TN: Two Italian Whites O'er The Weekend..(short/boring)

WINE TALK
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Susan & I tried these two over the weekend:

  1. elios Modus Bibendi Grillo IGP: Terre Siciliane (12%; www.EliosFood.It; Fruit of the Vines/LongIslandCity) Saverio Adamo/Alcamo 2017: Med.dark gold color; fairly strong resiny/phenolic/pine pitch light appley/floral some saline/mineral rather interesting nose; bit soft slight tangy/metallic/steely some apple/quince rather savory/saline light stony/mineral slight phenolic/resiny rather thirst-quenching flavor; very long somewhat tangy/metallic/steely slight apple/quince/pineapple some phenolic/resiny bit stony/mineral interesting finish; not a lot of fruit but a strong savory/saline character; needs food with it. $26.00 (KK)
  1. Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle Dd’OP: Vallee d’Aoste (PrieBlanc; 12.00%; EB; L05 2017; NealRosenthalImports) CaveMtBlanc/Pavese Ermes/Morgex 2016: Med.light yellow color w/ tiny bubbles; clean/crisp stony/mineral light floral/alpine edelweiss/peach blossom/alpine flowers very fragrant lovely alpine nose; quite tart/tangy bright/spicy rather mineral/stony/flinty brisk/light-bodied some floral/alpine flowers/edelweiss slight steely/metallic coiled/wirey flavor; very long/lingering rather mineral/flinty/steely some floral/alpine flowers finish; a lovely crisp Alpine white that’s great drinking. $33.00 (Prima)

A wee BloodyPulpit:

  1. elios: This wine shows a distinct character of skin-contact fermentation. The WebSite indicates a ferment in SS, but w/o sking-contact. But it does have 8 mo. lees-contact post-ferment, which is probably where the phenolic character comes from. This is a “natural” & Biodynamic wine.
  1. Cave MtBlanc: This wines comes from the highest vnyd in all Europe, right in the shadow of MtBlanc on the Italian side. It’s a pretty classic Alpine White and lovely drinking. If you put your ear up to the glass, you can hear, far off on the distant alpine meadow, JulieAndrews singing “The hills are alive…”. Not often a wine has an aural component to appreciate.
    Tom
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Totally random, but drinking the Elios Grillo you noted above, Tom. The only info I could find on Elios on Berserkers. Your note captures it well. A random buy for me (though I am developing an affinity for Sicilian whites) and this is an intriguing wine. It has that slightly oxidative-phenolic-skin-contact feel I associate with LdH blancos, but this is not quite as refined. The saline character is wild. It lingers and lingers. A raw wine if there ever was one. Not sure I want to drink it often, but it is a head-turner. And yes, needs food.