This month I'm getting to know the wines of Italy's Trentino-Alto Adige region. Tucked up in the northernmost part of Italy, the wines from this part of the country are quite different from the lush southern reds and crisp seaside whites that you might be more familiar with.My first wine was a Cabernet Franc from the southern part of the Trentino-Alto Adige. My second wine is an aromatic white from the north: the 2007 Alois Lageder Pinot Bianco from the Dolomites. ($9.39 on sale in my local grocery store; available elsewhere for $13-$17) JPK from The Italian Cellar blog recommended "anything by Alois Lageder" in the comments when I announced my regional focus for June, and all I can say is: JPK's got good taste. The wine had terrific aromas of salty, wet stone that practically screamed out for seafood. There were salty and yeasty flavors, that turned citrusy and a nicely bitter lemon pith note in the aftertaste. Excellent QPR, even if you don't find it on sale like I did.
This bright, bracing wine was excellent with this recipe for smoky citrus shrimp with parsley. The shrimp calls for chipotle powder--which I couldn't find for love nor money up here on the Sonoma Coast. So I substituted a mixture of chili powder, smoked pimenton from Spain, and cayenne and it gave a similarly smoky-spicy kick. Because we were having the shrimp with a hunk of bread and some salad, I also enriched the sauce by whisking a tablespoon of butter into it when it was finish. The wine's salty and yeasty notes were great with the shrimp and bread and the citrus in the wine and the citrus in the sauce were perfect partners, too.
Thanks to JPK for the excellent suggestion of Alois Lageder. That's a name that's going on my short list of "go-to" winemakers.
