Looking for delicious?…
Want a grape that will take you from porch sipping to appetizers, a seafood meal to pastas or roast chicken? Just load up on floral, fruity, quenching, versatile VERMENTINO. It’s an indigenous variety from northwestern Italy (think Liguria and Sardegna) that has certainly found a home in California.
Case in point – Dry Creek Valley where the Unti family is estate-growing Vermentino to our delicious satisfaction, with I dare say even more complexity and verve than the Italians might offer! The Unti team like to call their winemaking method “modern traditional,” and it shows. The modern means – contemporary sorting techniques, temperature controlled tanks, diligent hygiene. The traditional means things like – allowing indigenous yeasts to carry out fermentation, a variety of vessels including 620 gallon foudres and concrete tanks, avoiding malo-lactic fermentation in order to retain acidity, and no “corrective” winemaking techniques. All the while, Mick Unti and Winemaker Jason Valenti hold a vision that starts in the vineyard, working closely with the vineyard crew, holding vigilant to farm to quality.
The 2019 UNTI Vermentino Dry Creek Valley is 100% Vermentino.
Unti Vermentino, Dry Creek Valley, 2019
It presents as pale straw. The nose is a mix of green herbs and white pepper, white flowers and an intensity of green melon, like honeydew. Interestingly, the palate started soft, but then the mid-palate burst with acidity accompanied by some phenolics with flavors of lime, and again white pepper and honeydew melon.
What really thrilled me was the finish. It was long! The acids carried through here bringing with it more lime and a distinct flavor charge reminiscent of… Mojito! I kept wanting another sip, and another.
So, adding to my food list above – bring out the chips and salsa, and the nachos too. A perfectly delicious sipper for Summer into Fall. Ole’
Hot Tip:
If your mouth is watering for this Vermentino, no need to stop there. Unti crafts beautiful wines from an array of European native grapes across their portfolio. You should be tempted by their French-influenced wines like Syrah, Grenache, and the “Cuvee Foudre” – their version of a GSM. Or venture into Italian indigenous territory with their Barbera, or the Sangiovese, even Aglianico and Montepulciano are featured as single varietal wines, a rarity to find these groups outside of Italy itself.
Crushing on.....
silky pasta -- strong coffee and bright wines -- a world map -- and a good dance beat 
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