My turn to make dinner last night, but I was too tired to go back ojut
to the store. A rummage through the fridge led to a pasta with a
ricotta, spinach, parmesan and bacon sauce. Betsy threw together a
green salad with mango and peppers. I opened a bottle of 1999 Cantele
Salice Salentino Riserva. Label says it's 85% Negroamaro grapes and 15%
Malvasia. Rather ripe dark fruit, decent acidity, some slightly drying
tannins. Some light pleasant aromas of vanilla oak and roadtar. Not a
bad wine for the price, and I've touted it in past vintages as a QPR
favorite. But this doesn't excite me. Part of the problem is probably
the match - an unoaked white would have been a better match. Yet a sip
well after dinner still left me unexcited, and more than half the
bottle remained. B-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.