Donnachiara is a winery in the Montefalciane region of Italy just south of Roma that’s been getting a lot of attention on Twitter — generating quite a bit of enthusiasm which made me curious about tasting the wines myself!
So when a few weeks ago, Donnachiara’s owner Ilaria Petitto hosted a wine lunch in NYC, and since I and some of my fellow Italian Food Wine Travel folks couldn’t exactly attend because we live in other parts of the country, we got the next best thing — wines sent to us for a twitter chat that afternoon. Unfortunately, for me, the wines arrived a few days after the twitter chat…
what should we do? Donnachiara to the rescue!
Family owned and operated for five generations, Donnachiara sees that the “proper care and attachment to one’s work exceed(s) the economic return of any single project.”
DONNACHIARA WINES
2017 – Donnachiara Greco Di Tufo – D.O.C.G. 13 euros
2012 – Donnachiara Taurasi Riserva – D.O.C.G. Aglianico 40 euros
MENU
- Charcuterie
- Pesto with harvest orchieta pasta, mozzarella balls, and shiitake mushrooms
- Linguini with meatballs in an eggplant and artichoke pasta sauce
- Caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes
2017 – Donnachiara Greco Di Tufo – D.O.C.G. 13 euros
13% alcohol
100% Greco
Color: Super pale lemon
Nose: Minerality, grass, super tart lemon, lemon citrus blossom, white flowers, plumeria. Once this wine opens up, there is an essence of stone fruit, even cherry. Depending on the glass you are using, different stone fruits come through. In Sue’s petite syrah glass it was nectarine, in my Sauvignon Blanc Glass it was more Rainer Cherry.
Palate: What a great starter wine, a “welcome to my house” wine. Clean, bright fresh and exciting. It wakes the palate up.
Pairing: I really love, love, love this wine with pesto pasta with salted mushrooms. Greco loves the salt cured olives in the pesto mushroom pasta. Surprisingly, it didn’t work with the olive goat cheese. The Greco and the basil in the caprese salad was wonderful, it also played nicely with the arugula in the salad. Oysters would be a fun pairing.
If you’re unfamiliar with Greco but you like Pinot Grigio, I bet you’d enjoy this wine. Think of what you’d pair with a Pinot Grigio and you’re good to go!
2012 – Donnachiara Taurasi Riserva – D.O.C.G. 40 euros
100% Aglianico
Aglianico is a red grape from Italy that is not very common in the US, but it’s been getting attention and press as an affordable alternative to Barolo. I’ve only tasted it a few times, and I’ve never written about it. A few months ago, Italian FWT group focused on this varietal and I couldn’t even find a bottle! But now that it is on my radar — and others — and I’ve been looking for it, I’ve found it a few times and in a range of price points. I now have two in my cellar and another sample: after tasting this wine, I am definitely a fan!
Color: Very dense, ruby red
Nose: Earthy chalk, cocoa powder, cherry cola, root beer, cherry tobacco, caramel
Palate: Cherry, menthol, earthy, tannins. A finish with baking spice that lasts forever… The complexity on the nose carries through to the palate.
Pairing: These wines amplify what is on your palate, so with the right foods, this wine will elevate the meal. Great with the pepper salami. Sue can always love a caprese salad with an Italian red, and this was no exception. While the caprese salad is a wonderful course with a lovely white as mentioned above, If you only wanted to serve one wine for the evening, this is a great red that can carry through all the courses, I felt that it really needed the rich fatty meatball, and I’d love to pair it with a rich game meat, steak, or braised meat. Sue was happy with this wine with both of the pastas.
Thank you Donnachiara for sharing your wonderful wine with us! I do look forward to having lunch with Donnachiara ‘s owner Ilaria Petitto, one day — maybe in Italy but more likely in LA! She has other wines in her portfolio that we are excited to taste as well.
Hopefully one of these days soon the wines from Calabria will arrive and we will write about “The Food and Wine of Calabria.” In the meantime, check out the work by my Italian FWT colleagues:
Jennifer at Vino Travels will share “Cirò: The Ancient Jewel of Calabria”
Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Cam will share “Braised Beef Cheeks over Garlic Gnocchi + Statti Calabria Gaglioppo 2015”
Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm will share “The Food and Wine of Calabria”
Lauren at The Swirling Dervish will share “Exploring Calabrian Wine: The Du Cropio Estate in Cirò”
Jeff at Food Wine Click will share “Exploring the Toe of Italy’s Boot with Ciro Rosso”
Rupal at Syrah Queen will share “A Taste of Calabria: Librandi Wines of Ciro”
Katarina at Grapevine Adventures will share “A New Golden Age for the Gaglioppo in Calabria”
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 