Forza Italia, Basta Inghilterra

Apologies to those who don't follow the game of football (soccer) but last night was a pivotal night for the English football team. The qualifying stages of the European Championships played their final games last night and half of Europe held it's breath in anticipation of making the Top 16 clubs that compete in the European Championships Finals.

England always get through, the idea that England isn't a top 16 European footballing nation is ludicrous, after all we have Owen, Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, John Terry, some of the best players in the world.

So, last night we had our friends Jack and Gwen over and opened up a lovely wine, the Antinori Chianto Classico Riserva 2001, in anticipation of a win or a draw over Croatia. England needed just 1 point to go through and were playing at the New Wembley, what could be simpler right?
WRONG.

England stunk. In the face of our wonderful Antinori, England were the cheapest bottle of straw covered Chianti you can find. Weak, insipid, uninspired and with a poor finish, I can not even give a score to this vintage. Shocking! 2 goals down in 15 minutes, only to pull them back in the second half and gave a nation hope. I knew we'd go on to lose. I've watched England compete in too many sporting events not to know, I've watched Henman at Wimbledon, the Rugby team, the Formula One drivers. I think all of us watching, live or on the box, knew that we wouldn't hold on, that we'd fall on our own sword and lose the game.

So, I'm giving up on being English. I'm just going to ignore my heritage and hide my passport because I'm tired of being a loser! Yesterday I applied for my Italian "Residenzia" at the local comune. I was expecting a long wait, an arduous task of to-ing and fro-ing but I was all done in 20 minutes! So now, I am officially a resident of Italy.

I can flash my Carta Identita at the airport and no one need ever know that I'm English again! My Team, that being the Italian football squad, are the current World champions. Oh yes, and My Team, that being the Ferrari Formula One racing team, are the current F1 champions.

So, for all you poor English readers with your rubbish teams and terrible wine I'm going to review another of my beautiful homegrown Italian wines, the aforementioned Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2001. This wine went wonderfully well with our "Burger Night", consisting, as you'd imagine, of burger and fries. The burgers were fantastic home made masterpieces so on this occasion, matching with the Chianti went very well. This wine would be well suited to a hearty meaty pasta dish and could easily accompany a nice steak dinner.

Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2001 - BUY - €20
Very dark colour in the glass, intense dark ruby red with some nice pinky looking hues. The nose is fruity, spicy with the most noticeable aroma profiles of blackberries and vanilla. On the palate we've got some good tannic structure and some noticeable acidity, the wine is well balanced and enjoyable with good length on the finish as well as warming alcohol. Mid to Full bodied wine. 91 Points

I really recommend this Chianti to you. If you've been exposed to bad Chianti in the past you're probably left with a negative "What the deuce" attitude about this wine. Chianti is a little devil, you have to be certain of what you're buying and I'm certain of this. Wonderful year for Chianti so please try some.

Where can I buy this wine?
Americans - Shopperswines - $25
Europeans - Italian Wine Shop - €20
Brits - Winedirect - £15.95

I'm afraid I have some bad news for you all. Tomorrow I leave for my vacation so there wont be a daily update on the blog. However, I am collecting material for a super dooper double blog entry about the USA's Italian wine scene. That sounds boring but really it wont be! Have faith!

Question of the Day?
What does your nation do best?

Italian Wine Food Matching

Italian wine has always been produced as an accompaniment to food. Wine for wines sake, wine that is simply to be enjoyed solo is a relatively new phenomenon and through the ages wine production, producing the perfect wine, has been the quest to create the perfect food/wine match.

Wine variance through the regions of Italy is directly related to the regional foods. It is no happy accident that the wines of Italy have a high acidity content. The Italian diet consisted of fish, tomatoes, olive oil and condiments such a vinegar and lemons were used to cut through that fatty/oily diet with acid. If drinking wine, then acidic wines were called for, Valpolicella, Dolcetto and Chianti being good examples.

