Tenuta Di Ghizzano Bianco Costa Toscana

Tenuta Di Ghizzano Bianco Costa Toscana 2019

Son Alec came over to watch the Big Ten basketball tournament and Linda grilled some cod fish filets. I opened this Tuscan blend of traditional white grape varietals for casual dinner wine pairing. 

This is from the Tenuta di Ghizzano (Ghizzano Estate), one of the oldest farms in the area, a small hilltop village, situated at about 200m above sea level in an area referred to as Terre Di Pisa (Pisa  Lands) not far from the Tuscan coast, 40 km from Livorno and 40 km to south of Pisa.

The Venerosi Pesciolini Family settled in the village of Ghizzano towards the end of the 14th century, Their ancestral origins there date back to the Carolingian period with the first documented news of Venerosi from 803. 

The ancient estate country house is a residential villa and also serves as the headquarters of the company. The Garden of the Villa is a typical Italian Garden in the style of classic late Renaissance inspiration.

The Tenuta di Ghizzano estate encompasses about 860 acres of which about 50 are dedicated to vineyards with the remaining 20 to olive groves, 375 acres to farming land yielding mainly wheat and cereals, and about 400 acres left to woodland and poplar groves.  The vineyard is located in Il Mulino at about 180m above sea level. The grapes are picked exclusively by hand and only the most ripe grapes are carefully selected for the blend. 

The terroir consists of gentle landscape and mild climate with sea breezes that moderate extreme temperatures or risk of springtime frosts. The soil is varied and complex, common landscape of the Terre of Pisa, formed by marine sediments of the 'Astiana' geological age, represented by calcareous clay sands, where it is easy find shells fossils.

Tenuta Di Ghizzano produce a portfolio of red and white wines, as well as olive oils, grains and pastas. 

 

This Il Ghizzano Bianco label is a white blend made from estate grown traditional Tuscan white grapes: 30% Trebbiano, 50% Vermentino and 20% Malvasia Bianca. 

The Vermentino grapes are vinified by traditional pressing and fermenting the juice at a low temperature for 1 month with the natural yeasts. The Trebbiano and Malvasia Bianca grapes remain in the pressing machine for several hours (7-12 hours) after cooling and then go into a stainless steel tank for fermentation for 3-4 months. When fermentation of each different variety has come to an end, the wine is combined into the final blend. 

Winemaker notes: This Il Ghizzano Bianco is very accessible, soft, fruity (citrus aromas), minerally and has a fine acidity. In the nose we mainly smell acacia, pineapple, pear, yellow peach and white pepper. The wine has nice complex layers and with some time in the glass, attractive aromas and flavors of apple, peach and dried pear are released. Full of phenolic tension and lots of flavors from the long aging on its own yeasts with a delicious long lasting intense aftertaste."

The 2021 edition of the il Golosario guide by Paolo Massobrio and Marco Gatti announced the inclusion of "Il Ghizzano Bianco" Costa Toscana 2019 among the "Top Hundred 2020" selections of the 100 best wines in Italy. 

At about $20, this represents reasonable QPR value - Quality Price Ratio.

Straw colored, medium light bodied, rich vibrant peach and yellow apple fruits with what one pundit refers to as 'iron and leesy, bread dough aromas and flavors', with lingering bright acidity on the finish.

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=365587244

http://www.tenutadighizzano.com/en/index.html

Eataly NYC Flounder Seafood Dinner

Eataly NYC Flounder Seafood Dinner

Our first night in NYC for a getaway weekend, we dined with son Alec at Eataly in the Flatiron neighborhood, one of our favorite visits when there. Eataly is a unique destination experience of all things Italian food and drink in a small village market like setting. There is a an Eataly in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, two in New York, Toronto and in Las Vegas.

