originally posted by Levi Dalton:
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
Thanks, I'll put the Lambrusco on the list. I pulled the trigger on these today:
2004 Pinot Blanc Frizzante
2004 Sauvignon Frizzante
2005 Malvasia Frizzante Secco
2006 Malvasia (still)
Very cool.
Please report back, if you wouldn't mind.
excuse the length, but here's the full report....thanks for the initial suggestion, Levi. pretty dead on, i'd say.
2005 Camillo Donati, S. Andrea Malvasia Frizzante Secco, IGT, Emilia-Romagna, 12% - $24, Bottle cap. Refreshing (literally as well as intellectually) and just plain different, this comes out looking like a frizzy, cloudy cider, smelling like a lambic beer and tasting like a hybrid cross between a lambic and a lighter styled orange wine. More euro-beer on the sour yeasty side of it's profile (as opposed to the Crystal/Cascade hopped microbeer profile which initially got me going on this orange bubbly track) but this is definitely close to what I had in mind. There is a nice, minor touch of fruit, citrus, quinine and tannic grip tucked in there, which show the wine side well (with a touch of cider)...and although it might sound like a jumbled concoction, this wine is anything but. It's bright and vivid on the palate and wholly integrated with a clearly defined taste all it's own. It's liveliness and pure insistence on being nothing but itself is it's strength. Not having had an orange bubbly...not having had malvasia...and not having had Donati before, this is about as far as I can go with 1 bottle. Sure, it gave me pause: is this beer, cider or wine? After a few moments, the answer seems to be: it's Donati Malvasia Frizzante Secco, it's good enough to go with dinner, shut up and enjoy it.
Residual notes: As it warms up a bit and drops some of it's frizz, more things start to show in the nose: floral, pine resin, a distinct note of brown sugar, mint and eventually a slight touch of funk (somewhat Orval-ish...brett perhaps?). Towards the end of the bottle, the overall profile became more wine like and still enjoyable even without much bead. Rounder, but more tart (and, for that matter, more cidery grip as well). Everything was well balanced, the wine is certainly gluggable and went very well with assorted cold cuts of ham, smoked duck and even worked well enough with smoked salmon on pasta. We killed it pretty quickly. I'll be curious to try the other offerings from Donati. I would definitely re-buy this to share with an uber beer geek friend or for a special gathering. Not sure I would re-buy to cellar. Glad I tried it. Lambic freaks should love this.