Off the Beaten Path Italy - Terredora Dipaolo Falanghina 2010

Southern Italy boasts a huge number of overlooked, under appreciated  and downright ignored indigenous varietals. Names like Gaglioppo, Cannonau, Fiano, Piedirosso, Negroamaro and Grillo are just a few of the grape names that make southern Italian wines. As a fan of the local varietals, nothing is more interesting to me than delving into wines derived from this fruit. In the southern Italian region of Campania, several white varietals make wines that some of us are familiar with. Names like Fiano di Avellino, Lacryma Christi and Greco di Tufo are fairly common in the American marketplace. Falanghina on the other hand, is less well known. And, for everyday purposes like mine, those more well known wines are most likely going to cost more than $15 and more often approach the $20 mark.

Not so with Terredora Dipaolo's wonderful $13.99 Falanghina. This virtually unknown varietal makes a wine that is a crisp, refreshing everyday white that will work well with all your fish dishes, grilled shrimp and even simple grilled chicken. I tasted the 2010 for this post but with the consistently nice weather in this part of Italy, vintage is less important than with other wine regions. This tasty wine has some typical hot climate white wine aromas of candied apple and white peach along with apricot and floral notes. In the mouth, it's fairly fat and fruity with apple, peach and citrus flavors, but it is still balanced out with bright acidity. It finishes with toast and honey notes. Aged for a time on it's lees in stainless steel, this refreshing wine sees no wood whatsoever. It's imported by one of my favorites, Vias. Also, one of my favorite wine writers, Tom Hyland, has a couple of reports on Campania whites on his blog, learnitalianwines. Be sure to check him out. Cheers!