Luigi Baudana Dragon Bianco Langhe 2023

Winner Winner

Bart here. I love getting out to our deck after a long day at the office. I started the grill as Mel started the chiminea. I prepared some brats and opened this bottle of wine. Melissa was a little surprised the wine was white.   These are not her go-to wines after 4 pm.

This was a recommendation from Jamie Stratton with Jacob Liquor, and I had wanted to try it for a couple of weeks.  Not your typical garden fare.  It is a blend of the best of white varieties in the Piedmont region of Italy—Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Reisling, and a little Nascetta!  It sounds like a bathtub punch from college, but Luigi and his wife Fiorina, both wine makers, have a clear winner here. It smells of sweetened lime, under-ripe pears, and kiwi fruit. It is soft and almost creamy on the palate like a chardonnay but with more of a citrus backbone. These grapes blend seamlessly to create the flow in this wine.  My wife and I were only going to have dinner on the deck, then get on with the evening. We had custom brats mildly spiced with garlic butter, roasted red potatoes, and it was just delightful.  Two hours later, the bottle was on its side, and we were still really enjoying the evening on our deck. Maybe tomorrow after work I will get to those projects. You need to get out and try this wine, it has a subtle comfortable feel, like an old friend come to visit – no one is in any hurry to move along.

This sells for $21 at Jacob Liquor.