 Hello, hello, welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Orkin. Hi, I'm Sherin Tan. Welcome to the show. Today we're gonna taste some vermentinos from all around the world. Is that so? Yes. Actually from California, from Sardinia. So, for those of you who don't know, vermentino, a variety that you'll find in the south of France, and in the Mediterranean part of Italy, probably the most famous in Sardinia, it's also called Rool in the south of France, Pigatto, Fevorita and Piemonte. Am I missing any other terms? No, I think that a lot more. Yeah, that's a lot more. It's a grape that actually makes just wonderful, food-friendly, daily ones, right? You like the grape a lot. Yeah, I like it very much. Most of the time, if I go to an Italian restaurant and when I look at a wine list and if I see vermentino via the glass, I would almost 100% pick vermentino because it just doesn't disappoint. Yeah, I think in general, it's most like if you, you're always good producers in Sardinia, you're gonna get pretty decent vermentino, right? So let's taste some. I got some of these because I judged in the first, just got back from the first international vermentino competition in Caliade Sardinia. I went to a regional competition from the same organization a couple years ago. We were both there. Tastes a lot of vermentinos. So let's get started, shall we? Yeah, let's go for it. All right, we're gonna taste it. First of all, we have these cool glasses from the company Italasse. Italasse, I think that's the name of it. The stem is really thin, almost like salt. Yeah, almost like salt or something. Yeah, I think they're really cool. We don't have any affiliation with them but we use these at the competition and I asked if we could take a few home. We travel full-time and they made it all the way across the Adriatic without breaking. So I was happy about that. So this is dishwasher safe, I'm guessing. I don't know, I just like the shaved soysauce. Let's get started. The first wine we have is the Consorzio San Michele Superbius Vermentino di Gallora Sepioriore 2018. We visited the sustain a few years ago, remember? Yeah, and on the very first day when we did a tasting of a lot of vermentino wine, this was one of the two or three wines that really stood out today. And just so you know, vermentino di Gallora is the only DOCG in Sardinia. For those of you who don't know, these are Appalachian terminology for Italy. You have IGT at the bottom, DOC in the middle, DOCG at the top, supposed to be some of the highest and most representative wines of Italy. So let's get started into this, let's give this a smell here. Where this isn't really a scoring episode, we're just gonna kind of talk about the grape, the flavors you're gonna see and kind of like the differences you're gonna see in some new world versus old world vermentino. I think it's a good idea because it gives you a different expression of one grape. So for this, it's very generous on the nose, it's very yogurt-y, very sweet melon note. For those of you that don't know, you probably can agree with this too. If you're in Sardinia on holiday, you're gonna get vermentino release easily. The vermentino di Sardinia Appalachian DOC and then is a little bit less yogurt-y. Usually vermentino di Galora, the DOCG, has more yogurt notes like this, sure. Is that because they tend to do more sali over there and batonage? I can't, I couldn't tell you. I'm just wondering what it is. I'm guessing because it's supposed to be higher quality grapes, so they can probably take the survey, I'm guessing. 2018, I know, wasn't a great vintage in Sardinia, they actually had rain and some hail in August, so. To me, this is very typical vermentino of Sardinia flavors. Yeah, there's also like a little bit of this like sea breeze salinity, which I really like. If I want a nose as well, you get this impression of saltiness. A lot of saltiness, pineapple, just pineapple, yellow peach. Almost has vermentino's from Sardinia have almost these sage-type notes for me. Sage kind of Mediterranean brush. It's quite phenolic when I finish, I'm not expecting that. What do you think of this particular? We've written about the 15 before, actually. Interesting that you said there was hail, it was a wetter vintage. It feels like it's more generous, actually. Much more fruit, and I wonder what it has to do with this glass with a broader base, right? The wine feels pretty tannic on a finish and a little bit bitter. I like this wine a lot, I think it's almost like a full-bodied white wine, but I don't think you need food with that. What kind of food, what kind of food, do you think, least kind of wine? I, white fish, for sure, and I hate to cheat, but most of the time, actually, roast chicken and a big white wine tent go very well for me. Okay, this is still super high-quality wine. Oh, yeah. Not that this is a scoring episode, but I definitely see this type of wine getting in the high 80s, 90s type of range. I think this could be in the range of 90s, this is on the higher end of a vermintino. Okay, let's move on. So we have kind of the traditional vermintinos, although I like the ones from France a lot, too. Now we're moving on to, which one do you want to move on, Oregon or California? Finish, do Oregon. Okay, we got this, the Trune Vineyard, the Applegate Valley, vermintino, 2018, these are all the same vigtages, which is kind of cool. Oregon, a region, a state in the U.S., known for peanut and water, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay, but this producer in the South Oregon is working with a lot of Rhone grapes, and then obviously, vermintino. Biodynamic farming. I was going to ask this one, too, and you have a presentation, you can smell it. This is the one I talked with the Polish wine maker there about here. So let's give this a smell here. When you say spontaneous fermentation, what kind of nose does that? I don't think there's a specific smell of spontaneous fermentation, but when you smell something that's a little bit less precise, like perhaps you can kind of sense that there's a little bit of volatile aromas, right? I tend to think that fermentation was stuck or fermentation took a little bit longer, so you do get a little bit of, like so-called volatile aromas, but they're not necessarily bad smelling. It's just an indication for me. For those of you that are not wine geeks, it would be hard to pick up on some of this stuff. Just know that it's going to smell a little bit different. I think it's a little bit of a BS as well, and some people think that, oh, you can smell the difference between spontaneous and inoculated fermentation. That's just... So anyways, this is definitely, this to me, if I was tasting wine, oh, the alcohol is much slower, 12, 9, 14, 5, much more cooler fruit, and that's much pineapple, more kind of white pear, white