FROM fresh and fruity whites to bold and complex reds, let our expert Jamie Goode be your guide on a grand tour of Italy's finest wines
Italy is a truly remarkable wine country. It's one of the few where vineyards are found throughout, from the mountainous far north to the hot, sunny "toe". In each of these localities a different set of grape varieties is used, and the result isan amazingly complex and tasty array of wines.
Variety is the charm of Italian wine, although with so much ground to cover, your journey of discovery can be a long one. You'll take the odd wrong turning, too: within a single region you'll find producers making wines that vary wildly in quality. Some of them are sublime and some are terrible.
The best way to navigate is to follow the recommendations of wine writers such as myself, or to shop somewhere where the staff have actually tried the wines and are equipped with the knowledge to help you make the right selection.
Here in the UK our wine culture is largely based on the classic French varieties, and compared to other countries such as the US, Italian wines aren't that well represented in our major retail outlets. Fortunately though, this is beginning to change. Specialist Italian wine shops are popping up all over, while the buyers for the supermarkets and big off-licence chains have discovered that unusual Italian grape varieties can please the British palate. That's especially true of lesser-known regions where the simple, rustic wines of yesteryear have been transformed by modern viniculture into affordable but delicious bottles with bags of local character.
If you fancy embarking upon your own voyage of discovery, leave behind the clichés - those cheap, neutral pinot grigios and wicker-flask chiantis. Instead, learn to love delicious red grapes such as nebbiolo, primitivo, aglianico and nero d'Avola; whites such as falanghina, fiano, cortese and arneis, plus many more.
It's a journey worth taking, because you'll make wonderful discoveries. Italy's food, culture and geography seem to mesh so well with its regional wines, adding richness to the whole experience, so go there if you can - but with this week's selection of some of my favourite Italian wines, you can also enjoy a grand tour from your armchair.
From left: Terredavino Masseria dei Carmelitani Gavi di Gavi 2012, Piedmont £11.79, Booths, 12.5% alcohol
Made from the cortese grape, this Gavi has a lovely combination of zesty lemony freshness with richer flavours of herbs, peach and pear. It's stylish, tasty, and although it's twice the price of an average pinot grigio, it's much more than twice the wine. Lucean Le Stelle Vermentino 2012, Sardinia £8.99, Waitrose, 13% alcohol
From the opposite end of Italy, check out this fabulous vermentino. Made on the island of Sardinia, it's full of rounded, fresh, apple and pear fruitiness. There's so much character here, but delightful precision and balance too. First-class wine-making. Asylia Librandi Greco Bianco 2012, Calabria £8.99, Waitrose, 12% alcohol
From Calabria, the southernmost tip of mainland Italy, this white is fruity and lively, with lovely weight and a rounded character in the mouth. Made from the greco grape variety, it goes down a treat with or without food. Lava Greco di Tufo 2012, Campania £12.99, Tesco, 12.5% alcohol
This beautifully packaged white has concentrated, lively, apple, pear and grapefruit flavours, with just a hint of sweetness. It's made from the greco grape and grown in Campania, Italy's southern province. St Michael-Eppan Gewürztraminer 2012, Alto Adige £12.99, Waitrose, 14% alcohol
This is made in Alto Adige, the mountainous region near the Austrian border, also known as South Tyrol. It's a lovely example of the gewürztraminer grape, with rich-textured grape and lychee fruit, plus just a hint of sweetness.
From left: Malvirà Langhe Nebbiolo 2010, Piedmont £11.99, Waitrose, 14% alcohol
Nebbiolo is the red grape that's used to make barolo and barbaresco, and it can be a little overpowering. But here it has been used to make a supple, elegant, lighter-coloured red with sweet cherries and notes of tea and herbs. Delicious. Umani Ronchi Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2012 £5.99, Waitrose, 13% alcohol
Italy can also make some great-value reds, such as this supple, bright, cherry and berry fruited wine from Abruzzo on the Adriatic coast. It's so quaffable yet it also has a hint of seriousness. Casato dei Medici Riccardi Chianti Montalbano 2012, Tuscany £6.99, Lidl, 13% alcohol
Full coloured, this red is fresh, direct and bursting with cherry and berry fruit. It's a delightful modern interpretation of chianti that's amazing value for money. Torrebianca Primitivo di Manduria 2012 £7.99, Lidl, 14.5% alcohol
This primitivo, from the south, is nicely dense, sweet and pure with concentrated, sweet, black-cherry and blackberry fruit.
