Saturday 27 October 2012

Villa Schinosa Falanghina Spumante 2010, Puglia, Italy

A quick note on a pretty interesting wine picked up from Bottle Apostle (where else?) for £14. Falanghina can be a lovely grape - along with Greco and Fiano probably the best white grapes to be found in the south of Italy. The problem this part of the world has is heat - any white grapes have to be able to hold on to as much acidity as they can whilst the flavours develop in the grapes, otherwise things can get flabby and flaccid. Often you find a little bitterness or pithiness in these wines, which compensates to some degree for the lack of intrinsic, acidic bite.
For me, a sparkling wine devoid of acid is not much fun, but there was something about this bottle that intrigued me. I ended up really liking it, even though I was hankering for a rasping glass of English bubbly by the end. Lots of ripe yellow plum and toasted almond richness on the nose, with a little freshly baked bread, dried apple, lemon pith and even basil. Really lovely aromatically - a lot more complex and richer than I was expecting. It's quite soft and broad on the palate, with that pithy character keeping the sweet yellow plum fruit in check. It does work - it would actually be great for someone who claims not to like Champagne/cool-climate fizz (these people do exist apparently!). Or with sensitive teeth...no, it's well worth a try, and good value.