ArmaniHappy Wine Blogging Wednesday. Now, you all know by now this is far from an official Wine Blog. For those, I highly recommend one of the more seasoned veterans like Domain 547 or maybe Kathleen Lisson and surely Good Wine Under $20 or any of the great people on my Blogroll. However, I am certainly not going to let the fact stop my reviewing wines I drink. And hopefully, that wont stop you from reading my spew.
Today I want to discuss a nice summer white that I found at my local wine store. They were having a Pinot Grigio tasting and I went all in, tasting 5 PGs and then 2 Sauvignon Blancs. I happened the enjoy at least 4 of the 7, which ranged from $7 to $19. One of the pricier ones, the Albino Armani Vigneto Corvara, which cost $17, is the topic of the day.
I will apologize for not having more than the first iPhone photo above of this nice wine. Apparently I was so excited to drink it, I forgot to photograph it. I actually have 3 or 4 other reviews written that I won’t post until I get a second bottle to photograph properly. That being said, the color of this pinot grigio was a light to medium blond. I will have to go and get shots of hair color boxes to compare to for next time!
I keep my whites at 49 degrees normally, and try to serve them there or perhaps a tad cooler. I don’t want to go too cold, or it masks the flavor in my opinion. It will warm up, especially in Florida, and the flavors will change a bit while it’s enjoyed. I want to say it was a synthetic cork, but I honestly don’t recall. Again, I need to do better next time taking notes and photos! Or, like my twitter bud PreppyDude says, do a video review!
The nose on this wine was a little tight, in my opinion. Not that I need each wine I drink to explode into my nose, mind you. I do, however, find some enjoyment in a fragrant bouquet, as well as trying to discern the scents in the wine. At first I mainly had an acidic, perhaps mineral quality on the nose. After a minute I was able to find some light notes of fruit, perhaps apricot. After another minute I sensed the lightest of floral notes. However, I had to really reach for that. Robin did not get much from this wine on the nose, and we both agreed it was just a little tight.
The first sip of this wine let me know it was certainly not a light summer wine. It was medium to full bodied, and you knew you had a nice wine in your mouth. I hesitate to say it was as heavy as a chardonnay, but it was more so than a light, crisp sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio. It had a very smooth mouth feel, almost that lactose, buttery feel like a Sonoma Cutrer or Sonoma-Leob chard, though not exactly.
The wine was certainly very fruit forward. However, I couldn’t easily say which fruit I found at first. It was very pleasant, but perhaps it was more of a fruit salad and needed to open up. I let it sit for about 15 minutes or so, which allowed it to breathe a little, and also warm a tad. It was then that I felt like I was taking a giant bite of a nice, braeburn apple. Maybe a fuji. It was very exciting. It wasn’t sweet apple, just a very nice, full flavored apple palate. An additional surprise I got when this wine opened was a nice floral note. I never expected that when I first tried it, but it definitely has a gentle floral flavor. I could describe it as a summer meadow, light and refreshing, rather than thick and pungent.
This wine did have a nice, lingering finish. It dances on your lips and your middle-tongue/cheeks feel the tingle of minerals and acid for a minute or more. There is certainly no hard or harsh aftertaste. It’s simple and clean and refreshing.
One thing I’ve tried to do with all of my recent tasting is pair the wine with a cheese or two and see how it changes. This pinot grigio was not able to escape this test, and it did very nicely. I Sliced soff a dime sized piece of fresh parmesan cheese, and declared to Robin “Things change”. Robin certainly agreed, and immediately said that having the cheese calmed the wine down. I feel like the acidity drops out almost entirely, and you’re left with wonderful full floral notes. The apple was still present on the palate, but really, this wine was all about fresh flowers after the cheese interacted with it.
I have to say I certainly enjoyed this wine. I found a lot of interesting characteristics in it, and plan on drinking a few of the bottles I have left during the summer. I also gave two bottles to friends as gifts, in the hopes they’d broaden their wine tasting horizons! I won’t call it a high QPR wine, as I am sure for the quality you can find a bit less pricy of wine. However, I wouldn’t say it’s expensive, and would not hesitate to bring it to friends this summer! As a matter of fact, I already did!
Please, share your thoughts below! What are you drinking this summer?