Spice up your wine

[cuz]

My daughter bought me an amazing red from Italy for Father's Day - Tenuta Buon Tempo. The description reads "Scorched earth, forest floor,and roasted coffee bean aromas open this wine. The palate is on its oak, delivering toast, vanilla, mocha, cooking spices and plumcake". I have to try to capture some of this quality. Going to try some coffee beans but the cooking spices got me stumped. Has anyone used any kind of cooking spices in their wine.
Also just wondering if anyone has ever heard of an area in Italy called Valpolicella. It is known for Quintarelli wines.

 

[sour_grapes]

Also just wondering if anyone has ever heard of an area in Italy called Valpolicella. It is known for Quintarelli wines.

Yes, Valpolicella is a well-known wine-producing area in the Veneto region. (It is one of the largest producers in Italy.) They are known for "regular" Valpolicella, which is a bit light-bodied, and also Amarone della Valpolicella, in which a more full-bodied wine is made by partially drying (i.e., raisining) the grapes before vinification. In between these two are Ripasso wines.

I had never heard of "Quintarelli," so Google tells me that they are a renowned vintner from that region. But I would have to disagree that Valpolicella is "known for Quintarelli wines." It is well-known in general, for the hundreds of other vintners and wines in that DOC.

 

[cuz]

Check out Quintarelli here:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/vincarta.com/blog/quintarelli/amp/

Anyone using any sort of cooking spices with their red wine?

 

[Venatorscribe]

My daughter bought me an amazing red from Italy for Father's Day - Tenuta Buon Tempo. The description reads "Scorched earth, forest floor,and roasted coffee bean aromas open this wine. The palate is on its oak, delivering toast, vanilla, mocha, cooking spices and plumcake". I have to try to capture some of this quality. Going to try some coffee beans but the cooking spices got me stumped. Has anyone used any kind of cooking spices in their wine.
Also just wondering if anyone has ever heard of an area in Italy called Valpolicella. It is known for Quintarelli wines.

Some of these descriptions on labels are just wishful thinking from people with mutated taste buds. I have often heard it referred to as Somm BS. I think I’d throw my wine out if it tasted like a forest floor or scorched earth. Yes - I have come across wine with spices etc. I often add cardamom pods to my lighter tasting ciders prior to initial fermentation. I know some folk who make up berry or citrus tinctures / zest’s to their fruit and botanical wines, adding them in secondary. Six months ago I fermented a dried hibiscus tea and rose petal wine. But I haven't come across anyone making such additions to 100% grape based wines. Good question though. I'd be interested to know if there are folk making such additions. Cheers