Italian Whites II

Wait a minute . . . how many Italian whites are there? I think I've stumbled into an enchanted wine forest. There are, I'm coming to learn, literally hundreds of white Italian grapes. Today I'm tasting four new ones: Pallagrello Bianco, Vermentino, Insolia, and Verdicchio. What are they? I have no idea. I guess I didn't realize how many varietals are grown and bottled and consumed besides the grapes of global fame--Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc. This seems especially like an Italian thing (though I recently noticed the Swiss have lots of mysterious white grapes too). Last week, I was most excited by the Greco. Come on and let's see about these new aspatsafumatos!

2005 Alois Pallagrello Bianco ($25)

The Alois is very good! Very full and rich, lots of body and flavor, but in no ways too succulent or overbearing. The nose is deep and soft and wooded, the mouthfeel fat and loose. Great tastes here, of tropical fruits, including maybe pineapple and banana (maybe that last one's a stretch). The finish is cool and slow, and the tastes linger and develop on the tongue. Bold wine, not for absentminded sipping.







2009 Toscona Vermentino "La Spinetta" ($23)

Much lighter than the Pallagrello, round and breathy, almost no detectable acidity. In fact, this wine is almost weirdly flat in the mouth, like a very still lake of water. Melony, curvacious. A hint of pine sap. Maybe even some kind of muted fantasty spice-rack spice, like powdered orange rind. The fumes sing up in the high parts of the nose, almost tickling them. Quite lovely, a perfect balance between fullness and light.





2007 Mulinea Insolia "Curatolo" ($15)

The Insolia grape can be found all around Italy, but if it's spelled "Insolia" rather than "Ansonica," you're drinking a Siclian wine. This is beautiful, greenish-yellow wine with herbaceousness and a certain summery heft. Tracy thinks it's a little on the sweet side, though I don't taste the sweetness, just a little extra girth, especially in contrast to these lighter wines. It's fresh and clean, and drinking it now it somehow seems like a hopeful wine. It has a pleasing acidity, and ends with a surprising rush of flavor on the front of the tongue.


2009 Fattoria Laila Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi ($12)

This Verdicchio is decent wine, though not quite as nice as the other three. It's on the clear side, and has a waft of "white wine smell"--that oafy, somewhat lugubrious tone of cheapy white. Still, it's not a bad everyday wine, light and inoffensive and quaffable.