Today's Sponsor:
 Personal Cellar: Discover new wines at great prices!
www.personalcellar.com

In This Issue
 Offbeat Sicilian white Exploring Insolia. Or Inzolia.
 Cusumano 2001 "Angimbé" Sicilia Insolia, Chardonnay ($14.99) Luscious and exotic, a full-bodied white from the South.
 Personal Cellar Feeling lucky? Win a California Cabernet Collector's Case.
Administrivia Change E-mail address, frequency, format or unsubscribe.

Offbeat Sicilian white

Let's take one of those quick trips down the less-traveled byways of wine today. Thanks to a reader's suggestion following up on my recent report on Cusumano Nero d'Avola-Syrah from Sicily (March 31), I went back to the wine shop to pick up a Cusumano white wine, a blend featuring another offbeat grape variety that rarely makes it into export bottles.

The grape is the Sicilian Insolia (or Inzolia - even the winery Website spells it both ways), a native grape that's primarily found in Western Sicily, with scattered plantings in Tuscany, where it's usually known as Ansonica (or Anzonica ... I'm not sure what's going on with this "s" versus "z" thing). In Cusumano's version, it dominates a blend of 70 percent Insolia with the familiar Chardonnay. (The proprietary name "Angimbé," by the way, honors a local forest.)

Reader Pam S. loved the wine and recommended that I try it, too. "It was a beautiful golden color with honey and melon aromas," she wrote. "The taste was everything I love in a wine: round, creamy, and lovely fruit. This wine was fun, and made me think of summer."

Not a bad description! The wine reminds me a bit of other whites from Southern Italy and France's Mediterranean coast, with its golden color, rich, full body and gently "oxidative" qualities that confer a subtle nutlike quality and hint of bitterness in the finish. It's a complex wine that will hold up with robust fare or stand alone for casual sipping, and actually gains dimension when served only lightly chilled, not ice cold.

TALK ABOUT WINE ONLINE
Want to discuss Sicilian wine, or offbeat grape varieties? You're always welcome to join in the conversations about wine in our interactive Wine Lovers' Discussion Group, where you'll find a round-table online discussion on today's topic here:
http://www.myspeakerscorner.com/forum/index.phtml?fn=1&tid=50038&mid=423506

If you prefer to comment privately, feel free to send me E-mail at wine@wineloverspage.com. I'll respond personally to the extent that time and volume permit.


Cusumano Cusumano 2001 "Angimbé" Sicilia Insolia, Chardonnay ($14.99)

Clear gold, surprisingly rich in color for a relatively young wine. Mixed fruits - apples, figs and dates - meet white flowers and brown spices in an exotic aroma. Luscious tropical-fruit flavors follow the nose, mouth-filling and textured, dry and suitably acidic; there's a hint of caramel and a slight but distinct bitter-almond quality in the long finish. U. S. importer: Vin DiVino Ltd., Chicago. (April 13, 2004)

FOOD MATCH: Not bad with simple baked halibut, although the wine's robust character suggests something a little less delicate to match; roast pork with a fruit accent might be perfect.

VALUE: Exotic complexity makes it a decent buy in the mid-teens.

WHEN TO DRINK: Full body and character may help preserve it, but its oxidative qualities militate against long cellaring; store with care and drink over the next year or so.

WEB LINK: Animated and musical, accessible only with the "Flash" plugin, the Cusumano Website is in Italian with some pages in English.
http://www.cusumano.it/

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE: The winery Website includes an international list of distributors, and there's a list of U.S. distributors by state on the importer's Website,
http://www.vindivino.com/Site/states.htm
You can also find vendors and prices for Cusumano on Wine-Searcher.com:
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Cusumano/-/-/USD/A?referring_site=WLP


PersonalCellar.com

Personal Cellar: Discover new wines at great prices!

Discover new wines at great prices. PersonalCellar.com offers a selection of boutique wines from international artisan wineries delivered to your door, with a Tasting Panel guarantee! If you don't like it - return it! Our panel tastes hundreds of hand-crafted wines, recommending new favorites weekly, discovering rising-star winemakers from around the globe! Buy gifts for every budget, or browse through our Cellar Recommends section at your convenience.

WINE ADVISOR OFFER: Receive 10 percent off your first order, plus "The Wine Wheel" (a handy wine/food reference) as our gift! Use promo code "WWHL" at checkout, or call us at 1-866-250-8800 and mention "30 Second Wine Advisor."

Feeling lucky? Win a California Cabernet Collector's Case. It's easy and free! Enter to win below:
http://www.personalcellar.com/?rd=Contest/Contest.phtml&vendor=22


SUBSCRIBE:
 30 Second Wine Advisor, daily or weekly (free)
 Wine Advisor FoodLetter, Thursdays (free)
 Wine Advisor Premium Edition, alternate Tuesdays ($24/year)

ARCHIVES:
For all past editions, click here

CONTACT US
E-mail: wine@wineloverspage.com

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:
For information, E-mail wine@wineloverspage.com


Administrivia

To subscribe or unsubscribe from The 30 Second Wine Advisor, change your E-mail address, or for any other administrative matters, please use the individualized hotlink found at the end of your E-mail edition. If this is not practical, contact me by E-mail at wine@wineloverspage.com, including the exact E-mail address that you used when you subscribed, so I can find your record.

We do not use our E-mail list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail address to anyone. I welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. To contact me, please send E-mail to wine@wineloverspage.com

All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Copyright 2004 by Robin Garr. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to the 30 Second Wine Advisor

Wine Advisor archives