Oily foods, fish etc, need to be cut with a sharpness that Italian wines can provide. Normally we would seek to pair fish with a white wine, but some Italian reds can also do the job. Today we are going to look at Food/Wine matches to make, and most importantly, food/wine matches to avoid. These recommendations are not cast in stone, just like wine itself, food/wine pairings are down to individual taste. I can't imagine many enjoying the metallic taste you're left with when you pair a tannic bordeaux with oily fish but, if you had braces as a child, perhaps it will give you immense pleasure recalling your childhood.

There are very few perfect matches, so never worry about finding the perfect food/wine match. There are however, some basic principles that should help you never make a bad choice when ordering wine for food.

The Theory Test

When matching food and wine all you need to do is take into consideration some easy to grasp basic principles. When you have these etched on your brain, the worry over what wine to buy for a family event or special meal will melt away like the butter in a saucepan.

1) Chewy foods go with chewy tannins. So your powerful Cabernets and a tannic Merlot would be a loving partner for steaks, beefburgers, a roast meal, a beef stew, really any dark meats.

2) Fatty and oily foods go with acidic wines. As I mentioned, if you don't want to take a white wine that is the traditional pairing then you can take an acidic Italian red. Valpolicella, Dolcetto, Chianti will all do this job. The white wines of Alsace and Riesling are a more traditional pairing.

3) Salty foods match sweet or highly acidic wines. A salty chicken soup will match up with an acidic wine, like a Chianti or a sweet wine, like Lambrusco.

4) Either match the flavour profile or contrast the flavour profile. If you've tasted a wine before and thought, "wow, that's just like oranges" then you can match it with duck l'orange for example. If you think a wine has a contrasting flavour to a food; that can work too. Try things, think about the characteristics of the wine, the weight, the acidity, richness and intensity and then think about the meal. Does it share these qualities? If so, it probably goes well. If it's the opposite, it probably goes well. If it's a hit and miss kind of thing, it'll probably bomb.

5) The quick match tick list. If all that seems too much to remember then just go with the quick match tick list. Match all these characteristics to the wine.

• Weight - heavy meals=heavy wines or light and airy foods=light wine
• Acidity - high acidity food=high acidity wine
• Sweetness - sweet food=sweet wine
• Richness - rich food=rich wine
• Flavour Intensity - strong flavours in the food=strong flavoured wine

Cheese
Cheese gets its own little subsection. Everybody loves wine and cheese they are perfect together, they are the Laurel and Hardy of food/drink combinations but even this perfect pair can go horribly wrong. Lets take some basic Italian cheese and match them up.

Parmigiano/Romano/Padova - Barbera, Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Chianti and a Super Tuscan
Gorgonzola and Blue Cheeses- Valpolicella, Amarone
Goats Cheese and Soft Cheeses - Sauvignon Blanc, the Northern whites.


Food and Wine Pairings from Hell

1) Tannic wines and fish - metallic and nasty, a complete no-no.
2) Subtle wines and Spicy foods - Curries or Chinese foods with lowly flavoured wines.
3) Meaty and heavy dishes with light wines - Steak and Champagne for example.

Dream matches, like white truffles and Barolo, are few and far between. Keep experimenting and maybe you will come up with your own personal dream matches. If you do, don't forget to tell me all about them.

Question of the Day
Share your food matches from heaven and your food matching mistakes.

Italian Wine Consortium

The Italian Wine world is composed of thousands of individual winemakers. 60,000 producers squeeze out 50 million hectolitres of wine each year and compete against one another to create the best Barolo, Brunello, etc etc.

This is wonderful for us, the consumer, we have a seemingly infinite choice of wines all striving for supreme quality which is what makes the Italian wine world so interesting to me. However, this is not how the rest of the world operates. In the States there are massive wine consortium's who buy up producer after producer and standardise and regulate and do such awful sanitary things that decrease my enjoyment of the wine but also, and this is the killer blow, decrease the price of the bottles. What they achieve is excellent QPR.

