The wines of Tuscany/Toscana
Sangiovese, the most important red grape of Tuscany, is famously variable. It produces both thin sour wine (though today there is really no excuse for this) and some of Italy’s most magnificent, structured and age-worthy reds. The May 2010 edition of Decanter magazine gives the Brunello riserva of 2004 from Biondi-Santi an amazing 20/20 score
Vinitaly 4: high altitude Sangiovese Read More »
Nicholas Belfrage MW, The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy. A regional and village guide to the best wines and their producers, Fine Wine Editions, Aurum Press, London, 2009 Nicholas Belfrage is a well-known figure on the English wine scene, a wine trader and author of the best general introduction to Italian wine. An
Wine, people, place: Nicholas Belfrage’s and Jon Wyand’s Tuscany Read More »
These few pictures are some highlights from a visit in August 2007 with the British Institute’s Tuscan summer school. It was a great day out! Thank you to Margaret Leon, an American living in Umbria, for the photos. More information: on Serraiola, see the full write up on the page on the Tuscan Maremma. on
Serraiola – picture essay Read More »
Taking a break from writing the pages for my website on the Tuscan Maremma, it’s time to feature two Maremman wines, available in the UK and models of good (drinking) practice. The first is Podere 414’s Morellino di Scansano 2007 (Wine Society, £11.50). A little translation is required here: Podere is simply a farm or
Old style Chianti probably conjures up wicker baskets (in Italian – fiasco, which seems a little harsh) and thin, sharp wines. In truth much of the cheap, commercial wines of previous decades was pretty awful. Today’s wines are vastly better – quality wine making, vibrant if still sharp fruit, well judged use of oak-ageing in the
As you drive from the south towards the high plateau on which the hill town of Montalcino sits in Southern Tuscany, you can’t really miss the presence of Banfi. In a mixed landscape of farming, woods, hunting land and of course, vineyards, once you cross the River Orcia you see first an enormous factory of
Castello Banfi – a modern Brunello Read More »
Can we talk in a meaningful way about the difference in taste between wines which cost €70 and €35? And why are there differences in taste? The previous post (Talking about wine) throws some light on the general problem of communicating about tastes. In this one, let’s focus on two types of speech about wine.
Two types of wine talk and two Super Tuscans Read More »