If you’ve listened to the podcast in recent weeks, you may have noticed a small focus on Italian white wines as well as white wines in general. It’s not that we don’t enjoy reds in the summer, but rather, we wanted to give you some light, crisp wine options for summer instead of the usually sweet wine or Pinot Gris that dominate the shelves in wine shops. So this week we continue that journey into lesser known varieties with a white wine and grape from Southern Italy called Falanghina.
This week’s episode we discussed:
- The history of the Falanghina grape
- Campania wine region
- There are actually two different Falanghina grapes!
- Flavor characteristics
- Food pairings
vineyards at Tenuta San Francesco in autumn. Photo from www.vinitenutasanfrancesco.it
Wine Recommendations
Michele Alois Caulino Falanghina IGT – priced around $17. We loved the light aromas of stonefruit, pear and minerals in this wine. Light and crisp, this wine has flavors of lemon pith, fresh granny smith apples, with a hint of saltiness and bitter notes on the finish. Of all the Falanghina wines we tasted to prepare for this episode, we thought this one had the most depth of flavor.
Costa d’Amalfi Tramonti Bianco – priced around $17. This wine is a blend of Falanghina, Biancolella and Pepella grapes with a light nose of stonefruit and apple. It’s light and crisp (seeing the pattern here) with flavors of tropical fruit, grapefruit, beautiful minerality, and a hint herbaceous on the finish. The wine was light in body and flavors which makes it a perfect summer white to complete a light dinner. In fact, the Winemaker says it’s the perfect seafood wine but we also think both of these wines would go well with vegetable based dishes with citrus flavors or vinaigrette.
Have we convinced you to give Falanghina a try? Leave us your comments and recommendations in the comments section below.
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