Torre dei Beati, "Bianchi Grilli Per la Testa" Trebbiano d'Abruzzo DOC 2019 (about $24)
Italian Wine for may, 2022
The wine label is cute, even amusing. It involves a playful rendering of a cricket below the words “bianchi grilli per la testa” which loosely translates as “to have crickets in one’s head”. It’s a colloquial Italian expression that means to have funny, strange or off-the-wall thoughts or ideas.
In contrast to the whimsical and playful wine label, inside the bottle is a serious, well-made, rich and expressive white wine.
The Bianchi Grilli Per la Testa is produced by the Torre dei Beati winery in the Abruzzo region which is located halfway down Italy’s eastern coast. The winery is a family-run operation with approximately 53 acres of vineyards that are all certified organic. They produce a small number of red and white wines utilizing Abruzzo’s traditional varieties.
Attention to detail is a hallmark of the Torre dei Beati winery. The annual harvest of grapes for each of the estate’s wines consists of several passes of each vineyard plot where only the ripest bunches of grapes are selected on each pass while the others are left to mature until the next go-round. The harvested grapes are quickly brought to the close-by winery and undergo another manual inspection on the sorting table where less-than-perfect grapes are discarded and only the best grapes are selected for each wine. It is a tedious and time-consuming process but one that enables each wine to achieve its full potential.
Torre dei Beati’s 2019 “Bianchi Grilli Per la Testa” is made entirely of Trebbiano grapes, Abruzzo’s premier white wine variety. After the extensive sorting process the grapes are fermented in stainless steel tanks with 20 percent fermented in acacia barrels. When used in moderatio
n, acacia imparts a distinctive lemony-herb aroma and a bit of body to the wine.
After fermentation is complete the wine is aged in the same containers where it rests on its lees (residual and dead yeast cells) for 10 to 11 months, a process that imparts additional texture and a creamier feel to the wine. The wine spends 10 additional months in the bottle prior to release for sale.
This 2019 Trebbiano d’Abruzzo has a straw-yellow color and enticing floral aromas with hints of lemon peel. It is medium-to-full-bodied with a mouthfeel broadened by lees ageing, juicy, ripe yellow-fruit concentration and a long, pleasantly acidic, grippy finish. The wine has a food-friendly 12.5 percent alcohol.
This wine is a great companion for fish dishes prepared almost any which way, rice with shrimp, orzo with grilled salmon and gnocchi alla Bolognese.
©Richard Marcis
May 10, 2022
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