I participated in a Snooth virtual tasting the other evening and was very pleasantly surprised by one of the wines that I tried, the Rotari Brut. I had of course seen Rotari in my years in Italy and in the US as well.

This very nicely priced wine is a cuvée of Chardonnay grapes grown in the Adige Valley. The wine is made from 50 different parcels of land which each produce a base wine that is then blended together. The wine is made in the “Metodo Classico” manner as opposed to the charmat method which is traditionally used for Prosecco.

The Rotari Brut is bottle fermented for 18-24 months. By law, in order to have the Talento DOC classification, a wine must age for 18 months, be made from grapes grown in DOC areas and be made from only Chardonnay, Pinot bianco and/or Pinot Noir. Talento DOC is closely associated with the Northern Italian regions for sparkling wine but can be used throughout the peninsula if a wine adheres to certain rules such as the grape varieties and the fact that they are made in the traditional method.

What was the wine like? Delicious, fruity and fun. The bubbles were very fine and numerous, a good sign when drinking a sparkling wine, as it denotes quality. On the palate it had aromas of apple, pears and nuts in my view. I thought it was a perfect apertif wine or one to drink throughout a meal up until dessert when you need a sweeter wine.

I love the fact that it is also 12.5% in terms of its alcohol content. So often, even sparkling wines are too high in alcohol. In all, this fun wine was great to drink at home with friends or bring to a party. It is certainly a crowd pleaser and one glass will surely lead to many more.