As usual, before Vinitaly my email box is full of invitations to events: press conferences, round tables, seminars, workshops, etc. And as usual, due to lack of time, I have to decline the most of them. But this time there was an invitation that intrigued me: a tasting of torbato.
This is a charming blend, layered and offering subtle nuances lending themselves to a broad array of food pairings. A soft nose offers up white flowers, pears, and Zweiback crackers. Apples, quince, and ginger snaps lead on the palate, finishing with lime and a touch of fresh ginger. Drink with crab
A beautiful wine, knife-sharp and fresh on the edge, rounded on the back with floral delicacy. Citrus, passionfruit, and white florals waft up from the glass on the nose. Lime and blood oranges lead, moving toward melon on the mid-palate, all with citrus zing and a hint of salinity. Fresh-squeezed
Is it wise for a winemaker to keep some of the most basic information about a wine off the label? Say, the grape variety used in making the wine? This is an information age, an age in which more wineries are peppering their labels with all kinds of technical information,
Authenticity. Tipicity. These words describe wines from a particular piece of land or region. This characteristic is a guiding force behind the Italian wines I carry at Farfalle Italian Market in Concord, Massachusetts. I've been seeing more and more talk of authenticity on the web and in print. Authenticity seems
Rarely do wine enthusiasts have a summertime page-turner. There was Sideways, of course, the Pinot-drenched novel by Rex Pickett that became a blockbuster movie, but that hit bookstores nearly ten years ago. Over the past decade, many writers have tried to replicate the success of Sideways with wine-inspired fiction. But
“Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things.” Virgil, Georgics (c. 29 BC), II, 490 I have tasted slate. It was on a glittering fall day in 2010, high above the Mosel River in the Juffer Sonnenuhr vineyard. My guide: a representative from Riesling producer Schloss
I first discovered wine at the tender age of nineteen on a trip to Italy -- ostensibly to learn how to sing. I spent that summer learning more about Umbrian and Tuscan reds than I did about singing and have been spoiled rotten ever since. It is a terrible thing