Spoilt for choice? A new London wine shop and bar dedicated to Italian wines shows the way forward
The variety of Italian wines can be a little overwhelming, as noted opposite, but an exciting new wine bar and shop in South Kensington, Vini Italiani, has come up with a clever way of tackling this. It stocks an amazing array of exclusively Italian wines, which are also available via its website www.italianwines.com or by calling 020 7225 2283. And it has inert gas dispensing machines, called Enomatics, which allow you to try small samples, at modest cost, before you buy. No one wants to spend £20 on a bottle that they don't like, so this is a good option if you want to explore new territory without wasting money. You can also order small plates of Italian food and enjoy it with any bottle from the shop for a modest corkage fee of £7.50.
The wine range is excellent: the classics are covered well (you can splurge on "super Tuscans" or lust after top barolo), but there's also a brilliant representation of lesser-known regions.Here are some of my picks from the Vini Italiani range... From left: Benito Ferrara Taurasi Vigna Quattro Confini 2008, Campania £34, 14% alcohol
Aglianico is the grape here, and it's used beautifully in this Campanian red. It has hints of balsamic vinegar and spice, alongside textured black-cherry and blackberry fruit, finishing with fine spiciness and firm flavours. Vigne Surrau Branu Vermentino di Gallura 2012, Sardinia £16, 13% alcohol
This vermentino from Sardinia is a really attractive floral, fruity white, with pleasant grapefruit freshness, textured pear fruit and a hint of nectarine. San Pietro Schiava 2012 Alto Adige £12.50, 12.5% alcohol
Here's a lighter-style red that's elegant and fresh with sweet-cherry and herb fruit. It's soft textured with a bit of mineral and spice. I love this sort of red - it's just so easy to drink. Luigi Einaudi Barolo Cannubi 2006, Piedmont £49, 14% alcohol
Why not splurge on a classic barolo? This is excellent, with complex aromas of spice, herbs, stewed plums and black cherries. In the mouth, it has sweet cherry fruit, some firm tannins and good acidity. Biocantina Giannattasio Bombino Bianco 2012, Puglia £13, 11.5% alcohol
This is the first time I have tried a wine from the wonderfully named bombino bianco grape variety. It's a crisp, pure, fresh white with a subtle nuttiness. There's also nice precision here: taut, subtle pear fruit and a nice, soft feel in the mouth. Related articles
Original Post By: http://ift.tt/MXr2W5
Italy is a truly remarkable wine country. It's one of the few where vineyards are found throughout, from the mountainous far north to the hot, sunny "toe". In each of these localities a different set of grape varieties is used, and the result isan amazingly complex and tasty array of wines.
Variety is the charm of Italian wine, although with so much ground to cover, your journey of discovery can be a long one. You'll take the odd wrong turning, too: within a single region you'll find producers making wines that vary wildly in quality. Some of them are sublime and some are terrible.
The best way to navigate is to follow the recommendations of wine writers such as myself, or to shop somewhere where the staff have actually tried the wines and are equipped with the knowledge to help you make the right selection.
Here in the UK our wine culture is largely based on the classic French varieties, and compared to other countries such as the US, Italian wines aren't that well represented in our major retail outlets. Fortunately though, this is beginning to change. Specialist Italian wine shops are popping up all over, while the buyers for the supermarkets and big off-licence chains have discovered that unusual Italian grape varieties can please the British palate. That's especially true of lesser-known regions where the simple, rustic wines of yesteryear have been transformed by modern viniculture into affordable but delicious bottles with bags of local character.
If you fancy embarking upon your own voyage of discovery, leave behind the clichés - those cheap, neutral pinot grigios and wicker-flask chiantis. Instead, learn to love delicious red grapes such as nebbiolo, primitivo, aglianico and nero d'Avola; whites such as falanghina, fiano, cortese and arneis, plus many more.
It's a journey worth taking, because you'll make wonderful discoveries. Italy's food, culture and geography seem to mesh so well with its regional wines, adding richness to the whole experience, so go there if you can - but with this week's selection of some of my favourite Italian wines, you can also enjoy a grand tour from your armchair.
