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Value Italian Wines

August 31, 2011 Leave a Comment

In the spirit of our “Value Italian” wine tasting on Thursday, I thought I would highlight some of our bargain Italian wines. I will admit that my Italian wine knowledge is not as strong as I would like it to be, but I always find that research is a great teacher. Since I love rustic Tuscan cuisine in my own home, as well as experimenting with simplistic ingredients that are in season, I really ought to be focusing in incorporating Italian wines into my rotation. And fortunately enough, there are plenty of fantastic Italian wines out there that won’t break the bank!

Italy is home to some of the oldest wine growing regions in the world. Etruscan and Greek settlers were planting grapes long before the Romans started their vineyards in the 2nd Century BC. Today Italian wines account for one-fifth of the world’s wine production,  currently beating out the French in production.

Italians love their wine. It is the soul of every meal each day (as well as an occasional afternoon nip). Although Americans have increased their wine consumption and appreciation over the years, the Italians still have us beat…and by a long shot. Italians consume 59 liters per capita per year, compared to American’s 7.7 liters. Since there are 750 ml in a standard bottle of wine, that’s 10.2 bottles of wine for the Americans (that’s pitiful folks) and 78.6 bottles for the Italians. Hopefully I did my math right.

You are not going to find the typical domestic grapes, or even the French grapes, in the Italian wines. Standard grapes are Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Montepulciano, Barbera, Nero d’ Avola, Moscato and Pinot Grigio. If you are new to Italian wines, those grapes can sound intimidating, but trust me, they’re not. Once you familiarize yourself with these grapes, picking out Italian wines becomes a more enjoyable process. The best way to learn about varietals is to taste them!

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Italian wines can range from bold and boisterous to soft and subtle. They tend to have earthy and cedary characteristics in contrast to many of the domestic wines that can be very fruit forward. These characteristics come from vines that have been cultivated in the same earth for centuries as well as the “old vine” wines which can be up to 100 years old and tend to be less common in the United States due to our “newness” to wine production.

Italian wines are typically built to go with food. Meaning drier, fuller bodied wine that will compliment the food yet not overpower it either.

Here is just a sample of some value Italians:

Terredigiumara Nero d’ Avola 2007 –
This wine is made from 100% Nero d‘Avola, a variety unique to Sicily. Over the years, it has been referred to as the “Prince” or “Emperor” of Sicilian varietals. The grapes are ripened to perfection under the warm Sicilian sun and are picked in September/October. This wine captures the essence of Sicily. It is ripe and concentrated, offering supple flavors of wild strawberries and black cherries. The finish is soft, round and appealing, with hints of sweet red berries lingering on the palate and a spicy finish.

Brigaldara Valpolicella Classico –

A blend of 40% Corvina,  20% Corvinone, and a mix of 40%  Rondinella, Molinara and Sangiovese. This baby Amarone is aged 6 months opposed to the standard 3 years for Amarones, giving it a much nicer price tag. Amarones are typically rich and dry, made with partially dried grapes. The process is labor intensive and time consuming, making a standard aged Amarone more on the expensive side.

Castello di Farnetella Chianti 2007 –

Made with the Sangiovese grape from the Chianti region of Tuscany.  Very dark reddish-purple with ruby glints. This wine is a great benchmark of Chianti with its aromas and flavors. Black cherries are up first on the nose and palate, with an overtone of leather and a back note of subtle spice. Fresh and bright, mouth-watering acidity and soft, barely perceptible tannins.

Ca’ Donini Pinot Grigio –

A pure Pinot Grigio from northern Italy vinified in temperature controlled stainless steel vats. Pale gold in color. Fruity bouquet with hints of crisp apples. Dry, crisp, and refreshing on the palate. Beautifully balanced to compliment a wide range of foods from white meats, shellfish and seafood.

For more details, Please visit our site : http://www.decantedwines.com


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I Love Italian Wine and Food – a 2007 Vino Novello (new Wine)

August 29, 2011 Leave a Comment

It’s been quite some time since we have written about Italian wines. Make no mistake, we still love them. But we ran through all twenty regions of Italy (not literally) and reviewed at least one wine from each region with two exceptions. Then we proceeded to review French and German wines. There are scads of Italian wines to taste and review, but we have to give other wine countries a chance. Here we review a very timely wine, a Vino Novello. Each year, starting in early November, Italy releases Vino Novello, pleasing some people and disappointing many others. Will you be delighted or disappointed with the 2007 offering? When you finish reading this article, rush out to your favorite wine store and sample the wine. Whether you are delighted or not, you probably will have fun. Traditionalists consume roasted chestnuts and fresh figs with such wines.

