La Dolce Vita

Italian wines with Italian food for dinner, two red classics and one lesser known white.

The evening started with a white wine from the north-eastern region of  Fruili, the 2008 Bastianich Plus, a white wine made from the Friulano grape. This was a label and grape which I had not seen before and therefore did not know what to expect.  The smell and taste took me by surprise.  The bouquet was unexpectedly strong with the smell of very ripe grapes and orange emerging once the wine was poured.  In the mouth, it was slightly sweet - at about half the sweetness level of a German Spatlese - with a taste of pears and honey.   It displayed a surprising level of complexity. A very unusual but satisfying wine.  It went well with the the fritto misto (crisp fried seafood) and brodetto di pesce (fish broth).

The second bottle was a 2007 Tignanello, a 'super-tuscan' that needs no introduction.  The 2007 vintage was considered a good vintage and the cepage for this wine was Sangiovese(80%), Cabernet Sauvignon (15%) and Carbernet Franc (5%).  A medium-bodied red with a rich nose of cherries and flowers and a taste of lush fruitiness.  A very pleasant wine to pair with food of moderately strong flavours, in this case a hearty large plate of pasta. My only regret was that the bottle was not opened earlier. The wine got progressively better as the meal went on and was at its best right at the end. A two hour airing would have been ideal.

The final bottle was a 2007 Barolo from Pio Cesare.   It was a classic barolo that tastes of a good mix of dark fruits and grassy, earthy and smoky notes.   A big and concentrated wine which was a good match with the highlight of the meal - a large slab of char grilled aged Florentine steak.  A superb pairing.  The 2007 can be aged for another few years and will be better in, perhaps, 2016.