This week’s wine recommendation is a lovely Pecorino I picked up in Blackrock Cellar, which was on special offer.

I was passing through Blackrock High Street and though I would pop into Blackrock Cellar as I’d read a lot of great things about their selection and customer service. I asked for a recommendation from one of the staff members and was pointed towards the table with the wine specials. I was talked through each of the wine and decided on this Avalos Pecorino as I hadn’t tried a Pecorino before, so when I saw one on offer I thought I’d give it a whirl.

The name of the grape stems from the Italian word ‘pecora’, which translates as sheep. The grapes would be a favoured snack of sheep that moved through the vineyards of the Marche region, where it is believed Pecorino originated, and has been appropriately named after them.

The grape shares it’s name with a popular Italian cheese and matches well with this, due to its firm acidity and oily texture and fuller body. An interesting fact is that as part of the winemaking process this wine goes through a cold maceration, which means that the skins are left in contact for a period of time with the must. This is not a common practice when making white wine, but will give the wine its fuller body and a lovely golden colour as well.

This Avalos wine is delicious, it really is. It has floral notes and soft ripe fruit flavours and smells, such as ripe pear and red apple. There is also a clean minerality to the wine, which undercuts the fruit and makes this for a refreshing and easy drinking wine. A little off the beaten path in comparison to a lot of the wine that is picked off the shelves of wine shops, it has that full body and oily texture I mentioned earlier that will match with rich and creamy foods perfectly, with enough acidity to balance the wine. My match would be a lovely chicken pasta with a cream sauce or Carbonara.