One year later, on Sunday, I returned to Palazzo del Ghiaccio for Best Wine Stars 2024.
This wine fair is organised annually by Prodes Italia. It’s in its fifth edition now.
Life has been hectic lately. Sunday, I thought I could finally take a break, but I was somehow reminded of this wine fair.
Isles of Wines
Perricone is a black grape variety native to Sicily, from which Brugnano winery makes HER. Before fermentation, the grapes are first dried to raisin-like. No wonder the aroma was somewhat like an Amarone. But unlike an Amarone, it was very light and refreshing on the palate. On hotter days, HER can be deliciously enjoyed with ice.
Aside from both being an island, Sardinia and Sicily have another thing in common: both have never met me in person.
Every time I tell my Italian friends that I’ve never been to Sicily or Sardinia, their gaze immediately turns sharp and directs towards “the responsible”, whose usual response is Covid, Covid, Covid. This may have been the case a few years back, but the travel ban has been lifted for long enough now, and I still haven’t been to any of the two. This is to say that in the absence of Covid, your travel plans can still be tied up by many other things.
If some of their wineries come up to Milan every now and then, I can keep postponing my trip to Sicily and Sardinia. And here they were!
In my opinion, rosé wine these days tends to be either too light-hearted or too heavy-hearted. The former includes Cerasuolo from the Abruzzo region in eastern Italy. With a fresh flavour and an uplifting spirit, it’s lovely yet highly forgettable. The latter includes Provence rosé, which has an aroma sweet and delightful at heart which unfortunately just can’t be perceived much thanks to its tremendous weight and solemnity.
Intead, this rosé by Bingiateris Winery made from Bovale, Cannonau and Monica, three native Sardinian black grape varieties, was spot-on. The acidity, its floral and fruit concentration and the alcohol were in such harmony it’s fair to say it was the best rosé I’d ever tasted. If rosé in Sardinia are all so high quality, then a trip to Sardinia must be called for, now.
Exception to the Prejudice
What is your perception about Prosecco? Mine had been on the sweeter side, flat and flabby, till I tasted the Prosecco Brut Nature by Reguta Winery. With an extremely low residual sugar level, had I not been informed, I would’ve considered it a young traditional method sparkler.
The off-dryness, medium-dryness is wine drinkers’ prejudice against Prosecco. And being able to find an exception to the prejudice is where the ultimate fun in wine tasting lies in, at least to me.
As for Passito di Pantelleria, my prejudice is it’s ultrasweet and sticky. While at Best Wine Stars, I discovered an exception: Shamira by Basile Winery. Your same Pantelleria straw wine, but whose sweetness and viscosity were way more restrained compared to the famed Ben Ryé by Donnafugata. This way the flavour of the grapes could be better identified, even adorned with a little mineral savouriness. Of this genuine character, Shamira can be a great pair with saucy pork dishes, instead of a banally predictable after-meal dessert.
