Shabo Sparkling Brut PrimoSecco

$20.00

Shabo sits on the Dniester estuary southwest of Odesa, where Swiss settlers from Vaud planted vines in 1822. The Iukuridze family, Georgian by origin, has run the place since 2003. Primo Secco Brut White is Charmat method, unaged, made with gentle spumante pressure at 12 percent from Telti-Kuruk. That grape is native to Shabo and traces back to the sixteenth century. Ukrainian bubbles, low key and seriously drinkable.

Pale straw. White flowers and ripe peach on the nose. Fresh and fruity on the palate with good acidity and a long, pleasant finish. Light, gently sparkling, easy.

Classic matches for a sparkling like this: Oysters, fried foods, salty snacks — bubbles cut through everything.

The Shabo vineyards run on limestone, clay and yellow sand, with vines from eight to forty-six years old. Shabo began reviving Telti-Kuruk in 1972 from seven hectares. It now farms more than forty hectares of it, some vines fifty years old.