When we were in Abruzzo, we walked to a beautiful hillside restaurant and ate langoustine and drank the local wine. It was excellent. The entertainment was provided by the spectacle of the only other diners; a very elderly mafia-don type and his very young, very glamourous girlfriend. When his phone rang the ringtone was the…
Tag: Italy
Marks and Spencer Piemonte Chardonnay
This wine, at £6 a bottle – is well made and good value. It’s attributed to M&S winemaker Jeneve Williams – who has selected and blended some excellent wines(particularly the whites) for M&S. She’s a Kiwi, who trained in Australia and has (for the last five years) travelled the world selecting wines for M&S. Tasting…
Ca’ Marrone Rosso Puglia
At the risk of going on about how much I love Italy – I’m especially fond of the country’s shapely heel. At a huge, three-hour Easter feast in a remote part of Puglia, my wife and I were sent over vino spumante by a large party of very well-dressed local farmers & their families, who…
Pecorino Tesco Finest
My first visit to Italy was to Abruzzo. I’d wanted to visit Rimini. We went to a travel agent who told us that not only could we not go there, we couldn’t go anywhere in Italy. Instead we could go to Rhodes. Nowhere but Rhodes. It was the late 1990s; we plugged our home computer…
Rocca Murer Pinot Grigio
As I’ve written before, there are a lot of ‘meh’ Pinot Grigios on the shelves. This one, in a tall bottle and from Trentino, Italy looked promising. I thought it was good, slightly different to the majority of Pinot Grigios; it had an interesting initial taste and a little complexity – good value at £6….
Verdicchio de Matelica Tesco
Verdicchio, in its distinctive bottle, may look rather naff, however as Decanter Italy expert Ian D’Agata (in his book ‘Native Wine Grapes of Italy’) asserts that ‘Verdicchio is arguably Italy’s greatest native white grape variety.’ It’s highly regarded there – but UK supermarkets rarely stock it, which is a shame as it’s good wine. This…
Fiano, Tesco
Fiano is particularly associated with Sicily. I’ve been there twice and loved it. The wines available on the island ranged up to over 500Euros, but we never see these here (except perhaps in a couple of stores in St James, London). Cantine Settesoli produce this wine for Tesco; they are a large but good producer….
Plaza Centro Prosecco
I first tried prosecco about 20 years ago at a blind tasting of sparkling wines, which included vintage champagne, cava, prosecco and cremant de Loire. We had to identify them correctly and there was a prize to be won. I didn’t win – but I enjoyed myself! Back then prosecco was niche; for cheap fizz…
Gavi – Terre da Vino
I’ve been to Piemonte (Piedmont) a few times and first tried Gavi di Gavi 20 years ago (in a restaurant in London). I love Gavi and the Cortese grape and I’m pleased and surprised that a supermarket like Sainsburys can offer 4 different bottles ranging from £7.50 to £15.50. Clearly I’m not the only fan…
Puglia Rosso – Marks & Spencer
I fully expected this Pugliese red to be a Primitivo, however according to the label it’s a Negroamoro, although one newspaper reviewer said it was a blend of the two grapes… Who to believe? Well the review was in the Daily Mail… I like Puglia – with its witches hat trulli houses, olive groves and…
Tre Fiori Greco de Tufo
I’ve been a fan of this grape since I first visited Italy 20 years ago. In Italy this is an everyday wine, in price at least. £10.99 seems quite expensive – but I enjoyed this wine. ‘DOCG’ means that the wine is tasted by a panel who ‘guarantee’ that it’s worthy of the name, but…
Vallade Gavi – update
Tesco was selling a ‘Finest’ Gavi which has gone from their shelves to be replaced by this. It’s not as good as their own ‘Finest’ Gavi, or the Araldica Cortese available at Majestic. Girelli are another big Italian producer and their wine is usually good. ‘DOC’ or ‘DOCG’ on bottles are perceived as being…
A Time for Wine 