On February 3 in Munich, Slow Wine presented , its wine guide of the year 2020, which includes wineries from Italy, California and Oregon. Slow Wine focuses on wines whose regional origin is recognizable and which also take ecological aspects and handcrafted production into account. That doesn’t mean that their taste is secondary.
Moscato Rosa del Trentino – called in South Tyrol Rosenmuskateller – a grape variety that is found almost exclusively in northern Italy and especially in South Tyrol, does not come from Sicily, as often claimed in Italy, but most likely from Dalmatia. In this respect, the synonym of the variety Moscato Rosa del Trentino is a bit misleading, as far more than 85% of the approximately 100 hectares of the Italian Rosenmuskateller vineyards are in South Tyrol. Outside Italy you … Read more ...
There are more than 20 different varieties of Malvasia – white, red and reddish, the last called gris or pink. In Sicily and its islands, the two varieties Malvasia Bianca Siciliana and Malvasia delle Lipari are the most common. The Malvasia Terre Sicilia Vino Liquoroso IGP of Cantine Pellegrino, which we have tasted, is produced to 100% with Malvasia Bianca. The grapes for the wine originate from vines that grow in the province of Trapani, from sea level up to 300 meters above sea level, on sandy and partly clayey soils.
Recioto is a typical term in the northern Italian Veneto, used for a wine produced from rosinated grapes – in the remaining areas of Italy, such a wine is called Passito. The name Recioto goes back to the local dialect which names the external grapes of the vine as Recie, which at least in earlier times, exclusively were used to produce this kind of sweet wine.
Around 70% of South Tyrolean wines are produced by cooperatives, which belong to the pioneers of quality development. At this year’s wine trip to South Tyrol, the Winery Bolzano was on our visit program. The new construction of the winery has not only caused a stir architecturally. With around 40 million €, this is the most expensive investment in the wine sector in South Tyrol so far. 220 members of the cooperative are growing vines around Bolzano and manage … Read more ...
Puglia, which competes against Sicily for the second largest wine-producing region in Italy, is known for its high yields in viticulture, even in DOC areas. There are nearly a dozen sweet types of wine in Puglia, including the sweet specimen of the otherwise dry Apulian Primitivo di Manduria and, almost inevitably in Italy, a sweet Moscato.
The tasted wine, the Moscato di Trani DOC Piani di Tufara 2015 from the winery Rivera is made from Moscato Reale, as Moscato Bianco … Read more ...
At our Italian evening Hans and I agreed in the judgment of the Muffato della Sala 2011 by Castello della Sala: In the nose like Sauternes, on the palate somehow stronger, the sweetness a bit too noticeable, there are some similarities with Passito, nevertheless no Passito – in short one very good, original Italian sweet wine.
The Castello della Sala, a winery owned by the Antinori family, is located near Orvieto. There, on soils infused with fossils, loamy, … Read more ...
The baroque splendor of Noto is known beyond the borders of Sicily. Less known, however, is the Moscato di Noto from the variety Moscato Bianco pressed. The variety is quite common in Italian sweet wines. The Moscato di Noto is often sweet – but it is also traded in a dry version. In the regulations of the DOC Noto the sweetness of the wine is not determined, only aromatic and varietal should the Moscato di Noto be.
Exactly to the … Read more ...
Since 2010 the Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato has a separate DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) although the grape variety, so to speak, was rediscoveredonly in the 1970s in Piedmont. Its then discoverer, Father Don Giacomo Cauda, was so taken with the quality, body, aromas, flavors and aromas of the wines of his ten rows of ruché vines that he not only cultivated more of this variety, but even to inspire winemaker to increase plantings of it. Already in 1987 there was the DOC status, which at that time as well as today and also in case of the DOCG
One third of the South Tyrolean winegrowing areas can be found in the Unterland winegrowing zone, which is the largest of the seven winegrowing areas in South Tyrol. The region Unterland is also the warmest and extends from Altenburg, about 5 km north of Tramin, along the Adige River to the Salurner Klause, the German-Italian language border. The Unterland also has the highest vineyards in South Tyrol. At an altitude of 1,000 m, the grapes for a well-known dry wine from South Tyrol, Feldmarschall von Fenner, ripen on the Fennberg near Kurtatsch. The proximity to Lake Garda with its mild climatic