What’s not to like about Italian wines?
Not only are they delicious and go well with food, but there are 440 indigenous varieties, many of them made nowhere else. No wonder Italy is known as Enotria, the Land of Wine.
And this weekend, three new Italian wines are being poured at the Ironwood Signature LDB store. Much more exciting than Pinot Grigio is the 2015 Fontanavecchia Falanghina del Sannio Taburno ($21.99).
In fact, it was an award winner in Italy’s best wines competition, the Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri for 2017.
Made from Falanghina grapes grown in the Taburno region of the Apennines in southern Italy, this wine gives you the rare opportunity to try a wine that was being made before Hannibal crossed the Alps on elephants.
With a gleaming golden colour, the Falanghina has a bouquet of fresh spring flowers along with pears and cream.
On the palate there are tropical fruit salad flavours of pineapple and mango. This rich and ripe personality is kept in balance with the acid and minerality and closes with a long dry finish.
It was a perfect complement to the Quebec Sorcier cheese I enjoyed from Benton Brothers Fine Cheese on Granville Island. Two other semi-soft cheeses to go with this white would be the French Morbier and the Italian Taleggio.
Another new Italian listing is the Casale del Giglio 2015 Petit Manseng ($26.99) from the Lazio Region, just south of Rome.
In 1985, the winery began a research project whose philosophy was “the future of Italian viticulture relies not only on consolidating the image of its traditional wine producing zones but on its ability to produce top quality wines at favourable prices in areas whose potential is still relatively unexplored.”
After careful research, they discovered the Petit Manseng, a French grape whose home is in the Pyrenees and transplanted it in Lazio.
Made from very ripe grapes, this dry white is golden with a floral and stone fruit bouquet and a delicious apricot and nectarine flavour.
Well balanced with a very long, dry, fruity finish. When I sipped it with some Mont Jacob soft cheese from Quebec, the sweet fruit was really amplified. What a treat!
Its sister red, the Casale Del Giglio 2013 Cesanese ($23.99) is native to the Lazio region around Rome and worthy of seeking out.
Much like a French Beaujolais, this is a medium bodied fresh and fruity red, with strawberries, rose petal, and vanilla. On the palate, the wine is smooth with velvety tannins and a dried fruit and chocolate. This would be excellent with veal saltimbocca with prosciutto and sage leaves.
You can enjoy a free sample of these wines at the Ironwood liquor store today (March 17) from 3-7 p.m. and tomorrow (March 18) from 2-6 p.m.
Next week, the free tasting will be at the Brighouse BCLDB on Ackroyd Road on March 26 from 1 to 5 p.m. Come and taste the Italian excitement!
Eric Hanson is a retired teacher and wine expert and retired Richmond teacher