When I buy a bottle of wine I don't simply think about the price, my key criteria is not always even the taste, but when I buy wine I'm buying into the whole story. I want to know everything, about the grape, the conditions at the vineyard, the vintage, the producer, I am buying into the life of the wine. It's a romantic, old fashioned notion, and I am in a vast minority.

Price is what matters today. With wines from all over the world becomingly increasingly available the Italian market can not even rely on the loyalty of Italian wine drinkers anymore. Top quality wines, hand picked grapes, low yields are exceptionally expensive and this cost is passed onto the consumer. Young Italians aren't interested in the tradition or the story of the wine. They want quality wines yes, but with a jazzy label. Braida and Planeta are doing their utmost to embrace the young Italian wine drinker with cool commercials and hip marketing and are carving out a niche for themselves with the wealthy younger generation (consider a bottle of Planeta/Braida is still usually over €15)

This is a step in the right direction by Braida and Planeta but much much more needs to change. Italian wine makers need desperately to set up consortia in order to promote their wines at home and abroad. The New World is going to bite us in the ass. Not by the quality of their wine as was feared but their ability to market their products and face marketing costs together.

Take for example Chile, a hugely successful emerging wine country has only 130 producers creating some 10 million hectolitres of wine. Another example is Australia, 300 of their producers account for 75% of their total export.

Italian wine is the worlds leading importer of wine into the States but nowhere near enough is being done to fend off the New World attack. Personally I hope the Italian wine producers can strike some kind of balance. I don't want to see huge Italian wine consortium's and have an unavoidable decrease in quality with a higher importance placed on the brand yet I don't want the smaller producers to disappear unable to sell their expensive wines and unable to compete with their marketing. We're in a time of change and can't rely on the simple fact the wine is "Italian" with all the romantic notions attached to that label.

Of course none of us can tell what is going to happen in the next 5 years, whether Italy will lose its US wine drinkers crown to Australia or if we will see many smaller Italian wine makers going bust but, it looks inevitable from where I stand today. The powers that be have a chance to change the future for Italian wine and Italy's answer to Yellowtail is still up for grabs. As for me, I'll continue to support our smaller producers making some of the best quality wines in the world. Perhaps the Slow Food group should help tackle this growing problem and create a Slow Wine section to protect the threat to quality we are facing today.

Question of the day?
What criteria influence your decision to buy wine?

Italy Vs France- The Result

Well, the votes have been counted and verified and we can officially announce a shock win on behalf of Italy. The French wine was the stinker of the night and at €24 I can safely say it's among the worst bottle of wines I've tasted. The colour and nose was all Bordeaux and for a moment I thought Italy was going to be shown up! The palate was insipid, very very watery with no finish at all. This was the worst Bordeaux I've ever had. We can not really call this experiment any kind of contest but for what it was, Italy trumped up some beautiful wines. Thanks to the anonymous recommendation for this wine as the worst Bordeaux, on that you were correct. That it would be better than any Italian wine, you were very wrong!

The biggest shock of the night was the Petit Verdot, this is the wine I recommend most highly to buy at €10! This wine outshone the Barbaresco and the Brunello di Montalcino! Amazingly total agreement on the the best wine, the Petit Verdot and the worst wine, the Pauillac.

Although the first bottles were open at 4pm the food was not ready until 8pm so, to accompany the food, and because most of the wine was gone, I opened a magnum of Giacosa Barolo Falletto 1998. Everybody enjoyed this wine and it was truly exceptional. This bottle was the best Italian wine I've ever had. Maybe it's the turkey talking but I truly can't think of another bottle I've tried that beats this. Consider the fact it is still improving, I highly recommend this wine for a special occasion. The aromas flew out of the bottle with no decanting. We really should have decanted the wine as smelling the small amount left this morning it has taken on a different character but, straight out of the bottle, it was a beautiful wine.

