Over the years I have tasted hundreds of wines that claim to have been produced without the addition of sulphur and as a rule they were vile. A few have been just about drinkable, but I have yet to find one that I would be happy to drink. Until now that is … and guess what? It’s a Cava … […]
I don’t normally reproduce a press-release, but for collectors out there with deep enough pockets, this treasure trove of DP is an absolute bargain … all 11 rare and very special bottles direct from the cellars for less than the cost of one bottle of Romanee Conti DRC 2005! Not that the DRC isn’t mind-boggling in its own right, but I will probably have to wait until I am dead before the 2005 reaches its [...]
There are a number of different Lambrusco appellations in Italy and most are located in the lush valley vineyards of Emilia-Romagna, where we find the DOCs (or DOPs as they tend to label them these days) of Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Modena, Reggiano, Salamino di Santa Croce and Sorbara, with just one in neighbouring Lombardia (Mantovano). Until this tasting I thought the best Lambrusco come from Sorbara and the best of those was Chiarli Fondatore, but [...]
Unlike Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, Trentodoc slips off the tongue of an Anglo-Saxon speaker very easily. Unfortunately, however, this made-up word is rather harsh-sounding to the Italian ear and although there is a cleverness in its construction (Trento + DOC), it does rather scupper any hopes the producers may have of promotion to DOCG!… […]
They are without doubt the world’s greatest dessert-style sparkling wines, yet no Asti and Brachetto d’Acqui performed well in the first year of the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC). Was this due to receiving entries exclusively from the dregs of the industry or had the overall quality of both appellations nose-dived? I was a man on a mission to find out!… […]
As from 2015, every bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine that is entered into our competition in a clear-glass bottle will be “double-bagged” in black plastic as soon as it is removed from the packaging in which it is delivered … […]
On my recent grand tour of Italian sparkling wine I had arranged a tasting of Asti and Brachetto d’Acqui (see here), but before I got down to work I had two surprises, one nice, one not. The unpleasant surprise was the tasting room: it stank! The pleasant surprise was the Alta Langa DOCG, which I had not requested, but of which there were 20 should I wish to taste them. I had tasted Alta Langa [...]
The Metodo Classico DOCG from Oltrepò Pavese is probably one of Italy’s least-known sparkling wines. Indeed, the very words Oltrepò Pavese are enough to make most English-speaking wine consumers ask “What’s that?” Well, “that” is the southernmost appendage of Lombardy and all sorts of wines are produced there, none to much acclaim. So why did I go there? … […]
Even with a full week in northern Italy, the jaunt to Prosecco’s beautiful hillside country was a bit of a stretch, logistically, with all the other sparkling wine regions I would be visiting much further east, but I was hoping it would be worth it for the opportunity to taste blind a significant number of Prosecco DOCG Rive and, from a quality perspective, I was not disappointed. […]
How and where does Crémant d’Alsace fit in the sparkling wine market? I have a very soft spot for Alsace. I love the wines, the food, the people and the whole fairy-tale land that is part of the package, but of all Alsace wines, the one style I have always had difficulty coming to grips with is Crémant d’Alsace. At first I wondered whether it was because I had been spoilt by Champagne and expected [...]
