Al-Cantara A Nutturna Nerello Mascalese

We'll get back to the name of this wine shortly.  Let's just say this may be the best white wine in the store.  Its bright golden color reflects its nose of pineapple and apricot with hints of minerality leading into the fresh and ample, staggeringly complex palate.  A big part of the mix is the spiciness which continues into the long memorable finish.  Suggested pairings include aged cheeses, white meats and seafood.  Hell, enjoy this wine with anything!  Or by itself!  

A Nutturna is a single vineyard, single varietal Mt Etna, Sicilian white wine made from the Nerello Mascalese grape.  The vineyard is located 650-1200 meters up Etna and features 18 year old vines.  Sicily has one of the longest histories of wine production and Nerello Mascalese is one of its indigenous grapes that has proven its worth.  This example is made with wild yeasts with six months duration on the lees.  It is aged in steel.

Italian Wine Law designates four quality levels.  Our subject today is in the third tier down, an IGT (indication of geographical typicality) which basically means the wine's quality must reflect its origins.  To get way down into the weeds - Its color, aromas, sweetness, alcoholic content, flavors and ever so much more are somehow regulated to reflect that vineyard area of Etna.  If that isn't enough, the text on label then must reflect some of these same qualities.  This, for a wine a step above VdT (vino da tavola)!  What are they thinking!

But we still maintain this may be the best white wine in the store.  Now back to the name - Al-Cantara is Arabic for the bridge.  A Nutturna means at night.  Then standing by itself on the label are the words drinkable poetry and that goes to what they are trying to convey here.  Their metaphorical bridge is one that ties vineyard terroir with art and poetry.  Yeah, it's a little bit heady...but I like it.

At the 2023 Gran Italy wine competition, Al-Cantara was named the Winery of the Year for having eight five star wines, the highest rating possible. 

Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio

For such a simple white wine, things sure can get complicated when you look at the genetics involved.  We've posted many times about the unstable genome of the pinot grape that seemingly mutates at will.  Pinot Gris/Grigio are the French and Italian names meaning grey pinot, one of six distinct pinot varieties, but like we said, it gets complicated.  On a single pinot grapevine, bunches may vary in color due to ongoing mutations.  Ramato Pinot Grigio, the quintessential orange wine of history, is a classic example of this.  It is a naturally copper colored grape that occurs randomly.

To tell you how screwed up the pinot family is, there is very little difference between most members of the family.  Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio are very much the same genetically.  Any significant differences existing now stem from centuries ago when a mutation took place in a vineyard somewhere resulting in the change.  That happened over and over again until there are now six distinct pinot varieties.

Today in popular wine culture Pinot Gris is the term for a drier more robust wine style while Pinot Grigio is used for a lighter fruitier simpler version.  But even that isn't clear.  There is overlap in terminology.  Fruitiness used to be a grigio term, as in Italian-style fruitiness.  Now new world gris has obvious new world fruitiness.  Oiliness used to be synonymous with the Alsatian Pinot Gris style but darned if I don't get that in some Italians.  It gets downright complicated.

So we started this post because we got in Kind Stranger Pinot Gris from Washington State and it is a delightful example of new world winemaking.  The back label says "sun-drenched pears and citrus fruit" and that really nails it.  It's a special wine that captures the best of both worlds.  It has the fruitiness of a Grigio summer quaff but also has the body and oiliness of an Alsatian Gris.

Wine Labels

We recently blogged about chain store wine labels and the tranquilizing effect the designs and colors have on the customer facing the display.  We concluded that the wine aisle had much in common with other store aisles where colors are used to soothe customers and perhaps to prime them for additional purchases.  

We also got a little critical of the stupid names or other text on labels that seemed to have nothing to do with what's actually in the bottle and that's what prompts this post now.

What the consumer should know is that the grocery store wine set is the result of incredible research done by the largest wine companies in the world.  Those wines are often amended and manipulated to appeal to everyone and offend no one.  Hence, they lack distinction.  So when I see Tribute Cabernet Sauvignon I know two things immediately: there is no Tribute winery and what's in the bottle is formulaic using bulk wine.  It is not the product of an individual vineyard and more likely the product of a laboratory.

The mass marketers do a good job, by the way.  Joe Six-pack probably gets a better bottle of wine at the end of the day than he would have gotten fifty years ago when we got into this business.  Like we said though, there is little in the way of distinction in this end of the business. 

Anyway, back to the offensive wine names and here's a surprise - You don't have to go to a chain store to see stupid labels.  We have them right here.  Leviathon, True Grit, Silver Spur, Blood Root and the inestimable Glup Glup are all currently in stock and they are all good wines.  With names like those, they've got to be good!  Oh, and we have the seductive colors and designs the chain store have too!  

So, who are we to be critical.