A little taste of Italy.

Producer:  Fratelli Urciuolo

Wine:  Greco di Tufo

Region:  Campania, Italy

It is 12:15 Tuesday following the long weekend.  The three of us here at 100, huddled over the keyboards knocking off the e-mails like some sick computer batting practice that never ends.  Wine makes things better... especially computer things.  I reach into the sub-zero arsenal below me and wait to be moved.  I see the a familiar yellow label.  It has been a little while since I tasted this and I have been meaning to revisit it once the dust settled in the store.  The wine is imported by one of the most gentle and charming people you could imagine, her name is Marina Di Napoli.  It is actually a wine from her cousin’s family estate in Campania Italy, (think the shin of the boot).  The grape is Greco di Tufo. 

The wine hits the glass with a brilliant, limpid, gold hue.  I can smell it’s floral pungent, lilac aromas as it hits the glass. It is like a botanical garden in the glass.  Computer work has just gotten better.  This little gem is pleasantly dry with flavors of buckwheat honey, yellow apples and quince.  This is why we shouldn’t just rely on the common pronounceable varieties like sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Not only is this Greco di Tufo delicious it is a history lesson of sorts.  Traditional grapes grown by a family that cares as much about every grape  as they do every family member.  You will taste their passion the moment you pull the cork.