A zany, paradigm-shifting creation
NV Bolé, Spumante BiancoThis terrific Italian sparkler has a Prosecco-style fizz, but with a knockout flavour and an awful lot more to hang onto.
NV Bol, Spumante Bianco, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
£13.50, reduced to £12.83 each by the case of six bottles and £12.15 each by the case of 12 bottles, Great Western Wine, 01225-322810,
I am always on the lookout for newly released wines and sometimes I stumble across completely zany, paradigm-shifting creations and I have to do a double-, and in this case a triple-take. Made from trebbiano with a 5% addition of local rarity famoso, this terrific sparkler uses a long and cool secondary fermentation in a tank, as opposed to a bottle, to get the wine to market as fresh and vibrant as possible.
The result is a Prosecco-style fizz, but with an awful lot more to hang onto. The bottle is stunning, the label is energetically colourful and genuinely eye-catching and the flavour is knockout. Crunchy green apple-skin tones lead the way, but it is the subtler notes of lemon blossom and faint jasmine-tea nuance that brings complexity and gravitas to the whole.
New product launches, particularly of wines that are clearly trying to buck the trend, are often disastrous, but this sparkling wine shows that it is possible to upset convention and yet still produce an entirely unexpected but epic and joyous product.
Bol deserves to be admired and tasted by every single person who has ever sipped Italian fizz and I venture that legions will then follow its path. You cannot ignore the price, which is as keen and eye-catching as the superbly designed label!
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)