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Photo: S. Thanthoni

SMELL AND TELL Alessia Antinori

Today, if Alessia has a wine craving, she’s still going to have to head to a five star hotel, unless she’s willing to drink the syrupy local plonk available at all the city’s bustling ‘wine’ shops. But somehow, you just don’t see her drinking out of a plastic bottle.

Her father’s been credited with almost single-handedly changing the image of wine in Italy. Besides their celebrated vineyards in Umbria and Tuscany, they grow grapes in other parts of the world, including California, Hungary and Chile. And Alessia lives in an 18 bedroom, 14th Century stone mansion. “Oh, not 18 rooms… well, I haven’t counted,” she says, blushing furiously, then adding with a smile, “But yes, it celebrates its 500th birthday this year.”

She guides us through the intricacies of her family wines, teaming them with Chef Giovanna’s four-course menu. The meal opens with Cervaro, a white wine. Apparently the buzz word these days in wine circles is ‘ABC’. “That’s Anything But Chardonnay. Because, if it’s not blended, you feel like you’re chewing wood.” Since this particular wine blends the Chardonnay grapes with Grecetto, you get structure as well as an acidic after-tone. In layman’s terms, it’s smooth, with an unexpected kick. And when you raise the oversized glass to your nose, and inhale deeply, you smell a tangle of spices, predominantly cinnamon.

It’s served with a salad of crisp white endives and bright sections of an orange, followed by a luscious knot of spaghetti, tossed in creamy carbonara sauce generously speckled with bacon.

Discussing why Italian wines are becoming increasingly popular, Alessia says “Italian food is becoming fashionable. It’s simple but good. With French food, after a while it’s a little too creamy, too saucy… ”

She adds, “Italian food goes well with Italian wine. And the world is becoming more knowledgeable about wines in general.”

While Italian winemakers once targeted quantity, now they’re paying attention to quality. “You have to adapt to the world, so there’s been a huge improvement in the quality of Italian wines over the last 30 years,” says Alessia, sipping one of her Chianti Classicos. She adds: “The industry is huge in Italy. We are medium-sized; we want to be like that. We are totally obsessed by quality.”

The last wine, Tignanello, served with a succulent lamb stew teamed with polenta, is one of Antinori’s most famous. Created in the 1970s from Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Sangiovese, this early Super Tuscan (a phrase for red wines from Tuscany that are non-traditional or experimental) is one of Marchesi Antinori’s best-known. Though technically Sassicaia, created by an uncle of Alessia’s, was the original Super Tuscan, Tignanello marked a renaissance in the Italian winemaking industry, changing straight-laced rules and unbending attitudes.

Although Italy has been making wine for 200 years longer than France, Alessia feels the French are ahead of the game because of great marketing. “There is an aura about French wines.” However, in a way, this means there are fewer imitations of Italian wines. “Italian grapes don’t take so well to new locations. I’m happy about that. What Italy gives is wines that can be unique,” says Alessia. “Cabernets, Chardonnays – very often they lack character. You don’t know where the wine comes from. You need to make a wine with personality.”

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