Tasting Notes

Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot 2004 - BUY - €10

Dark purple in the glass, very deep intensity. A little timid on the nose but aromas of spice, berries and cherries with the most intense smell profile being blackberries. Shockingly refined and balanced on the palate denoting a classier wine that the price, some nice fruit on the mid palate. A really enjoyable and easy drinking wine. The lack of intensity on the nose is the reason this missed 90 points. Perfect for dinner parties. 89 Points

Fontanafredda Barbaresco 2000 - PASS - €18

Noticeabley purple/brown in the glass with some orangey hues. A lovely nose of candied cherries and vanilla extract with a hint of cinnamon. Very weak tannins and acidity through roof let this down badly, mid length finish and a medium body complete this so/so wine. Really disappointing from Fontanafredda in a stellar year for Barbaresco - 79-81 Points

Angelini Brunello di Montalcino 2001 - BUY - €30

Dark ruby, edging on purple colour with significantly lighter hues. Very expressive nose, spicy with some cherries but the most overwhelming smell is orange rind. The palate is tannic and drying but pleasantly so again with orange on the mid palate. Totally unexpected flavour profile from a Brunello which caught me off guard but nevertheless it's a very enjoyable complete wine. 90 Points

Baron Phillipe de Rothschild Pauillac 1999 - PASS - €24

Close to purple in the glass with an almost artificially sweet nose of cherries and flowers with strawberries as the standout aroma. The palate is revolting, insipid, watery, the weight of the wine and the tannic content reminded me of drinking Ribena, thin, no finish, sugar water. In fact, I would take Ribena any day over this wine, even Vimto. It's very difficult to score a wine you dislike so intensely but for colour and nose alone I give it 74 Points

Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga D'Alba 1998 - BUY - €275

From Magnum: Pale brick red colour, looks a little dirty and cloudier than the other wines we had but the hues were surprisingly dark for the age. A beautiful expressive nose the second it was uncorked, berries, cherry, strawberries; acres of ripe fruits. The palate was like velvet with complimentary tannins and exceptional length. Breathtaking. The wine came from magnum. 97 Points

As far as Italy Vs France goes it was obviously a tongue in cheek contest with only one winner possible but was an exciting experiment anyway. Everyone had fun and now we all have a new everyday drinking wine to rave about, the Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot wins the QPR award. Wines like Giacosa's Barolo are wonderful and have their place in my heart but it's the everyday drinking wines, the supermarket bargains, that can be the most exciting discoveries. After all, not every meal is a thanksgiving slap up.

Where can I buy this wine? (The Petit Verdot)

Europeans - Vinaoi - €8.30

Americans - Quality House Wines - $27

Brits - Everywine - £5.97

Question of the Day

What will you drink on Thanksgiving/Christmas day?

France Vs Italy - The Countdown

If you thought the world cup football finals were brutal they will pail in comparison to this most epic of battles.

The date: 17/11/07
The time: 6pm CET
The location: My living room
The event: Italy Vs France: Thanksgiving Drink Off.


I hope noone will be sent off, I really pray noone will be headbutted but when feelings are running as high as this, you can't rule it out. I can promise there will be pride, patriotism and tears shed and by the end of the night the champion will be crowned but will they hail from the mighty plains of the Piedmont or the "baron" wastelands of Bordeaux - a panel of 12 will decide who is the Ultimate Wine Country with myself, as the unbiased referee.


What the heck am I on about?

I've received many emails in the past few weeks with requests to review certain Italian wines and it's something I'd like to add to the blog once every week, so keep them coming!

Last night I zipped to the local supermarket and purchased some wines that have been requested these included Angelini's Brunello di Montalcino 2001, Fontanafredda Barbaresco 2000, Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot 2004 and from someone who emailed anonymously, the Baron Philippe de Rothschild Pauillac.

The last wine was something of a chicken dare because a) It's not Italian b) It's Bordeaux and c) It's the "worst" Bordeaux the nameless emailer could think of. He thinks that this wine is better than any Italian wines so I'm going to put it to the ultimate test. FIght Fight Fight!

