| February 3, 2010 | to | February 5, 2010 |
Billed as “The Biggest Italian Wine Event Ever Held Outside of Italy,” scores of Italian wine-makers, industry professionals and enthusiasts are converging on Manhattan for three days of Italian wine seminars, presentations, tastings and dinners.
This is a joint promotion by the Italian Trade Commission, Veronafiere/Vinitaly and Buonitalia, and is designed to heighten awareness of the progress Italian wines have made in recent times. The focus this year is on four regions: Calabria, Puglia, Tuscany and Veneto. Some of the seminars scheduled are: “Gaglioppo the Great: The New Generation of Southern reds,” Venetian Native Grape Varieties,” “The Remarkable Wines of Apulia,” and Virtual Vino, Millenials and Social Media Decanted.”
Following a successful maiden voyage in 2009, this three day conference, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, launches their second edition. This follows the momentum of the 2009 harvest, which is reported to be historic and a thawing economy, which is showing signs of a slow but steady revitalization in America.
Alongside the educational seminars, there will be dinners around town and several tastings, including the “Italian Wine Masters Grand tasting: Tuscany and Prosecco,” and the climatic “Vino 2010 Italian Wine Exchange Grand Tasting.”
And, of course, there is the hope that many of the new wines showcased at these events will open up willing markets, for all of the great work that has been made in Italy in recent times.
Further details available at www.italianmade.com/vino2010.
Live blogging, a Facebook Fan Page and Twitter (also here) have all been set up and activated for these events, as well.
Tags: Buonitalia, Italian Trade Commission, Veronafiere/Vinitaly, Vino 2010
Source: Dallas Morning News
Author: Rebecca Murphy
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Cantina Tramin, Sudtirol-Alto Adige, Chardonnay 2008, $12.99-$15.39
Cantina Tramin, established in 1898, is a cooperative winery with 290 grower members and a very talented winemaker, Willi Stürz. This fetching chardonnay shows bright citrus and pineapple fruit with a wisp of stony minerality. Its pure and focused fruit will be a righteous partner for scallops sautéed in lemon butter.
Sudtirol and Alto Adige refer to the same region in northwestern Italy, in different languages. Italians call it Alto Adige; in German it’s called Sudtirol. This area was Austrian, but was ceded to Italy after World War I.
Found Here: Wine of the Week Jan 6, 2010
Tags: Alto Adige, Cantina Tramin, Chardonnay, Rebecca Murphy, Tramin, Willi Stürz, Wine of the Week
I did a very odd thing this year for New Year’s Eve. I traveled. I have never gone anywhere for New Year’s, but this year, my better half and I went with friends to New Orleans. Besieged with college kids for the Sugar Bowl, New Orleans put on the mask of a college town, decorated with the plumage of Key West and the glitter of New York.
The French Quarter is a lovely, crass, elegant, over-indulgent, culturally refined and mysterious old lady. In short, everything I want to be when I grow up. I walked her streets for four days, and each time I would make a turn, some wonderful new surprise lurking around the corner up and kissed me square on the mouth when I wasn’t expecting it. In tribute to this majestic old Voodoo Priestess, I wanted to mention a couple of my favorite moments in the Vieux Carré.
Deanie’s was the first thing I got a good whiff of when I stepped out of the cab in New Orleans at the Chateau Bourbon. I believe my exact words were, “Smell that? Food. Cooked in BUTTER!” (What? It wasn’t New Year’s Day yet. I still had a few left before the resolutions would start.) After a long afternoon of travel, the atmosphere was a bit noisy, but the cooks have the crawfish by the tail in that joint. Yum.
Frank over at Evelyn’s Place demanded we view the 6-item menu on the chalk board above our heads and decide what to eat on the spot. Upon reaching a decision, he told us to park our “butts right there,” as he pointed to a table next to the juke box. Frank’s sense of humor and irreverent temperament is enough of a reason to go, but the gumbo and freshly baked bread is enough of a reason to go back. If you’re lucky, you’ll even get his permission to dip your bread into the gumbo.
Orleans Grapevine is amazing. After three days of eating fried everything and indulging in some extremely questionable mixed drinks, stumbling upon Orleans Grapevine reminded me why I am glad to be a foodie. And, that I was, in fact, in a foodie town. If I was a songwriter, I’d write love songs to the crab cakes. If I was a poet, I would describe the baked brie with roasted garlic cream in rhyming verse. Upon leaving, a fellow patron admitted to us that he had just eaten the Prime Black Angus medallions and nearly cried. Yeah, it’s that good, people. Not to discount the wine, which our party of four drank 2 (or was it 3?) bottles of the house red. The Orleans Grapevine is the restaurant that you close down after a night of luxurious red wines, magnificent conversation and astonishingly good food and wake up the next morning thinking it was all a dream.
Tags: Glazer's, Julie Tijerina, New Orleans, Wine Tourism
Wine of the week: Barefoot Riesling NV
The Wine Curmudgeon has long been ambivalent about Barefoot wines. They seem to occupy the middle ground between Two Buck Chuck, which is usually just cheap, and the $10 wines I like, which are cheap and always worth drinking.
The riesling (about $6, sample), though, impressed me at a recent tasting with winemaker Jen Wall. Wall is a tireless advocate for her wines, and she makes the Wine Curmudgeon almost shy by comparison when it comes to cheap wine. The wine has some tell-tale riesling oiliness and minerality, and if it’s not especially fruity, it’s not especially sweet, either. That it wasn’t sweet surprised me; I shouldn’t have been. Wall said she wanted to make a less sweet wine, which is something Barefoot drinkers like.
