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Harvest “in the middle of the boiling”
Just as Italians were heading to the beach for their Ferragosto holiday, a torrid heat enveloped much of Europe. The subtropical air mass arrived in mid-August and didn’t budge until October, making 2011 the hottest September in Italy in 150 years.
This had a big impact on harvest. [...]
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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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Since Roman times, a heavenly dessert wine has been made in the Veneto from grapes laid on bamboo mats to dry throughout the winter. The concentrated red nectar squeezed from these raisinified grapes is called Recioto della Valpolicella—the historic precursor to Amarone, one of the most seductive, hedonistic wines [...]
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A chorus of cowbells chimes overhead, sounding like a Javanese gamelan orchestra. On the hillcrest, forty alpine cows graze on emerald grass and wild flowers fresh from last night’s thunderstorm. They’ll be providing lunch today: fresh mountain cheese.
Ten hikers on our DOLOMITES tour trudge up the gravel drive to Malga Budui, a [...]
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The day could have been a disaster. A train strike from 9 to 5 had brought all of Liguria to a screeching halt, including us—four hikers stuck in Sestri Levante. Three days of rain had scrubbed the air to a brilliant aquamarine, and we were anxious to hike to Portofino under clear skies. But since [...]
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I’ve written about the Cinderella story behind Piedmont’s barbera grape, but the more I learn about nero d’avola, the more it’s clear that this native son of Sicily also has its rags-to-riches story.Originally, nero d’avola was a farmer wine. It was easy to cultivate under the hot Mediterranean sun—as exuberant in growth as a teenager, [...]
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Fat, bland, and boring. That’s how I used to sum up Sicilian white wines. I used to lament how unfair it was that Sicily offers such fabulous seafood—tuna and swordfish so fresh it looks you in the eye – but nary a judicious wine pairing in sight. Sicily’s big-bodied reds were out of the question, [...]
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Think “Sicilian red wine” and nero d’avola springs to mind. Think “quality Sicilian wineries” and Donnafugata is right there on top. So who better to discuss nero d’avola than Donnafugata’s warm and gracious owner, Josè Rallo? We met up during Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri presentation in New York this past February, where [...]
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