Siema Wines seems to import a bunch of really nice Italian wines at very reasonable prices. Italy — Siema Brands We have a wine club at our Country Club with a monthly tasting and when Nick from Siema comes the wines seem to be excellent values. [Next month we have someone coming from Jackson Family Estates. History suggests much less in the way of good values.]
We had four reds. I had never heard of any of these producers before. First, we had a Morli Neri 2019 Chianti. Very pleasant, simple wine. What made it very attractive was the price tag - $10 a bottle. Great party wine or pizza wine as the wine had pleasant flavors and was as smooth as can be. Next, we had a second Chianti that was quite a step up, a 2015 Borgo Salcetino Chianti Classico. This cost $17 but was a much more substantial. It even had a bit of tannin so it might taste better in six months to a year.
We then had a Donato d’Angelo Aglianico del Vulture I Sassi 2017. This was ok, but did not really send me. I would rather have the Chiantis. It was $14. We finished with a Colline del Sole 2015 Taurasi. This was the wine of the night. Rich beautiful fruit but balanced and with a finish. Excellent value for $28.
Have worked with Siema for decades. Nothing but great things to say about the people and their wines.
Thanks. This is really helpful. I had not heard of them until a couple of years ago when we had a new person starting to run the wine club and he started bringing them in to do tastings on occasions. It is nice to hear from someone with a lot more experience with these guys than I do. Good to see that I am not crazy.
The first tasting we did from them 2-3 years ago were Austrian wines, and they were quite good. But, when Nick came to taste wines from Sicily (mostly from a winery called Alcesti Alcesti — Siema Brands), I was floored. Not that the wines were great - they were far too simple wines to be great. But it had been a long time since I have had wines from $7-$20 that provided the type of easy drinking but excellent flavored wines that I tasted that night. And, I thought that the two Chiantis (and esp. the Chianti Classico) and the Taurasi continued in that vein.
Not going to make me stop drinking Burgundy or German Riesling by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want everyday wines for daily drinkers you could do a lot worse than these.
Lots of great regional wines with character that work for daily drinkers or btg restaurant programs. Fan of Alsesti (don’t see many Frappato or Zibbibo for under $15), and the Kaltern co-op from the Alto Adige, a step below Terlan but also better priced.