INSIDER'S PICK: 2020 TOSCOLO VERNACCIA DI SAN GIMIGNANO $17.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

Kind of hard to pick a wine to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Snag all the great craft brewed Irish styled beers you want, we've got some great ones! Wine is tricky; considered some of the 'green wine' of Vinho Verde, but a little too on the nose. This fresh new Vernaccia works for us in our usual abstract and circuitous way, but it gets there and will be great. Vernaccia is the white wine of greatest importance in Tuscany, the first wine in all of Italy to receive a DOC designation when the system was enacted in 1966, and among the very few white wines to be elevated further to DOCG status. You very rarely find one made to be high end or collectible, so there isn't a lot of hype around them. What they do provide is a dependable unique freshness that is extremely food friendly, VERY fairly priced, and a true Italian classic. Clear in color with a slight greenish tint (for St Patty's Day!), the nose is crisp and fresh with a little nod of a Sauvignon Blanc-like grassy note but more green citrus and white flowers to the aromas. The palate is where it really shines, clean and vibrant with lots melon zest and green citrus, very tingly to the finish with a lingering minty/mineral sensation. Great with oysters, lighter pork and poultry dishes, and can cut through that corned beef and cabbage quite nicely.

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