Daniele Nardi's website

Wine and cheese? This bottle has both.

This is one of my favorite – and affordable (at $16 – $19) – Chianti Classicos. (Yes, as you can see, I taste and review a lot of them). It is characterized by being an explosive wine. It’s full body, packed with plums and strawberry jam aromas, and some herbs (rosemary). But what makes is quite distinctive is a hint of stinky aroma too. Yes, stinky. It’s not a flaw. Many wines – Rhone wines, Chianti wines, etc – have a note that some refer to as “animal”, or sometimes “horse blanket”, or sometimes even “manure”. It’s just a hint, not the dominant aroma – but it’s there. To me, it reminds me of cheese. So basically, you are smelling the fruit and spices that you typically expect in this wine, but you also get a bit of this “cheese” or “animal” accent.

Wine is not just a fruit juice, and complexity is something sought after. So if you have never tried a “stinky” wine, you should 🙂