Drink this during the holiday rush (it even has a screwcap) on its own, or with grilled seafood. It’s the kind of wine to pick up at the store, leave in the fridge, and pull out when you need a glass.
Barefoot wine, riesling, Jen Wall, cheap wine, inexpensive wine, $10 wine, wine reviews, wine of the week
Tags: $10 wine, Barefoot wine, cheap wine, inexpensive wine, Jen Wall, Riesling, Wine of the Week, wine reviews
Source: Dallas Morning News
By: Rebecca Murphy
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Brennan Vineyards, Texas,
Viognier 2008, $20.49-$24.99
Judging from what’s often in the bottle, viognier is a challenging grape for winemakers. It is a highly aromatic variety, but it needs to be ripe for those peach, honeysuckle and apricot aromas to show. By the time the grape is ripe, the acidity is on the low side and the alcohol is on the high side. So thank goodness for those who get it right, like today’s wine from Texas with those fruit-bowl aromas and flavors in full bloom. Yet it has enough acidity to keep it lively. Pair it with a Thai chicken curry or a chicken with mango salsa.
Brennan Vineyards is in Comanche, southwest of Dallas. It is co-owned by Patrick Brennan, formerly of Fort Worth. He thinks viognier is “the white wine of Texas.” He may be right.
Tags: Brennan Vineyards, Brennan Viognier, Rebecca Murphy, Texas, Viognier, Wine of the Week
Source: The Wine Curmudgeon
Author: Jeff Siegel
Since it looks like Falesco’s Vitiano, one of the Wine Curmudgeon’s all-time favorite trio of wines, is going to drop out of the $10 Hall of Fame next year because the weak dollar has pushed its price to $12, I thought it only fair to mention another Falesco wine from Italy.
About the only thing wrong with the Est! Est! Est! ($9, purchased) is that it doesn’t come with a screwcap. Otherwise, this white blend is as close to perfect as cheap wine gets — 12 1/2 percent alcohol, bright acidity, and enough fruit (pears, perhaps?) to please American palates without bothering those of us who like less fruit in their Italian wines. Drink this chilled on its own or with any kind of seafood. It would also do quite nicely with takeout chicken.
And, as befitting an Italian wine, there’s a story to it. The English king, Henry V, was traveling to Rome in the 12th century, and one of his servants went ahead to find quality wine for the king to drink. When the servant found an inn with good wine, he was supposed to write “est” on the inn’s door. When he arrived in Montefiascone, home of Est, he enjoyed the wine so much he wrote “est, est, est.”
Tags: $10 wine, cheap wine, Est Est Est, Falesco, inexpensive wine, Italian Wine, Jeff Siegel, white wine, Wine of the Week, wine reviews
We put winemaker Jennifer Wall ( who was sporting a pair of boots that would have made Nancy Sinatra proud) in front of the Purple Wall to give us 4 minutes on what is going on at Barefoot Cellars. Good video - she even had the purple bottle and lipstick to match. Seriously, Jennifer is away from the winery to visit the markets, telling the tale of Barefoot ( who knew it started in the 1960’s?) and how scores of young and seniors are embracing the clean, fresh direct wines that she makes. OK, roll video.
Tags: Barefoot, Barefoot Cellars, Jennifer Wall
Giovanni Nencini is a globe trotting export director for the Da Vinci and Cantina di Montalcino winery group. Based out of Vinci and Montalcino, here is a man with a global view of the wine business. The Blend caught up with him as he was jumping on a plane to NY. The following video is a bit longer than usual, but if you can stick with it there are a lot of nuggets in there for wine lovers and professionals alike.
Tags: Brunello di Montalcino, Cantina di Montalcino, Da Vinci winery, Giovanni Nencini
To spend any time with Damon Ornowski is a treat to the intellect. He has an encyclopedic memory and can really belt it out in two minutes. In this short take, Damon is waxing on the glories of Gruner.
Next week Damon and I hit the road all across Texas with a carload of Kracher and some nice Italian wines too, from his importing company, Vin Divino. There will be some stories from that road trip, I assure you. In the meantime, sit back and let Damon dazzle you with his two minute take on the greatness of Gruner.
Tags: Damon Ornowski, Flip Cam Report, Gruner, Kracher, master sommelier, Vindivino
Source: The Wine Curmudgeon
Author: Jeff Siegel
Much has changed in the wine world over the last 70 years. This wine is not one of them.
Do you want an old-fashioned, “this is the way Italy used to make cheap wine” wine? Then look for the d’Elsa (about $10, sample). My Italian wine expert tells me that Melini has been exporting this wine to the United States since at least the end of World War II, and probably did it before then as well.So what will you find? A simple, satisfying, well-made wine that is about as Old World as wines get these days. That means tell-tale Italian acid, some red fruit and more tannins than we’re used to from this kind of wine. In fact, the d’Elsa is still made with the traditional Chianti grapes — a mix of sangiovese, canaiolo, and the white grapes malavisia and trebbiano. Drink this with anything remotely resembling Italian food, and especially spaghetti and meatballs or sausages, peppers and onions with tomato sauce. Highly recommended, especially for those of us who are tired of Old World wines that have abandoned their birthright in an attempt to appeal to the so-called American palate.
Tags: $10 wine, Chianti, Frederick Wildman, Jeff Siegel, Melini, Melini Chianti, red wine, The Wine Curmudgeon, Under $10, Wine of the Week, wine reviews
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