Thursday, March 22, 2007

w.o.w. - you never forget your first Sardenian

This week's rockroom wine of the week comes to Austin from Sardegna via ... Las Vegas! Huh? Well of course Sardegna (Sardenia) is that big island off the west coast of Italy where all sardines go to spawn, or something like that. But you knew that. What you may not know is that our own JLin, who is currently serving as sommelier (aka wine goddess) at Rao's Las Vegas, is working her way through every Italian wine under the sun. Tuscan or otherwise. Sun or wine. Anyway, she has this to say about this fun little Sardenian white wine made by Argiolas called Costamolino:

"100% Vermentino grapes, it is a lively, bright white wine, redolent with the beautiful floral notes of lemon blossom and passionfruit and pineapple. On the palate, it is bright and creamy (thanks to a partial malolactic fermentation) with lemon verbena and honey all brought together by a tight core of acidity that makes all the flavors pop. It's more interesting than California Chardonnay (ugh in Texas heat) and less searing than Sauvignon Blanc, which can overwhelm with the acid and green notes.....
I hope you try it and fall in love with it. Italian white wines are so much more than Pinot Grigio..."

I found this wine for 14 clams at Central Market on Lamar. They did have one other Sardegna vermentino as well if you want to go all out and do a vermentino flight over a platter of fried calamari with garlic aioli or a bowl of chicken matzo-ball soup with extra egg noodles (as in my photog). Like buttah!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

wine of the week - killer new pinot

So for the first ever rockroom wine of the week (aka wow) here's a doozy. Zepaltas Suacci vineyard pinot noir. Loaded with bright fruit and silky texture this wine has a lingering finish that really shows the complexity possible with Sonoma Coast pinot noir grapes. Never heard of Zepaltas? He (Ryan) is the right hand dude at Siduri. And his photo is in the 3-31 wine spectator. And his first wine released under his own label - 2005 La Cruz pinot scored a WS 95. Move fast to get this wine at http://www.zepaltaswines.com/ $48 plus shipping. Ryan tells me the La Cruz is sold out but call me crazy I like the Suacci better anyway.