Tonight I have 12 house guests for a "Thanksgiving Meal" and thought "what a perfect time to turn the event into a spectacle for myself! Of course I'm really excited about my first Thanksgiving meal but wine/food pairing experts will be tutting loudly at the wines on the list BUT what ya gonna do. It's all good fun and that's what counts.

French Bordeaux or a cup of tea? ----->
Tonight we have guests from England, Ireland, Italy and the States so we've eliminated our "Italian's do it best" bias (just overlook the fact we all live in Rome!) and will give the Pauillac a fair swill around our palates.

Boy o Boy am I going to feel rough tomorrow, but I won't let you down, noooooo siree! Tomorrow I'll publish the tasting notes and tell you which wines were down with the hood and which wines were down with the sink.

How you can help me?

a) If you enjoy reading the blog and would like to get involved send me your wine suggestions. If you hate the blog and just want to see me struggle like my mystery man with the Pauillac then that's fine too.

b) Send me your tasting notes, if you've tried a bottle that really impressed you or made you feel nauseous then send it in and I'll add it to the blog. No average wines though, has to be something interesting about the experience you had.

Who requested what:

Angelini Brunello di Montalcino Val di Suga 2001 - Helena Bingham - Thanks I love you!
Fontanafredda Barbaresco 2000 - Julius Fielder - I'm very happy with you.
Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot 2004 - Simon L - Interested to taste some PV tonight (:ox)
Baron Philippe de Rothschild Pauillac - Anon E Mouse - The truth will out!

Wish me luck! xxxx

Domenico Clerico - Modernista

Domenico Clerico is one of the all time greatest producers of Barolo ever, period, full stop, kaput! The wines of Domenico Clerico have been growing in stature for a number of years now reaching fever pitch with his 100 point WS Barolo Percristina 2000. Trying to find a Percristina these days is something of a challenge with everywhere sold out or whacking a stinky €300 price tag on the bottle. It was good, no, it was great, but €300 gets me a case of Tignanello (I'm still psyched about that... NUMBER 4 baby).

Barolo was once ruled by the G-Men, being Angelo Gaja and Bruno Giacosa. These days there is a whole top flight of Barolo producers including Domenico Clerico that have revolutionised the production of Barolo. Clerico, Scavino, Roberto Voerzio (him again!) and Marco Parusso are a generation of Barolo producers with a friendly rivalry. Their competition has been our gain as they push each other to producer better and better wines.

For those who don't know there are two schools of Barolo production, the Modern school Vs the Traditional school. Both are capable of producing great wines with a number of other top flight producers taking the best of both schools. Clerico is a pace setter in the Modern camp.

Clerico's wines are experimental improvements year on year and he doesn't rest on his laurels even when striking gold (a 100 point Wine Spectator review). In his most recent Barolos, Clerico has extended the maceration time of the grapes to 23 days. It will be very interesting to see how this effects the wine, though we will have to wait until 2010 before the Barolos are released to see.

Domenico Clerico's vineyards are scattered throughout the Piedmont and he produces many different wines. The Barolo of the Ginestra vineyards is the most consistently excellent (Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra) but you can't go wrong with a Percristina or Pajana Barolo.

If the €100+ price tags on these wines are a little daunting, then you can sample the excellence of Domenico Clericos production by trying his Barbera, Dolcetto and the famous Langhe Art, a barrique blended but most Nebbiolo wine. The Langhe Art retails at about €20 and I recommend this to all of you! Unless you are allergic to wine, then just stay away. My guilty passion is Dolcetto though, and these go for around €10, very tasty, try it.

Domenico Clerico is my 2nd favourite producer and I don't have as much experience of his wines as I would like with only a couple of tasting notes available SO, I will get some Clerico's in the house and get a full set review for Christmas.

I am away on my holidays (or vacation for the americans among you) from next Friday so the entries will be less frequent BUT I will make up for this with my VIDEO WINE DIARY!

