Aromatics are everything when it comes to great flavours in food and wine because our nose perceives flavours before our taste buds do. This is especially true when it comes to strongly flavoured wines, which are often, ironically, light bodied. This lightness helps balance strong flavours and makes wines taste refreshing.
My personal favourite aromatic wine is Riesling, one of the world’s most misunderstood white wines because it can vary wildly in style from bone dry to unctuously sweet.
The wines in this awesome aromatic pack are all dry, driven by aromatic flavours that have aromas such as limes, lemons, mandarins and cherries. They are great summer whites, with a red thrown in for good measure. Enjoy.
Star wine of the week - 2017 BelColle Langhe Favorita
17.5/20, 4 stars
Italy is most famous for its red wines but its whites can be equally as amazing, as this evocatively named “Favorita” shows. It’s the same grape (different name) as Vermentino, which makes sense because it has those characters - dry, full bodied and zingy with vibrant fresh flavours of fennel and lemon zest. Talk about a tasty dry Italian white that totally over delivers. Favorita is also known as Vermentino in Sardinia, Pigato in Liguria and Rolle in southern France. View here.
Signore Giuseppe Prosecco Spumante NV DOC
17/20, 4 stars
Prosecco is officially the world’s most popular sparkling wine and has been since 2013 when it officially took over from champagne in annual sales. No surprise either because it is so affordable and fun. This one is light, fresh and crisp with notes of lemon and mandarin aromas. It’s dry style and extremely good value for money. View here.
Tholomies Crémant de Limoux Brut
17/20, 4 stars
It’s extraordinary to find French crémant (bottle fermented bubbles aged the same way as Champagne) at this price when usually it would cost double the amount. This is a lovely, lively and dry French bubbly made from an interesting blend of grapes, including Champagne’s top two, namely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with Mauzac and Chenin Blanc also in the mix.
It’s a dry, fresh, crisp bubbly that offers a lovely different take on the sparkling wine theme. Limoux is an appellation in the southern French region of Languedoc.
2017 Bel Colle Roero Arneis DOCG
17/20, 4 stars
Arneis is one of the great white grapes of Piemonte in north west Italy; a region better known for serious big reds and light fruity bubbles. This wine has great character. It’s dry, medium bodied and has intense lemon flavours, which linger in every memorable sip. Talk about a refreshing dry white. Great with seafood. View here.
2017 Villa Maria Cellar Selection Riesling
17.5/20, 4 stars
Riesling is the star of the white wine world when it comes to aromatic grapes and this dry white puts its best foot forward. Freshness is key in this wine, which drinks well now – it tastes great with Thai food – and can also age superbly for at least a decade. Buy it.
2015 Caruso Minnini Frappato Nerello Mascalese
16/20, 3 stars
Two of Sicily’s native red grapes combine in this fruity, medium bodied red with its rich flavours of strawberries and spice. Frappato is the dominant grape and puts its fruitiest foot forward while Nerello Mascalese adds a spicy, savoury note. Good value, unique and interestingly different in taste. View here.
Joelle Thomson is a wine writer, journalist and author. She’s an avid lover of wine and currently writes for Capital magazine, Good magazine, NZ Winegrower, Drinksbiz, and her own site, www.joellethomson.com.
She also teaches, works in radio, and more, so we've enlisted her help to sniff out our amazing value wines!
