It's a beautiful day here in Southsea, and if it wasn't for the fact that I'm not drinking during the week it'll probably be a perfect evening for drinking a bottle of Inycon Fiano.
The Fiano grape is produced in Campania (where the Fiano di Avelino DOCG resides) as well as Sicily, where this Inycon IGT wine hails from. The grape is considered a 'classical' variety by wine historians, and is probably Roman in origin, but as it has fairly low yields it became more profitable for winemakers to abandon it for higher yield varieties like Trebbiano, which caused the cultivation of Fiano to decline to levels of near extinction in the late C20. Fortunately there's been a revival of interest in the older indigenous varieties, and Fiano has seen a resurgence in the last 20 years. What's it like? Well, lovers of light Italian whites beware - this is no Pinot Grigio. It has that subtlety of perfume Italian whites have in common, but in the mouth it's a much more powerful proposition - honey, pear and almonds all at the front, with good minerality behind - and it's amazing with fish (paired it with a salmon en croute yesterday and the richness of the wine didn't overpower but rather enhanced the flavours of the ginger and currant filling, while still retaining its structure against those distinct food tastes) This Inycon is a great introduction to the variety at under £6 in most supermarkets, and gives a launch pad for the more complex and expensive Fiano di Avelino, usually in the £10-£20 range.
Other great wine finds this week include a staggeringly good Cahors (Malbec du Clos 2008) from award winning winemaker Jean-Luc Baldes. Dark, juicy, spicy and softened by 2% Merlot this is an amazing wine for under £10.
I picked up a bottle of Chateau Ka (Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 2007) but haven't tried it yet. Hopefully it'll follow in the tradition of the sainted Chateau Musar - i.e. Bordeaux style with a Lebanese terroir uniqueness - but the review (linked) compares it to a cross between Bandol and Bordeaux, which sounds like heaven to a confirmed "Bandol is the best red wine in the world" type like me. Ka is a much newer winemaker, first producing in 2005, and priced nearer the second wine of Musar (Hochar) at around £11, and as an avid Musar fan who can't always justify the price I'm very excited about this one.
Looking forward to the weekend and getting out the corkscrew again......
The Fiano grape is produced in Campania (where the Fiano di Avelino DOCG resides) as well as Sicily, where this Inycon IGT wine hails from. The grape is considered a 'classical' variety by wine historians, and is probably Roman in origin, but as it has fairly low yields it became more profitable for winemakers to abandon it for higher yield varieties like Trebbiano, which caused the cultivation of Fiano to decline to levels of near extinction in the late C20. Fortunately there's been a revival of interest in the older indigenous varieties, and Fiano has seen a resurgence in the last 20 years. What's it like? Well, lovers of light Italian whites beware - this is no Pinot Grigio. It has that subtlety of perfume Italian whites have in common, but in the mouth it's a much more powerful proposition - honey, pear and almonds all at the front, with good minerality behind - and it's amazing with fish (paired it with a salmon en croute yesterday and the richness of the wine didn't overpower but rather enhanced the flavours of the ginger and currant filling, while still retaining its structure against those distinct food tastes) This Inycon is a great introduction to the variety at under £6 in most supermarkets, and gives a launch pad for the more complex and expensive Fiano di Avelino, usually in the £10-£20 range.
Other great wine finds this week include a staggeringly good Cahors (Malbec du Clos 2008) from award winning winemaker Jean-Luc Baldes. Dark, juicy, spicy and softened by 2% Merlot this is an amazing wine for under £10.
I picked up a bottle of Chateau Ka (Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 2007) but haven't tried it yet. Hopefully it'll follow in the tradition of the sainted Chateau Musar - i.e. Bordeaux style with a Lebanese terroir uniqueness - but the review (linked) compares it to a cross between Bandol and Bordeaux, which sounds like heaven to a confirmed "Bandol is the best red wine in the world" type like me. Ka is a much newer winemaker, first producing in 2005, and priced nearer the second wine of Musar (Hochar) at around £11, and as an avid Musar fan who can't always justify the price I'm very excited about this one.
Looking forward to the weekend and getting out the corkscrew again......
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