Answer: They are all the creation of Sylvio Anthony Ciccone (Madonna’s father) in one form or another.We had made trip to northern Michigan
this past summer and dedicated two days to exploring the northern Michigan wine country. While out exploring we had heard about the Ciccone Vineyard and winery, and its ties to Madonna. Having been disappointed in most of the red wines we had tasted on that trip, we got a recommendation by another winery pourer to visit Ciccone. So upon arriving, we excitedly hopped out of the car and ran for the tasting bar for what we had hoped to be some good red wines. From our memory, their red wines were mostly solid and since we came home with a bottle of Tre Rossi we assumed it would be a good red wine to help me get over a particularly bad day in which if they had the ability to fire me, they might have. Not because I’m not a very hard worker, but because I refuse to put up with mediocrity and sometimes forget where I really am in the pecking order.
According to their web site, Tre Rossi is described to be “A hearty semi-dry red wine made with French hybrids grapes showing aromas and flavors of plums, cherries, and spices.” This sounded like a wine that should be quite drinkable by itself, but they said "it should also be good with duck, wild game, fish and tomato sauce dishes."Immediately
upon opening, the wife and I were in agreement, we had made a bad pick!!! The nose showed no sign of fruit, and had a tomato/green pepper smell if any could be detected at all. The wine was a light in body. Medium firm middle tongue tannins and a dirty, earthy, tomato sauce tasting finish with no fruit to be found whatsoever. Deciding it just needed some more time to open up and to bring out the better parts of the wine; we slowly sipped our poured glasses and put the rest of the bottle into the decanter. It was one of those nights so we were going to finish it good, bad, or indifferent. Although the wine did get a little bigger, more expanded tannins, and the tomato/green pepper flavors became more blended, it never really developed into a good sipping wine. It could be that it is better suited to be eaten with food or maybe it just wasn’t our type wine. Who knows? All I can say it would not be one I would recommend to friends, family, or my boss no matter how mad she had made me today. Having tasted many bad wines, this wasn’t one of those. It was very well made, good balance and structure, but overall its flavor was lacking. Has anyone else experienced a well-made one that you just couldn’t get your pallet to enjoy? Do you think it was my anger I was feeling?
