This tropical Chardonnay has aromas of grilled pineapple, fresh honey and toasted coconut. The palate is dry and delivers great concentration with a beautiful roundness from the toasted coconut flavor meshing with a very good use of oak. Additional flavors of creme brulee, brown butter, apple preserves, with butter pecan notes on the finish, creamy texture and just-right acidity.

WINE INFORMATION

Gianfranco Gallo has managed this estate since 1978, introducing radical and far-reaching viticultural programs and devoting painstaking attention to winemaking practices. These initiatives have gradually developed a stamp of integrity and personality to the wines, especially over the last 20 years.

This region is a unique area where different winds, from the Adriatic and from the northern continent, both humid and dry, cool and warm, converge and direct themselves in different directions, thus creating a climate marked by constant change. Autumn’s alternating weather determines whether any given year will be characterized as continental-European or northern-Mediterranean. Overall, the cool, dry Bora winds ensure a wide range of temperature variation, allowing for a slow ripening of grapes. The Adriatic Sea is only 13 miles to the south and the first hills of the alps lie a mere 20 miles to the north.

Grapes come from densely-planted 23-year old vines grown on red clay soils with ferrous oxides. After harvest, they are fermented and aged in tank on the lees for 9 months, and the wine does not go through malolactic fermentation. The winery estimates the peak of maturation to be at nine years old and the expected cellar life to be 20 years; however, this wine drinks deliciously at release.

Cheese, Chicken/Turkey, Cream Sauce Pasta, Fish-full flavored (salmon/tuna), Fondue, Lobster & Crab, Thai or Vietnamese, Vegetables