Ben's Bubbly: Mionetto Prosecco Brut D.O.C

This week our weekly evening of sipping sparkling wine happened to fall on our fourth wedding anniversary. We had been wanting to try a Japanese restaurant near our house, but phone number was disconnected so we decided to try Delvickios, a new Italian restaurant that opened recently. We left little Ben in the capable hands of Grandma. When we got home, Grandma said that he had been a little fussy, but he perked right up when he saw us walk through the door and resumed his new trick: sticking his tongue in and out like a little frog.

I did not have high expectations for the restaurant, and the meager wine list, with only two sparkling choices, which did nothing to further my expectations. I settled on the Prosecco, figuring it would go better with a full meal than the sweet Lambrusco. We could tell they don't get a lot of bottle purchases of sparkling wine because we were twice asked if we were celebrating. Because I don't believe sparkling wine should be reserved only for celebration, I wanted to say, "no, we always drink sparkling wine on Thursday night." However, my wife admitted that it was our anniversary. We started the meal with mouthwatering homemade breadsticks with marinara. I preferred to eat the bread sans sauce in order to fully enjoy the cheese-sprinkled buttery goodness. We also ordered the appetizer sampler plate and were thoroughly pleased with the meatball sliders and pepperoni rolls. Definitely not haute cuisine, but delish nonetheless. The caprese and artichoke dip that came with the sampler were ok, but nothing special. Both our entrees were good; my linguini slightly edging out her chicken tiamo. When it came time to order dessert, we both decided that we were too full, but would come back and try a pizza or calzone and get something sweet after. The wine was almost a second thought to the yummy food.

NV Mionetto, Prosecco D.O.C. Treviso, Brut

The first Italian wine in Ben's Bubbly is from the Prestige Line of the same winery that makes the Il brand of Prosecco and Moscato with the crown cap and silk screened bowling pin-shaped bottles carried by many retailers. This bubbly is exceptionally light in color, aroma and body. Green apples, lemon rind and almonds were apparent on both the nose and the palate. Every few sips I would get a hint of stone fruit, but not enough to make it interesting. Overall, not bad for a sub $30 bottle on a restaurant list, but this wine does nothing to make me want to drink Prosecco when there are so many other interesting sparkling wines around the world. 11% abv Purchased $24. Average/Good (tasted 7/14/11)