New wines are produced by a special method known as carbonic maceration in which whole grapes ferment in stainless steel tanks, often reaching a temperature of 25 to 30 degrees Centigrade (77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit). This process continues for some 5 to 20 days, and may be followed by crushing the grapes, which then undergo traditional fermentation for a few days. The exact procedure varies from one winemaker to another, but the ensuing wine is virtually tannin free. The lack of tannins implies a short shelf life. While you don’t have to drink the wine immediately, most people finish the season by Easter. According to the Italian winemakers, perhaps not the most impartial of groups, the 2007 harvest was the earliest and leanest wine harvest in thirty years. Is this yet another proof of global warming?

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New wines are usually colored bright red or violet. They tend to be fruity, tasting of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, banana, and freshly squeezed grapes, depending on the grape variety used, the production method, and the area in which the grapes are grown. Detractors talk about bubble gum, lollipops, nail polish, and jello. Many people claim that new wine tastes of grape juice with alcohol. You can be sure that if you don’t like a given new wine, you will gain nothing by storing it for two years. It won’t improve with time.

Italy is a major player in the new wine game, producing about 18 million bottles a year. Appoximately one third of the production is exported to Germany. The most important Italian new wine regions are Veneto and Tuscany, followed by Piedmont and Trentino-Alto Adige. Let’s take a closer look at one new wine.

Wine Reviewed Novello del Veneto IGT 12% about .50

I bought this bottle in mid-November, shortly after its release. The Novello del Veneto wine, with a designer label, is made from Corvina and Rondinella grapes native to the Veneto region in northeastern Italy. Interestingly enough, the Corvina grape is quite tannic, but you would never guess from tasting the final product. You may be familiar with these two grape varieties; they are the major components of Valpolicella and other well-known wines from Veneto. I’ll spare you the marketing materials that supposedly described this wine.

I first tasted these wines with a slow-cooked beef stew with potatoes and Romanian style smoky eggplant. The wine was dark but thin. I tasted some tobacco and the combination was quite pleasant but perhaps the meat’s spice, harissa a pungent North African condiment, was too much for the wine. When I tasted the wine with chunks of spiceless meat, the Novello del Veneto was a bit more forceful.

The next pairing involved kubbe, alternate spelling kube, mideastern ground rice balls with a beef stuffing in a spicy tomato sauce. And they are excellent. The wine was fruit forward, it didn’t seem like a new wine. This is a complement. The wine balanced well the pepper in the tomato sauce. On the downside it was grapey.

The final meal was a broiled rib steak that was briefly marinated in a ketchup, mustard, onion, and garlic sauce. The wine was fruity, but frankly not up to the steak. Do I taste bubble gum? As this description, the wine wasn’t very long.

My German Emmenthaler (Swiss-type) cheese has become quite old and hard. The wine was moderately acidic and fruity, with some black cherry. Perhaps its presence was because the cheese has become rather tasteless. The French goat cheese’s ammonia overwhelmed the wine.

Final verdict. Faith tells me that one day there will be a new wine that meets my not very rigorous standards. Reason tells me that this will not happen; the rush to market makes for inadequate processing of the grapes. In this case reason triumphed and the wine did not. On the other hand, what do you want for .50?

In his younger days Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books. Now he prefers drinking fine Italian, German, or other wine, accompanied by the right foods and the right people. He knows what dieting is, and is glad that for the time being he can eat and drink what he wants, in moderation. He loves teaching various and sundry computer classes at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his new wine, diet, health, and nutrition website www.wineinyourdiet.com and his Italian wine website www.theitalianwineconnection.com.


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Filed Under Wine Making Grapes Tagged With 2007, Food, Italian, Love, Novello, Vino, Wine

Italian Wine Regions

August 18, 2011 Leave a Comment

Wine is massively important for Italy.  The country is said to be the second largest wine producer in the world and boasts a myriad of winemaking regions, each producing a diverse array of wines.  With reports of 900,000 registered vineyards (enough for one vineyard for every seven people) and more native grapes than any other wine country, any newcomer to the wine-world would be forgiven for getting a little overwhelmed when choosing Italian wine.  But don’t let that turn you off.  In this article we examine the key Italian wine making regions, to help you get started.

Northern Italy

The North West of Italy is made up of four key regions, Piemonte, Valle d’Aosta, Lombardy and Liguria.  Piemonte is arguably the most important region when it comes to Italian wine production.  The best-known wines come from Barolo and Barbaresco.  These are full-bodied, Italian red wines, both of which are made from the Nebbiolo grape.  Barolo, in particular, is a wine that takes well to ageing.  Still in Piemonte, you will come across cheaper red wines made from the Barbera and Dolcetto grapes.  If you prefer white wine, look out for the Cortese grape from Gavi, or Asti, an off-dry sparkling Italian wine made from Muscat.  From Valle d’Aosta you will come across a number of indigenous grapes, including Petit Rouge and Picotendro, a local version of the Nebbiolo grape.

