La Cantina - Italian white wines

Pierpaolo Pecorari Sauvignon 2005

Pierpaolo Pecorari Sauvignon 2005 — Thu, 14 Jan 10 16:21:53 +1300

Sauvignon Blanc at its Finest

What a world away from New Zealand sauvignon blanc this is. For a start, pretty well all NZ sauvignons at 4 years of age will be well past their best, if not having fallen apart comepletely. This wine is fresh and alive, weighty, fruit driven, powerful wine with none of the grassy, acidic overtones characteristic of NZ sauvignon. In fact it is much more like a French sauvignon (particularly Sancerre), albeit perhaps a little fruitier than would be typical. All in all, a superb wine and, comparing it to its French counterparts again, very well priced at $28.95. It will continue to live for some time yet, developing some lovely honeyed/butterscotch characters over the next couple of years.

Vie di Romans Chardonnay 2005

Vie di Romans Chardonnay 2005 — Wed, 21 Apr 10 22:01:18 +1200

World Class Chardonnay from Italy

Vie di Romans has a fourty hectare vineyard planted in chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio and a number of local varieties. They have very successfully married traditional winemaking with a state-of-the-art facility.

This chardonnay is a fabulous wine, with an almost perfect combination of old world depth and complexity and new world fruit. Fully barrel fermented and having undergone 100% malolactic fermentation this is a powerful wine that is still very young (the winery itself suggests a cellaring time of 8 - 15 years). I could wax on about the rich medley of flavours, but the most remarkable thing is the length. It's a wine you certainly can't drink very fast. It's in a different league to any New World chardonnay I've tried and $57.95 is a veritable bargain for the experience it provides.

Marotti Campi Salmariano Verdicchio dei Castelli Di Jesi Classico Riserva 2003

Marotti Campi Salmariano Verdicchio dei Castelli Di Jesi Classico Riserva 2003 — Tue, 16 Feb 10 19:27:47 +1300

Intensely Flavoured Dry White from the Marches

Marotti Campi vineyard is based in the vicinity of Morro D'Alba , an ancient village in the Marches region , north of Ancona. Grapes have been grown here for centuries, in the centre of the DOC areas of Lacrima di Morro D'Alba and Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi .The Marotti Campi family has owned land here since the 19th century. They have approximately 54 hectares of vines surrounding the family villa consisting of 23 hectares of Lacrima, 23 of Vedicchio and 8 of "international" varietals. All the grapes are harvested by hand. To emphasize their link to the land their wines are named after old XI century sites.

Salmariano is named after the XI century castrum ( castle) built at the boundary of the company's vineyard. The grapes are harvested late for maximum ripeness and aged partly in small oak barriques for 12 months. This is a superb example of the verdicchio grape at its best.It is a bold, nutty dry white with hints of butterscotch and oak. A very exciting wine.