This post completes my earlier survey of five local Monferrato grape varieties, Monferrato’s famous five. Freisa is one of Piemonte’s historic varieties, now not much grown but with one claim to fame. In 2004, Anna Schneider and her team at the University of Turin established that it has a parent-offspring relationship with the undisputed top
Diary 16 – Freisa, Nebbiolo’s rustic relative Read More »
Every wine region needs its standard-bearers. They come in various shapes and sizes, Krug in Champagne, DRC in Burgundy, Penfold’s in South Australia. However, what they share in common is being widely regarded as among the very best of a region’s producers. And, vitally, they carry the reputation of a whole region with them at
Braida and Chiarlo – the two titans of Monferrato Barbera Read More »
The most common complaint from those who know Piemonte well is that attention is overwhelmingly given, often exclusively given, to one grape variety, Nebbiolo, and one sub-region, the Langhe. The latter does contain the two great denominations of Barolo and Barbaresco but there is so, so much more to Piemonte. It has such great vinous
Monferrato’s famous five grape varieties Read More »
From humble beginnings I started this website as a humble blog on WordPress, back in 2009. I gradually built it up with the core feature of reports on wine regions which I had visited, personally. These were mostly in Italy and France, to which have been added in the last five years, Australia, New Zealand
Welcome to David Way’s new Winefriend website Read More »
It is over two months since my last post and time has flown. We have been in the peculiar UK version of Covid-19 lockdown (‘we would appreciate it so much if you would please stay indoors etc’), work at the WSET has been busy, this website is getting a major update and, of course, there
Diary: 13 – A month and more with Roero Read More »
With the Covid-19 crisis in full swing, we are all becoming expert at video conferencing. The new nightmare scenario would be to have simultaneous calls on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and a family call on Whatsapp! But this week I did have a conversation of over an hour with Andrea Sottimano via Zoom. The wifi in
Diary: 12 – slow, slow, Sottimano, slow, Read More »
Like all Italian regions, Piemonte loves its DOCs and DOCGs, the officially delineated zones that produce legally-defined wines. Thus, Barolo DOCG is a small area of 11 communes or townships in which wines are made from 100 per cent Nebbiolo grapes, subject to various rules about maximum yields and minimum maturation times. In line with
Diary: 11 – Mapping Piemonte Read More »
When I started this diary of a wine writer, I, of course, had no idea that this project was going to be impacted by a worldwide event. Back in October, Coronavirus was definitely not in the news. Even when I was in Alba in late January it was still something happening in faraway China, or
Diary: 10 – Plan B? Read More »
As a small, gastronomic, diversion from the wines of Piemonte, I am marking the end of an era with the imminent closure of The Harrow, Little Bedwyn. For the last 21 years Roger and Sue Jones have run this brilliant and civilised restaurant with a great cellar. For many of those years it had a
Farewell to The Harrow, Little Bedwyn Read More »
