Pialli - 2020 “La Garghi” Garganega
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Pialli - 2020 “La Garghi” Garganega
Beta Offer #4 of 18
Bottom Line Up Front - Pialli is a small producer in the Veneto region with a growing reputation and not enough bottles to go around, even in Italy. Some bottles are available in northern Europe, but Open Tuesday is the only reseller in North America. We’re thrilled to be able to offer this “La Garghi” Garganega, our favorite of the Pialli white wines.
(To order, just click the price link above and follow the prompts, or scroll to the end of this message for step-by-step instructions.)
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Fellow wine geeks,
I discovered La Garghi at a nerdy Slow Food wine bar in Venice. (If you want to wander outside of the usual tourist joints, check out Al Portego on Calle De La Malvasia, 6014.) The waiter pushed this wine on us in a way that made me wonder if they had too much of it in stock. Turns out, he was just a big fan of the wine. It wasn’t hard to understand why.
A few months later, I was tasting wines with owner/winemaker Alessandro Pialli in his kitchen. I soon realized that his entire lineup of wines is pretty special, including a red wine that pairs nicely with fish - and I’m usually very skeptical about pairing red wine with fish. (Look for an offer of Pialli’s Tai Rosso in the fall.)
Garganega is a northern Italian white grape most famous for its lead role in Soave, a wine produced just to the east of Verona. To the southeast of Soave, and directly south of Vicenza, are the Colli Berici, where Pialli makes this wine. Garganega is the leading grape in the Colli Berici too, but the soils are very different. Soave is volcanic, while the Colli Berici is mainly limestone.
If you want to geek out a bit, taste this wine next to a Soave. Does La Garghi taste anything like the famous limestone wines of Chablis? Does the comparison help you detect the ashy and smoky notes of the Soave?
In 2000, Pialli became the first biodynamic producer in the Colli Berici. Alessandro only produces about 20,000 bottles per year, so this is a very small operation. You can check out some of the vineyards and territory here: https://www.vinipialli.it/garganega
Here is where Pialli sits on the map: Azienda Agricola Pialli
La Garghi has a distinctive and complex nose, with notes of white flowers, lemon, and a natural earthiness. In the mouth, La Garghi made me think of a richly flavored key lime pie - without the sugar of course. The mouth-watering length and persistence keep you coming back for more.
The most classical pairing for Garganega is Venetian stalwart Baccala mantecato. Salmon or other full-flavored fish dishes would be great with La Garghi too. As an appetizer, I’d definitely want to drink this with a northern Italian cheese (but probably nothing too stinky like Gorgonzola or Taleggio.)
Pialli - 2020 “Le Garghi” Garganega
11% alcohol by volume
(To order, just click the price link above and follow the prompts.)
Happy Tuesday,
Chris
If you have questions or feedback for us, please don’t hesitate to email us: [email protected]
How it works:
After clicking one of the blue links above, you’ll have the chance to request 1-12 bottles. Actually, that’s all you have to do!
About a week later, when we close the offer, you’ll get an email confirming how many bottles we allocated to your account. We only charge you for wines when they are allocated.
We’ll do our best to allocate all the bottles you request. But when there are more requests than bottles available, we’ll allocate one bottle to all requesting members before allocating a second bottle to anyone. We want as many members as possible to try these wines.
This Pialli Garganega is offer number four of 18 during the spring private beta test. We are sending offers on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for six straight weeks.
We encourage you to ship in increments of 12. With a total of 18 offers in this tranche, there should be plenty of chances to get to 12, 24, or 36. If you don’t have an increment of 12 at the end of the beta test, we’ll get in touch to work out a solution.
Wines from the beta tranche will ship in late May-early June for $5 per bottle (if you have an increment of 12.) This is about the same as the price to ship from coast to coast within the U.S. - but our wines are coming directly from Italy.
Once your credit card is on file, you can make future requests with just a few clicks from the offer email. If you don’t have a payment method on file, you can add one during your first order. Your credit card information is protected by Stripe.
Chris MacLean
Rob Genova
Open Tuesday Wines S.r.l.s.
Via Augusto Anfossi 19, 20135 Milano - Italy