Marglin on Taste

One prominent local wine merchant responded to my request for good half-bottles with a slight snicker. “I don’t have any,” he said. “Why would anyone want to purchase any good wine in such a useless format?”At first I thought he was kidding, but he was not. Still, he had a whole shelf of half-bottles and, when pressed, did admit that they were “occasionally useful in restaurants.”

When people talk about a bottle of wine, they usually mean a 750-milliliter bottle, the standard size for fine wine. Standard sizes are a modern-day invention — before Prohibition, most wine in this country (and in Europe) was sold in large casks to local merchants, who would then sell the wine in whatever containers they had around. (In bottles, if the wine was fine enough.) A lot of folks would bring their own bottles to be filled. But recently — say, in the past 50 years — the 750-milliliter format has become standard around the world.

Many wineries don’t produce half-bottles at all, but for me they’re a godsend. When I’m dining alone, a half-bottle is just perfect. Or when I need to try a wine for review purposes– again, I don’t need a full bottle. Sometimes when you’re eating with someone at a restaurant, the main course will be meaty, something that demands red wine, but the appetizers will be lighter, often fish or something more delicate that calls for a half-bottle of white. And a bottle and a half is a splendid amount of wine for two people to drink over the course of a leisurely dinner.

Half-bottles also cause wines to mature faster. There are many theories about how the size of the bottle affects aging, but the gist is this: aging is a function of air. If there’s enough wine in the bottle to “absorb” the traces of oxygen, even a proportionally larger amount of air won’t cause it to age as fast as a smaller bottle would. Bigger bottles such as magnums and jeroboams have more liquid, and hence the wine in these “large format” bottles is affected more slowly by air. Smaller bottles have less liquid, and therefore will age faster, making them more approachable for reviewers and drinkers alike. (Of course, this also means you can’t hold them as long.)

Half-bottles, like large-format bottles, cost proportionally more than their 750-milliliter counterparts, owing to the increased cost of the bottles and the changes required in the bottling and labeling machines. So two half-bottles will often cost you slightly more than one whole, just as a magnum always costs more than two 750-milliliter bottles. Magnums are for collectors (indeed, some serious collectors prefer to drink only large-format bottles of the best wines); half-bottles are for wine drinkers.

But this doesn’t make half-bottles a bad deal. Half-bottles tend to get short shrift in retail stores (and they are buried at the back of many wine lists, too), so there are bargains to be found. Wines that have appreciated sharply in value may still hang around in half-bottles at the store, or linger on a restaurant’s list, because of neglect by customers. I have snagged some beautiful white wines at Marty’s in Newton and at Brookline Liquor Mart in Allston simply by poking around in the half-bottle section. Another point: since they’re cheaper in absolute terms, half-bottles can allow wine fans on a budget to try some great wines without having to break the bank. If you’re eating out and want to order a really interesting wine, $20 may not get you much in the full-bottle range, but it will often get you something very interesting in a half-bottle.

In general, wineries that produce half-bottles tend to be focused on selling wines in restaurants. Such wineries want to make showcase wines, and they build their brands by being included on wine lists. Although a few very top wineries do not make any half-bottles, in general it is a sign of overall quality when a winery chooses to bottle some of its wines in the 375-milliliter format.

So look around in wine stores and study those wine lists carefully, because sometimes really good wines come in relatively small packages.

1995 Sierra Cantabria Rioja Crianza ($7.99, 375 milliliters). A clean and fruity Spanish red, peaking completely. Lots of berry flavors, lots of polish and finesse. A super value, great for summer, with spicy foods on the barbie or even just burgers. Solid and sophisticated.

Gruet Brut NV ($7.99, 375 milliliters). A somewhat fruity sparkler, and yet still plenty dry. Not a deep wine by any means, but great bubbles and fine texture. Excellent with spicy foods, or as an aperitif. A good quaffing bubbly — from New Mexico, no less.

1997 Renwood Old Vines Zinfandel (Amador County, California, $9.99, 375 milliliters). High alcohol, ample fruit, a touch of petrol on the nose and up front. Not as classy or earthy as some of the earlier Renwoods, but still a very solid wine that will pair well with spare ribs, burgers, or sausages.

1997 Mercurey Premier Cru Domaine du Meix-Foulot ($14.99, 375 milliliters). Bright strawberry with quartz and some spice. A light, very approachable red Burgundy, one for easy drinking. I like it with pork chops, anything with a plum sauce (moo shu), or some Chilean sea bass. Gorgeous.

1998 Merryvale Estate Reserve Merlot Napa ($21.99, 375 milliliters). Scrumptious. Major oak, but also loads of black fruit, especially blackberry. A wine big enough for a nice steak or any Chinese beef dish. You can drink it now (it might need a half-hour of air), but this will improve with age — in 10 years it will be even tighter and more together.

