One of the wines to be presented at the Ameritaliano Wine Show on April 1st at the Delta is the Banfi La Pettegola Vermentino 2016, IGT Toscana. It is already available this week at the NLC ($20.98) as a new arrival.
We don’t see many wines from this grape varietal here from Italy, or elsewhere. There are exactly three currently listed at the NLC while the twenty-nine Pinot Grigio labels represent nearly half of the Italian white wine selection.
The vine is grown primarily in the areas adjacent to the Ligurian Sea: Sardinia, Corsica, Tuscany, Liguria, and into Mediterranean France. You can also find it popping up in New World locations such as California and Australia.
Wines made from Vermentino have good acidity and tend to pack an abundance of aroma with descriptors including floral and spicy, with mentions of fruit and minerality. Francois Chartier lists the grape as having anise (liquorice) aromatics which would make it a good match with many salads, dishes with herb flavours, and root vegetables such as carrots.
La Pettegola is light in body with fresh acidity. It is indeed quite aromatic with a bouquet I would describe as showing fresh coriander and parsley, along with a floral influence. This was a pleasant “herb garden” rather than something green (unripe) or vegetal. It should go well with salad, or fish dishes made with herbs. Score: 14.5/Good.
This wine is the only Vermentino at the event, and one of a handful of uncommon varietals and new labels which I will be seeking out for new taste experiences.
Auk Island
Auk Island Winery in Twillingate has developed a bit of a reputation for quirky wine labels with such beauties as Krooked Cod, Moose Joose, and Funky Puffin. You can now add the newly released Fifty Shades of Bay to that list.
All of Auk Island’s current line of products is based on fruit wines (as opposed to grape wines). Fifty Shades of Bay (NLC $15.40) is a blend of blueberries and blackberries (called crowberry in other places) and the label suggests some influence from oak. If you taste this wine blind, which I did with a volunteer, it is not immediately obvious that this is a fruit wine, and not a grape wine.
The shade and intensity of the colour is on the purple side of a Grenache based wine. The nose is red berries with an almost cinnamon spice, and includes some vanilla and smoke, most likely from the oak influence. In the mouth there is the tingle of good acidity, just a bite of tannin, and some fruit sweetness (although this is a dry wine). I was reminded of a simple Côte du Rhône wine. Give it a try for a pleasant surprise! Score: 14/Good.
Very instructive notes – thanks Steve