Wines from Campania, Southern Italy

June 9, 12:25 AMBoston Wine ExaminerJulia Timakhovich

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Villa Matilde Red

Summer is a season for rose. And whites. And combinations of all sorts for you to try.

But it's also a season for barbeque and therefore grilling and saucy meats.

And there is a country in the world that produces wines that pair with food like no other region in the globe--sometimes to the point where you can't enjoy the wines without the food accompaniment.

That country is Italy.

It's in their blood. That concept that wine is part of food. The age-old trial-and-error method that produces some of the world's best combinations that confuse on their own, but delight with a meal.

And the most undervalued part of wine-producing Italy of them all, in my opinion, is Southern Italy. Home to Campania, Basicilata, and Sicily. The hot region that until recently, has been too hot and too technologically challenged to produce wine of sustainable value.

Hearty, misunderstood, obscure, tasty grapes inhabit the vineyards of the boot of Italy.

Take Campania, for example, home of more famous Aglicanico and less famous Piedirosso, red grapes with a rustic feel that will imprint themselves on your taste buds.

I randomly picked a bottle at Martignetti's closeout bins last week that, for $15.99, was just asking to be drunk. The producer is Villa Matilde from Campania, Southern Italy. It was 80% Aglianico and 20% Piediross--a grape I didn't know existed until I read it on the back of the label. So of course it had to be had.

Hmm...like most Italian wines, it needs food. By food, I mean animal protein of preferably grilled variety paired with something less acidic, like starch. The wine is rustic, rough, and slightly game-y on the tongue. It won't pair with any green salad (don't ruin it) or side, but will quaff beautifully with fingerling potatoes and spicy steak.

This is another reason to try wines from Southern Italy. They tend to be rustic and earthy--none of that jamminess and fruit you'll find with comparably priced wines of the New World. They'll have plenty of alcohol to play up grilled meats. And they'lll have the appeal of mystery-they are easy to like, yet don't cost a fortune.

Cheers! And fire those grills up!