Wine Pick of the Week: June 28, 2016

Famiglia Pasqua Passione e Sentimento Bianco 2014 (Italy)

We are in the thick of summer, and Italian wine is HOT--Pinot Grigio, Verdicchio, Prosecco. Many are reasonably priced and hit the spot with a little bite and bright flavors. Like this one...

What a nice summer sipper. Think “hot day” and drink this to refresh. It’s Famiglia Pasqua Passione e Sentimento Bianco 2014.

The grape, Garganega, is one of Italy’s oldest—dating to 500 AD—versatile, and most popular varietals. It can produce dry wines or sweet if holding the grapes for a late harvest.

This Bianco has a tangy nose with honey right away. The honey is very apparent upon tasting, followed by citrus and a little grapefruit; it goes slightly dry, then with a faint hint of almonds, finishes with a little lingering citrus. The wine is tangy and not too light-bodied, but lighter than a traditional Chardonnay. This is a "crowd pleaser" that is sweet enough and dry enough to hold everyone's attention.

It has complexity to stand on its own and, served thoroughly chilled, would be welcome poolside, at a picnic or on a deck for a hot afternoon treat. With food, serve with grilled chicken and Dijon mustard; baked apple desserts; plain cheesecake with almonds or lemon; jack cheese or something mild like brie or mild cheddar. 

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. 

Wine Pick of the Week: February 4, 2016

Pasqua 2011 Passi Mento (Italy)

This week and next, I’ll feature romantic wines for Valentine’s Day, and, since I’m featuring Italian food on the “Soul” page, the wines will be Italian, too. First up is this red blend from Verona with the intriguing label.

Verona, as you may know, is the setting for William Shakespeare’s tale of Romeo and Juliet. There is a house there, La Casa di Giulietta, said to be where the real Capulet family (and Juliet) lived. A tradition developed of people writing their beloveds’ names on the wall outside, believing that by doing so the love would be everlasting. Awww.

Pasqua has made this wine a tribute to their hometown attraction and named it for the “appassimento” process by which it’s made. The process leaves hand-harvested grapes to dry in wooden trays for one month, reducing the water content and concentrating the sugar.  This wine is 40 percent Merlot, 30 percent Corvina, and 30 percent Croatina.

The 2011 has a deep purplish color and a rustic sense. The nose is blackberry and cherry with chocolate and coffee. There are red cherries to start on the taste, a little earthy spice, then that coffee and a little tobacco. It’s off-dry and slightly acidic, but softens and sweetens as it lingers in the glass.

It isn’t a terribly complex wine—there’s a blast of flavors, then it finishes with red fruit. Passi Mento is dry enough yet sweet enough to handle the cured meats and hard cheeses of antipasti. It would also be good with pasta and red sauce, pizza, bleu cheese and a burger with grilled onions and mushrooms.  

Next week, prosecco with dessert. Molto ben. 

Wine Pick of the Week: July 27, 2015

DaVinci Wines 2013 Chianti

Maybe Chianti isn’t the quintessential summer wine, but this weekend was the local Italian festival, and my friend Diane Conroy took first place in two categories, “Red Sauce” and “Meatballs.”  She’s awesome.

Anyway, I wanted to drink something Italian besides Prosecco and am revisiting this book I read years ago on creative thinking. The DaVinci Chianti was on sale, so there we go.

Chianti is a dry wine produced in central Tuscany, this near the town of Vinci. In the mid-1800s, Baron Bettino Ricasoli, who later became prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy, determined the recipe for Chianti should be 70 percent Sangiovese, 15 percent Canaiolo and 15 percent Malvasia Bianca, but today’s Chianti is made with a far lesser percentage of white grapes, if any at all. It must, however, include at least 80 percent Sangiovese.

This DaVinci (www.davinciwine.com) is made with 90 percent Sangiovese and 10 percent Merlot. The cooperative Cantine Leonardo da Vinci is made up of 200 local growers, many of which are multi-generational farmers. This offering has cherries on the nose, and I get a sense of leather books. Tasting is fruit up front—more cherries, slight tobacco, hint of leather. It’s hearty and ends with plum jam.

While this bottle isn’t the most complex of wines, it’s nice and is meant to stand up to Italian red sauce pasta dishes and pizza and salumi and country stews of the region. Yum. On a cool fall night, I can see myself sipping a glass in a villa den, surrounded by walls of books, curled up in a chair by the fireplace. 

Wine Pick of the Week: March 1, 2015

Zuccotti Frizecco D'Italia U.V. (Italy)

This is a very light, easy-drinker. The color is the palest gold, almost like white gold. It’s a sparkling wine, but a frizzante—light bubbles. It’s isn’t sugary sweet, but not dry either. It’s fizzy on the tongue, and that lingers. The wine is initially tart thanks to a slight grape flavor that develops into a lemony-citrus. This becomes more of a vanilla flavor and finally a caramel finish. The grapes aren’t listed, but my guess would be a combination of Moscato and Prosecco.

I first paired it with raw salmon sushi with avocado. The sushi brightened the wine, bringing out more lemon-lime. The finish was shorter, without the caramel. I then paired the Frizecco with a caramel toffee cupcake from Avenue Eats. The tartness was enhanced at first because the cupcake was so sweet, but immediately it smoothed out and was all caramel, without the citrus at all.

Other compatible foods might include almond (as lightly roasted nuts or almond cookies) and shrimp cocktail. Because of the tartness and lemon-citrus, this may also be a good wine for asparagus.  

Wine Pick of the Week: Feb. 15, 2015

2013 Adesso Cagnina di Romagna Dolce (Italy)

Someone asked me about this Refosco grape wine last week, and, as it happens, I had it in my cellar. Such a pretty wine. I wouldn’t call it complex, but it has some pleasant attributes: initial black pepper turns to berries, then to violets and an overall sweet finish. It’s easy to drink and around $13 a bottle. 

This would be good with Italian sausage, prosciutto, or salami, duck, pork or lamb, turkey with cranberries, sweet barbeque sauce, berry desserts.