When, in the 1970’s and ’80’s, Angelo Gaja in Piedmont and Piero Antinori in Tuscany were blazing new trails for the Italian wine industry, it was all about red wine, about transforming the reality and, just as importantly, the image of the wine from crude peasant plonk into wines of world-beating quality.

The sea change that they wrought was, at first, limited to red wine – Italian whites remained what they had long been, sad poor cousins of the reds, thin and acidic lemon water. Eventually though some producers realized that a similar move from quantity to quality that had resulted in such impressive financial rewards with red wine might also be possible with white, and so a similar transformation began. Not surprisingly, an early pioneer of this move was the same Marchese Piero Antinori who had led the red revolution.

His most successful effort, and perhaps the most successful Italian white wine of all time, is his Cevaro della Sala from the magnificent Castello della Sala in Umbria. It is not, unfortunately a wine to my taste being a chardonnay too much in the over-oaked creamy style of California or Australia. Moreover, its phenomenal success has lead to a serious increase in price.

Castello della Sala

Thankfully though the Antinoris subsequently released a second chard from the estate, the Bramito del Cervo 2008 ($19), one that is fresher, more lively and, most importantly in these difficult times, costs one third to one half the price of its widely esteemed sibling.

Castello della Sala

It’s just packed with the flavors of summer, think apricots and peaches, and rounded out by a toasty minerality with just a hint of vanilla. This latter comes from the judicious use of oak – second and third fill bariques as opposed to new ones as in the case of Cevaro that adds the right amount of weight and body to the wine without overwhelming the wonderful, expressive fruit.

+++++++

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