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In the North East, the key Italian wine making region is Veneto.  Here you will come across Valpolicella, which is home to range of red wines that vary quite considerably in style from light, everyday drinking wines through to fuller bodied wines.  These are made from a blend of grapes but principally Corvina.  Also from Veneto comes Prosecco.  This dry sparkling Italian wine is often goes down well with drinkers looking for an alternative to Champagne.  Neighbouring Soave, also situated in the North East, produces a nice Italian white wine made from the Garganega and Trebbiano grapes.  

Central Italy

The largest and most significant Italian wine producing area is central Italy is Tuscany.  Chianti is the main export from this region and produces a medium bodied red blend, made predominantly from the Sangiovese grape.  Outside of this area but still in Tuscany are Montalcino and Montepulciano, which also produce Italian red wines from the Sangiovese grape.  

Staying in central Italy, you will come across the well-known Lambrusco from Emilia Romagna, Frascati from Latium and the Verdicchio grape, a medium bodied dry Italian white wine, from the region with the same name.

Southern Italy

The quantity, and arguably the quality, of Italian wines produced in the south have increased in recent years.  Typically the region produces red wines which are deep, rich, intense and offer good value for money.  Puglia, in particular, offers some wines of interest.   Sicily also produces some high quality wines from international grape varieties, as well as the fortified wine Marsala.

This is just a brief introduction to the wines from this country.

Louise Truswell works in the wine industry. She has been writing about wine for couple of years and likes writing about Italian wine. To find out more about Italian wine and to stock up, visit www.virginwines.com


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I Love Italian Travel – Wine Touring In Tuscany

July 18, 2011 Leave a Comment

Who has not heard about Tuscany? Its capital Florence is a living work of art, whose relatively small historic center contains far too many sites to list here. Where else you can find world-class jewelry in shops lining a bridge as they have been for centuries on the Ponte Vecchio? You might be surprised that Bistecca all Fiorentina, the local beefsteak, is excellent. Enjoy it with a Chianti or other fine Tuscan wine. Tuscany is a lot more than Florence. You may want to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa and visit the partially walled city of Lucca, home to 99 churches. Or visit Florence’s historic rival, Siena, which has retained its medieval flavor. Its Piazza del Campo is one of Italy’s finest squares. Make sure to see the Palio, a historic horserace pitting the city’s 17 neighborhoods against one another every July 2 and August 16. The Renaissance village of Montepulciano is best known for its Vino Nobile de Montepulciano DOC. Go to Saturnia to see some Etruscan and pre-Etruscan tombs. There’s a whole lot more to see, for example, the region of Chianti.

What about the wine? Virtually everywhere you turn in rural Tuscany somebody is making fine wine. Most of it is red, but there are some great whites as well. Tuscany is home to Super Tuscans, wines that defied traditional wine making practices and regulations. They aren’t allowed to carry Italy’s fine wine designations. Many of these wines sell for well over 0 a bottle, so successful producers are laughing all the way to the bank.

In Tuscany Sangiovese is the most widely planted red grape. It’s the heart of Chianti DOCG (with and without the Classico refering to the traditional Chianti region), Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, and many others. Don’t be confused; many Super Tuscans contain Sangiovese and sometimes no other grapes. Other quite common Tuscan red varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The whites are simpler. The most common are Trebbiano, especially Trebbiano Toscano, and Vermentino. The famous Tuscan sweet wine Vino Santo is made from white grapes.

Companies that sell Tuscany wine tours include Prime Italy, Select Italy, and Alabaster and Clark Wine Tours Worldwide. Tuscany wineries that provide visits include Antinori in Firenze now in the agriturismo business, Avignonesi in Montepulciano, the organic winery Badia a Coltibuono in Gaiole in Chianti which offers a restaurant and lodgings, Barone Ricasoli in Gaiole in Chianti, and Ruffino in Pontassieve to name but a few. A few words of warning are in order. Be sure to check ahead of time for opening hours and whether English is spoken. Some of these places may charge admission; others may expect that you buy some of their products.

Levi Reiss wrote or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but would rather drink fine French, German, or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his new wine, diet, health, and nutrition website www.wineinyourdiet.com and his Italian travel website www.travelitalytravel.com.


