Friday Sips

Drop by today for our quarterly white wine Friday Sips featuring 3 tasty Italian white wines that go oh so well with so many things that warm, sunny days provide. We'll also have an Italian red or two uncorked to appease the red wine lovers!

A new vintage and arrival of one of our absolute favorite Italian white wines has arrived!! Located inland and at significantly more elevation gain, what separates the Le Marches regions of Matelica and Castelli di Jesi are their locations and specifically their soils, which are sheer hard limestone and quite unique to the area. Verdicchio is the spiritual white grape of the Le Marches region and like Bucci, we have been devotees of Matelica leader Bisci's wines for 15 years.

Loomed over by alluring aromas of almond, ripe pear, lemongrass and flint this superbly terroir-driven white starts off round and fans out on the palate only to tuck itself in and focus on the livewire middle and finish. Plenty of lemon and mineral with great freshness that cleanses the palate perfectly; enjoy this beautiful offering with fried or roasted seafood, raw oysters, grilled vegetables or start a meal off right with a glass to jumpstart your taste buds.

Whether France, Italy, Spain or the New World, Ciro Picariello’s 2013 Fiano D'Avellino is one of the most intriguing and pleasing white wines that I have tasted thus far in 2015. Because of the cool microclimate, 1800-foot elevation and due to the poor volcanic soils, this is a prime growing area for white wine. The Fiano di Avellino takes its name from the variety that the Latins called Vitis Apiana because the vine's grapes were so sweet that they proved irresistible to bees.

A young estate founded in 1997, the striking nose of this Fiano is full and broad with aromas of honeysuckle, toasted hazelnut, apricot and tropical fruits, that are spiked with tons of aromatics and spice, reminiscent of a great dry Alsace Grand Cru or perhaps something on a top-scale from Austria. Gorgeous mouth-coating, fleshy and lush flavors fill the mouth only to be upstaged by the mineral zinginess that instantly cleanses only leaving the fresh flavors behind for what seems like 10 minutes. This stunner is perfect as an aperitivo or with elegant seafood dishes or white meats.

In a region full of mavericks and renegades, Edi Keber is a small producer who seems to be on everyone's short list of favorites of obscure Italian white wines. This cat makes one wine and one wine only. You should think of it as a Grand Cru blend from meticulously farmed vineyards in the Collio region within Friuli. Only 5,000 cases of this killer white are produced and we are very fortunate to be able to offer it and at a great price to boot.

The 2013 Bianco is comprised of 70% Friulano and with 15% each of Malvasia and Ribolla Gialla that are primarily fermented sans oak with the exception of 20% of the Friulano seeing 10-year-old neutral tonneaux. A dramatic, forward nose of tangerine, white flowers enhanced by forthright minerality, all unfurls as the wine airs and develops in the glass. This seamless beauty coats your mouth with intense flavors that are kept in perfect balance by lightning-crisp acidity and minerality which are derived from an alchemy of ancient vines planted in classic Friuli ‘ponka' soil, that being a crumbly, stony marl. A gorgeously stacked white wine, this really screams for substantial seafood dishes, particularly salmon, however it will also work with vegetables and prosciutto. One last thing, this wine has an uncanny ability to age and this one will drink and develop very well for a decade. In the spirit of Jermann's Vintage Tunina or Vie di Romans Flor di Uis, this perennial Tre Bicchieri-award winning wine is a true benchmark for the 'nomi di fantasia' white wines of Italy!

Caprili is from the Southwest corner of Montalcino, maybe the Texas of Montalcino because wines here always have cockiness and braggadocio about them yet are immensely enjoyable on all levels including this very underdog Rosso di Montalcino that punches well above its weight class.

“Very dark red. Smoky, earthy nuances dominate red cherry on the nose. Then big and dense on the palate, with rich red cherry and underbrush flavors that linger nicely. Finishes creamy, with a peppery nuance...This huge Rosso is not unlike a Brunello, so those drinkers who like their wines bigger and more structured might opt for this Rosso in 2012. – 90 POINTS, VINOUS”