Last night’s tasting with Andover Wine Friends reviewed Italy’s sparkling wines – the everyday bottles (basically tank-fermented) and the special occasion bottles (traditional method with classic varieties). Here is the line up for tank fermented: Passerina (example of a local variety, here from the Marche), Lambrusco, top quality Prosecco Superiore and delightful, inexpensive Asti.
We are all used now to days which celebrate or draw our attention to something important or special. Apparently this is National School Meals awareness week and Men’s health awareness month. (Are men that stupid that they need a whole month to get to grips with things that might trouble them – well, probably.) But
I recently had the opportunity to taste six Sangiovese wines in very good circumstances. They were mostly high-quality examples, bought from reputable merchants and stored in good conditions. They all came from the excellent 2010 vintage and, therefore, vintage variation was taken out of the equation. The aim was to see whether I and a
Sangiovese in 5 Tuscan regions and … Corsica Read More »
Monday’s nights can be special nights. This last Monday Janet and I joined eight others in a ‘Michelin madness’ dinner at which we all provided the wines while enjoying the very good cooking – and arresting artwork – at La Trompette in Chiswick. Five fine courses, four groups of wines – Champagne, whites, reds and
Five courses, four groups of wines at La Trompette Read More »
Photoblog – Spectacular Cortina d’Ampezzo VinoVIP 2017 was held at Cortina d’Ampezzo high in the Dolomites in northeast Italy. I have written about the conference but one of the real draws is the spectacular location. Let’s get in the mood with a photo gallery and, below, a video of the panorama. Video of the panorama
Spectacular Cortina d’Ampezzo Read More »
When do you drink those special bottles? Once you have built up a bit of a wine collection, the issue becomes when do you drink those special bottles? You may only have one of each. Or a bottle you have stored may have become become ridiculously expensive in the meantime. Or a bottle represents a
Taking the temperature of Italian wine: VinoVIP July 2017 Recently I was a guest of the Italian wine magazine, Civiltà del Bere (English website here), at VinoVIP 2017, held in spectacular Cortina d’Ampezzo, high in the Dolomites. You can see my pictures of Cortina here. I contributed to a session on Communicating Complexity (of
Taking the temperature of Italian wine Read More »
It is often said that wine is best shared with friends. In the light of this when I was sent sample bottles of wines from Viticcio I decided to hold a tasting with a small group of wine lovers, experienced tasters, to exchange views on the wines. Here is what we thought. By way of
Viticcio in Chianti Classico and Maremma Read More »
Barolo Vigna La Rosa – beautiful name apart – is a single vineyard on the Fontanafredda estate in Serralunga d’Alba within the Barolo DOCG. Since 1998 the estate has been owned by the Farinetti family of Eataly fame, purveyors of Italian gastronomic products around the world. The estate became fully organic in 2007 and
Barolo Vigna La Rosa Read More »
Bring a Special Bottle Christmas 2016 celebration Keen wine tasters in North West Hampshire meet in a range of formats – Andover Wine Friends, BBC (‘bring a bottle club’), TWITS (don’t ask), TWITS Diploma group and, of course, informally. To these can now be added BSBC, bring a special bottle club. This pays homage to
Bring a special bottle, 2016 Read More »