A classic case of 'the packaging made me buy it'.

I got sucked into the rainbow of colours in this range that I'd seen all over the gram...but, sadly, only had room for one bottle. If you were also wondering: Ca is for Calcium with atomic number 20 and its atomic weight is 40.08.

The Wine:

A pronounced nose of confected orange sherbet sweets, thyme, lavender, pot pourri, musk, orange blossom perfume, beef stock, biltong dust (IYKYK), ripe oranges, peach rooibos ice tea, kombucha, cider...it is all over the show in the most exciting way possible. Confected and savoury and perfumed all at once.

And then the palate gets even more confusing. Dry, medium acidity, medium bodied, low tea-like tannins, and a surprisingly lengthy finish once you adjust to the wine. Balsamic shows up...so if your natural wine tolerance levels are low...don’t do it. Or accept Italy and take 2 more sips to realise there’s so much fun in this wine. Pretty much everything on the nose is on the palate - perfume included! Where your mind goes, your taste buds follow.

Viti & Vini:

Country: Italy

Region: Puglia

Grape: Falanghina

The Falanghina grapes are organically farmed on limestone soils in southern Italy. The grapes were manually harvest, destemmed, and fermented using indigenous yeasts, macerated on the skins for 5 days in open vats, and matured in stainless steel vats. The wines are unfined, unfiltered, and have minimal amounts of sulphur added before bottling.

Final thoughts:

The crown cap, full one litre clear blue-green bottle, and lava lamp-esque shimmery clouds that travel up and down the bottle whenever you move it all point to fun fun fun in the sun.  If there’s one negative...it’s that it feels hollow...that's the nature of low alcohol + low acid. You almost need to build up a few sips to get enough traction. But it’s a hell of a fun ride if you’re up for an adventure.

Find the wine:

Smuggled in a suitcase after purchasing from Natty Boy Wines in the UK.