A
big-shouldered white grape of Calabria, believed
to have originated in Greece
or Turkey.
Sometimes spelled Montonico.
This bottle
is from Librandi,
a champion of regional varietals, and they certainly take this one seriously. The
grapes are fermented first in stainless steel and then in small oak barrels,
then spend another eight months in small barrels of French Allier oak. This
produces a wine with good aging potential for a white – Librandi suggests a
window of three to five years after the vintage, and the bottle that the Potenza wine shop in D.C.
ordered for me was discounted by the importer because it was even older than
that. Normally it runs about $20.
But it was
in fine shape, and you can see why it inspires extravagant descriptions from
the maker and from blogs like Jakob’s Bowl. I’ll just say that the yellow-fruit and citrus flavors were intense and
complemented by the oak, and that the wine is worth saving for a special
dinner.
Librandi
says that “it excels with sea bass, swordfish and dentex, even with the most
complicated preparations.” Our Safeway being fresh out of dentex, we drank it
with grilled salmon in an herbed cream sauce.
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