Lasorda Chianti hits it out of the park
When Tommy Lasorda signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent in 1945, making a lovely chianti from vineyards near his family's ancestral home probably was not among his plans.
Nevertheless, after being in baseball for more than 60 years, the legendary Hall of Famer decided to try his hand at winemaking. Together with Donne Vino, which specializes in celebrity wine labels, he has created this tasty and inexpensive drinking wine made from sangiovese grapes.
His taste in wine is as good as his skill at picking baseball players. While I have seen many poor examples of the so-called celebrity labels, this Lasorda Chianti bucks the trend and surprises with its approachability.
You can taste it and others during the 34th annual UNLVino wine tasting 2 p.m. Saturday at Paris Las Vegas, 3655 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Tickets at $100 in advance are available on UNLVtickets.com or by calling 739-3267. (Tickets are $125 at the door.)
In the glass, Lasorda Chianti is dark cherry-red with a dense opaque core going out into a fine crimson-red rim definition with medium-high viscosity.
On the nose, there is an immediate concentration of black fruit with black cherries, brambleberries, black spicy plum notes, wood notes, wet tobacco, dark chocolate, fresh salvia and hints of meaty minerals.
In the mouth, the wine coats the palate with classic chianti character, which means black cherry compote, plum marmalade, extracted slightly spicy and wooded notes of blackberries, currants, tobacco, minerals and light herbs. The midpalate is powerful and mouth-filling, showcasing rounded tannins that are in harmony with the fruit. The wine goes into a nice finish that lingers for 15-plus seconds with lots of dark fruit and cherry concentrate.
It is one of the most surprising chiantis I have tasted in the past couple of years in this price range, and it is a very solid wine. Try it with a traditional Italian lamb ragout or osso buco Milanese. It should drink well through 2010.
Wine: Lasorda Chianti DOCG
Grape: Sangiovese
Region: Tuscany, Italy
Vintage: 2006
Price: $12.99
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.
