A delicate yet substantial sparkling wine. After the first fermentation, this wine is finished in the bottle, as they do in Champagne. The wine is also made with chardonnay grapes only, as is Champagne’s “blanc de blancs.” But this sparkler is produced in the north of Italy, in the Dolomites; it’s a product of the (relatively) new region devoted to sparkling wine called Trento DOC. On the chardonnay spectrum, this wine tends toward zinginess with a bit of rounded fruit. The wine has a very good medium-small, persistent mousse, with some toast and a bit of fruit on the nose, along with a hint of yeast. It’s apple-y on the palate and peachy with a hint of tangerine in the finish: very concentrated, a mixture of tartness and sweetness. It was disgorged in 2016. Lovely.
Drink as aperitif or with delicate seafood or very light white meat entrees.
Highly recommended — BSE
WHO: Mezzacorona
WHAT: 100% chardonnay
WHERE: Trentino, Alto Adige, Italy
HOW MUCH: $16 (media sample)