Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A white that is not Chenin Blanc!

Earlier tonight my friend, Stacey, had me over for dinner. On the way over, I ran to a local wine store and decided to take a flyer on an Italian Falanghina (white varietal) that I'd never heard of.
My theory is that when it comes to varietals like Falanghina, they're not well known and thus not overplanted and overproduced. I believe there is a much better chance that a random Falanghina is going to have more character and taste better than many of the Chardonnays or Sauvignon Blancs that a typical wine store would have. Plus, the few times I had tried Falanghina, I'd really enjoyed it.

Falanghina is a dry, acidic, white Italian varietal that can be very aromatic with notes ranging from apple to citrus to pineapple. Usually I don't do well with acidic whites, but there's enough fruit in Falanghina that the acid is muted which is one of the reason I think it's such a great summer white!

The bottle I picked up was the Terredora Dipaolo 2009 Falaghina. It wasn't complex and it didn't have a lot going on, BUT for $14, I didn't expect it to. Plus, it was light and crisp with some lovely pear and pineapple notes. It paired almost perfectly with the hot, humid weather as well as Stacey's awesome homemade pesto sauce! It went down almost too easy. For $14, you'd be hard pressed to find a good Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc that delivered half as much.

As always, I urge you to look beyond the obvious because there's so many wonderful varietals to choose from and wine stores are taking a lot more chances now. Next time you're looking for a an alternative to the overdone "value" Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs, look no further than Falanghina. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Until the next sniff, sip or quaff,

Cheers,

Alli M.

4 comments:

elliej said...

First, Chenin Blanc, now Faranghia -- a lot for an old crone like me to remember!

elliej said...

First, Chenin Blanc, now Faranghia -- a lot for an old crone like me to remember!

elliej said...

Oops -- that's Fallanghia! Already i've screwed up.

Unknown said...

There are some interesting points in time in this article but I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well
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