Domenico Clerico Percristina 2000 - BUY - €190

Lovely deep ruby colour in the glass with splendid aromas of over-ripe fruit, earth and cedar. Almost royally full bodied and opulent on the palate, huge but smooth tannic quality, super long finish with oak and cherries on the mid palate. Leave it alone for 10 years. 96 Points+

Domenico Clerico Langhe Arte 2005 - BUY
Thick, jammy and purple in the glass the nose is a sweet mixture of flowers, cherries, tobacco and a little spice box. Lavishly full bodied and mouth coating the palate is a pleasurable blackcurrent jam attack. Nice length on the finish, alcohol hidden well. Easy drinking and pleasurable today. 91 Points

Although I'm recommending you to BUY the Percristina it is a very expensive wine so I will steer you towards the Arte in the commercial section of this blog!

Where can I buy this wine?

Europeans - Enoteca Grani Vini - €22

Americans - Vinfolio - €44

Brits - Justerini - £20

Question of the Day?

Have you ever tried Barolo, and if so, which is the best Barolo that you've tried?

Tignanello 2004 Antinori - #4 Wine Spectator 2007

Whoop Whoop and Praise the Lord for Tignanello. Man am I one happy chicky! Wine Spectator have crowned the Tignanello 2004 the #4th best wine released this year and not only do I own it, stock it, sell it and love it; it's cheap as chips! Well, relatively. The chips in London definitely!

So here it is, in all its divine glory, the Tignanello 2004. I've already reviewed it on another board so just a copy and paste job left for my final entry today.

Who is going to take that number 1 spot, I almost hope its not another Italian wine now but what about the Guado al Tasso if the Tignanello gets 4th! I'm so excited I could just play the bongos on a bald mans head.

< ---- Beautiful Buy it NOW! Buy a 12 case Now! Gonna go up massively in price.

Oh, oh look, there's me and what do I have on the table .... that's right Tignanello 2004. Fateful! It's like me and Jame Suckling could be the same person, I know that's what you are thinking. Our taste buds are aligned we both are plummy Brits living in Italy, simply uncanny!

So, and to the review! Let me just fumble around in Corkd.... let me see.

OK here we go... SEE MY CORKD REVIEW

Antinori Tignanello 2004 - BUY

Deep ruby red color, the Tignanello '04 looks like class before you even pick up the glass. The nose is exceptionally fresh and quickly gives up aromas of blackcurrent, spices, herbs, cherries and tobacco. A well balanced, smooth palate has perfect tannins and a smooth, long finish. Superb. (SN - 11/07) 94 Points

Where can I buy this wine? - (and buy it now, today, quickly)

Europeans - Di Leva - €50

Americans - Internet Wines - $67.05

Brits - The Cellar Door - £38

I never do that, I never recommend a wine from The Cellar Door unless it truly is the cheapest available to the market. You can check www.wine-searcher.com to verify my validity and validness and validociousness.

Question of the Day?

Am I naughty to recommend you to my own company? :o(

Italian Wine Ebay

The British abuse alcohol. We abuse alcohol so much that we can not buy wines on Ebay like the rest of the world, France, Germany, Italy and even the USA Ebays all sell wine. They all sell Italian wine. They all sell really good discounted Italian wine and us Brits are missing out. OK so the few that abuse alcohol have ruined it for the great many but what's new there? Or maybe this isn't the reason and it's simply our nanny state that has put this ban on Ebay. In a country where you can't smoke a cigarette in your own car, you would have to wonder.

Well, whilst I feel sorry for my fellow countrymen, I live in Italy so can take advantage of the wonders of Italian Ebay. Just to rub it in a little further I'm going to show you exactly what you're missing.

I've been buying wine from Ebay for a few months now and I have two super trooper Italian Wine prize purchases that I have to share with you.

