Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
Yesterday I had the chance to talk to Paolo Aiassa, director of the Terre dei Santi co-operative, as part of my research for The Wines of Piemonte in the Classic Wine Library. I love co-operatives when the wine is good and it certainly is here. Here are my reflections on another fascinating wine co-operative in
The Garda DOC invited a group of wine professionals to taste a selection of their Garda Pinot Grigios. Sadly, this being Covid times, the event was not on Pinot Grigio on Lake Garda but on Zoom, second best but still very worthwhile. Garda DOC is in effect a regional DOC, covering large swathes of territory
Aiming for pure fruit expression Tank method sparkling wine has such a bad rap. Do we complain that delicious, refreshing Beaujolais is not grand cru Burgundy? Both have their time and place. In the same way, it makes no sense to compare a fruity and undemanding Prosecco with a grand Champagne. Indeed, within Piemonte, there
In mapping Piemonte, I explained the fun I had at the beginning of research for The Wines of Piemonte in commissioning a large (A1) size map of the region. I have now gone a second step, acquiring a wine map of southern Piemonte. It is based on the ‘heart of Piemonte’ map in The World
Today Piemonte is famous for its grand red wines and, in a different part of the market, for the delights of Asti and Moscato d’Asti. The latter two made with the tank method, producing low alcohol, sweet wines have indeed been a huge success. But in fact, Piemonte’s sparkling wine tradition predates Asti and the
It is the nature of research to lead you down some interesting byways. In my work on The Wines of Piemonte, I have been tracing the history of traditional method sparkling wine in the region. This has led me from today’s Piemonte to il vecchio Piemonte, ‘Old Piemonte’ as the senior generation in Oltrepò Pavese
It is difficult to believe but I am now halfway through my contract period for writing my book. I asked for three years to write a 300-page book on The Wines of Piemonte for the CIassic Wine Library. You can see the summary of the book on the publisher’s website. Is it time for a
Founded during the period when modernism had just taken hold in the region, Mauro Veglio‘s Barolo, like many other estates, is now going through a subtle change of direction. To go back to the early days, Mauro himself started to label his own wine in 1992, having taken over the business in 1986 at the
Masnaghetti wine maps are created by Alessandro Masnaghetti, known as Italy’s Mr Map Man. But his contribution goes well beyond maps as he provides a complete toolkit for interpreting vineyards. The detailed maps are indeed the most fantastic resource for wine lovers and students. Whether in your home or in the field, you can examine
In Monferrato’s famous five, I started to express my excitement about the Grignolino variety – pale, aromatic and tannic. By the way, does that remind you of a famous variety from Piemonte? Today I have tasted some examples from two wineries that are part of the Monferace initiative. This is a group of producers, mostly