Wine of the week: Falesco Vitiano Bianco 2014

My tasting notes for the Falesco Vitiano Bianco are simple and to the point: “Cheap wine doesn’t get any better than this.”

The Falesco ($10, purchased, 12.5%), an Italian white blend, has been that way since I first tasted it 10 or 12 years ago. The red and the rose have been equally as impressive, an example to the the rest of the wine world that it’s possible to combine value, quality, and terroir in a cheap wine. This wine is so well made and so dependable that a distributor friend of mine practically went into mourning when his company lost the rights to sell the brand.

What else do you need to know about this blend of verdicchio and vermentino from Umbria in central Italy? Look for some citrus aromas, white fruit flavors (somewhere between apricot and peach) and a pleasing Italian minerality at the end. Drink this chilled on its own, whenever you want a glass of white wine after work. It’s also a fine food wine, pairing with almost anything, be it Chinese takeout or spaghetti with clam sauce.

Highly recommended, and the Falesco Vitiano Blanco will return to the 2016 $10 Hall of Fame next month. And, in this, the perfect wine of the week to introduce the third annual Best Cheap Wine Poll, which starts tomorrow.