Firstly, 2 MAGNUMS of Bruno Giacosa 1998 Barolo Falletto for €80 each.
Secondly 1 MAGNUM of Roberto Voerzio 1998 Barolo Sarmassa for €90.

To buy both these bottles in the UK you're looking at £373.00 for the Giacosa (Fine and Rare) and £234 for the Voerzio also from Fine and Rare.

Today, as of 10am 15/11/07, Ebay has 2000 different auctions online selling wines from all over Italy. Right now, we have Wine Spectators 7th wine of 2007 the Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia at €60! This is a crazy price and I'm sure, with just a few hours left to run, the price wont reach €80.

Apart from the brilliant wine you can find on the Ebay, it's just real fun. I love drinking wine but almost as much I love buying wine and I adore getting wine on a steal. It's something of a high to spot a really great value wine with the auction end in sight and put in that last 30 second bid and gazzump poor Joe Schmoe. It's addictive.

I can highly recommend checking out the Italian Ebay, some members will post to the UK, you just have to ask them in advance. All the bottles I've bought have been fine but it's best to buy from a trusted seller, one with many positive reviews. Just don't outbid me, alright?

Italian Wine News - Week 12/07/07

Italian Wine has news? Of course it does and I'm going to keep you updated on all the interesting little stories about Italian wine that crop up each week. So, without further ado, what is in the Italian Wine News this week?

Italian Wine is reaping the rewards of the current fashion in the USA to embrace all things Italian and scooped two prestigious awards last night from the American US magazine, Wine Enthusiast. Carlo Ferrini won "Enologist of the Year" and Josh Mariani, founder of Banfi, won the lifestyle achievement award.

Other award winners were

• Persons of the Year: Ray Chadwick, Diageo Chateau & Estate Wine


• American Winery of the Year: DFV Wines


• European Winery of the Year: Symington Family Estates, Portugal


• New World Winery of the Year: Villa Maria, New Zealand


• Importer of the Year: E & J Gallo


• Distiller of the Year: Casa Herradura, Brown-Forman


• Retailer of the Year: Whole Foods Market


• Winemaking Region of the Year: Rioja, Spain

The award ceremony will take place on January 28, 2008 during the Gala Dinner at the New York Public Library.

$34,000 for a 9 litre bottle of Ornellaia
Record-breaking auction to restore Florence baptistery doors - Bolgheri’s Tenuta dell Ornellaia celebrated their twentieth year with a bang in New York City following the sale of a bottle of Salmanazar for $33,600 (400 times its market value) at a Christie’s auction. The one-of-a-kind nine-litre bottle featured a pure gold silkscreen in place of a label.

The winners were a Seattle couple that had gone to the auction with the intention of bidding on Lot Number 8 - the only bottle of Italian wine on the docket. The 2005 Ornellaia won’t hit shelves until May 2008, thereby giving the buyers a unique preview of this prestigious wine.

“We were the only Italian product in an auction containing more than 200 wines and champagnes,” said estate general manager, Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja. The newest feature was the bottle’s never-before-seen shape and size, which was made expressly for this occasion”.

Proceeds from the sale were donated to American non-profit association, Friends of Florence, and will be used to restore Giovanni Francesco Rustici’s statues on the doors of the Baptistery of Florence.

Tuscan reds to be produced in the Big Apple

Crespina and Staten Island team up - The first Tuscan red ‘Made in New York’ are set to be produced within the next three years.

A full harvest is expected by the fourth year thanks to the Tuscan Garden Vineyard - a project brought about thanks to the sister cities agreement between Crespina (near Pisa) and Staten Island, New York.

The city’s botanical gardens will be home to two acres of Tuscan vineyards with 2,100 vines divided into 58 traditional Tuscan rows.

The vines - which are native Tuscans but cannot be exported directly from Italy due to American sanitation laws - will be purchased from the largest Italian grower in the United States (based in California).

The Tuscan Garden Vineyard will host a Tuscan wine shop and will be an information centre for Tuscan wines in general, including publications on the subject as well as hosting oenology and wine tasting courses.

Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia 2004 - Wine Spectators #7 2007

Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia 2004 - #7

The first Italian wine to make it into Wine Spectators TOP 10 of 2007 is really not a surprise to those in Italian wine. The Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia 2004 from Tenuta dell'Ornellaia got 97 points from James Suckling. This is a blended wine from the Tuscan coast in the Bordeaux tradition so was bound to tickle the tastebuds of Senoir Suckling.


Trully it is a wonderful wine but with the Barolo's of 2003 lacking in majesty it's probably up to our old chum Brunello to save the day.

Red wines so far dominate Wine Spectators revealed Top 10 (WS is revealing the Top 10 from the bottom up, 2 each day) with no white wines in places 10 to 5 and just one champagne.

Everyone is trying to guess what the number #1 will be, but I really have no idea. Do you?

Where can I buy this wine?
Europeans - Di Liva - €100
Americans - PJ Wine - $149
Brits - Antique Wine Company - £100

Barbera Wine

Barbera Wine

It's a hardy little grape, the Barbera. When Nebbiolo has a bad year; step forward Barbera. So much of it was planted in the Piedmont over the past 20 years that someones hard work and dedication to the grape would surely pay off. It did. Barbera wine, in my mind, is one of the best value wines we currently have in Italy. Most famously and expertly portrayed in Braida's wines, the Barbera grape is lovingly tended even by some of Piedmont's top producers like Roberto Voerzio (I must mention him each day!), Giacomo Conterno, Altare, La Spinetta and Scavino.

Once derided as a "rustic" wine, (though Rustic sounds nice to me it was meant as an insult!) it was thought too harsh and lacking finesse to ever be considered a fine wine. Thats changed in the last 10 years with some Parker and Wine Spectator scores pushing 95 and the producers bringing forward Barbera's fruity character and masking it's "rustic" one.

Personally I love Barbera, I love the flavours, I love the fruit but most of all I love the price tag. Consider Briada's fantastic Bricco dell'Uccellone, a 92 point wine on my scoreboard, can be found for under €30. That's good going compared to a Barolo or Brunello from a top producer.

The skinny on Barbera Wine

The Barbera grape covers a large area of the Piedmont and is planted in an area 3 times larger than Barolo & Barbaresco combined. The most famous of wines from the Barbera grapes are Barbera d'Asti and Barbera d'Alba. Barbera wine is very fruity and plummy but doesn't have great ageing capacity YET. I say YET because Barbera is a work in progress with many in the Piedmont firmly believing in its potential.

The most celebrated producer is Braida as they produce only Barbera wines at exceptional quality levels but the acclaimed "numero uno" bottle produced in the region is mostly agreed to be Voerzio's Barbera Ris Pozzo dell'Annunziata . Today I'm going to pull out two tasting notes on Barbera and give a consumers guide on where to buy Barbera.

Braida Barbera d'Asti Bricco dell'Uccellone 2001 - BUY

Deep and intense dark purple in the glass the Barbera has a pungent nose of berries, spices and licorice. A really fruity and enjoyable palate with excellent depth of flavour and a fine knockout finish. It's got that "you know you've been tango'd" element. Big wine. 92 Points.

R.Voerzio Barbera d'Alba Riserva Vigneto Pozzo dell'Annunziata 2000 - BUY

Drinking in 2007 the Barbera seems to be at its perfect age. Dark purple in the glass with grand aromas of blackberries,plums, licorice and coffee. Big wine on the palate, textured, balanced, thick & lustrous, velvety tannins in a full bodied masterpiece. Buy but only for drinking today and only for the experience as the wine sells for $400+ in magnum. 94 Points

Where can I buy this wine?

For value I am recommending the Briada wine and you can find it at the online stores below.

Europeans - N&M Weine - €29.75

Americans - Mount Carmel - $59.99

Brits - Lay and Wheeler - £32.00

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