Our new favorite best buy Chardonnay -- Pure un-oaked Chardonnay goodness!
We taste a lot of wine at the shop in order to preview and curate the selections for our customers. Roughly one out of thirty or forty reaches our quality standard and makes it past us to the shelves. The most challenging of these wines to preview are those that fall into the best-buy category. Inevitably, we're disappointed by nearly all of these and consequently, the hunt goes on perpetually for those elusive gems at bargain prices.
Don't get me wrong, there's an ocean of wines out there that appear to be bargains. These wines dot the supermarket shelves, find their way into the big box stores and generally into any retail establishment that doesn't curate their selection. The true disappointment occurs when you get one of these wines home and into your glass. Bargain price, yes; quality in the glass, no!
I'm happy to introduce the return of the 2018 Vallevo "Terre di Chieti " -- an extreme bargain Chardonnay that once again passed our palates with flying colors.
Trust me, you won't believe the pure drinking pleasure and overall quality of this wine at such a low price!
Terre di Chieti IGT
The Terre di Chieti IGT is nestled in the foothills of central Italy's Abruzzo region. Montepulciano is the region's notable red, however, white wine makes up more than 60% of the region's entire production -- Pecorino, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio are the main white grapes with smaller amounts of Moscato and Cococciala.
The recorded history of the region dates back to Roman times and notes that ports in the region were often used by the Roman merchant ships making connections all throughout the Adriatic. Many of these ports are still in use today.
The coastline known as the 'Costa dei Trabocchi' features many "Trabocchi" -- dwellings that once allowed fishermen to effectively fish in bad weather. These wooden structures acted both as shelter and also as fishing "machines", extending out in the water on long wooden legs using long poles and systems of nets to reach passing schools of fish.
The region's best Co-op
Vallevò is a well regarded co-operative winery in this region, located close to the village of Chieti. During the last forty years, they have grown to more than 500 members with close to 2,000 acres of vineyards. The coop produces a large variety and volume of wine, however only 10-15% of their wines are bottled, the rest is sold in bulk - we're told, to some famous producers that would prefer not to be named! Fruit for the bottled wine is sourced from the coop's top one hundred family producers and is consistently the best fruit available in the region.
In addition to the Vallevò Chardonnay, over the years we've previously featured a number of wines from this wonderful coop, including their outstanding Pecorino, Cococciola, and Montepulciano -- we've loved them all!
The Chardonnay buy of the year!
I'll get right to the point -- once again, I was totally blown away at the level of quality this coop offers for such a low price. When we tasted the new vintage of the Chardonnay with the local importer, our buddy Mike Tiano, we fell in love with the wine all over again -- this is honest, superbly made wine available at an unbeatable price.
In the glass, the first thing you'll notice is the wonderfully vibrant citrusy aromas virtually leaping from the glass. The fresh and lifted palate has ample richness yet retains a pleasing amount of acidity that keeps the wine lively. There's a nice touch of minerals andsalinity on the palate that linger in the long finish of melon and citrus fruit. To protect the vibrant freshness of this wine, it's aged entirely in stainless steel -- no oak here!
Serve this with all your white-flesh fish preparations, shellfish, chicken and pork. For a real treat, serve this with one of the favorite dishes of the Abruzzo region: herb and tomato baked fish -- cod, halibut or even salmon would be wonderful.
Regular AWM Price: $10.99
Solid or mixed case: $9.34
Seriously, this is a great value to be had at less than the price of mediocre supermarket plonk.
Can't make it in? No problem, just phone with a credit card number and we'll hold your order for pickup or arrange for delivery.
--Price is good while supplies last.