Wine buy of the month: La Matta Dosaggio Zero 2015

Sep 10 2016, 07:00 | by Gambero Rosso

Peach, hay, ripe and aromatic lemon zest: these are just some of the fragrant notes you can find in La Matta Dosaggio Zero 2015, a spumante from fiano grapes that comes from Campania. Perfect with many dishes, La Matta finds its magic match with Neapolitan fried pizza.

There are wines, often expensive ones, that end up gathering dust in the cellar. There are also wines that don’t manage to stay put for more than 48 hours. Usually they are bottles that don’t last for more than 15 minutes on the table. That’s like our wine of the month, a spumante from fiano grapes that comes from Campania, precisely the Alto Cilento, near Torchiara in the province of Salerno. It is hardly spumante territory, but La Matta is in a class by itself, a wine that breaks the rules and is a hymn to these sunny lands.

La Matta

It is made by spontaneous fermentation in the bottle, without the addition of sulfur, clarifiers or filtration. Its name appropriately means ‘crazy’. When opening it, it’s easy to accidentally splash your tablemates. There are yeasts at the bottom, so avoid placing the bottle in a horizontal position before uncorking. In Neapolitan playing cards, “La Matta” is the king of diamonds, the joker in many games, just like this spumante. It feels right all day long, and practically with every dish. The 2015 made by Pasquale Mitrano, the owner of Casebianche, is a wine that is contagiously pleasant and mature.

La Matta

Tasting notes

It offers tones of peach, hay, ripe and aromatic lemon zest, Mediterranean herbs as well as fragrant tones of freshly baked bread. On the palate it is joyful, with an energetic acidic backbone and a truly unique quality that is both rustic and creamy. The first glass calls for the next one. It works well with any food, but we have one in particular in mind,La Montanara, fried pizza typical of Campania, flavored with buffalo mozzarella cut into thick slices and with grape tomatoes from Vesuvius, pomodorini del piennolo. It’s not such a crazy idea!

Pizzelle fritte