A Riesling and a Catarratto (WBW4)

This is loveSicily's first participation in a Wine Blogging Wednesday - an event that asks people to write about a specific type of wine - a situation that poses an interesting dilemma for us. This is a blog about Sicily - so how can we write about any old wine. Surely Sicilian wines must be our only preoccupation. On the other hand we want to play with the others - so we came up with a cunning plan. Well more bizarre than cunning really... We will compare the wine that WBW asks us to write about with a Sicilian wine.

So, this month the request was to write about the once noble, then discarded and now once more gaining its nobility North European Riesling white wine. However, there is a twist. We should not write about Riesling from Europe, but the up and coming Riesling from the "new world" (new to Europeans that is...).

So off we go to Waitrose in the UK - scan the wine section and see at least a dozen Rieslings. We choose the 2003 Marlborough Riesling from New Zealand. Now on to the Sicilian - certainly not dozens. Not even half-a-dozen. In fact, about two or three. Sicilian wines (and especially white ones) although much appreciated by critics still have a long way to go before achieving any wide-scale coverage of UK supermarkets. But we spot a Catarratto - a grape that can be found all over Sicily and all over Italy for that matter. Still definetly not established as a varietal that people are aware of it is usually used for sweet wines such as Marsala.

OK - having paid our GBP5.99 for each we head back home.

The Riesling first.

An interesting wine for us (especially since we don't typically go for Riesling). A smooth texture, a robust nose, just a hint of sweetness to start with but then a slight pinch in the mouth in the tail. As expected a Riesling with fruity flavours and a level of acidity. The smells we could identify was honey and lemon-lime. Overall liked it and will keep it in mind for the future.

Now on to the Catarratto.

This Wildcat Catarratto is called Wilcat reminding us that Australians and New Zealanders called catarratto grapes just Cat for short. It is made by Firriato a house that has gained some acclaim for its Sicilian wines. Gamberro Rosso awarded it 3 bicchieri in 2002. It is located close to Trapani. However, this wine is very much targeted for the English market, in fact it is not even listed on their website and it makes a big deal of its organic nature. So on to the taste.

Dry, just as described with a certain attack right at the start - something that the producers wished to achieve. It is not a wine that you will not notice while drinking, it kinds of reminds you its there. As such it makes an excellent combination with roasted vegetables for truly Southern tastes. A fruity taste although we couldn't identify specific flavours. The only issue was that it goes flat in the mouth after the initial attack. However, this could be just as much the result of the Riesling getting us used to an acid after-taste.

The two wines are both very good, and each has its place on the table when combined with the right dish. The Riesling, in our opinion, would fit with softer dishes without extremely savoury tastes while the Catarratto can also take on and complement some more savoury ones.

In all an interesting experiment!