Aiming to work in lockstep with nature, the Lageder family pursues environmental responsibility with the same fervor that it pursues great winemaking. They farm biodynamically and work with their contract growers to try to transform partner vineyards into organically or biodynamically managed ecocenters. This means little if the wines don't deliver, but they do with every vintage.
Read MoreThough this wine's name, Dinotte, translates to "at night", this is a wine that could be enjoyed any time of day OR night. Bursting with peak-of-ripeness berries and plums, this is enticingly delicious. his is so fun and so packed with primary fruit kissed by a lingering dark chocolate finish that it's hard to ask more than what it already offers! And, I'll double down on that statement given this wine's SRP of $10.99.
Read MoreA chance to taste the Rebo grape? Yes, please! I love tasting wines made with relatively new grape varieties, especially when they are hard to find. Rebo is a crossing of Merlot and Teroldego created in 1948 in Trentino by Rebo Rigotti. (I might name a grape this cool after myself, too.) Through this deeply colored variety, the broad suppleness of Merlot meets the raving acidity of Teroldego.
Read MoreI have tasted an assortment of wines within the Tenuta Sant'Antonio range several times. I'm disappointed to say that, overall, these were rather lackluster. That's not to say that they aren't drinkable or pleasant enough. They mostly are.
The vintage is not the culprit as each of the four wines comes from its own growing season. The style - or at least the vinification and aging - is different for each wine, too. Moreover, I tasted these wines several months after they arrived at my door, so shipping was not the offender.
Read MoreI remember trying my first Sagrantinos back in the very early aughts, while working in a Manhattan wine store that sold exclusively Italian wines. These Sagrantino wines have evolved with time, taste and climate change. These wines are more approachable than I recall those early aughts wines to be, even though those Caprai wines were overall highly accessible vis-à-vis the otherwise fiercely grippy Sagrantino situation. Today, it is easy that taste that these two wines will provide pleasure now and in years far beyond. Moreover, their age-worthiness-to-price ratio is downright striking considering the price of peer-worthy Piedmontese and Tuscan gems that could age as long.
Read MoreThe Lilliano Chianti Classico wines are crushingly good in two senses: they are so delicious that they are drinkably crushable, and they give so much value-for-money that they are crushingly good values. This applies to all three DOCG levels: Chianti Classico, Riserva and Gran Selezione. Everyone likes a good value year-round, and everyone particularly appreciates one after the holiday season.
Read MoreToday is my last full day in Rome, so it seemed appropriate to share a few notes on the wines of Paolo e Noemia d'Amico, whose vineyards lie just 90 minutes north of The Eternal City. The duo's range includes five whites and four reds sourced from their property edged by extinct volcanos. The vineyard soils are tufa, as are the cellars. Paolo and Noemia, engaging in their second career together - this time in winemaking, began planting their vines here in 1985.
Read MoreFattoria Selvapiana has been a family business based high in the hills of Chianti Rufina for 133 years and five generations. These are wines of finesse and fragrance, whatever the vintage. Don't let the seemingly high alcohol levels lead you astray. Their refined balance delivers harmony via their multi-sensory experiences. The icing on the cake is the organic certification for all of the vineyards.
Read MoreIt's not often that I see a wine bearing the USDA Organic symbol. This is even more true of an imported wine. So, I was especially curious to taste these wines. It turns out that they sit squarely in the "natural" spectrum, as I expected.
Read MoreLa Valentina works exclusively with local varieties, also making the region's historical "giant" Trebbiano and Fiano. While the Pecorino and La Spelt Montepulciano kept stride with my expectations, I was a bit disappointed in the workhorse Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.
Read MoreBoth of these wineries in the hands of the Tasca family sit on islands off the coast of Sicily. Mozia Island and Fondazione Whitaker sit in a lagoon to the north of Marsala on Siciliy's western coast while Tenuta Capofaro is on Salina Island on Sicily's northeastern side. I adore highly scented dry whites, and both wines definitively make my "fave" list, hence the "*" notations.
Read MoreThere's nothing like tasting the wines from the winery where Chianti was created! It was at the Castello di Brolio in central Tuscany that Baron Bettino Ricasoli first debuted his 30-year research project in 1872, today called Chianti Classico. Striving to remain at the edge of innovation in an ever more-competitive wine industry, Ricasoli is a local leader in vineyard mapping and clonal research. These "cru" wines are all enticing, each in its own way.
Read MoreThe Alois Lageder winery has a plethora of positive attributes: biodynamic farming, viticultural and winemaking history in the family dating to 1823, classy packaging, reasonable pricing and - of course - good wine. Interestingly, while Chardonnay has been in Alto Adige since 1835, it didn't become popular there until about 150 years later. Tasting this, I have to wonder why it took so long!
Read MoreScaia is a Veronese term for Parmigiano Reggiano crumbs. The Castagnedi brothers, who also own Tenuta Sant'Antonio, use the name for their second label to playfully refer to the chunks of crumbly limestone found in their local vineyards.
Read MoreSeven years ago Stefano Casadei and Fred Cline met over dinner for the first time. Now they are making a wine named Casadei, a total heart-throb red, together. That's not all. The Cline family is importing Stefano's Castello del Trebbio wines, too. Saluti!
Read MoreThis wine arrived at my doorstep with no notice, and it was a fun discovery. It is a great sip, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it anywhere to anyone. Only 376 cases were produced, so look now rather than later!
Fragrant, floral and savory, this Fiano is more expressive than most of its Campanian counterparts that have "landed" outside Italy….
Read MoreOlianas 2017 Bovale Perdixi Isola dei Nuraghi: Ruby-rimmed, deeply flavorful and seriously savory, this unusual blend of 75% Bovale (aka Graciano) and 25% Carignane possesses plenty of charming top notes. Clay soils dominate the vineyard sources, so the near-grandiose breadth of the palate intensity isn't surprising.
Read MoreLong a fan of Inama wines, I was pleased to taste this trio of wine, if a bit disappointed in the Vigneti di Foscarino, which seems out-of-character with its 2017 bottling. Nonetheless, all are delightfully drinkable and have potential ahead.
Read MoreCasanova di Neri 2015 IrRosso di Casanova di Neri: This is a bloody, irony, feral sort of wine that calls out for a nice cut of red meat. Its stretchy tannins give just enough grip to allow it to handle deliciously fatty cuts.
Read MoreThose who follow wine closely know that it is a living drink. Like people, wine has good and bad days.
I deeply hoped this 2015 Le Serre Nuove was having a bad day when I first tasted it professionally then drank it over several hours with dinner. It was astonishingly disappointing. A second bottle was modestly more satisfying but effectively identical. It certainly did not live up to my standard for Le Serre Nuove, a wine that I have tasted in its various phases – different winemakers, blends, vintages and so forth – for almost two decades.
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