Freddy R. Troya

9.0

Villa Sparina Gavi Cortese 2024
Gavi DOCG – Piemonte, Italy 🇮🇹

Overview
Made from 100% Cortese, the 2024 vintage feels even more uplifting and rounded compared to the already solid 2023 release. Villa Sparina continues to showcase why Gavi remains one of Northern Italy’s most dependable white wine styles, balancing freshness, elegance, and effortless drinkability. This vintage particularly shines with its harmony and polished personality.

Aromas & Flavors
Bright citrus, crisp green apple, white peach, and subtle pear notes lead the way, followed by delicate floral tones and a touch of almond on the finish. The fruit profile feels more expressive and integrated in 2024, giving the wine extra charm without losing its mineral-driven identity.

Mouthfeel
Light to medium-bodied with refreshing acidity and a beautifully rounded texture. Clean, vibrant, and very balanced from start to finish, offering both tension and softness in a way that makes the wine incredibly easy to revisit glass after glass.

Food Pairings
Excellent with seafood pasta, grilled shrimp, lemon herb chicken, oysters, risotto, or fresh cheeses. Also fantastic as a pure aperitif wine.

Verdict
The 2024 vintage feels more complete and harmonious than the previous release, showing extra polish while keeping the classic crisp personality of Gavi intact. Refreshing, elegant, and dangerously easy to enjoy.

Did You Know?
Gavi DOCG is produced exclusively from Cortese grapes in southeastern Piemonte, near the Ligurian border, which partially explains its coastal-like freshness and saline edge despite being an inland appellation.

🍷 Personal Pick
This has officially become my “wine king opener” and one of my new Northern Italy staples. The 2024 vintage simply feels more alive, rounded, and balanced, a bottle that surprises everyone and every time I have pour for friends that have never taste it. Cheers! — 2 months ago

Louis Martin

8.9

Mild, green apple overtones, smooth, pairs well with seafood. — a year ago

"Odedi"

9.0

This 4 year old Napa Chardonnay is starting to drink nicely, but not there yet. Needs at least 5 years in the bottle to mature properly.

Medium plus in body with medium plus acidity.

Dry and fruity on the palate with nice complexity.

Showing lemons citrus, oak, vanilla, yellow and green apples, grapefruits, almonds, earth, minerals, and white pepper.

Good by itself and better with food.

A good wine to pair with seafood. A good quality wine.

13.9% alcohol by volume.

90 points. — 4 years ago

Steve Lindstrom

9.2

Good with ceviche or any other seafood — 5 years ago

Chris A

8.9

Wonderful, full body Chard with a nice buttery and citrus structure - perfect accompaniment to a great Italian meal with some seafood & cheese elements throughout. Sharp on the exit, supple all other phases - great glass! — 6 years ago

James Laughlin

9.1

High acid, tropical. Gooseberry, ripe mango, passion fruit, grapefruit, lemongrass, and jalapeño pepper. Great with vinegarettes and citrus prepared seafood. — 6 years ago

Sylvie schryburt

9.0

Inama Soave Classico 2024 - Veneto Italia

Very good. Fresh, well balanced, very slightly woody, not too citrus. Goes well with almost everything, fish, seafood, poultry, grilling. SAQ Cellier — 2 months ago

Richard Rosensweig

8.9

This ain’t your grandad’s vinho verde. Lots of saline, a snappy limestone finish. Perfect seafood or fish wine. — 4 months ago

Andrea Soolah

9.1

Love this for summer and heat and seafood a little effervescent — a year ago

Brian Hearty

9.0

2021. Broader California appellation. 80% Chenin Blanc, 20% Viognier. Perfect for some patio seafood. Floral aromas and crisp melon. — 3 years ago

Paul T, Missing My Beautiful Wife 24/7

9.3

Wouldn’t pay full price, auction price 👍🏼

The Planeta family have been making wines in Sicily since the 1600s. Cometa, comprised of 100% Fiano grapes, comes from Ulmo, the family’s first winery situated on the banks of the Arancio Lake in eastern Sicily. The deep and chalky soil is perfect for this ancient grape variety to thrive in. Cometa is an intense, yet elegant white wine with a wide range of aromas like lychees, nectarines, mandarin, peppermint and hints of chamomile and wild thyme. It is outstanding when paired with seafood and vegetable dishes. — 5 years ago

Adam Shaylor

9.7

A light wine with hints of hay and grass. Would be perfect with just about any kind of seafood. Even flexible enough to be paired with east Asian cuisines. — 5 years ago

James Melfi

9.1

This is a great wine to go with seafood risotto. Did not change flavors. Also , very good to just sit and drink. Fruity and robust. — 6 years ago

Freddy R. Troya

9.0

Donnachiara – Greco di Tufo – 2021
Greco di Tufo DOCG – Campania – Italy 🇮🇹

Overview
A more expressive and intense take on Greco di Tufo from the 2021 vintage, showcasing the varietal’s natural structure, depth, and aging potential. This DOCG-level wine leans into richness and tension, delivering a more evolved and character-driven profile.

Aromas & Flavors
Layered and pronounced with ripe stone fruit, citrus peel, and hints of almond and dried herbs. Subtle smoky and mineral nuances reflect the volcanic soils, now slightly more integrated with time.

Mouthfeel
Medium-bodied with elevated tension and a textured, almost grippy feel. Bright acidity keeps it lifted, while the added bottle age brings a more rounded, cohesive structure and a long, persistent finish.

Food Pairings
Grilled seafood, roasted chicken, shellfish, creamy pasta dishes, or aged cheeses. Also great with richer Mediterranean flavors.

Verdict
A bold and character-driven Greco di Tufo, expressive, complex, and structured. The 2021 vintage adds a layer of integration and depth, making it both serious and highly rewarding.

Did You Know?
Greco di Tufo is one of Southern Italy’s few white DOCGs and is known for its ability to age, developing nutty, honeyed, and mineral complexity over time.

🍷 Personal Pick
This is my “textured white with presence”, when I want something layered, slightly evolved, and far from simple. Cheers! — 3 months ago

Brian Hearty

9.2

2022. Love this wine with oysters and umami rich seafood dishes. Second time having this vintage and loved it even more tonight! — 6 months ago

Chris Wright

9.5

Fresh, apple, excellent to sip or have with fish and seafood. — 3 years ago

Rodney Miller

9.0

Peaches and lemon with good acidity. Paired well with seafood risotto improving during the meal. — 4 years ago

Julie Cox

9.0

Always a go to with seafood and for a nice summer day. — 5 years ago

Patrik balint

9.2

Beautiful intense yellow colour not a lot in the nose but the taste is wonderful and so complex. Its all you can wish for in a superdry good withe, stones and lime, altibess from the sea, lemon zest but more sour, a taste of a different place and of wet autumn with sun, some kind of gooseberry like they used to taste as a child. 2016 perfectly age so much complexity and lot of balance and fruit with the acid but mixed and wonderful. Very nice on its own and with light food can match cream and pepper and seafood. After a while in the glass notes of nashi pears and rubbers appears — 6 years ago

Louis Martin

8.9

Nice, easy to drink, flowery bouquet with a sharp apple bite. Pairs well with chicken and seafood, but smooth enough to drink on its own. — 6 years ago