As the season for deep-cleansing body and soul is upon us, I may as well spit out the truth about my wine affections. Attachments wax and wane - Argentina or New Zealand may be brimming with interest for a while, then tailing off into blank passivity.
France? Now that's different - a serious, long-term relationship, stable as the Eiffel Tower despite intermittent gusts of irritation. But the sexy part-time lover always hovering nearby is Italy. And I'm easily tempted. How easily, I rediscovered shortly before Christmas, when I was invited to Venice to be a judge in the final of the eighth Marco Polo Competition for wines from all over Italy. One after another, the samples put before us were of wonderfully distinctive wines - exuberantly and uniquely Italian in character. All the more surprising when they included examples of Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Cabernet, as Italy (like every other wine-producing country in the world) continues to flirt with the grape varieties that are big international hits.
For me, the real excitement lay elsewhere - in all the bottles that were a reminder of the thrilling diversity of Italian wine styles. Tuscany was well represented, both in Chianti Classico and in the vina da tavola or table wine category of the "SuperTuscans" - those handcrafted wines that break local rules by using a proportion of alien Cabernet in their blend, with maturation in new French oak. But there was so much else. Pinot Grigio from Breganze, Refosco from Lison-Pramaggiore, Valpolicella and Amarone also from the Veneto, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from central Italy, a Solopaca red from Campania in the south . . .
If some of the tastes were intriguingly unfamiliar, it was because there were one or two wines made from grapes I'd never even heard of before, never mind encountered. Things like Vespaiola and Marzemino - used to produce a white and a red dessert wine which can only be described as arrestingly bizarre. Oh, for a sabbatical in Italy, to try to get to grips with what must surely be the wine world's most confusing treasure trove.
Even that might not do the trick, though. At a recent masterclass in London on New Italian Classics, Nick Belfrage, an English Master of Wine who has lived in Italy for years and written lengthy tomes about its vino, admitted he still finds it perpetually puzzling. So many regions, so many grapes, so many talented new winemakers appearing out of nowhere. But thank goodness for all that variety which gives us such a rich cornucopia to choose from. And yippee for all that Latin passion which shapes the end result. "An Italian winemaker will always breathe his soul into his wine," said Belfrage. "That will influence it just as much as the soil will." As far as I can determine, none of the 20 wines short-listed for the Marco Polo final and only one of the 12 "new classics" presented by Nick Belfrage is available in Ireland - an indication of the rich pickings Italy offers our importers. One wine, the brilliantly luscious Zenato Amarone Classico, starred at both events - the 1990 lauded by Belfrage and the 1991, a Marco Polo winner. Come to think of it, the 1990 was also a silver medal winner at this year's International Wine Challenge. Yet, when I accosted Sergio Zenato after the Venice prizegiving, anxious to find out who his Irish agent was, he said that, though he'd love to have one, he hadn't managed to strike a deal so far. Any takers, anyone?
Meanwhile, back to the drinking. Below are some of the other cheeringly individualistic Italian wines I've enjoyed over the last month or two - all quite reasonably priced as, for most of us, grey-faced January is cash-freeze time. And you won't have to go too far to find them.