White wines with the Gourmet Club

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Yesterday evening there was yet another wine tasting session with the Gourmet Club at work and, since it is summer, what could be better than a nice assortment of white wines?

The wines presented were coming from four different producers, two from southern Italy (Puglia and Abruzzo) and two from the north (both from the Friuli region).

Let's have a look at the contestants:

 

The first wine we tried was a Falanghina coming from Daunia, in Puglia.

I understand this is not so common, apparently this cépage is usually cultivated in the region of Campania instead.
This particular one comes for Antica Enotria, the producer who also provided the olives, sun dried tomatoes, marinated artichokes and eggplants we had during the evening.


   

  





I am partial to the last two items...
All products from this company are produced using organic farming methods.

This wine was from 2008, it's ageing process is extremely brief and done in steel vats.
The wine is not 100% falanghina grapes: a little greco is added – the actual percentage fluctuating with the years. The alcoholic content is 11,5 to 12%.
Brilliant yellow in colour (which was not the case for most of the wines we tried yesterday, most of them being pale yellow instead), its nose was fruity (plums) with a hint of floral scents (acacia flowers), while the taste recalled citrus fruits and pineapple.

 

The second wine was a Trebbiano d' Abruzzo, from producer La Quercia, in Abruzzo. 2007.

The wine is made at 100% with Montepulciano grapes, matured in steel vats. Its alcoholic content is 12%.
Pale straw yellow in colour, I found in the nose some mineral notes, again some plum hints and elderflower traces.
This is a wine with a surprising full body and it seems to be more alcoholic than it really is (our guess would have been 13%). Its taste was reminiscent of peaches and hay.

 

Third wine was a Pecorino of the Colli Aprutini (still in Abruzzo) and is produced by La Quercia. 2007.
The wine is made at 100% with pecorino grapes (no relation with the cheese) and its ageing is a long process, in steel vats. Its alcoholic content is 13%.
This was a wonderful surprise to me – I did not know of this cépage at all – and i fund in the nose a lot of minerality, but also hay, flowers (not sure which, acacia possibly) but also warm bread and a little apple.
My notes further record that it is a round taste, with a few hints of hay and citron. And most likely plenty of other things which were eluding me but conspired to make this wine a great drinking experience.

Great with cured cheese...

 

 

Fourth wine was a Malvasia from Istria (in Friuli region) presented by the producer Parovel (Vinja Barde). 2007.

The wine is made with 100% malvasia istriana grapes and its alcoholic content is 12.5%. The wine is matured in steel vats. 
Malvasia is a very aromatic wine in general, in the line of muscatel wines. This one was a real pleasure to drink (in fact, I ended up drinking the whole glass). Aromatic wines are easier to drink as aperitif rather that with a meal because of the difficulty to match them with food but we nevertheless sampled it with ham.
The nose was mineral and flowery while the tasting notes were of elderflower and candied fruit, in particular tangerines.
 

 The same producer also makes our fifth wine, a Vitoska of the Carso area (still in Friuli). 2007. This wine is matured in steel vats and its alcoholic content is 13%. This wine comes from a harsh area, with loads of minerals.
And in fact its nose is clearly mineral, with very nice floral aspects, like a bouquet of alpine flowers growing from rocks. The taste however is surprisingly spicy (hot even), with citrus traces (citron).
It would have done nice on hot bread with speck.

Our sixth wine was presented by producer Villa de Puppi, from Friuli, and it was Taj Blanc.

This wine is made of 100% tokay friulano. Since the name Tokay (or Tocai, as spelled by Italians) cannot be used any more in the names of wine which aren't Hungarian, the distributor has invented the “taj” name, which means “glass” in Friulian dialect apparently. 2008.
A very aromatic wine, matured in steel vats, its nose oscillate between flowery notes, citrus fruits and a hint of warm waffles. In fact, the taste is very warm and rounded, with almonds predominance as well as candied fruit (possibly melon).
 

Our seventh (and supposedly last wine) was a Sauvignon for the same producer. 2008. Made of 100% sauvignon grapes, matured in steel vats, its alcoholic content is 14%, which is much for a white wine. In fact the alcohol is the predominant note when tasting the wine, and the wine leaves the mouth with a clean and fresh sensation. The nose is mostly mineral with citrus fruits.
 

Our surprise eighth wine also come for the Villa de Puppi, and it was a Chardonnay Cate, from 2007.
(No picture available of the bottle as my memory card gave up on me once more - it's on its way out)
Since it was not on our list for the tasting, I do not have details as to its composition but it is most likely a 100% Chardonnay grape wine. Its alcoholic content was fairly low – 12% only – but the wine comes through as stronger than that. It has been matured in wood cask and this comes out clearly from the nose, with notes of caramel,vanilla, with balsamic tones and more than a little hint of scorched wood.
The taste is spicy, with vanilla and cloves (or all spice), traces of dried figs. This wine has a very long lasting taste and towards the end I could find a hint of vin santo, which apparently is not its characteristic and might be due to temperature oscillations. It was a gorgeous golden wine too behold too.

 

All in all a most satisfying evening.



Indeed...



My favourites? Pecorino and Malvasia/Taj Blanc.