Dining at Eataly is an experience of an Italian village market with a market section featuring meat, cheese, seafood, pasta, wine, desserts, and a corresponding adjacent restaurant for that selection. Restaurants at the Flatiron location include Serra which means  “greenhouse” in Italian,, a seasonal rooftop restaurant, Il Pastaio di Eataly, which means "pasta maker,", a new fresh pasta bar, Manzo, meaning "beef" in Italian, a vibrant butcher-focused restaurant offering meat of all kinds, La Pizza & La Pasta featuring two of the best-loved Italian dishes: Napoli-style pizza and al dente pasta, and Il Pesce offering fresh seafood that is also sold in a market type seafood counter. There is also a wine bar with adjacent restaurant, and a Piazza village like setting offering wine, cheese and charcuterie.

As has become almost a ritual for our visits east, we ate in the Eataly Il Pesce (seafood) restaurant. We ordered for sharing the grilled flounder, one of our favorite dishes.  It is such a large portion that it is easily shared by two people and could probably accommodate another person as well.

Alec order one of his favorites, octopus.

From the winelist we ordered this white wine as an accompaniment to our seafood dinner selections.

 Bastianich Vespa Bianco Friuli-Venezia Giulia 2016

The winemaker notes say of this wine; "A tightly-wound balance of minerality and citrus, evolving over time into a denser expression of wildflowers, honey and ripe pear. Its tannic structure and acidic backbone lend it not only immediate impact, but also a long life."

This is a white wine blend of mostly Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, with a touch of Picolit. It is from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, from the most north eastern corner of Italy, one of the twenty different wine regions of Italy.

One of the reasons I don't invest intellectually and economically in Italian wines is the complexity of having more than 500 different grape varietals, from twenty different wine regions. 

Picolit is one of those obscure grape varietals, also known as Piccolit and Piccolito. It is a white Italian wine grape varietal that is primarily grown in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy. Historically it was planted in poor and infertile vineyards. It reached its height of popularity in the 1960s & 1970s, however Picolit's extremely small yields made it economically difficult to grow and therefore has limited the number of plantings.

Butter colored, light body, nicely balanced, bright tangy flavors of crisp green apple with accents of pear and citrus, nice acidity and minerality on the pleasant lingering finish.

RM 90 points.

This got 94 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and 90 points from Wine Spectator.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3276554

Baked Brie Tranche Slice of Pape Blanc Columbia Valley White Blend 2010

Baked Brie highlights Tranche Cellars 'Slice of Pape Blanc' Columbia Valley White Blend 2010

One of the highlights of our recent gala French cuisine wine dinner at Hemingway's Bistro in Oak Park was their decadent baked brie cheese with honey and toasted almonds. So, for a casual midweek tasting of an interesting white wine, Linda crafted her own rendition of this preparation - Baked Brie in crescent wrap with mixed berries, honey and toasted almonds (shown below).

 

The delicious crescent rolls with baked brie, mixed berries with honey and toasted almonds were ideally suited to a moderately complex Rhone style white blend.  

To accompany this decadent treat, we tasted this interesting, odd named proprietary white blend from the producer Corliss, otherwise known for Cabernet Sauvignon.  Wine Advocate says "Tranche Cellars consistently delivers serious, impeccably made wines that over-deliver". 

This label, "Slice of Pape Blanc" is a blend that would characteristically be found in Chateauneuf du Pape Blancs, white blends from the southern Rhone River Valley known mostly for big reds. 

This is a blend of 59% Roussanne and 41% Viognier aged in 100% neutral French oak. 

The complexity and depth of the wine was a perfect compliment to the symphony of flavors of the brie, crescent, berry, honey and almonds.  


Tranche Cellars 'Slice of Pape Blanc' Columbia Valley White Blend 2010

Straw colored medium bodied with a silky texture, this opened to rich, crisp, bright vibrant tones of lemon citrus with accents of peaches, hints of apricot, floral and just the right amount of acidity.

RM 91 points. Wine Advocate gave it 92

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1611401

http://tranchecellars.com/