Brett happens

Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2011, Rocca delle Macìe ($14.30, 00731570)
100% Vernaccia. The winemaker’s tech sheet (PDF file) appears to have been written by the marketing department and so provides no useful technical information. Likely fermented with commercial yeasts and matured in neutral containers. 13% ABV.
Engaging nose: lemon fruity and surprisingly floral. Light and fresh on the palate. What fruit there is – besides the obligatory citrus – is of the pear/quince variety. Lively acidity. Little depth and a rainwatery finish with only the faintest hint of bitter almond (often a marker for the variety). Yes, it’s industrial and, yes, you can find Vernaccias with more personality and follow-through*. Then again, it’s $14. Best as an aperitif or with light, vegetable-based first courses like fried zucchini flowers stuffed with fresh ricotta. (Buy again? If in search of an inexpensive, innocuous, dry Italian white, sure.)

*Not at the SAQ these days, though. For the time being, the Rocca delle Macìe is it. Yet Vernaccia is one of Italy’s oldest and most storied white wines. “Old-style Vernaccia was made as powerful as possible, fermented on its (golden) skins and aged in barrels for gently oxidized flavours to emerge. This was the wine Michelangelo loved. It can still be found like this, or in a modernized, pale version,” writes Hugh Johnson. Leave it to the beloved monopoly to stock only the modernized, pale version. It’s yet another reason to turn to the private import channel. This, for example, looks like it could be interesting.