White wines gain ground on a volcano famous for redsBy Stephanie Johnson*This article was originally published on Wine & Spirits Magazine’s website in October 2022. All rights reserved.Volcanoes harbor a sense of brooding power and looming danger that inspires...
It was a Barolo producer who introduced me to the vineyards of Alta Langa. On a sunny September morning this past fall, Sergio Germano, of Serralunga’s Ettore Germano, drove as we climbed our way along winding roads toward the village of Cigliè, passing grain fields,...
In the hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, there’s a new take on the origins of Prosecco. Claudio Francavilla trudged steadily along the road as my car passed him on the way back to the cellar. The owner of L’Antica Quercia had come out to greet me in the vineyards on...
For a Minnesotan who grew up in a baseball family, the summer of 1987 was an exciting time. The Twins were riding a wave of success that would culminate in their fi rst World Series title, and my family followed every twist and turn of the season. Each morning I would...
Unless you’re a Baby Boomer, you’ve probably never seen the TV ad campaign run by Italy’s Bolla wine company in the 1970s and ’80s, but you can still catch it on YouTube. They show a nattily dressed Franco Bolla living la dolce vita and saying things like, “Why do so...
Americans couldn’t get enough of the Super-Tuscan wines that flowed into US restaurants and retail stores in the 1980s. In recent years, enthusiasm for those full-bodied, internationally styled wines has gone the way of feathered hair and shoulder pads, as wine...
In the spirit of all those standardized tests that have been cancelled due to COVID-19, let’s start with a quiz: What is Barolo?A. A wine made from nebbiolo grapes in the Langhe hills of PiedmontB. A wine regionC. A villageD. A commune (comune in Italian)E. All of the...
Nero d’Avola has always struck me as Italy’s version of malbec: bold and fruity, but a bit monolithic. Yet during a recent dinner in Palermo, I tasted a nero d’Avola that kept me coming back to the glass. Feudo Montoni’s Nero d’Avola Lagnusa was fresh and floral, with...
In our Chianti Classico tasting panels this year, the Gran Selezione wines turned in their best performance to date, with 20 recommendations, 15 of those garnering exceptional scores. Most were from 2016 and 2015, two excellent vintages, which surely contributed to...
Italy is endowed with a rich heritage of native grape varieties, nearly 600 by some estimates, which makes for a myriad of distinctive wines that are difficult if not impossible to replicate elsewhere in the world. These wines are currently in vogue with sommeliers...
