Beef Stew

Sangiovese. When I hear that word, I just have to tell a story. In the final semester of my wine steward course at one of our wine dinners we were served, unknown to us, a Brunello di Montalcino wine. This is one of Tuscany's great wines that for obvious reasons will never be reviewed in this column. I was sitting across from our teacher. When the first drops of this noble liquid reached my lips I uttered a single word, pronounced more slowly than usual, Sangiovese. Twenty wine students, and I was the only one who identified the grape. Two additional comments are in order; a) purists will note that the grape is Brunello, a clone of Sangiovese b) I have never been able to repeat this stroke of luck. When you want a fine wine in the $40 range (or way, way more) you will probably do very well with Brunello di Montalcino.



Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but definitely prefers drinking fine French, German, or other wine. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His global wine website www.theworldwidewine.com features a weekly review of $10 wines and new sections writing about and tasting organic and kosher wines. Visit his Italian wine website www.theitalianwineconnection.com .

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