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Native Italian Varietals
Guided recommendations, pairings, and tasting notes.
$23.99
Carlo crafted this easy drinking rosè from 100% Sangiovese fruit harvested from vines 1000 feet above sea level. After a cold maceration in contact with the skins for only a few hours, the skins and must are removed and fermentation completed at very low temperatures. This dry, Tuscan rosè displays...
$24.99
Aldo and Matteo Pola have brilliantly crafted this Langhe white from hand selected Arneis fruit. The result is a crisp, clean medium bodied wine that delivers a floral bouquet of fresh fruit on the nose, and a crisp, clean finish with hints of lemon. Pair this wine with...
$32.99
The winemaker crafted this fantastically rich wine in loving memory of his grandfather Giovanni, "El Nane", who dedicated his life to the cultivation of his vines. Produced in an “appassimento” style, the Corvine, Corvinone, Rondinella and Croatina grapes are estate grown and handpicked then dried for a short...
$54.99
This savory Italian Merlot is crafted from 100% estate grown fruit from the vineyards the family's Campo di Pietra Villa. Ornella Molon and Giancarlo Traverso were some of the first to grow Merlot in the Veneto's Piave River Basin. The rich soils near the Piave River and the...
Ornella Molon and Loris Traverso joined me on the radio with hosts Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Ornella Molon and her husband, Giancarlo Traverso are two of our producers in the Veneto and Friuli regions of Italy. Loris explained how his parents started in the wine business in 1982. Neither his father nor his mother had a background in wine. When his grandparents gave them a vineyard when they were married in 1977, they started making wine, first for friends and then professionally. When they registered the winery as a business in 1982 at the Chamber of Commerce in Treviso, it was the first time that a woman was put in charge of the company. People were skeptical of a woman...
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius (Monte Vesuvio) in AD 79 blanketed the region in volcanic ash and rock, and it also created one of the most unique viniculture regions in Italy known today as Campania. We journeyed into the province of Avellino in Campania in April in search of the "Barolo of the South"- Taurasi- crafted from the ancient varietal Aglianico. After landing at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and pointing our rented cinquecento south on the E45 for two hours, we were navigating the country roads around Avellino and hill towns of Taurasi and Tufo. Vineyards of the ancient varietals Aglianico, Greco, and Falanghina blanket the hills at remarkable elevations—400-500 meters above sea level. The Irpinia district of Avellino...
Great wine! What am I drinking? I often hear this from clients unfamiliar with Italian wines. They closely inspect the labels but see nothing that they recognize as the name of a grape varietal that has crossed their palate before. Traditional California wine labels prominently place the variety, e.g. Zinfandel, in a grand font where your eyes can instantly lock on. Add the winery name, vintage, perhaps the appellation, and you essentially have a complete brand label. As California winemakers have begun to embrace blending, the varietal name has been replaced with a provocative “fanciful name”, and the labels have become less recognizable. So what makes old world wine labels so intimidating for some? Old World (France, Italy) have tightly...
The 2015 harvest has come to an end; and while it is too early to make any judgments about the quality of the vintage, it appears to have been an excellent growing season and harvest. Nearly all districts in Northern Italy reported experiencing a cold, wet winter and moderately wet spring. As I traveled the small country roads in the Barolo and Barbaresco at the end of March, I was drenched in downpours and remarked at the amount of standing water on the saturated soils. The ample moisture prepared the vines well for the relatively high temperatures in June and July. Flavio Sobrero at Azienda Agricola Sobrero Francesco in the Barolo commune of Castiglione Falletto, reports it was an excellent...