2022 Li Veli Susumaniello Rosato IGP Salento
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2022 Li Veli Susumaniello Rosato IGP Puglia
John: A personal favorite from Italy’s sunny Adriatic coast, this has great substance to go along with its fabulous aromatics. This wine reminds me of a gorgeous sun-spangled lunch overlooking the cerulean Adriatic with a perfectly grilled San Pietro bathed in a fragrant chili brodo….. Heaven on earth!
You can be forgiven for never having heard of the Susumaniello grape. In order to, you’d, most likely, either be studying for your second level sommelier exam or have had opportunity to eat and drink in coastal Puglia, along Italy’s Adriatic Coast. Even if you had traveled there, you might have been more likely tempted to order something marginally more familiar, like Puglia’s much better known Negroamaro or Primitivo instead, to go with your Orrechiette pasta. Susumaniello (sue-sue-mon-ee-ello), though, is worth the inevitable trip of the tongue when you try to order it. It is, in our opinion, the very essence of this sunny, wind-swept cerulean blue coast in a bottle. Grown only at a handful of family-run masseria around the white-washed hill town of Brindisi, this pungent, fragrant red variety is typically either blended away with Negroamaro into various Salento blends, turned into some very intriguing Rose, or bottled by a few intrepid producers on its own, where its deep, deep color and incredible aromatics can really shine. A late ripener, Susumaniello, when it’s harvested at the proper time in the season, can make a truly delicious, really distinctive dry pink wine that not only looks fabulous with the sunshine streaming through a cold glass, it seems born to accompany the wonderful pastas, spicy fish dishes and smoky, grilled meats one finds in this incredible region. I first discovered Li Veli’s wonderful Askos Susumaniello Rosato at a small trattoria overlooking the impossibly blue Adriatic in the stunning hilltop town of Ostuni. I know. I could have been drinking battery acid and it would taste good in that town, but, even so, I remained objective enough to determine that this was a tremendous bottle of wine. Dry and minerally, there is great substance to go along with its fabulous aromatics. Just think about walking through one of the many gardens that surround the whitewashed walls of Ostuni and you get the idea- lemon, blood orange, all kinds of flowers, maybe a squeeze of pink grapefruit? Wow. Think of a gorgeous sun-spangled lunch overlooking the cerulean Adriatic with a perfectly grilled San Pietro bathed in a fragrant chili brodo….. It’s heaven on earth! And it’s really, really good all on its own too!
**** Arugulas, *** Hammocks on PRIMA’s scientific Rose scale.
**** Arugulas, *** Hammocks on PRIMA’s scientific Rose scale.