Sunday Set Wine Flight
The Sunday Set wine flight is all about a small selection of wines chosen by us, for you to try each and every Sunday.
Wines you may not necessarily choose yourself, some of our favourites, or wines that are just screaming out to be sampled.
We will kick off with three of my favourites from Northern Italy.
First a white from wine maker Nunzio Ghiraldi, Trebbiano di Lugana is the grape variety, a distant cousin of Verdicchio and native to the southern shores of Lake Garda in the Northern region of Lombardy.
The wine Lugana 'Il Gruccione' is produced from vines, at least 40 years old and the first pressings of juice only, from extremely low yields of fruit.
The name 'Il Gruccione' is taken from the colourful little bird (Bee Eater) that arrives from North Africa around the vineyards in the summer, this pretty little bird is featured on the front label.
Il Gruccione - Little Bee
The wine has a wonderful crisp texture and a mouth watering range of herbal notes with subtle tropical fruits.
We like to enjoy this wine in its youth, lots of citrus and green fruit to the fore before the palate reveals more exotic notes and a weighty richness to counter the crisp freshness. Works very well with herby salads, fish and porky items.
We have been lucky enough to try some back vintages of this wine, this managed to age very gracefully, the acidity allowing the wine to develop and mellow out, a rich leesy balanced profile with some great complexity and weight, a great wine and one to explore!
unzio with a 1997 Cru Lugana in his kitchen when we visited in February 2017
Next up is another favourite of mine, this time from Piedmont
The Travaglini estate has established itself in the area of Gattinara as the most esteemed producer of traditional, limited-production wines from the Nebbiolo grape.
The vineyards of Gatinara sitting under the italian Alps
A red wine, 100% Nebbiolo, 'Coste della Sesia' from Gattinara in the northern part of Piedmont,
Nebbiolo can take an age to come to maturity and be ready for you to enjoy, if you don't feel like waiting or indeed investing in some of the more famous wines from this part of Italy, this young nebbiolo is a great alternative and an excellent introduction to the variety.
This nebbiolo has a delicate mineral note, hints of violet, rose and liquorice. Well balanced, with silky tannins and a long and smooth finish. The 'Coste della Sesia' is made to drink young and is extremely fruity and easy to drink.
For the third and final wine of this selection I'm going to suggest another white from Piedmont,
This time a sweet Moscato from La Morandina. There is no one better placed than Giulio Morando to offer us an example of a moscato wine , his family have been producing wines in this part of the world for around 500 years and they are a true expression of the what a great Moscato should deliver.
Henry Butler and the Vineyards of La Morandina
100% white Moscato grapes from vineyards in Castiglione Tinella in the Langhe region of Piedmont.
The wine is fresh , fragrant with delicate hints of orange blossom and aromatic herbs when swirled around the glass, very low in alcohol at around 5.5%, slightly sparkling with low acidity and a really fresh herby finish.
I do not find this overly sweet as it is really clean and fresh , its really herbaceous and I like to drink this with deserts that have some fruit such as pear or quince or indeed nuts , almonds and hazelnuts in particular. I want to try this as part of our Sunday Set wine flight as it will bring some sunshine into the winter season!
I really hope you pop in to Fourth&Church to try these wines as part of our Sunday Set, they wont always be available so it would be a shame to miss out.