little italy - 1

Lucky for me, Julien's dad is a sommelier at a restaurant in Carmel, CA. However, the restaurant traditionally serves Italian wines (it is, after all, an italian restaurant!). So whenever Julien and I enjoy some wines with his parents, they're usually Italian. So I've decided to start a little mini-series inside this blog that consists of my "little italy" wine experiences, since they seem to be pretty common.
Today I got the chance to try not one, but TWO Italian wines.




The first one was a 2007 Tormaresca Chardonnay from Puglia ($13). It's a nice light and acidic wine that's best served near room temperature - something that is basically true for most Chardonnays, since keeping them too chilled will lessen the intensity and focus of the flavor. The color is a nice yellow with a slight greenish tint as well as some golden highlights. The nose is light and tart, hints of lemon curd, lime and a slight hint of mango.
The taste is rather acidic for a Chardonnay (there are also a few bubbles in the wine, too, which kind of give that hint as well). The flavor has notes of pear, green apple, citrus and a finish of light white peach. The acidity tends to overwhelm these flavors, however, and I found it difficult to really enjoy. It wasn't bad, by all means it certainly wasn't bad, but it wasn't a Chardonnay I would overtly choose to purchase myself (the bottle was free, so it was kind of a why not situation *smile*).
The second was a 2007 Guido Porro Barbera d'Alba from Vigna Santa Caterina ($13). It was a surprisingly acidic red wine with a medium ruby-red color. The nose had hints of red berry, tangerine peel, cedar and bacon fat. You could practically smell the acidity on the wine, it was so noticeable.
The mouth had a spicy beginning, notes of citrus peel, raspberry and red cherry very detected. Again, the strong acidity played a very important part in the taste and quality of this wine. It did have a clean finish with incredibly light tannins. According to Julien's dad, these are all noticeable qualities in a Barbera, since they're traditionally highly acidity with only the slightest hint of tannins on the body.
This was definitely a pleasant start to my "little italy" series. I hope you enjoy them as much as I am!