A Stunner from the Trentino

God, what a week.  Thank God my combat time in the classroom is over till Monday, though many happy hours await doing graduate work and lesson planning according to the diktats of the Board of Ed.  Too much fun.

Right now I'm listening to Fred Astaire sing "Flying down to Rio" on the earbuds, eating stale pretzels ("waste not, want not") and drinking seltzer, waiting for a respectable hour to open a bottle and do some, disons-nous, degustatin'.  In that I am torn between the two parts of my heritage.  Should I, like a nice WASP, wait till 6? Or, like some feckless Mick, hit the bottle NOW? 

Well.  In me, by upbringing a broad church man, the art of compromise is well developed, as my checkered career and life would seem to indicate.  So 5:30 strikes me as a reasonable hour.

Which brings me in my roundabout way to the "Stunner from the Trentino" part. 

I've only just encountered De Tarczal, a wonderful producer with an interesting, Austro-Hungarian pedigree.  The property is above the Adige river, well to the north of Verona. I won't go into all the colorful details; the excellent web site, which is in English, German and Italian, provides plenty of those.

At the Great Sunsan / Consorzio Selezione Vini Italiani tasting dinner on Tuesday, I had my first De Tarczal wines, and I was very impressed.  Their Marzemino di Isera Trentino DOC 2004 was a warm, spicy, chewy mouthful of well-balanced fruits and tannins -- really wonderful. Why Marzemino isn't better known is a mystery to me.  It's an expressive grape; and in this case, it spoke in terza rima.  (Sorry.)

The first De Tarczal wine of the dinner, chronologically, was their Pinot Bianco. Now, I like Alsatian Pinot Blanc well enough but often find it bland and rather lacking in a distinctive flavor.  A pleasant aperitif, perhaps, but that's it most of the time. 

Not so the De Tarczal Pinot Bianco Trentino DOC 2004.  This version of the PB hit me right away with its crisp, ultra-dry character, which develops an apple-scented fruit as it warms.  The finish is surprisingly long and subtle.  It has a bracing character all its own.  On an evening when many well-made and even delectable wines were served -- and I will write about the tasting more fully when I'm less nackered -- this baby stood out. 

Chris Rudney gave me a bottle to take home.  Ken and I opened it the next night and he went, "What IS this?"  "Like it?"  "It's delicious!"

I was happy he liked it but took exception to his saying, "I think it's a better aperitif wine than a food wine."  I disagree.  Find the right food -- something light and subtle -- and you'll have a great pairing.

Look, Ma -- no estinking oak

(Don't mean to pick, but the label needs updating, doesn't it?)

Here is the scheda tecnica taken from the English version of the De Tarczal web site.  Best of all, this superb wine retails for about $15.  Ask about it at your local shop.  Not that they'll have it, but they SHOULD order it.

Pinot bianco TRENTINO DOC

Cultivated at mid - altitude,     the Pinot Bianco finds here the ideal habitat to fully express its     personality. Very appreciated in youth, does not mind a modest aging, which     enhances its peculiar characteristics.

    Grape Pinot Bianco
   
    Vinification After pressing, left for a short time with the skins (18 to 24 hours), then fermentation at a controlled temperature of about 18 °C   to 20 °C
   
    Bottling In the spring, following the grape's harvest
   
    Colour Full straw - coloured yellow
   
    Bouquet Delicate and subtle, bringing to mind hawthorn flowers
   
    Flavour Full, characteristic, revealing an harmonious and pleasant character, where apples, with bitterish undertones, spring to mind
   
    Accompaniment Seafood and fresh water fish, soups, risottoes. Very pleasant with fresh fruits.
   
    Serving Temperature 14 °C to 16 °C

Comments

[pierovini]

really a good producer!!!

[Terry Hughes]

Si, Pierluigi, e sono ben contento d'averlo "incontrato" !