While I was up in the beautiful Trentino-Alto Adige region I had the opportunity to visit the Balter Winery located just outside of Rovereto in a small medieval castle 350 meters above sea level. Spectacular scenery from the vineyard with snow-capped Dolomiti in every direction, quite breathtaking to say the least. Now I’m quite the lover of all things bubbly, especially when it comes in the form of wine. I was enthusiastically VERY...

I have to confess that I’ve been in love with white wines from the Alto Adige region in northern Italy for some time.  When a good friend from Trentino invited me to go wine tasting there with him, I didn’t even hesitate.  I packed up the husband and dog and made the four hour trek to the beautiful region located just south of Austria in the midst of the Dolomiti where German is spoken as much as Italian. I had the absolute pleasure...

When art makes wine.  With a little sex thrown in. Soffocone di Vincigliata comes from Azienda Agricola Testamatta in the hills of Fiesole, just above Florence.  The owner, Bibi Graetz, of Italian/Norwegian descent, is an artist who only started making wine in the late 90’s with the help of winemaker Alberto Antonini who worked with him for four years using Graetz’s family land.  Antonini has worked with Antinori, Frescobaldi, E...

I had the absolute pleasure to attend THE Benvenuto Brunello 2013 event this past Monday in Montalcino and taste many of the newly released Brunellos.  WAY too many to talk about in one post but I promise to report all my findings soon. As the icing on the cake we stopped in at Casanova di Neri on our way back to Cortona, where I literally was RUINED for all other Riserva Brunellos 2007.  And trust me, I tried some really good ones. All of the...

Recently a well known wine -o-phile in Italy, Alessandro Rossi, put together a group of winemakers, wine lovers, wine writers and wine experts to blind taste 9 of the best Cabernet Francs from Tuscany.  Only one of the wines was from the Cortona D.O.C. area. (important to note since I’m blatantly for home team Cortona D.O.C.!) The end result, Leuta rated 95/100 for the win. It’s no secret I’m a Leuta fan and I am always...

Yet another great dinner, another interesting wine!  Let’s start the 2013 year right!! Breaking it down:  Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is a comes from the region of Abruzzo, in central eastern Italy.  Often confused with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Tuscany which is a Sangiovese grape, this grape/varietal is actually named Montepulciano, thus the name Montepulciano d’Abruzzo! Emidio Pepe has been making wine for the past 40...