Azienda Agricola Zýmē sits in the heart of Valpolicella. where Amarone, Italy’s grandest red, is produced. Zýmē, the brainchild of Celestino Gaspari, produces an excellent Amarone and a phenomenal Amarone Riserva, but my wallet’s not deep enough to enjoy them. Luckily, due to a genetic mutation, Zýmē also produces a wine that is not only affordable, but unique. Fifteen years ago, Gaspari was walking through his vineyards when he saw something strange: pale-hued grapes on a Rondinella vine. One of the three main varietals in Amarone (the other two being Corvina and Molinara), Rondinella is usually very much a red grape — actually, almost black in color — but Gaspari cultivated this mutation, selecting for whiter fruit generation after generation.
The result: White Rondinella, a new grape which makes up the bulk (60%) of Zýmē’s From black to white, with the balance comprised of Kerner (15%), Gold Traminer (15%), and Incrocio Manzoni (10%). The wine is pale gold in color, offering subtle yeast scents on the nose. It opens on a note of honeydew melon — heft and viscosity immediately apparent, but balanced by bright acidity. The mid-palate is complex and expansive: creamy peach and toasted brie, plus hints of white pepper and honeysuckle. The finish lingers, with an aftertaste of lemon tart leaving the tongue clean, but thirsty for more. I’d pair From black to white with spinach pancakes or Mediterranean food (anything between a few sheets of filo dough), but it also has enough weight to stand up to heavier fare, like red meat or (hint, hint) Thanksgiving dinner. In the future, I hope to see a monovarietal White Rondinella (by see, of course, I mean drink), though I don’t know if Gaspari plans to produce one. Given the grape’s limited acreage, it would likely be a bank-breaker, but if From black to white is any indication, this would be the kind of wine for which banks are meant to be broken.
Check out Azienda Agricola Zýmē at http://www.zyme.it/
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