(Originally published June 2008) A late night steakhouse meal after a baseball game featured a bottle of Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No. 1 Yarra Valley. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon blend out of Australia’s Yarra Valley region and one of the country’s most revered and pioneering winemakers, Dr. Bailey Carrodus. (When I visited the [...]
Read more →(Originally published June 2008) Heading out to meet with Mezzacorona winemaker Lucio Matricardi, I resolved to be in and out of there in about 30 minutes. There was no meal involved, I was leaving town the next morning, and it was Valentine’s Day – evening plans needed attention. Two hours later, I reluctantly pulled myself [...]
Read more →(Originally published December 2007) If you’re an occasional Italian wine drinker, then probably there are a handful of winery names that you recognize – Tuscan winery names like Ruffino, Antinori, Banfi – but the rest are just a blur. Understandable, really. Those wineries appear regularly on U.S. shelves — and have for years. The others [...]
Read more →(Originally published October 2007) Important disclaimer: Champagne snobs should just stop reading now… But it’s true: Prosecco is certainly not Champagne. What it is, though, is a tasty, fun, affordable, frothy sparkling wine – perfect for holiday gatherings, brunch mimosas, and as an ingredient in cocktails. Prosecco is both the name of the wine and [...]
Read more →(Originally published June 2007) Cavit is well known as one of Italy’s most prolific, affordable producers of Pinot Grigio, along with Merlot, Chardonnay and more. What most people may not know is that Cavit is more than just a large-scale winery. The company is really a co-op of some 5,000 growers, organized into 14 associated [...]
Read more →(Originally published October 2006) The Maculan family has been in the business of producing exceptional wines in Italy’s Veneto region for three generations. The scene is Breganze, a picturesque village (and DOC) at the foot of the Italian Alps, where Fausto Maculan ingeniously blends the ancient local grapes with today’s popular varietals to create wines [...]
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