Sogno Uno de Savanna Samson Lazio IGT Latium Italy. 13.5% alcohol. 70% Cesanese, 20% Sangiovese and 10% Montepulciano. Bottled by Winecircus s.r.l. Imported by Doageo Chateau and Estate Wine Company. MWX Discoveries; price ?; the Latin Liquidator brought this wine to an offline recently.
[Pricing of the wine itself has been somewhat erratic, given quite a bit of publicity surrounding the winemaker based primarily I presume on the label on the bottle, which is detailed below in the Notes section.]
Deep inky red color, deep hue, piercing aroma of fruit and spice with a very interesting earthy quality -- somewhere between chalk and flint -- that little cavity between the nodules of flint and chalk contain that aroma when the chalk is first chipped away; a very strong fruity taste with spice and mineral notes, medium mouth feel, a bit out of balance with strong acidity which moderated only slightly after two hours in the glass; long finish, rather single note and a little boring. Absolutely no aroma lingered in the empty glass. Altogether, an interesting tasting experience, but not a good QPR given the erratic price point. Who could imagine that Virgil would command such interest! 2*.
Notes:
Cesanese: A red grape of ancient origin found mostly in Latium in Central Italy. aka Bonvino Nero.
The label is truly remarkable, containing the longest known Latin text on a wine bottle. Virgil: "Et te, Bacchus, vocant per carmina laeta, tigique oscilla ex alta suspendunt molia pinu. Kinc omnis largo pubescit vinea fetu, complenture vallesque cavae saltusque profundi et quocumque deus circum caput egit honestum. Ergo rite suum Bacchus dicemus honores carminibus patris lancesque et liba feremus, et cutus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad aram, pinguaia in veribus exta colurnis."
The text is extracted from the Second Book of Virgil's "Georgics", devoted in large measure to growing grapes and olive trees. The references to Octavian in this extract are quite subtle, if they exist at all, and I am certain the winemaker took that fact into full account in choosing the text.
P. VERGILI MARONIS GEORGICON LIBER SECVNDVS
...
et te, Bacche, uocant per carmina laeta, tibique
oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu.
hinc omnis largo pubescit uinea fetu, 390
complentur uallesque cauae saltusque profundi
et quocumque deus circum caput egit honestum.
ergo rite suum Baccho dicemus honorem
carminibus patriis lancesque et liba feremus,
et ductus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad aram 395
pinguiaque in ueribus torrebimus exta colurnis.
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/vergil/geo2.shtml
MIT's translation of the text reads as follows:
Grim masks of hollowed bark assume, invoke
Thee with glad hymns, O Bacchus, and to thee
Hang puppet-faces on tall pines to swing.
Hence every vineyard teems with mellowing fruit,
Till hollow vale o'erflows, and gorge profound,
Where'er the god hath turned his comely head.
Therefore to Bacchus duly will we sing
Meet honour with ancestral hymns, and cates
And dishes bear him; and the doomed goat
Led by the horn shall at the altar stand,
Whose entrails rich on hazel-spits we'll roast.
http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/georgics.2.ii.html
My compliments on a remarkable accomplishment in the art and literature of the wine label.
Regards, Bob