Better to drink than pack, 38/60: Sannio
I can’t for the life of me determine what’s up with this wine. I hate it, then I overlook what I hate about it to discover what it does well, then I really disapprove of it, only to circle back thinking “you’re not so bad.”
Maybe putting pen to blog will help me sort this out. You certainly can’t have negative followers so I figure there’s nothing to lose, right?
Hate: Right off the bat, I wanted desperately to be rid it. Uncorked to discover that banana aroma of manufactured yeasts, which developed into a marshmallow candy scent with some time. Gross. And to taste it. It seemed totally not balanced. Throat-clogging residual sweetness is cloying, annoying and very very oy-veh-ing. I put the cork in and opened another bottle of wine, which was fabulous.
Love: Much time has past, like meals have past, and I figure I’d check on this deeply flawed concoction. Orangerie on the nose… well that’s an improvement. Quite like that, actually. Simple bouquet, if there even is a bouqet, but damn, the banana’s gone. Simple to taste too, but the acidity is flaring alongside the orange-y-ness now. Pairing with some mildly spicy Mediterranean food with extra pungent flavour, the wine starts firing on all cylinders, showing a coating creaminess. Bold and stylish, and acting more like the expressive Falanghina grape variety that it’s made of.
Second-guessing: More time passes, and now without the food that made it so special, I’m having with something more delicate — Basmati rice with baked Brussel sprouts and breaded chicken. The nose is getting imprecise and waxy. Seems impure and nearly has a Panterellia tone to the citrus. I feel like I’m tasting additives. It’s got a hollowed-out body, lacking a finish and dying in the mid-back palate. Grrr…
Second coming: No food and I’m attracted to it again. It seems stripped down and steely, no doubt due to the very prolonged exposure to air at this point. Slaking, uncomplicated, refreshingly citrus, basic but reminscent of a Muscadet with big leesy bite.
Usually it’s the problem wines I spend too much time with, so I wouldn’t likely buy La Guardiense Janare Senete Falanghina del Sannio 2012 again.
13.5% alc/vol, $14.95
