The road to Salvatore Molletieri’s winery in Montemerano from Avellino is long and tortuous, even after an excellent lunch. After our visit to Mastroberardino, we enquired of a restaurant. While Atripalda’s ‘Valle Verde’ looks like any another industrial unit in this rather unattractive area the food was excellent – cannellini bean and porcini mushroom soup
Campania 5 – Molletieri Read More »
Any visit to Campania has to include Mastroberardino. This was the winery which put the region on the map, formally founded in 1874 but much older than that, now in its 10th generation of the family. They started as plain Berardino with the ‘mastro’ being added as an honorific; they virtually drew up the rules
Campania 4 – Mastroberardino Read More »
The Cilento national park is famous for its proximity to the great Greek temples of Paestum and then for white figs – and of course for its wonderful genuinely wild interior. It is not famous for wine. That hasn’t stopped a handful of family wineries proving the potential of the area if you have the
Campania 3 – de Conciliis Read More »
Sadly, our attempt at a visit to Marisa Cuomo’s vineyards, perched high above the Costa d’Amalfi, did not come off. But at least we visited the spectacular town of Furore, climbed the steeps steps which go straight up from the sea to the town and stayed in a B&B to die for – carved out
Campania 2 – Furore and Montevetrano Read More »
Our autumn holiday started at Naples airport searching for a hire car in a large car park, thinking it has got to be here somewhere. Equally, at 9 pm at night, we found that the coast road to Sorrento is currently diverted through Vico Equense for the winter months (while they repair one of the
Campania is one of the historic wine areas of Italy – the Romans prized the wine from Ager Falernum (now revived as Palermo) – for great fresco from Pompeii, see: Roman fresco at Pompeii No doubt their predecessors, the Samnites, could cook up a great brew or two. As the map shows, they certainly had
Campania – introduction Read More »
For the English ‘Bordeaux’ means just one thing – claret, the English word for red wine from the part of SW France that ‘we’ used to rule (back in the twelfth century was it?). Somehow we feel proprietorial about it, with a little justification as it was the export trade to England that originally created
Bordeaux Masterclass (2) Read More »
One of the best reasons to start a wine group is to taste wine you would not normally choose or way beyond your normal price level. So for Andover Wine Friends’ second birthday party, there were no candles but a major treat, a tour around Bordeaux with Martin Hudson, MW. When not racing motorbikes, Martin
Bordeaux Masterclass (1) Read More »
The weekend has that nice relaxed feel about it, a moment to search the cache of bottles in the kitchen or beyond for something different to try. My recent trip to Berry Bros & Rudd’s Aladdin’s cave at Basingstoke produced one of these. Chateaux de Lascaux 2006 from the Languedoc, with a galloping horse on
After the anticipation, the tasting. Ten members of Andover Wine Friends gathered to try two of Alsace’s great white grape varieties followed by a simple supper. We settled quickly to the task after a taste of Aureus, Cremant de Loire, a bottle-aged single vintage Chardonnay, 2002. Toasty, decent acidity if slightly milder than much Champagne,
Particularly Alsace Read More »