The quest for the perfect summer white wine begins

Ever since we got back from our wonderful vacation in the Campania region of Italy, we've been on a quest to find the crisp, lemony, refreshing, mineraly white wines similar to the ones we experienced around the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, nearly all the wines we enjoyed there are only sold locally, so its been somewhat difficult to find wines from that region upon our return. We are working on it though, and hopefully we'll track down more wines from the region to try and blog about soon!

Luckily, we did happen upon a Campania region wine at Wine Discount Center, though the bottle was not labeled with the region we recognized the label as one we'd seen in several small wine shops in Sorrento and Positano. The wine we tried tonight was:

2007 Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina Sannio (Italy, Campania, Sannio)

This wine delivered on what we were looking for. The nose had fruity notes of lemon, lime and banana. The lemony tartness was strong on the finish, in a good way. It reminded me of a cross between a banana Now & Later and a sugared lemon drop, full bodied and complex for a white, with a sour candy finish. We paired this wine with tonight's entree - Spicy cilantro turkey burgers from Whole Foods (aside: whole blog post about the new Lincoln Park Whole Foods to come - they have their own wine & cheese bar! Its so fantastic we want to move in and just live there, and we were previously not the biggest fans due to their high prices, more on that later). The cumin and chili oil in the burgers paired well with this wine, I'll likely try it next time with a curry or other Indian food. The flavors really came alive with our Caesar salad as well- another recommendation to pair with this wine.

We highly recommend the Falanghina Sannio as a great wine to drink with food, value priced around $14 and perfect for a hot summer night when your looking for a full bodied, complex white as an alternative to Chardonnay. Whether you'll love it, or it's just not your style, you must give this Falanghina Sannio a try and expand your palate.

Regards,

Chris & Kristina

Where do you shop for wine?

First off, for the record we have no affiliation what so ever with any wine retailer, wholesaler, or distributor.





With that out of the way I'm about to let you in on the best kept secret in Chicago for wine lovers......Wine Discount Center. This hidden away wine store is home to some of the best values and advice in the city. Great news for you suburb peeps too, they have 3 locations in the burbs. For us city dwellers you can find this wine Mecca at 1826 N. Elston Ave. You've probably driven past while trying to take a short-cut out of Lincoln Park. It's a red store front right up on the sidewalk, very easy parking along the street since it's in a low traffic industrial area.

http://www.winediscountcenters.com

Right when you walk in they have dozens of good wines for less than $10. If you never even make it past the front room you'll be drinking well for cheap. Venture further into the store you can find whites, reds, sparkling wines, dessert wines, etc....just about everything from all over the world. You'll find more under $10 selections all the way up to 1st growth Bordeaux and Premier Cru Burgundies....some of the finest wines in the world (with price tags to match.) Now they don't quite have the number of selections as Binny's or Sam's....however they have hard to find gems and all the selections are picked by the very knowledgeable staff. Tell them what you're looking for and you'll wind up with something new that may really surprise you, or open you up to an entirely different type of wine, or region.