Empires come and go, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire has re-emerged in the U.S..  Austrian wines have always been a somm favorite here but in recent months, I’ve encountered more and more wines from Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Northeast Italy and its neighbor Slovenia.  I wrote about Attems and the noble tradition of winemaking in Collio (aka Collio Goriziano), a region of steep slopes, forests and groves of cherry trees whose vineyards overlap that of Slovenia.  The area fascinates me for its confluence of Venetian, Slavic and Germanic cultures and for its …

 Americans love the clean, crisp and fruity Pinot Grigios from Northern Italy.  They’re a great value and it’s really hard to find a bad bottle in the bunch.  So when I opened a bottle recently and took a sip, expecting to taste the refreshing but predictable wine, I almost fell off my chair.  I immediately grabbed the bottle to take a closer look at the region and producer.  The wine I tasted from Attems was completely different than any other Pinot Grigio I’d had from northern Italy with exquisite weight, …

At the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting in San Francisco last week, I was so pleased to meet the charming Dario Pieropan, 4th generation winemaker of the Pieropan estate in Soave, about a 20-30 minute drive east of Verona.   Soave, home to the iconic white wine made from garganega, is an important controlled appellation of origin (DOC) in Italy.  With its 16,625 acres, it is the third largest DOC producer in all of Italy, and one of its largest exporters of wine.  Soave is dominated by large cooperative wineries who …

The Grandi Marchi fine Italian wine tasting in the city earlier this month was a reminder as to why Masi Agricola is one of the Great Houses of Italian wines.  Masi Agricola is not only a high quality producer of one of the three greatest red wines of Italy – Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG – but also leads the region in innovation, research and in a standard of excellence that raises the entire category.
Masi is synonymous with Amarone, the powerful, dry red wine made from dried grapes.  Historically since Roman …

My motto is “discover the world and savor the classics.”  But when it comes to learning about wine, I believe in starting with the classics, and that applies to wine regions, specific appellations and producers.  With Italian wines, it can be a daunting exercise simply because of the sheer numbers:  Twenty official wine regions, 370 controlled appellations (48 Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita  and 322 Denominazione di Orgine Controllata), about 2,000 grape varieties of which most are indigenous to Italy, and a span of vineyards covering over 1.75 million …

Everyone knows that Champagne is wonderful all-year round, for all meals and courses and for any occasion.  Rosé Champagne is particularly enticing this time of year when the weather warms up and we’re entertaining outside.   Pink Champagne was the only Champagne category to increase market share in 2009 and 2010 and the US was a major reason for the growth.
But have you ever thought of cooking with it?  It may sound luxurious to do so, but one can find a good bottle of pink Champagne for $30-40 and for a …

With today’s value-oriented consumers, everyday wines are nouveau chic.  But the New World didn’t invent inexpensive, everyday wine.  Some of the best values come from Italy and the northern region of the Veneto.  The Veneto is Italy’s largest wine region by production and exports, flying high with inexpensive but absolutely classic and well-made wines such as the white Soave, red Valpolicella and sparkling Prosecco.
The Soave appellation is located just east of the beautiful city of Verona.   The white wines are made principally from the garganega grape which produces a crisp, light- to medium-bodied wine with citrus …

Dining at Osteria Fontanina in Verona

Dining in new cities is always an exciting adventure, but its particularly exciting when you’re in the midst of several great wine appellations.  The Veneto is home to classic dry whites made of garganega such as Soave and Custoza, sparkling Prosecco made of, well, prosecco, and classic red blends based on cherry-licious corvina such as Valpolicella and Bardolino.  These wines pair perfectly with the diversity of foods you will find in the Veneto.

Classic dishes in the Veneto include risotto made with Amarone wine, chewy bigoli pasta, horsemeat (stewed, smoked, even tartare), pasta e fagioli …

No, I’m not in Hawaii, this is San Giuseppe al Lago in the southern Alto Adige.  The Bassa Atesina is the largest and warmest of Alto Adige’s seven viticultural zones.  It seems incongruous that we would be eating lunch outside in the foothills of the Alps, but the region gets warm influences from warm winds coming off Lake Garda to the southwest.  As the crow flies, it is about 40 miles away. 
In the morning, we stopped in Termeno, the home of the aromatic gewürztraminer.  In the Alto Adige, gewürztraminer is …

The Trentino Alto Adige covers 13,500 hectares, 11,100 of which are controlled quality (DOC) wines.  On the way north from Verona to Trentino, one is struck by the steeply rising Dolomite mountains on both sides of the highway along the Adige River.  Only about 15% of the land is cultivable, most of it to grapevines and fruit trees. 
The region produces about 1.2 million hectoliters of wine, 70% of which are red wines such as the light-bodied Lagrein and Teroldego.  Whites consist of  aromatic varieties gewurztraminer, sylvaner, muller thurgau and moscato, and …