Continuing my recent run of wines from the Veneto.
The 2010 dry white from Quintarelli ended up on the same French bistro table (Pulp Kitchen in Ainslie) as the Tommasi Ripasso. With a plate of chicken terrine, chervil and a lemon relish, this was an outstanding bit of drinking and eating. Fresh bread and mushroom butter suited it well too.
Texture is the key here. 'Serious' Italian dry whites can be a minefield of overworked and underfruited, with the occasional cork claymore added in. This strikes that mesmerising balance of bright acid and waxy texture that the best garganega and trebbiano based wines can achieve, even before they age. Length and more length.
Quintarelli's blend of garganega, trebbiano, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and soarin is not a wine where you think fruit, as in 'lemon, pear, apple'. While there is some fresh lemon and a touch of lemon butter to smell and taste, what gets you is an insistence of even flavour, a sense of thoughtful purpose behind the winemaking, and a quiet voice saying 'now this is wine'.
Cork, $60, purchase, 12.5% alcohol.
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Great description and a great whit wine from Italy. So unique.
ReplyDeleteJust a suggestion for your blog...
ReplyDeleteIf you were to add pictures of the wine bottles or even just the labels to your posts, it would add a lot to the blog.
I love reading about wine (although not as much as drinking it!), but a picture really does tell 1000 words in this case!
Thanks for the comment. You are right about images, and for this wine. Text is the thing for me, so it's easy to forget the visual.
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