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02/09/2000 Archived Entry: "Wine Buy: Argiolas Vermentino di Sardegna"

I hadn’t fully read the label, and by the looks of the dark, dark, green-brown bottle, I thought Argiolas (that's the producer, a family name) Vermentino (that's the name of the wine grape) di Sardegna (meaning "of Sardinia) 1998 was going to be a red wine. Yesterday afternoon I was snacking on a piece of good cheese (a very well-aged Gouda, if you have to know) and I figured that was a good time to taste it. Red wine. Full-flavored, firm cheese. Usually a good pairing. What a surprise to find this Sardinian wine was white.

Carol Berman, master sommelier and wine educator, certainly knows how to pick them. You get a lot of wine here for $9.99 or thereabouts. It has a big bouquet, with, she says, hints of peach. I mainly noted its nuttiness up front and its earthy finish – that’s the taste that lingers in your mouth after the wine itself has gone down. It’s a big white wine, totally dry, in fact crisp enough to go well with full flavored fish dishes. As Carol pointed out, it’s good with fish dishes that have garlic – for instance, linguine with clam sauce, or a seafood stew – or even a fish dish with red sauce. I thought it stood up rather well to my cheese, and I would definitely consider it a contender for a full-flavored chicken dish, such as the Afghan-ish chicken with lots of cumin and a little hot sauce that I bought from the street cart on Seventh Ave. and 40th St. today.

The wine is imported by Leonardo Locascio, in case your retailer needs to know so he can order it for you. Buy the 1998 vintage now. Older bottles, if you happen to run across them, will not taste as lively.

By the way, I liked the wine better at cool room temperature than fully chilled. You get more of the bouquet and flavor when the wine is not stone cold. But to each his (or her) own. I am one of those people who does not keep white wine in an ice bucket throughout dinner. When I want the wine to maintain a cool temperature and not warm up, I put it in a terracotta holder that keeps it just so.

If you would like to taste the wines that Carol has been recommending on Food Talk for the last few months, let me remind you that she is conducting a tasting class based on Wednesday Wine Buys. It’s at Classic Thyme cooking school in Westfield, New Jersey, on (what else?) Wednesday, February 23, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The cost is $40 a person.

Carol will also be pouring wine (and answering your wine questions) at two book parties that Classic Thyme is throwing for me – in honor of the re-publication of “What To Cook When You Think There’s Nothing In The House To Eat.” They are upstairs from the school in a glamorous party space you may want to check out for your next big do. The first party is Friday, February 18 from 7 to 10 p.m. The second is on Thursday, April 13, same time. David, who is director of the cooking school and a caterer, will be preparing food from “What To Cook … .” I’ll be there to schmooze individually with all who attend, to speak to you as a group, and to sign books. Looking forward. The cost is $75 and includes a copy of the book.

P.S.
You may have heard on the radio today that I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the other Sardinian wine I used to drink, but haven't seen around lately. When I got back home to my computer, I had an e-mail from Fred Plotkin, the Italian gastronomy guru, who reminded me it was Alghero and the producer is Sella & Mosca.

Fred also wrote: Sardinia is one of the great underrated wine regions, and excellent
value for money. I think that Vermentino di Gallura (which recently got
a DOCG) could be the new Pinot Grigio if they knew how to market it. The
Gallura zone also produces some of the world's great honey and sheep's
ricotta. Put the honey on the cheese and sip the wine and it is great.

By the way, Vermentino (the grape variety) also grows in Liguria and northern Tuscany but it
is not as tangy as in Sardinia.