Winery: Feudi di San Gregorio 

Grape: Falanghina (Type of wine) - Fal-ann-ghyne-a

Price: around 15 bucks depending on year and where you buy it

Where to buy: I dunno, sold out where I last bought it. I am sure online

Since we are in the middle of a bit of a heat spell I thought I would start this off with one of my (and Mrs HJ's)  favorite summer time whites, Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina.  

A lovely straw colored white from Campania, which is a state in southern Italy famous for among other things Naples, pizza, mozzarella, and great wines both red and white.  

The wine is crisp like an apple, richer than you'd imagine yet still light on the palate.  It has a nice fruitiness, a little round, yet finishes slightly citric/acidic and very clean.  It is not oakly or buttery like a California chardonnay.  I am not into cloying whites that taste of wood.  

It is great with what whites usually work with....grilled fish, lighter pastas, veggies and salads, milder cheeses, chicken - also handles spice nicely too.  

I had the wine in the Umbrian town of Spoleto this summer with Strangozzi alla Spoletina (think spicy light tomato sauce) for lunch - was incredible!  Mrs HJ recently had a couple of glasses and Susan Feniger's Street on Melrose.

The Feudi di San Gregorio is my favorite right now, but if you can't find this producer and run into other Falanghinas, go for it.   I have tried this varietal by other producers and have enjoyed it.

In general, I think that the wines coming out of the Mezzogiorno (literally mid-day, what the Italians call the south of Italy) are some of the best values in the world right now and are filled with interesting and unknown varietals like the Falanghina.   If you go to a southern Italian restaurant and order a Falanghina, rather than asking the steward if they have a chardonnay, you will be in the club and treated like someone in the know....try it and see

I hope you enjoy and let me know how you like it!