Italian Masterclass Tasting Recap

Thursday night's Italian Masterclass tasting featured wines from appellations that frequently get overlooked. From the snow-capped mountains of the Dolomites in the north, all the way south to the, well, snow-capped volcano known as Mt. Etna in Sicily, and everywhere in between, it was a night of awesome wines from producers and regions you don't see every day. 

Aperitivo

Ca del Bosco 'Cuvee Prestige' Franciacorta Brut NV- a delightful choice for the apero hour, if you're sick of Prosecco then this is the perfect Italian sparkling upgrade.

White

Corte Mainente 'Pigno' Soave Classico 2022- I love this wine. It's incredibly subtle, starting with a light whisper of ripe melon and honeysuckle aromas, and ends up juicy and super delicious. There's no shame in drinking this on it's own.

Cantina Terlan 'Winkl' Sauvignon Blanc 2022- This wine is crazy aromatic and was definitely the most contentious wine of the evening. Tons of green herbs like basil and tarragon, along with grapefruit and some very, uhh, savory aromas. Loads of fresh acidity and mountain charm made this a great alternative to Sancerre.

Benanti 'Pietramarina' Etna Bianco Superiore 2018- The white wine of the night, and probably the most discussed thing we tasted. This has DECADES of life ahead of it, it's just impossibly tense and jam packed with salty sea air, crushed stone, Meyer lemon and more.

Red

Anfosso Rossesse di Dolceacqua 2022-This was a delightful surprise and a really charming red. Deceptively light but with plenty of stuffing, it had this alluring wild strawberry and blonde tobacco thing going on, and was super smooth and overall just really fun and yummy.

Nusserhof 'Tyr...ego' Teroldego 2017- A rugged, full bodied mountain red made form the local native Teroldego. It smelled intense, and was incredibly dark and concentrated in color. The consensus was that this would be amazing with northern Italian or Austrian cuisine. Sadly we had no schnitzel or venison steaks. Next time...

Feudo Montoni 'Vrucara' Nero d'Avola 2018- Voted top red wine of the evening, this is easily the best Nero d'Avola I've ever tasted. It smelled SO GOOD. Exceptionally fragrant and nuanced, with a gorgeous texture, this is a TON of wine for the money, and it would really appeal to the Burgundy drinker.

Ringer

Gorelli Rosso di Montalcino 2019- I HAD TO include a ringer, especially since we were purposefully avoiding Piedmont and Tuscany for this tasting. So of course I opened a Tuscan wine. This is NOT your average Rosso di Montalcino. In fact this beats the pants off of most Brunello di Montalcino from "big" producers. This is Autumn in a bottle, all dried leaves and wet earth, wild berry fruit and porcini mushrooms. With time in the decanter it turns into liquid silk. Ridiculously compelling wine.