2014 Marcarini Roero Arneis, Piedmont, Italy
I never used to get Arneis. You see it’s a low acid variety and that’s something that we ‘new worlders’ frequently get a bit perplexed by. In white wines if it doesn’t have ‘acid drive’ ‘a core of crisp acidity’ ‘acid backbone’ and so on it instantly gets relegated to the over ripe, over cropped or just not real good category.
But low in acid is exactly what Arneis is and once you get your head around it you can start to enjoy its effortless, soft textual non acidic nothingness. It doesn’t leap out of the glass with zippy aromas of lime, blossom or otherwise. Rather more subtle than that. Almond, white stonefruit, and brioche and a palate that when at its best has richness without fat or heat (alcohol) and length without acid.
I prefer it young as it does sometimes chunk out a bit with age.
It’s at home in Piedmont and we are about to start pouring the 2014 Marcarini from that very region.
