I tasted some wonderful white wines this week in Brooklyn at Roberto Aita’s magical restaurant Fiore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. My friend Jason Carey, a wine colleague and I were celebrating our recent achievement. We have both just received the Diploma in Wines and Spirits from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. We have been in a study group together for a number of years and have tasted much wine together over the years. Our tastes are slightly different. Jason likes more natural, organic wines and is a dedicated Francophile while I tend to drink more Italian wines and to like a slightly more tannic wine. Luckily enough, Roberto’s wine list is not only economical but also very interesting. We decided to try a few different wines. Jason had an Ortugo from the Colli Piacentini which was slightly frizzante, lemony and fresh while I had a Sicilian wine called I Versi Bianco from Fondo Antico, a winery located near Trapani in a little town called Frazione Rilievo. The wine is made from indigenous grapes Inzolia and Grecanico. It was full and rich for a white wine without oak. Stone and tropical fruit notes abounded with hints of minerality.

Jason and I continued with an excellent 2007 Soave Classico from Pieropan. Soave is made from a blend of garganega and trebbiano di Soave. The wine was fruity and floral with the right mix of acidity and minerality. It had that piercing quality and was angular in the way that delicious dry rieslings can be. Mary Ewing Mulligan, MW and Head of the International Wine Center always described wines that created shapes in your mouth. She used to talk about the breadth of some wines and the verticality of others. This wine was very vertical to me. It was perfect with a delicious orata that Roberto prepared with a small artichoke salad. Jason and I were both very content with our food and wine choices. I highly recommend both the wines we drank and Roberto’s delicious food.