It’s Wine Fest this weekend, so we may as well pull out all the stops and use it as an excuse to open some delightful little Italian treats.  For Friday’s tasting, we’ll be hanging around an array of places in Central to Northern Italy – from just south of Siena, up the Mediterranean coast, to north of Turin, & across to the Slovenian border.  

Cantine Crosio’s Erbalus is an ideal introduction to the Erbaluce grape; mouth-watering citrus with subtle almond notes.  Fun and approachable, yet not without complexity! 

ViniVerso ‘Riz’ Pinot Grigio may just give your go-to PG a run for its money.  Floral, with notes of Acacia and Hawthorne along with vivid minerality and salinity.  Punches well above its price point. 

Il Monticello’s Serasuolo Rosato has been a staff favorite rose for years now and this vintage is particularly electric.  Notes of blackberry and wild strawberry, with light tones of rose petals.  Deeper and richer than your typical Provençal rose, which we’re personally partial to.  Come give it a taste before our staff buys up all the inventory!

Castelli di Potentino Sacromontino is 100% Sangiovese and 100% fresh.  Only aged for a short period of time, there’s still some really lovely berry fruit on the palate while maintaining depth and earth tones.  Chill it down a touch for maximum chuggability. 

To go-with, we’ll have samples of everyone’s dream cheese, Alta Langa’s La Tur.  A fluffy and perfect little Italian three-milk cupcake that is everything we could want from a soft-ripened cheese.  Creamy, tangy, earthy and unctuous; it’s all there.