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John Moore -
WINE SPOTS

SANTA CRISTINA 1992. ANTI-
NORI. $9.95 (ITALY)

Only one wine this week and
it’s a wine, if not a vintage, I’ve
recommended before. | have to
mention it again because it rep-
resents a unique event in con-
temporary wine-making.

Tuscany, home of the finest
microclimates for the production
of sangiovese grapes from which
great chianti is made, suffered
devastating downpours in 1992
In such years, most winemakers
simply concentrate the juice to
make a smaller volume of “pass-
able”wine and put the onus on
the buyer to beware, come
armed with a vintage chart and
weather reports.

This can be particularly irritat-

_ing for the consumer who buys
an upscale luxury blend, a
Riserva or Chianti Classico, from

a trusted firm, only to find one
has paid a stiff tariff for a wine
that isn’t up to its usual standard.
(Some Bordeaux houses lower
: their prices slightly in “off” years,
but the wines are seldom a bar-
gain.)

Faced with this problem, the
Antinori firm took the drastic but
commendable step of simply
cancelling production of their
famous cabernet/sangiovese
blend, Tignanello, as well as
their Villa Antinori Riserva and
several other top wines, for
1992.

Rather than have customers
pay $40 or even $15 for average
wine when they’re expecting
something a cut above, Antinori
dumped the salvaged sangiovese
normally reserved for their best
wines into their “house wine”
Santa Cristina.

It may rot be Tignanello for
10 bucks, but the extra depth
and tannic bite is noticeable,
making a wine that is always
good value a real bargain. You
might even want to lay a few
down for a couple of years to
flabbergast future dinner guests.

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or

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