Sometimes inexpensive wines in large bottles are dismissed as "jug" wines that are found in the grocery store carts of people who are going for quantity more than quality. But you can trust James The Wine Guy (and his lovely Washington sidekick, Mary) that we have tasted these and found them to be extraordinarily tasty for the price.
The wines, designated simply Rosso (Red) and Bianco (White) are made by the Tezza family (cousins Flavio, Vanio and Federico) who sustainably farm 25 hectares of land in the Valpantena Valley ("valley of the gods") a rocky-soiled niche between Lake Garda and the Alps, outside the city of Verona (home of the annual Vinitaly wine show). In fact, when I called our Italian wine expert, Jim Stock, The Haw River Wine Man, to order several Italian wines we had tasted in January, he answered his cell phone and said, "Actually, I'm sitting in a piazza in Verona right now, watching the lovely Italian women walking by." He was THERE, in Verona, at Vinitaly. He imports these wines...and I always rely on Jim Stock's evaluation of Italian libations.
These are the local wines that are served in the restaurants and bars of the area and that the locals fill their jugs with. They rarely get out of the Veneto, but because the Haw River Wine Man also imports the Tezza family's premium wines (like the Brolio della Giare Amarone that is one of our Christmastime treats), we get to have these great values hear in downeast Carolina.
The Tezza Rosso is mostly Corvina, a thick-skinned red grape that is the main component of Valpolicello and Bardolino, with the addition of Rondinella, Corvinone and a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon. The Bianco is mostly Garganega (the grape of the classic Soave whites), with some Cortese (the grape of Gavi wines).
Ciao, baby!
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