Villa Antinori Toscana Bianco

Wine: Villa Antinori Toscana Bianco.

Grapes: Trebbiano (40 percent), malvasia (30 percent), pinot bianco (15 percent), pinot grigio (15 percent)

Region: Tuscany, Italy

Vintage: 2009

Price: $9.99

In the glass: Villa Antinori Bianco is a very faint yellow color with a greenish, almost chartreuse hue, clean and clear throughout with a glass-clear meniscus at the rim and light viscosity.

On the nose: It brims with citrus-laced minerals, wet limestone, green apple skins, fresh churned butter, bright white fruit and notes of Bosc pears.

On the palate: There are freshly spooned applesauce and powerful mineral elements with stony white fruit and pears dominating, as well as hints of chalk and citrus rind. It is made without the use of wood, and although it has gone through both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, the fruit and acidity are in complete harmony.

Odds and ends: I had the pleasure of being in the company of Marchesi Piero Antinori at a great tasting in Beverly Hills, Calif., of his reference wines Solaia and Tignanello. We discussed the commitment of his family to produce wines for all categories. While there's prestige in producing influential Tuscan wines, Antinori also is committed to giving people the choice and pleasure of some of the finest value-priced wines to come out of Tuscany. Villa Antinori is his go-to brand for much larger production, everyday drinking wines that people can open and enjoy when young, of which Bianco from 2009 is an example. This delicious and dry white wine represents a great summer drinking value that can go with jumbo prawns "a la plancha" (on the grill) on a bed of mesclun salad. Drink it now through 2011.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.