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WTN: Who would have thought..

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Agostino Berti

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WTN: Who would have thought..

by Agostino Berti » Fri Jul 14, 2006 6:15 pm

I live in Italy, which is an amazing place for wine because there's so much of it. The only drawback is that basically no wine from other countries comes in. So if I only review Italian wines don't take it as some nationalistic preference.

Tonight I had a very good white (considered a rarity for Italy).

I have been intrigued lately by Lugana: the name given to an ancient white wine made from, I think, a strain of the "neutral" Trebbiano grape. Lugana is grown near the lake of Garda in Lombardy and has been heralded for centuries. But there is so much wine in Italy that fortunately the prices remain generally approacheable.
What I've recently enjoyed about Lugana is its very individualistic and unreserved nose of what I describe as flint, or smoke, or fresh crusty bread - I don't really know how to describe it. In the mouth its refreshing and balanced, and "neutral" in a good way. I've heard it ages very well so I put a few bottles away.

Then today in a wine store I've been frequenting lately I saw a special reserve Lugana by a producer I like.
Ca' dei Frati, Lugana, "Brolettino" 1999.
Wow! 15 Euros and I don't have to wait 5 years for my wine to mature!

I didn't know what to expect and fortunately I wasn't disappointed.
Full bodied, creamy and smooth in the mouth. Characteristic crusty bread flint in the nose. Like velvet in the mouth. Wow. Very good.
Last bottle at the store unfortunately. I may have to drive an hour and buy this stuff direct!

Cin cin,
Agostino
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Paul Savage

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Re: TN: Who would have thought..

by Paul Savage » Fri Jul 14, 2006 10:54 pm

Agostino,

There was an article by Matt Kramer in the Wine Spectator a few months ago about the surprising quality he had been finding in Italian white wines! Unfortunately, I don't see any in my non-metropolitan location in the States! I wouldn't mind being able to find some Austrian whites too! ...Paul

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