Since Tamura's stocked both the traditional Pieropan Soave and the "La Rocca" bottling, both from the 2014 vintage, I decided to purchase both bottles to do a side-by-side comparison. The traditional Soave is vinified with 85% Garganega, the traditional varietal of Soave with 15% Trebbiano di Soave from estate grown fruit.
It had a pronounced minerality on the nose with a solid acid backbone and would pair nicely with most seafood especially oysters on the halfshell.
The "La Rocca" bottling is also estate grown fruit but is 100% Garganega from a hillside vineyard from older vines. While the minerality wasn't as pronounced on the nose, there was still very minerality on the palate - not as chalky as the regular bottle but more wet stone and it was a lot richer on the palate - enough so that it could easily stand up to roasted poultry or even leaner pork. Chuck Furuya never wanted to serve us a bottle as the "La Rocca" retails in the high $30s range which he says isn't a good price point for a Soave.
So you have to decide, $37 for one bottle of "La Rocca" or two bottles of the regular Soave?... Personally, I can't see why you can't have both bottles in your refrig'...
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