WTN: Four Italian wines with dinner

[Brad Ballinger]

This past Saturday night, my wife and I hosted one of those “How to Host a Murder Mystery” parties. This is about the eighth one I’ve done. My character was an abbot with an Italian-ish name (Costello – Abbot Costello, get it?) so I opted to serve Italian juice.

1996 Valentino Brut Zero Spumante Riserva. Valentino is a separate brand name of Rocche dei Manzoni. This Piemonte sparkler is a blend of chardonnay and pinot nero. There were two bottles, and the cork (which is longer than other bubbly corks) got stuck halfway out. I had to break it off and coax the remainder out with an ah-so. Definitely worth the effort. This wine’s aroma showed bright citrus, biscuit, a little wet stone. The mousse was very active in the glass and in the mouth, and seemed to go on for quite a while in the mouth, gradually tapering off. There was more fruit than mineral showing on the palate – lots of lemon, apple, strawberry. Being a brut zero, the amount of fruit remained in balance with the other flavor components and the texture. I think a dosage would’ve weighed the wine down. Very nice bubbly. Served with explorateur, boucheron, and olives.

2001 Matteo Correggia Roero Arneis. This was served with a salad of greens, feta, pomegranate kernels and a pomegranate vinaigrette. The wine is more suited to seafood IMO, but the pairing turned out to be all right. Correggia has consistently been a favorite when it comes to arneis. This wine is floral, oily, showing golden delicious apples and white stone fruits. Although I have used the word oily, there is still plenty of acid in this wine, and a vinaigrette doesn’t render it flat. This wine goes down so easily. Finishes on the floral side.

1995 Brancaia. This is a Toscana IGT made from predominantly sangiovese and merlot, with a teeny bit of cabernet sauvignon. The wine may have come from Italy, but it wasn’t “Italian.” But it was pretty tasty. This wine was all about the fruit. Nose of black cherries, chocolate, traces of herb and graphite. Structurally, the tannins were velvety soft. The fruit still seemed bright, and not yet to the point of fatigue. Although the wine is in barrique for 18 months, the oak never becomes a point of distraction. As I’ve said, it was yummy. A bit more personality would’ve been nice, but it was a table pleaser that paired quite well with a New York strip loin roast.

2002 Elio Perrone Moscato d’Asti Sourgal. I don’t know if I’ve ever used the phrase “in your face” to describe a moscato, but that seems appropriate here. Less “sugary” and more “pure fruit” than other moscato d’asti wines I’ve had in recent memory. While there is something to be said for floral finesse of some moscato fizzies, I found the aggressiveness of this wine appealing in its own right. And at the end of a meal, it could still show my palate a thing or two. Floral, fruity, and fierce. It was paired with a lemon curd roll with raspberries.

[Schneier]

Who did it?

[Andre]

Thank tou for the great TNs,

A point well taken on the Roero Arneis matching with the salad. A pinot bianco such as the Dirada woul have probably been a better match, yet I am not sure I would have missed the Corregia experience.

I was excited to read about the 1995 Brancaia. It seems I had tried it when I was not quite ready for the new style invading Tuscany.

The fact that wizard -winemaker Dr. Carlo Ferrini, an advisor to La Brancaia since 1990, supports them is a credit by itself.

I will try the wines again soon.

Thanks for sharing.

Edited January 7, 2004 by Andre (log)