2017 Birichino Malvasia Bianca

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 90.3 points

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  4/1/2022 - Snoot Doggie Dogg Does not like this wine: 85 Points

  Another wine from Blue Apron! According to the literature, this was a Malvasia designed for the Canadian audience. The vintner wanted his “wines to defy, not exert, gravity”, so the name “Birichino” was chosen since it is Italian for “naughty” or “mischievous”. I have written extensively about wines from the Monterey area, and Italian grapes are something of an oddity there, so it was interesting to try one and see how it stood up to the more typical grapes in the Salinas Valley.
  
  Moderately aromatic, the nose offers candied lemon peel along with some floral notes underneath. Upon sipping, one is met with a medium-bodied wine with a fairly high acidity and an oily texture. Abundant flavors of honey, mandarin orange, papaya and lemon bombard the midpalate, but unfortunately, there is also an odd chemical note that is hard to pin down. The finish is unsatisfyingly short, offering some mango and nothing else.
  
  There really isn’t much to this wine. Sure, it has flavor. Lots of tropical fruit, but it’s mashed together in into a disordered, in-your-face jumble. The flavors are all on the surface and do not evolve, offering a clumsy blend of fruit in the midpalate before a nearly nonexistent finish. In fact, it reminds me of one of those canned fruit cocktails you get at the grocery store, just a ham-handed mishmash of fruit and about as much subtlety as a Gallagher mallet joke. Certainly drinkable, but I don’t plan on buying it again.

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  7/7/2020 - shilohpsyd Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Love this! Light, crisp and very little after taste.

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  3/23/2020 - Z1nnfull Likes this wine: 90 Points

  As others have noted, huge floral notes, as well as minerality off the charts. Immense character and depth for a wine with some sweetness and perfect pairing with spicy Asian fare. We've had several vintages and they are all this good. Great QPR. Highly recommend.

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  8/9/2019 - RichEB1 Likes this wine: 91 Points

  First time with this wine and I really enjoyed it! Highly aromatic floral nose that I could spend all night with. On the palate, delicious and Intrguing mix of bitter citrus and herbs with a really sensual, oily/waxy texture in a medium bodied frame. Unique and distinctive. No experience with this wine but I feel like it will drink will and possibly improve over the next 3 to 5 years. Good stuff!!

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  3/29/2019 - MTC2 Likes this wine: 90 Points

  New wine for me and I didn’t really know what to expect. Nose is pretty sweet with floral notes taking center stage. Rose with purple and white flowers, joined by dusty underbrush. Palate isn’t as “bone-dry” as noted on the bottle label, but I can see how this would pair well with a wide variety of foods. I actually enjoyed this much more on day two, perhaps because it took me that long to wrap my head around the unusual aroma and flavors. The Birichino website mentions “cinchona” and “gentian amari”. Not sure what those are, but I AM sure this wine could prove addictive.

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View all 8 Community Tasting Notes

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