One category of wine that Italians do better than anyone else is tangy red table wine—the kind of red that sparks the palate to life, slices through fat, and delivers fruit and earth in equal measure. Some of the all-time greats include Chianti from Tuscany, Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna, Barbera d’Alba from Piedmont, and, although it doesn’t enjoy the same name recognition, Buttafuoco from Lombardy.
This historic and colorfully named blend (“buttafuoco” = “spitfire”) is a historic specialty of the Oltrepò Pavese, the region wedged into the area where the Lombardy, Piedmont, and Emilia-Romagna regions meet. The hilly, steep-sloping vineyards of the Oltrepò Pavese are bordered by the Pò River plain to the north and the Apennine Mountains to the south, and while it is a historically important and well-situated production zone, it is also largely overlooked. Paolo Verdi, the current proprietor of the Bruno Verdi estate, is one of about a dozen producers in the zona storica (historic area) for Buttafuoco production, and has been one of the few to gain a foothold in the US market. This is a staple of well-curated Italian wine lists and a food wine extraordinaire—bold, zesty, and inimitably Italian.
Like a lot of regional specialties, however, its label (recently given a much-needed design upgrade) requires a little decoding. The Oltrepò Pavese, or “the other side of the Pò from Pavia,” is about 70 kilometers south of Milan, not far from where the Ligurian Alps meet up with the Apennines. Traversed by a few Pò tributaries, its patchwork of soils includes clay/limestone marl, sand, and gravel, with the zona storica covering the communes of Broni, Canneto Pavese, Castana, Cigognola, Montescano, Stradella, and Pietra de’ Giorgi. While it’s tempting to see “Oltrepò Pavese Buttafuoco” on a label and assume that Buttafuoco is the grape variety, it is instead the name of a type of wine (like “Amarone” in Valpolicella). You’ll see it written as either Oltrepò Pavese Buttafuoco (as it is here) or Buttafuoco dell’Oltrepò Pavese.
By design, Buttafuoco is a blend of local varieties, containing varying percentages of Croatina, Barbera, Uva Rara, and Ughetta (a.k.a Vespolina). These varieties are also found in neighboring Piedmont, especially in the alto Piemonte appellations north of Novara, and in the case of Croatina, which is usually the lead variety in Buttafuoco blends, there’s some confusion around the name: it is not, as some sources suggest, a synonym for Bonarda—Bonarda Piemontese is an entirely different variety. Croatina is a deeply hued variety rich in tannin, so it benefits from the softening effects of Barbera, which usually comprises the next-highest percentage. Uva Rara and Ughetta are more bit players (in Verdi’s version, they represent 15% and 10% of the blend, respectively) lending spice and some aromatic high notes.
Verdi ferments this wine in stainless steel and ages it for about six months in concrete tanks. It is always a bold, vivid, lip-smacking red, reminiscent of a Lambrusco without the effervescence. It pours a deep ruby-purple-black in the glass, with aromas and flavors of black plum, cranberry, red cherry, pomegranate, licorice, graphite, tomato leaf, and tobacco. It is deeply concentrated but also true to its “spitfire” moniker—the acidity is crackling and the tannins are firm. Give it a splash-decant 15 minutes or so before service and keep the temperature cool (55 degrees); this will temper the acidity and point up the fruit. Pour it into some Bordeaux stems and enjoy it with a nice meaty lasagna or a sausage-topped pizza. No matter how big the meal, it’ll leave you feeling both refreshed and energized, which is the point of old school “table wines” like this. Nobody beats Italy on that score. Enjoy!
