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"On Wine"
Vermentino is a grape that needs to see the sea. Like a bronzed Italian on permanent vacation at the Riviera, it craves heat and the Mediterranean sun.
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I don’t even want to count the number of wines I tasted this week. Five tastings in three days is a bit much. But stacking grapes as disparate as zinfandel, pinot noir, and garnacha against each other on consecutive days allowed an unexpected common denominator to leap forth: Vine age matters.
People often ask “How [...]
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Like comedies at the Oscars, white wines at GAMBERO ROSSO’S TRE BICCHIERI awards are a minority class. They’re few in number and have to work harder to get some respect.
So I was thrilled the first time a Vermentino from Liguria make the cut. (In my debut column [...]
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I once called myself a ‘pinot whore’ at a wine-club tasting with a crowd of people I’d only just met. (That was before I’d learned to spit.) I was riffing off my friend Howard, a film critic and bon vivant who used to call himself a ‘festival whore,’ since he’d accept any film festival invitation [...]
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My mission this spring is to delve into the nebbiolo-based wines of northern Piedmont—not just Ghemme and Gattinara, regions that most Italophiles know by name, if not by firsthand. I’m also intrigued by wholly obscure regions like Bramaterra, Carema, Colline Novaresi, and Lessona. (I feel safe in saying “wholly obscure” when, [...]
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I’m a neophyte in Greek wine. Like most baby-boomers, my education started and ended with Retsina. A rustic tavern wine, Retsina is to Greek wine what straw-flask Chianti is to Italian wine: the plonk we drank before we knew any better—and before Greek and Italian winemakers stepped up their game.
Named [...]
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Add some sparkle to your holidays with the Veneto’s bubbly crowd-pleaser
If wines had a Miss Popularity contest, PROSECCO would take the prize. Who doesn’t love this effervescent quaffer? It perks up any party, goes with any menu, and the $10 price tag is just right. There’s [...]
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Among your everyday wines, Castello Romitorio’s portfolio has a Rosso di Montalcino, which is done in a baby-Brunello style, and an easy Chianti Colli Senesi. Where does the basic Morellino fit in?
If I had to really simplify it, I’d say that my entry-level Morellino di Scansano, the so-called blue label, is a [...]
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Sancerre and Soave: It never occurred to me that they had much in common, other than their sibilant sound. One’s from the Loire, the other from Italy. Sancerre is pure sauvignon blanc, and Soave is garganega, sometimes with a splash of trebbiano. Where’s the overlap?
Two recent tastings suggested that they do share a common [...]
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I continue to be astounded by the turnaround in Sicilian white wines.
When I first started coming to Sicily in 2003, it was an exercise in frustration. On this island smack in the middle of the Mediterranean, you’re surrounded by fish. Lavish displays of fresh swordfish, tuna, mollusks, and silverfish tempt with bright-eyed freshness at [...]
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“Vermentino is a grape that needs to see the sea,” a winemaker recently told me. But let’s be specific. Vermentino craves the Ligurian Sea.
I get that. Liguria is my favorite place, too. I never tire of hiking its ancient paths that follow the contours of the rocky cliffs. I love the [...]
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