Although the French would rather put the name of the village donkey on the label rather than the grape variety, and the German method of categorising wine results in literary convolutions like “trockenbeerenauslese”, surely the Italians take the award for most opaque, illogical and beaurocratic system of wine naming and labelling. With little attempt to demystify their unfamiliar native grape varieties and huge differences in quality from the same region, we Groggers very rarely explore beyond Chianti and/or the second-to-cheapest one on the Pizza Express menu.
So it’s always refreshing to see an Italian producer make their wine more accessible, which is what Madeinmilan (that’s ‘Made in Milan’ folks) have done with their trio of stylishly designed red wines. Chunky Futura typography and a bold red, black and white palette announce the easy-to-say names of Romeo, a sweet and light 9%ABV Cagnina di Romagna DOC; Paparazzi, a lightly sparkling Lambrusco; and Brutus, a beefier Sangiovese. So a wimpy teenager, a group of intrusive parasites and a murderous traitor, then?
(Wine fact: Sangiovese comes from the latin ’sanguis Jovis’ which means Jupiter’s blood.)
We very much like the cool, simple, Italina-coffee-brand design of the bottles, but on closer inspection of the Madeinmilan website the brand loses the plot with guff like this…
…and the insistance that Madeinmilan wines are an ideal pairing with SEX:
“Yes, we said SEX. Madeinmilan really goes well with sex. The wine fairy will accompany your passionate nights. Take a bottle to bed and be prepared for anything.”
I’ll be prepared to bleach my sheets and pick out broken glass from my mattress in the morning, thankyouverymuchMadeinmilan! And the wine fairy has accompanied me to bed on many nights and there’s never been any passion – just bitter disappointment, purple lips and a hangover.
As seen via the rather nifty Dropular.
[...] already complimented one Italian wine producer on their simple, bold labels, we now have the pleasure of complimenting another on their excellent [...]