Advent Wine Cantine Riondo Cuvée 18 Prosecco
This lovely little number has been showing up in shops around the ‘Bul lately. I’ve had it before and from that experience knew I had to include it in the Advent wine calendar! I needed at least one bottle of bubbles for the calendar. This wine is so cheerful and happy which made it a great fit!
A large-scale wine producer, Collis Riondo managed 6,000 hectares(!!!!) covering all the main production zones in the Veneto. The winery makes both sparkling and still wines under several labels. However, in Istanbul we see only this Riondo Cuvée and two or three of the still wines from their Castelforte line.
Cantine Riondo Cuvée 18 Prosecco Frizzante, NV
For this semi-sparkling Prosecco DOC wine, Cantine Riondo blends Glera (85%) with, I believe, 15% Trebbiano. The final wine has a residual sugar level of 18g/L. But it’s balanced well by a lively acidity.
Appearance: pale and pretty lemon with platinum accents and quite lively looking bubbles for a frizzante
Alcohol: 10.5% abv
Nose: Very pretty, floral, lightly fruity with lemon and pear blossom and peach fruit
Palate: Light-bodied and nice acidity to balance the sweetness. Bubbles again are pretty lively for a frizzante and fill the mouth with a soft mousse. Like drinking an orchard, the wine yields flavors of both the flowers and fruit of pear, peach, and apricot.
Side note, I have really fallen in love with leeks. I’m eating them at least weekly now. The night I drank this wine I paired it with a spicy ginger salmon and leeks braised with butter and lime juice. The leeks really brought out some interesting flavors of kaffir lime leaf and lime blossom in the wine.