decided to give it a try. While I agreed with Iron Chef on the Travaglini Gattinara, I'm afraid we don't really see eye to eye on this wine. I found relatively non-descript but acidic with a distinctly sour finish. On the bright side, I can add two obscure grapes to my grape variety 'life list.'---
Here is Iron Chef's review:
I had this wine recently at the Muriel McQueen Ferguson Wine and Food event at the Delta sponsored by ANBL and it stole the show in front of Brunellos and massive super Tuscans. But I was skeptical as wine Tastes/Values can be unfairly influenced by exterior elements, such as friends, fun and such. I had to try it again. What initially struck me as impressive was the way this Sicily wine was able to draw out and accent the Salt favours of a Blue Cheese and Tomato appetizer at the event prepared masterfully by Chef Gower at the Delta. I wanted to recreate that experience by having an equally salty dish, a Lobster Risotto with homemade chicken stock with lots of fresh herbs, especially Tarragon made with a combination of Parmesan and Goats cheese. The Anthilia did not disappoint. The wine displayed notes of sherry, its dryness and nuttiness. Lots of dried fruits like apricots. Fresh acidity that worked to focus the saltiness of dish and an underlying crisp acidity that livened the palate. A really special wine. It was just as I had remembered, maybe better. I believe this to be the best white wine I have had in 2008.
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Here's what Kelly had to say. Note that she tried it after it the bottle had been open in the fridge for a week:
Sweaty socks, petrol, plastic, and dried apricots and floral notes on the nose and following through on the palate, which is full and creamy and ends with a bit of a kick. Nicely balanced. There's a sour, plasticy edge, but otherwise this is a very enjoyable wine. I'd say this is a dry, substantial, manly white rather than a sweet, fruity, light, floral one.
My experience with whites is limited, and I'm also not excellent with food pairing. So it quite interests me that Iron Chef seems to be onto something with his comments about salt. We drank this with green Thai curry, and then on its own. It did seem to bring out the saltiness of the fish curry, and the pairing also seemed to muffle that sour edge that bothered me in the wine alone.
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As you can see, lots of disagreement on this one, so don't be shy with the comments.
Price: $17.79
Value: 5/5 (Iron Chef); 2/5 (Norman); 3/5 (Kelly)
Score: 95 (Iron Chef); 83 (Norman); 85 (Kelly)
Region: Italy, Sicily
Grape: Ansonica, Catarratto
Tasted: Jan 2009
UPC #8000852000113
Posts
I quite like the label (and matching blue synthetic stopper). I wonder if that was a factor in its selection for the MMFF function...
ReplyDeleteAs Chair of the Event, the process of wine selection was a collabration between the Chef and ANBL resident expert Robert Noel. But the label is nice.
ReplyDeleteWOW...i am not on my regular work computer...AND I CAN POST!!
ReplyDeleteOk...here is my two cents. Sometimes when wine and food are paired you "mute" or "mask" the flavor of the wine. Therefore when you taste it alone, its a totally different wine. Sometimes its better sometimes its not. I think someone observed on another post that the wine they paired with a steak really felt "hot". But alone it was a lot nicer. I think our paletes get a little fatigued not only by too many wines but by food too.