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Filed Under Wine Making Grapes Tagged With Italian, Love, Touring, Travel, Tuscany, Wine

Italian Wine Making

February 7, 2011 Leave a Comment

Every year it is very common for Italian wine to be at the top of the pile when it comes to good ranking, not the least of which ranks it as the biggest producer, exporter and consumer of wine in the world. If you consider that Italy is only a few hundred miles smaller than the state of California then this fact here is far more interesting.

Even though Italy produces close to 8,000,000,000, bottles of wine every year, the vinters have kept to the same high quality standard of making wine that has a legacy of over 4,000 years. As a result of this Italy has some of the most unique and quality wines on the globe, as well as having the most grape varieties that are locally produced than any country in the world.

One of the bigger deliberations with Italy’s unique wine style is the wide scope of assorted cultures that exist all the way through its 20 wine regions. Each of these cultures has a vigorous sense of pride that translates openly into wine production. At the height of it understanding Italian wine making is hard enough, but to those who’s knowledge is rather limited, it is practically impossible.

Like any journey of consequence it’s best to take it step by step. While Italian wine is both vastly complex and inconsistent, there are some concrete starting points.

First, let’s take a look at the general qualities of Italian wine:

Italian wines have a tendency to be very acidic, this is mainly because wines that contain high levels of acidity are well suited with food. It is hardly then that the prominent food cultures in the Italian society have opted for wine that compliments their astounding commitment to cuisine! This means white wines are inclined to be brusque and red wines are more likely to be firm.

Submissive, earthy aromas – One of the paramount qualities of Italian wines is the touch of the land that one can smell and taste in every bottle. The nose might have hints of mushrooms, soil, minerals and grass. These merits are usually referred to as an earthiness that stops the wine from competing with food.

Medium Body – Though there are quite a few wines that are heavier (such as Barolo), the majority of wines are medium bodied in nature. Again, more appropriate to the wide selection of food dishes that achieve better when not weighed down by heaviness.

Distinctly Italian Grapes – While most of the grapes found in the world are grown in Italy, it also has many grape varieties that are only grown in the wine regions of the particular regions. Nebbiolo, is a good example, this is the grape that used to formulate Barolo and is only ever found in Piedmont and Lombardy regions.

Because of the climate in Italy is so perfect for cultivating grapes, much of the grape varieties have been evolving over the last several thousand years. It is because of this that trying to transplant vines to other regions proves immensely difficult.

Major Red Grapes

There are over 20 key varieties of red grapes growing in Italy, but we are going to start with what are debatably the most significant 3:

Sangiovese (san joe VAE sae) – Planted in many vineyards throughout the Italian country side, particularly in Tuscany and Umbria, this is the main grape in the making of Chianti and the ever popular Super-Tuscan wines. Medium in body, the wine will then posses high levels of tannins and strong acidity with flavours of herbs and cherries.

Nebbiolo(nehb be OH loh) – explicit to the Piedmont district, this varity of grape produces 2 of infamous Italian most wines: Barolo and Barbaresco. For anyone who is considering starting up there own wine cellar these 2 wines are the must haves. The grape is intense with elevated levels of acidity and high tannin levels, calling forth flavours of strawberries, mushrooms and truffles.

Barbera (bar BAE rah) – This grape runs side by side with Sangiovese as the most popular grape variety in italy. This particular grape is a good bit lighter than its partner, the tannin levels are a good bit lower while it still maintains it high acidity levels. The fruity flavours are inclined to be more distinct than in other grapes, it is for this reason that this wine is excellent when enjoyed in the summer.

Important Italian Whites

Pinot Grigio(pee noh GREE joe) – The Italian version of Pinot Gris, this grape in particylar has been haled all around the globe. Although the pinot grigio grape is not as flavourable as it French cousin, it boasts a high acidity with mineral flavours and peaches.

Trebbiano (trehb bee AH noh) – This grape is very familiar in Italy, it has also suffered from casual growing habits. This white grape variety is known for its production of lower class white wines, it is known for its proclivity for producing bland and highly crisp wines as well.

Tocai Friulano (toh KYE free oo LAH no) – For those pinot grigio lovers out there, you will like this grape variety. With the attributes of freshness and bitterness associated with Italian grapes, it can also bring rich and full textures that are more intricate than is usual for whites of this class. It grows for the most part in the Friuli province.

Verdicchio and Vernaccia – These grapes have some of the same body, crispness and acidity as Trebbino, but with a bit more life. Richer flavours and aromas including hints of lemon and sea air are common. They are usually un-oaked.

A person could easily spend an entire lifetime studying this grapes and wine of the Italian country side, especially when these wines are associated with certain foods in there respective areas.

Filed Under Wine Making Grapes Tagged With Italian, Making, Wine