.
