Here’s my best buy of the Memorial Day weekend from Renzo Masi Winery in Tuscany: Il Bastardo Rosso (Sangiovese di Toscana) and La Bastarda Pinot Grigio (Sicily) – a red and white for holiday parties. Both are on sale through May 27 at New Hampshire State Liquor & Wine outlets for $6.99 and $8.99, respectively. But it gets better. A special promotion on Italian wines gives consumers a 15 percent discount on the purchase of a case of 12 bottles, including the store’s “power buy” specials.
Now I wouldn’t suggest buying these wines just for the low price if the quality wasn’t worth it. Il Bastardo and La Bastarda are both 100 percent varietal wines and in my book are overachievers. Renzo Masi is a third-generation family-owned operation. It’s located just outside Florence, in Rufina, which is one of seven subzones of the famous Chianti appellation. The king of all Italian grapes, Sangiovese, rules in this hilly, historic area. What this means is that winemaker Paolo Renzi sources fruit from vineyards on the fringe of the Chianti zone for Il Bastardo – paying a lot less for quality and passing on the savings to consumers. He does the same in Sicily, where he sources grapes from reliable growers to make La Bastarda Pinot Grigio.
So let’s take a look at this fantastic deal now in the works.
Il Bastardo Rosso regularly sells for $10.99 a bottle. That’s $131.88 for a 12-bottle case. At its current N.H. sale price, a case costs $83.88. Adding in the 15 percent discount, you pay $71.38. That’s a whopping $60 savings from the suggested retail price!
Following the same logic, a case of La Bastarda Pinot Grigio, which regularly sells for $10.99 a bottle, can be purchased for $91.70 with the sale price and discount – a $40 savings over SRP.
A case of each yields a $100 savings. Where does that happen these days?
I purchased a mix-and-match case of six bottles each for $81.50. Now that’s worth celebrating.
Il Bastardo and La Bastarda are perfect for easy, every-day drinking on the patio and no-airs guest parties where pizza, burgers and fun conversation are on the menu.
Recently, I sampled both wines over simple meals with The Wine Goddess, my wife Mary Lee. I contributed a caprese salad and she graciously made a thin crust pizza featuring sausage, green peppers, black olives and cheese toppings. Mama Maria Lea! Il Bastardo, with its fun label of portly “Guido” on a Vespa, is a medium-bodied wine with plenty of cherry and black fruit flavor. It displayed a dark ruby color and fresh fragrance of wild strawberries. The 2017 vintage represented Paolo Masi’s third for Il Bastardo, which has improved appreciably in quality since its debut. Wine Spectator gave it 88 points, a very respectable rating for a Sangiovese at this price point.
The next night, we enjoyed La Bastarda Pinot Grigio with a pasta dish of spaghetti and shrimp in a white wine sauce. According to the winemaker, the Sicilian grapes are gently pressed and fermented in steel tanks to maximize freshness. La Bastarda showed crisp minerality, lively acidity and bright core flavors of apple and pear that persisted to the final sip. It’s a soft and pleasant pinot grigio.
There’s a story behind the wines. La Bastarda’s label features an attractive lady sunbather who is the object of Il Bastado’s attention and pursuit. Whether they become a match made in vino heaven or not is of no consequence when the only pairing of concern is getting these two wines together for a happy meal with friends.
Renzo Masi also crafts a Chianti Rufina and a Chianti Riserva that are now on sale up north for $10.99 and $16.99, respectively. The Riserva.
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