With a wax sealed bottle and cork stopper, this wine is drunk more as either an aperitif or even as a stand-alone drink much like a whisky or cognac. The colour is bright medium brown with pronounced nose that just finds you before you even begin to sniff. Very similar to a blend between an amontillado and Tawny port - it’s sweet toffee note tricks you into thinking that it may be a sweet wine.  It also reminds me of some high end Baijiu as well as Jura’s Vin Jaune. More notes of ripe apple, toasted nut, toffee, chocolate, roasted coffee beans - especially French Vanilla.  On the palate, it is actually a dry wine but with lots of sweet notes just like those on the nose. It gives a really rich creamy mouthfeel with balancing acidity. At a whopping 18% alcohol, it is so well made that one would only get hit by the buzz after finishing a glassful of this liquid gold. Finish is long and so satisfying.  

A little over a week ago, I went on my semi-routine browse through the local BC Liquor Store at Westwood Centre in Coquitlam. I do this from time to time to discover new things to try. In the Italian section, there was this unusualy shaped bottle with a label style similar to that of Spanish. I thought it was in the wrong spot on the shelf.

There it was: Silvio Carta Vernaccia di Oristano Riserva 2003. It’s a very rare product to see in the Lower Mainland Vancouver, let along Coquitlam BC or actually anywhere outside of Italy. This is what many of us called a Geek wine - a kind of wine that nobody would normally touch unless fueled by curiosity. The kind of wine that perfectly fits Aristotle’s saying: “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know”

Many more of us are familiar to another style of wine that, although internationally know, still yet to be as widely appreciated in comparison to still red and whites - Sherry.  The process of making Sherry involves the level of cultivation of flor - a layer of yeast film that gather over the surface of wine during barrel fermentation and maturation.  The barrel is only partially filled to allow oxygen contact with the wine to develop some oxidative notes like toffee and hazelnut.  The level of flor development decides the style of the wine - biological or oxidative.

Vernaccia di Oristano is a delimited production region (Denominazione origine Controllata or DOC) in Italy on the island of Sardinia. Vernaccia di Oristano is actually also the name of the grape variety used in distinctive styles of wine from the region.  Wines with this DOC can actually be dry, sweet as well as Sherry-like fortified and partially blended using the solera system.

​For those who think that Sherry is more of an acquired taste, I really encourage them trying out this rare treasure! In my opinion, it is rather more approachable than Sherry in comparison. However, now I am craving a good bottle of Palo Cortado!