Italian Wine
The 2005 Rosso Di Montalcino from Argiano is a very nice "baby" Brunello. If you are looking for something that costs much less than a Brunelo di Montalcino but in the same style, this rosso should do fine. A little tight on the nose, with a hint of menthol - but very full flavors of red fruit and surprisingly smooth on the mid-palate and finish. 100% Sangiovese Grosso from vineyards surrounding this famous estate.
If you are in Florence this weekend there is a wine tasting event centered around the Piazza Pitti and other locations of the oltrarno (the other side of the Arno). €10 for the glass will get you 16 tastes from many popular wineries. We suggest trying the following: Casale dello Sparviero (a small producer from Castellina), Castello del Teriiccio, Il Borro and Villa Mangiacane. There is more information here. 
Tonight we opened a bottle of what was one of my favorite Vin Santos since getting to Florence - the one from Castello Verrazzano. The new wine is the 2003 vintage, the 2001 was the last vintage and it has been gone from shops in Florence for awhile. Unfortunately on the first taste I have to say this wine is a major pass - all I could get from the nose was alcohol, and after the initial strong alcohol smell blew off, it just smelled like a weak glass of rubbing alcohol. It tasted the same, with maybe a butterscotch candy thrown in. The alcohol actually burned my throat and the finish was very hard. Nothing like the 03, no warm flavors of honey and caramel, no aromas of flowers, peaches or toasty oak. It was almost grappa like - very surprising, and ultimately disappointing.To make this story even worse, the bottle is now a half liter - it was formally a 750 - but the price is the same - €21! So overall not a very good effort from this large, reputable vineyard - and expensive at that. Maybe it was just an off bottle, but at that price, it will be hard to try another one.
You can find some great Italian wines for sale at The Wine Messenger:
An article about house wines and food - it made me hungry!
"In my favorite no-frills eatery in Florence, Trattoria Mario, you sit at communal tables with workers and tourists and they bring you Tuscan bean soup, rigatoni with meat ragu and a massive bistecca all fiorentina. They pour a sturdy red wine that goes well with the beef. I have no idea what it was, probably Chianti, but nothing could have been better with the blood-rare beefsteak."
The full article is here, and the restaurant's website is here.