Friday, February 8, 2008

Sicilian white as the sun comes out

Hawkes Bay has been unseasonably cold so it was something of a relief to see the sun finally poking out yesterday afternoon. It inspired a trip to a local Italian food market and finally tempted Rich to eat tomato-y pasta (something he usually, inexplicably, avoids).

We came back with lovely things to cook. Real speck bacon, grana pandano and a tin of whole cherry tomatoes. We also had interesting wine.

Lamura Grillo 2006 from Sicily we selected mainly as neither of us had tried one before and also due to it coming in at well under $20. Interesting and cheap. It's a lovely gold colour shot through with a hint of green and looks full of intense Italian sunshine. The nose is delicately floral and also suggests marzipan almond and grass. There's lovely acidity in the mouth rounding out a fairly viscous palate. It's not a fruity New World style and there is a tang that puts me in mind of a salty seafaring-ness along with lime-y minerality and preserved lemons. Fresh and quirky and a great aperitif.

We also bought a Farnese Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2006 which not only was a lovely sub-$20 price bit also came blazoned with recommendations from BOTH Hugh Johnson and Robert Parker. Which, given their somewhat polar opposite opinions on what constitutes 'good' wine, seemed remarkable.

"Hugh Johnson called our fabulous Farnese - “the hearty, ripe, really warming wine that Chianti so often fails to be” while US supremo Robert Parker hailed it “one to buy by the car-load” ... not to mention a top prize at Italy’s No.1 wine show and four years as a No.1 Poll Winner!"


Definitely something to try and I can report that it went spectacularly well with our silky, tasty pasta but not much more as I had let the evening slide into happy cuddles on the couch and I was not making notes.....

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