Most wine imported from Italy comes from the Italian mainland. But some distinctive wines — and some of the country’s great values — come from Italy’s two major islands: Sicily and Sardinia.Mythologically speaking, wine may have originated in Sicily. According to Greek myth, Bacchus (a/k/a Dionysus) was on his way to Sicily when he saw a strange delicate plant, which he uprooted and took with him in a hollowed bird bone. As he traveled, the plant kept shooting up, so he transferred it into a lion’s bone and then finally an ass’s bone. When he reached Nasso, on Sicily, he planted the root and it bore fruit; he then used this fruit — grapes — to make the world’s first wine. Some say the symbolism of this myth is that a little wine will make you light as a bird, a bit more will make you brave as a lion, and too much will make you dumb as an ass.

Mythology aside, Sicily produces a huge amount of wine; nowadays, more wine is made in Sicily than in all of Australia! Sicily’s best-known wine is far from its best: Marsala, made on the western shores. Marsala is a fortified wine of uneven quality, and in this country it has been relegated (for the most part) to cooking.

But Sicily has tremendous potential to make fine wine, and with Italian wine going through a renaissance in the US, it is to be hoped that we’ll be seeing more of it. As far as fine wine goes, Sicily has nine distinct approved wine regions, or DOCs. Most of the wine from these regions doesn’t reach the US (it’s not always easy to find in Italy outside of Sicily, either). But you can usually find bottles from Sicily’s most respected wine producers, Corvo and Regaleali.

Regaleali’s wines have been stunning the past couple of years, and their rosé, which I have reviewed before, is one of the best for the price ($11.99). And the Tasca D’Almerita family, which owns the winery, also produces Rosso del Conte, one of the most exciting red wines I have tried this year. It’s an absolute behemoth, a field blend that includes Sicily’s most distinctive red-wine grape, nero d’avola.

Historically speaking, Sardinia may have been one of the first places in Europe where wine was made. It was a major outpost for the Phoenicians, who are said to have invented wine.

Many of its major grape varieties, however, come from Spain, planted during the Aragonian monarchy in the 17th century. That’s when cannonau grapes were first planted — a grape related to grenache, and a personal favorite of mine for the delicious, fruity wine it makes.

I first became interested in Sardinian wines when I ordered, off a wine list, a 1990 Sella & Mosca cabernet sauvignon. Sella & Mosca is the heavyweight winemaker on Sardinia, and its Marchese di Villa Marina — a 100-percent-cabernet wine that probably released for around $50 — got the top “three glasses” award from the Gambero Rosso (the Italian equivalent to the Michelin Guide). It absolutely blew me away with the fullness of its cabernet taste — I couldn’t believe this was from an island in the Mediterranean — and now I’m a huge fan of all things Sardinian.

I love cannonaus, because they fill the mouth with fruit, and I’ve also become a fan of the island’s main white grape, vermentino. A Sardinian vermentino is similar to a good sauvignon blanc in some ways; it’s more vivacious, though nowhere near as deep. Sardinia also makes a few good wines from carignane (which is called carignano there), though I could not find any sold in Massachusetts.

In general, the 1997s and 1998s from both islands are excellent, and if you serve them, you’ve got a good story to tell: the liquid in your glass may be descended from some of Europe’s original wines. The greatest wines from these islands may cost you some dollars, but the good ones are great buys — well worth keeping your “isles” open for.

1998 Argiolas Vermentino di Sardegna Costamolino (Sardinia) ($7.99). Some people don’t like vermentinos, but I find them grapefruity and refreshing. This wine is a winner with pizza, fried clams or oysters, or any kind of hummus. It is crisp and citrusy, with not a long taste, but a very clean one.

1998 Regaleali Tasca D’Almerita Rosato Sicilia ($11.99). Very spirited and lively (think strawberry cheesecake), this rosé works well with Thai food or spicy chicken salad. One of the world’s absolute best rosés, especially for the price. I’d buy a few bottles and serve it, well chilled, all summer long.

1996 Sella & Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva ($12.99). A big bold fruit gob o’ wine. Lots of blueberry, a hint of licorice, allspice, and oak. Nice with hamburgers, chicken stir-fry, or anything that needs a big fruit-laden wine to hold its own against the flavors. Great value.

1998 L’Arenarie Sauvignon Blanc Sella & Mosca (Sardinia) ($12.99). Loads of grapefruit. This is one of those witty wines with great flavor. It is a lovely value, and I was surprised that Sardinia could deliver such a classy SB. Superb with shellfish or pesto chicken.

1997 Rosso del Conte Tasca D’Almerita (Sicily) ($39.99). Pricey, but worth every penny. A fruit roller coaster, swirling flavors, sweet raspberries, lots of jam, almost papaya-like. A major cocktail. Works well with venison or fruity pork dishes. A thriller.