Blessed Quickie: Coenobium 2005

I add "blessed" to this swift review because -- cue the sopranos of the boy choir -- it's made by nuns.  Cistercian nuns! 

And Giampiero Bea, son of the beato (blessed) Paolo Bea of Sagrantino fame.  Paolo himself must be a man of quality; Gambero Rosso systematically excludes him from its guide, for reasons that one can only imagine.

All tomfoolery aside, this delicious and individualistic wine was recommended to me by Gabrio Tosti at De Vino.  The wine has received some excellent reviews here in the New York area, albeit by wine merchants flogging their wares, notably Chambers Street Wines and others too expensive to be mentioned.  (Gabrio and CSW are charging roughly the same, about $16.  I guess if you name a wine "supper hall" in Latin, you'd better not make it too expensive.)

To quote Lyle Fass (I'm assuming) at CSW, this wine is "fresh and vibrant with delicate citrus and straw aromas, nice minerality from the local volcanic soils, good richness... and excellent bracing acidity. "

I'll add that this blend of 50% Verdicchio, 25% Trebbiano Toscano and 25% Grechetto has just 12.5% alcohol, which makes the wine mild and easy to drink on its own or with food; and it has a specially deep, almost nutty flavour that calls to mind the Arbois gems of Jacques Puffeney.  The colour is correspondingly deep and golden, and perhaps a tad cloudy.  I guess this is because the nuns' farm is run on organic principles, with the wine's seeing minimal sulphur or filtration.  CSW tells us also that "Bea has encouraged them [the nuns] to keep the wine on its lees a bit longer, with a corresponding gain in complexity."  Amen, brother.

Whatever the reasons for the special taste and character of this wine, it is indeed a blessing.  A double one because it's excellent for the price. 

(Cue Sister Rosetta Tharpe: "Shout sister shout!")

Suore Cistercensi 2005 Vino da Tavola Bianco Coenobium (12.5%) -- from Lazio

Imported by MadRose (Neal Rosenthal & Co.)  This wine is not described on the Madrose site, presumably because it is too new of an entry.

Comments

[David J Rodriguez]

Gee, *another* bottle I shoulda bought from Gabrio...!
My half-case is safely in storage in NYC (but did i already tell you?) waiting for Signore Tosti to get back from vacation & for me to figure if it's cheaper to provide incentive for a courier who wants to spend a week at the famly beach house here in PR (flew the suggestion by the Carlton Arms crowd, got a few 'hmmmm's) or ask around about DHL which seems to be the only option to FedEx rates...

[Dr. Vino]

I have a bottle of this (bought from Gabrio!) that I've been meaning to try for a while.

Funny what you say about being "too new" to be on the madrose website--those pesky web sites, they just don't update themselves, do they!

[Terry Hughes]

You know what, buddy? That's what we're here for.

Yihoo!!