peach. I still get a little bit of this lime-iness I associate with verminantino. But the first thing that I got was yeasty. It's a little bit yeasty, like cheesy. No, it's just that immediately I thought was it spontaneous fermentation at all. It just definitely smells like it's going to taste a little bit more slimmer. A little bit hard to guess that this was verminantino on the nose, but on the palate, you get the peachiness, the melanone, zingy as well actually. Very salty, zingy acidity. I like that zininess. Question. So in Oregon, I actually have been to the South of Oregon, I haven't been to Trune wine, or I've been to the South of Oregon where these wines are from. But salmon is very common here. Could you see that going with salmon? Yeah, I can. Smoked salmon? Yeah, I can, I can. What are you thinking about this wine? Enjoying it? It's got some pretty big scores, pretty wise. I wasn't so into the nose because the nose was kind of, I just couldn't tell what wine it is, but on the palate, it's really nice. It has zininess. It's got a very nice, like salty, sweet finish as well. For me, the first verminantino from Galura is much more classic to me and more precise. But this actually makes me, this is a very drinkable wine. It's very enjoyable. It's quite slim and surprising. A verminantino, it's usually a hot weather grape. That's why people in the Mediterranean like it keeps a silly, but from a cooler area, like Oregon, I think surprisingly pretty good. You want to move on? Sure, please. Let's move on to the next one here. So totally different styles. We're moving to another hot area of America, the Tablas Creek Vineyard 2018 verminantino from Paso Robles. I see. And for those that you don't know, Tablas Creek is the sister rivalry to the legendary Chateau, owned by the family parent, Chateau Bocastel in the Rome. I mean, we were just that last year that you love one of the most memorable wines we had last year. And for me, personally, was the Chateau Bocastel Roussane Viennese. Oh, I see. Actually, that was one of the best white wines I've had in my life, I would say. Wow, okay. You know what? Going back, I have tannins from this wine a little bit. I can't, I don't know if it's that one or it's still from Asia. I had quite a lot of phenolic bind tannins from the first one, not the second one. So anyway, this had a screw cap. It's so funny, let me tell you a funny story. I gave a masterclass to some sommeliers in Sardinia, only presented one wine. I presented an American wine, I'm familiar with the area and everything. And I picked the wrong vintage. We had 1718, 17 was not as impressive. I'm gonna keep funny. I'm not making fun of you. I think it's very true that there is vintage variation. No matter how reputable you are and what a good producer you are, there will always be vintage variation, which is a good indication. So this is a biodynamic farming, spontaneous fermentation as well. This smells more like fermenting. Yeah, exactly. What do you think? So back to the point, can you really smell inoculated of spontaneous fermentation? No, like this is perfectly clean and nice. Actually, I think it's a little bit of reduction. Really? In a nice way, it's a little bit reduced. I do think that it will taste a little bit better in a while. Lots of pineapple notes again. I think kind of a mixed, like a green mango type note, a little bit of lightiness, yogurt. Definitely does like chalky clean notes on the nose, which is why I thought it was. This kid reminds me of a white one from the south of Spain. Yes, a hundred percent agree with you. Almost like Geronlut, Geronlut. I always pronounce the grape from, you know, the grape that's used in cava, the cleanness. It's because I say cleanness, you thought of that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that was so strange. You're probably right. That's true. That's what happens in wine tasting line. It's all built on associations. But it's fine. It's really fine. It just has this sort of conversation back and forth. They don't have a lot to spit there. Maybe you have to swallow. What do you think of the wine? Love the nose. Palette is a little bit close on me right now. I still like it a lot, closer to vermentino, but it's also less untruous than the other two, the first two. And for me, one of the things that I like about vermentino is the palette. This is like a little bit oily. Yeah, that's exactly. It's sparkling, successful. Yeah, it's so funny because this is more similar to vermentino flavors. If I had to put this, like this is vermentino, what kind of I expect when I drink the grape? This is much slimmer, almost Pinot Gris-like for me. Like French-style Pinot Gris. This has the flavors, but it's kind of in between in body. Doesn't have the big shoulders like this one. It's not as slim as this one. What's the alcohol here? 13. So again, here we have 14, 5, 13, 12.9. So the alcohol lines up. I think the toblasque is my favorite. Really? Why? Really, really balanced. Like I said, I think it's just a little bit reduced right now, but really balanced, very, very nice flavor. It's just so balanced. Food pairings with this bad boy? I think it's all about the same. Maybe something can be fine, but what's that, baccalo? Oh yeah, vertigo. It might be a little bit bitter on the finish though if you mentioned baccalo. So this is all about, I think vermentino is one of the great Italian house whites out there. I think you put it best that I'm gonna cap you. I will always remember one time you said, I love Italian white wines from indigenous grapes because the wines are so weird. And not in a bad way. They're just unique flavors, right? Yeah, for me, most of the time when I go to restaurants since I was quite young, I would always order wines I don't know by the glass because it's always a new experience for indigenous varieties. Yeah, so check these out. Check out vermentino. I'll put some of the links up in the description box. I think it's a fantastic, so I think it's fantastic white wine, wines that you can just sip on all day during the hot summer days. Yeah, to add on to that also, I think vermentino even when it's made fresh in a simple and easy way, there's just something more to it than Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay because vermentino, like I said, it's a little bit unctuous, it's quite generous, a bit salty as well. So I really... Oh, so check it out. And good job, I mean, good job. Like all three wineries here, I think the wines were all good. I wouldn't, and I know for a fact that they've all got big scores, but all these wines are like high 80s, like low 90s type of wines. So keep it up, check out vermentino. And if you like this video, please. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, it's our wine channel. We'll see you at our next episode. This is really good.