So I am in a restaurant in Miami tonight and looking over the selecitons by the glass decide on a Soave which I remember for ages ago as being a simple white- what I got was amber in color with a pruney taste. I think this is way oxidizied, so I tell the waiter. He assures me that "this is Soave and yes it is odd but that is the way it is." So who is right my memory or this guy who did get me a reasonable Pinot Grigio in its place?
Well, there is Soave and there is Soave. Do you by chance remember the producer? What is produced by Anselmi and Pieropan (and Inama, though I haven't had) is worlds away from the boring stereotype of Soave (and much of it is now labeled Veneto IGT, too). For a good discussion about the top flight wines see Jamie Goode's article:
From your description, Joseph, you either got a producer making an oxidative wine or a bad bottle.
Mark Lipton
There are Soaves that are considerably more than a "simple white". But if it was amber and tasting of prunes, Id' say that bottle was shot. How old was it BTW?
That's funny....last night I was in a restaurant in Moarco Island Fla and ordered a bottle of 2006 Sardinian Vermantino and had the exact same experience. It was very dark, almost amber, and smelled of over ripe oxidized apples and it tasted a bit cooked. When I mentioned it to the Italian wine manager, he said it was supposed to be this way. When I asked for a replacement he was very reticent. I ordered another bottle of 2006 vermantino from a different maker and when it came and it was quite light and fresh he relented and took the first bottle off my bill.
There are some interesting wines (Gravner, Radikon, etc) being made in Italy in intentionally oxidized styles. But I personally have never run across one from Sardinia or Soave. I think that warm Florida weather has struck in both of these cases!
Bull's eye.
I don't know the Soave very well, but I would expect a Vermentino (hopefully "Vermentino di Gallura DOCG") to be light and elegant. I was lucky enough to indulge in a couple very pleasant Vermentinos on a trip to Sardina a couple years back. Once home, I was happy to find it in my local (and internet) wine shop.
Here's what seems like a good reference (but in Italian):
I don't know the Soave very well, but I would expect a Vermentino (hopefully "Vermentino di Gallura DOCG") to be light and elegant. I was lucky enough to indulge in a couple very pleasant Vermentinos on a trip to Sardinia a couple years back. Once home, I was happy to find it in my local (and internet) wine shop.
Here's what seems like a good reference (but in Italian):
Steve Slatcher wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Sorry, I didn't mean to convey that Soave was inferior in general just that I did not expect anything over the top or weird and this if intentional was certainly that. This was a by the glass so I was suspicious anyway . . . For that matter my daughter's Montepulciano was a bit wierd as well, though not as flawed as mine.
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