Each week until the end of the year we’ll take a look at different types of sparkling wines -- champagne included, of course -- so you’ll be able to make a great choice for your New Year’s Eve occasion. Rather than an exhaustive explanation of champagnes and sparkling wines, this
Surrounded by a sea of vineyards with a few rural houses sprinkled here and there, a tall white tower rises up in the countryside close to the small village of San Martino della Battaglia. The setting is Northern Italy, near Venice. Here on the 24th of June 1859, a bloody
The history of enology in Italy is rich in fairy-tale-like stories like this one. Once upon a time, there was a young Italian nobleman who loved two things: racehorses and French wines. His name was Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. In 1929 he was finishing his degree in agriculture at
Celestino Gaspari, the late Giuseppe Quintarelli’s son-in-law, was also seen as his heir apparent in the winery, before he struck on his own and openend Zymé, his own estate, in 2003. One can imagine that the obligatory reference to the former master of the Veneto will fade away with time,
The dominant grape in Valpolicella, Corvina becomes a better-than-average table wine from Sartori di Verona. The winery, located in northeastern Italy, gives this wine an ample dose of oak at 12-24 months but the tannins and finish remain smooth. There-read more-
Imagine a tropical sea: its waters are warm, not very deep. Around it the landscape is lush with tropical plants and prehistoric animals. Occasionally a simmering underwater volcano stirs the calm surface. This was what you would have seen if-read more-
Venice, Italy, is always, well—Venetian: fascinating, mysterious, noble, and exquisite even when fog shrouds the city. Here on Giudecca, one of the eight interconnected islands in the Venetian lagoon, the luxury hotel Molino Stucky rises gracefully from the sea. The-read more-