Wine Pick of the Week: February 11, 2016

Mionetto Prosecco DOC Treviso Brut(Italy)

Prosecco is Italy’s sparkling wine offering. Made from the Glera grape (formerly called Prosecco,) it’s light and fresh and lies somewhere in between bone dry Cava and Champagne and sugary sweet Asti Spumante. Speaking of which, prosecco has three different styles: spumante, bubbly; frizzante, light fizz; tranquilo, still or no bubbles at all.

Mionetto is kind of a mainstream, large producer but has been around since 1887.

This week’s pick is spumante and a beautiful pale straw color. Honey comes up through the nose, then I get a waft of vanilla, then caramel.

The beginning of the taste has a bit of pineapple to a green apple flavor, then transitions to that honey and vanilla, ending with caramel. This is not a dry wine, but isn’t terribly sweet. The finish lingers just a little, but it’s clean and refreshing. The price is reasonable (under $15,) and it’s actually quite nice for a large production bottle.

If serving with dessert, do almond cookies or butter cookies, cheesecake, plain cannoli. It would be nice with walnuts or almonds. A soufflé or an omelet would be a nice pairing, too, ham and cheese, fresh vegetables. It would be excellent with broiled or baked whitefish. Think fresh tastes with this wine.