Le Rote Vernaccia di San Gimignano `09 DOCG $12.99 (Not TJ's) ****

We've been on a Vernaccia kick. Vernaccia di San Gimignano is a varietal (Vernaccia) grown and pressed in a very specific Italian Tuscan hillside town (San Gimignano in Siena).  Ancient by any standards; delicious by our standards.

It was a cold, rainy Saturday.  The kind of day that I simply call "Scottish": cold, raw, overcast and windy - best to be enjoyed from the cozy indoors with a glass of something warming at hand.  Due to the cold, clammy Spring weather, JPH had been thinking about comfort food for dinner.  At lunch, he flashed at me Essentials of Italian Cooking opened to the page: Risotto with Sausage. My response was Pavlovian.  My mouth watered and my head automatically shook "YES".  During lunch, I made my shopping list.  First stop, Coves Discount for some Vernaccia (the recipe calls for dry white wine (why not go Tuscan???)).

Vernaccia di San Gimignano has the honor of being Italy’s first ever DOC wine, in 1993 it was elevated to  DOCG.  This may be my first review of this wine, but this is by no means our first bottle.  JPH is a vernaccia fan, and we've a lot of this enjoyed this wine produced by the Scotti family:  Husband & Wife partners  at Le Rote, a vineyard they inherited in the Tuscan Hills.  They are really producing a GREAT, versatile white wine that is 100% Vernaccia, and so easy to drink and cook with.

My notes are:  Dry with a crisp minerality, but not too acidic.  Refreshing with a hint of tart pear.  And all around crisp white.

Beef Broth after 3 hours simmering

In following the recipe to the extreme, I spent the day making Marcella's Beef Broth  - it was vary simple, and made the house smell amazing.  I may have even had a glass or two of leftover Almez Garnacha while I was cooking... (Hey, it is Saturday!).

Tonight, I cooked and JPH took the pictures. But I'll end this post with a snapshot from my BlackBerry.  What the table looks like after dinner. I am sipping wine, polishing off the leftover asparagus, making notes, reading Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time of Gifts (the true story of a man who walked through Europe (quaffing some amazing wine along the way) and became a part of history during WWII), and looking things up on my iPad (notably the relationship between the Duchess of Devonshire and Lord Fermor).  Just another Saturday night....