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Feudi di San Gregorio Fiano di Avellino 2010
Thanksgiving is coming. I am going to share a secret that will have all your guests giving thanks to you. Fiano. And really, not just any Fiano. To really get the BIG props this holiday – and yes, of course to complement the myriad of flavours, courses, textures, generations, palates, etc. of Thanksgiving dinner, think...
Slow Food’s Cheese 2011, Much More Than a Market
Cheese is back in Bra, Piedmont, Italy from September 16 to 19, 2011. The international biennial event organized by the City of Bra and Slow Food is now in its eighth edition. Since its first edition in 1997, Cheese has always been an event enlivened ...
Italian Wines from Top to Toe & A to Z
Who knew Italy boasted such a diversity of grape varieties, terroir, and styles? Last week BCLDB product consultants and wine journalists were invited to a sampling of the group’s eclectic range from Italy's top to toe (including Sicily).
Some of the producers may sound familiar (Antinori, Masi, Pio Cesare, Lungarotti, Folonari, to name five of...
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Brancaia Tre 2006
I love cellar surprises. Hunting around in the racks this past weekend I came upon this lovely little Tuscan red that had been out of sight, out of mind. Though I remember well that TRE was drinking lovely upon release a couple of years back, a little bit of age dust has mellowed out the...
MandraRossa Fiano 2008
Sicily is one of the hottest wine regions in the world, the football to mainland Italy’s boot, surrounded by warm Mediterranean waters. Like the rest of Italy, the wine culture in Sicily is anchored on local, autochthonous grapes. The Fiano grape is said to have originated in southern Italy over two thousand years ago. Ancient...
Fernet Branca
Fernet Branca is an amaro - an Italian aromatic liqueur - concocted from 40 different herbs, including the currently trendy St. John’s Wort (though most health tonics aren’t 80 proof / 40% alcohol). The secret recipe was created in 1845 in Milan by spice trader Bernandino Branca, and once the extracts from 4 continents are...
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Michele Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti Superiore 2008 Le Orne DOC
We don’t drink enough red wine from Piedmont. Period. I’m talking about the Royal We. Collectively. I was reminded of this last week when a group of wine geeks got together to share trip tips and tasting tales of Northeastern Italy. Though our dearth of Piedmontese wines is shameful, it’s understandable, since many of these...
Agriverde Natum Montepulciano 2007
When I come across new bottles, I always examine labels carefully. I’m sleuthing for clues – who made it, where did it come from, how’s the vintage, what’s the story (every single wine has a story). When I read the back label of this wine, it was humorously intriguing enough to earn a spot in...
Fazi Battaglia Titulus Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 2008
Whoa hot. When the thermometer hits 30, I hit the chilled unoaked whites. Patios, breeze, crisp and refreshing glass = answer to BC’s heat wave. Drinking much Verdicchio lately? You certainly should be. Verdicchio [vehr-DEEK-kyoh] is a white-wine grape grown mainly in Italy's Marches region, where it has been cultivated since the fourteenth century....
