Passito – Recioto – All about sweet wines

Sciacchetrà – famous sweet wine of the Cinque Terre

2. June 202522. February 2025 by Karl-Heinz Datum

Vineyards in the Cinque Terre © chuckkent on Pixabay

So far I have not managed to go to the Cinque Terre to experience the region’s famous, often dizzying, wine terraces, created on the steep coast with high dry stone walls. This is mainly because the 12 km long coastal strip of the Ligurian Riviera north of La Spezia is almost chronically overcrowded. The fact that the Cinque Terre is a World Heritage Site and is a national park in its entirety does not make it any easier to find a date when accommodation and restaurants and, above all, wineries are easily accessible.

Noans – Friulian meditation wine

2. June 202524. October 2024 by Karl-Heinz Datum

The Friulian DOC Colli orientale, like the DOC Collio, only came into focus in the 1970s, when both entered the wine market with large quantities of cool-fermented, fresh, fruity and aromatic white wines. This was mainly because the wines were made from internationally known varieties, especially Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. In the 1980s, international red wine varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir were increasingly planted in order to better position themselves internationally in the red wine sector.

Tal Lùc 2012 by Lis Neris

26. February 202014. February 2020 by Karl-Heinz Datum

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.

Rosenmuskateller – South Tyrol’s sweet red wine

3. August 201918. July 2019 by Karl-Heinz Datum

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 ...

Recioto di Soave from volcanic soil

24. April 201922. April 2019 by Karl-Heinz Datum

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.

South Tyrol – feinherb to sweet

20. March 201918. March 2019 by Karl-Heinz Datum

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 ...

Muffato della Sala – Italian Sauternes?

21. January 201923. June 2018 by Karl-Heinz Datum

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 ...

Ruché Passito di Castagnole Monferrato

22. January 20197. May 2017 by Karl-Heinz Datum

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

Cashmere from Tramin’s limestone

22. January 201910. March 2017 by Karl-Heinz Datum

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

Via dei sapori: Friulian Picolit

22. January 201924. February 2017 by Karl-Heinz Datum

The Consorzio Friuli Venezia Giulia Via dei Sapori had invited to trie Friulan products from the kitchen and the cellar. On 13 February this year, seven restaurateurs, twenty winegrowers and eleven delicatessen producers presented local specialties from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Munich. An excellent opportunity to introduce the outstanding products, the excellent, innovative and at the same time traditional cuisine as well as the variety of the very good Friulian wines to a wider audience. The offer, such … Read more ...

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