Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
The wines of the Veneto
The Colli Euganei is one of Italy’s less well-known but distinctive wine regions. Situated close to Venice, between Padua and Vicenza, it is a series of hills of volcanic origin whose main attraction is the thermal springs. Abano Terme, close by, has endless spa hotels from the grand to the functional. If you can tear
Not all Prosecco is the same. The two most favoured regions are those in the hills. These are the better-known and original Prosecco, now called Valdobbiadene Conegliano Processo Superiore DOCG (Prosecco Superiore for short) and the nearby hills of Asolo DOCG. Altitude (and therefore better day-night temperature difference), poorer soils, steep slopes (better exposure to
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 Pinot Grigio tasted 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
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.
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
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
Amarone – the grand wine made by the semi-dried (passito) grapes method within the Valpolicella region – is riding on the crest of a wave. It seems that we northern Europeans and Americans love its rich, dried fruit character and accessible structure. This can be seen from the enormous success of the related Ripasso style
Eating out in Verona during Vinitaly is a bit of a challenge. 50,000 visitors descend on a small city already quite full of young tourists, all wanting to eat out, all wanting to drink something special. Our solution is to cross the Adige river which encloses the historic centre and walk to Veronetta, just beyond the
I love writing pieces for this website but just occasionally it is good to have another voice, somebody else takes on a tasting. So here is the view of Tim Pierce, owner of GrapeExpectations, on the giro d’Italia which I led with his wines. It was a real pleasure to be in Longparish, just outside
Recently, because of studying for wine exams, I have had to concentrate on tasting mainstream, commercial wines. If it isn’t ‘widely available and commercially important’ sadly it isn’t high on my current list of priorities. This is a complete volte-face for me. Normally, I would seek out the local varieties and ignore the Cabernets, Chardonnays