From left: Terredavino Masseria dei Carmelitani Gavi di Gavi 2012, Piedmont £11.79, Booths, 12.5% alcohol
Made from the cortese grape, this Gavi has a lovely combination of zesty lemony freshness with richer flavours of herbs, peach and pear. It's stylish, tasty, and although it's twice the price of an average pinot grigio, it's much more than twice the wine. Lucean Le Stelle Vermentino 2012, Sardinia £8.99, Waitrose, 13% alcohol
From the opposite end of Italy, check out this fabulous vermentino. Made on the island of Sardinia, it's full of rounded, fresh, apple and pear fruitiness. There's so much character here, but delightful precision and balance too. First-class wine-making. Asylia Librandi Greco Bianco 2012, Calabria £8.99, Waitrose, 12% alcohol
From Calabria, the southernmost tip of mainland Italy, this white is fruity and lively, with lovely weight and a rounded character in the mouth. Made from the greco grape variety, it goes down a treat with or without food. Lava Greco di Tufo 2012, Campania £12.99, Tesco, 12.5% alcohol
This beautifully packaged white has concentrated, lively, apple, pear and grapefruit flavours, with just a hint of sweetness. It's made from the greco grape and grown in Campania, Italy's southern province. St Michael-Eppan Gewürztraminer 2012, Alto Adige £12.99, Waitrose, 14% alcohol
This is made in Alto Adige, the mountainous region near the Austrian border, also known as South Tyrol. It's a lovely example of the gewürztraminer grape, with rich-textured grape and lychee fruit, plus just a hint of sweetness.
From left: Malvirà Langhe Nebbiolo 2010, Piedmont £11.99, Waitrose, 14% alcohol
Nebbiolo is the red grape that's used to make barolo and barbaresco, and it can be a little overpowering. But here it has been used to make a supple, elegant, lighter-coloured red with sweet cherries and notes of tea and herbs. Delicious. Umani Ronchi Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2012 £5.99, Waitrose, 13% alcohol
Italy can also make some great-value reds, such as this supple, bright, cherry and berry fruited wine from Abruzzo on the Adriatic coast. It's so quaffable yet it also has a hint of seriousness. Casato dei Medici Riccardi Chianti Montalbano 2012, Tuscany £6.99, Lidl, 13% alcohol
Full coloured, this red is fresh, direct and bursting with cherry and berry fruit. It's a delightful modern interpretation of chianti that's amazing value for money. Torrebianca Primitivo di Manduria 2012 £7.99, Lidl, 14.5% alcohol
This primitivo, from the south, is nicely dense, sweet and pure with concentrated, sweet, black-cherry and blackberry fruit.
Spoilt for choice? A new London wine shop and bar dedicated to Italian wines shows the way forward
The variety of Italian wines can be a little overwhelming, as noted opposite, but an exciting new wine bar and shop in South Kensington, Vini Italiani, has come up with a clever way of tackling this. It stocks an amazing array of exclusively Italian wines, which are also available via its website www.italianwines.com or by calling 020 7225 2283. And it has inert gas dispensing machines, called Enomatics, which allow you to try small samples, at modest cost, before you buy. No one wants to spend £20 on a bottle that they don't like, so this is a good option if you want to explore new territory without wasting money. You can also order small plates of Italian food and enjoy it with any bottle from the shop for a modest corkage fee of £7.50.
The wine range is excellent: the classics are covered well (you can splurge on "super Tuscans" or lust after top barolo), but there's also a brilliant representation of lesser-known regions.Here are some of my picks from the Vini Italiani range... From left: Benito Ferrara Taurasi Vigna Quattro Confini 2008, Campania £34, 14% alcohol
Aglianico is the grape here, and it's used beautifully in this Campanian red. It has hints of balsamic vinegar and spice, alongside textured black-cherry and blackberry fruit, finishing with fine spiciness and firm flavours. Vigne Surrau Branu Vermentino di Gallura 2012, Sardinia £16, 13% alcohol
This vermentino from Sardinia is a really attractive floral, fruity white, with pleasant grapefruit freshness, textured pear fruit and a hint of nectarine. San Pietro Schiava 2012 Alto Adige £12.50, 12.5% alcohol
Here's a lighter-style red that's elegant and fresh with sweet-cherry and herb fruit. It's soft textured with a bit of mineral and spice. I love this sort of red - it's just so easy to drink. Luigi Einaudi Barolo Cannubi 2006, Piedmont £49, 14% alcohol
Why not splurge on a classic barolo? This is excellent, with complex aromas of spice, herbs, stewed plums and black cherries. In the mouth, it has sweet cherry fruit, some firm tannins and good acidity. Biocantina Giannattasio Bombino Bianco 2012, Puglia £13, 11.5% alcohol
This is the first time I have tried a wine from the wonderfully named bombino bianco grape variety. It's a crisp, pure, fresh white with a subtle nuttiness. There's also nice precision here: taut, subtle pear fruit and a nice, soft feel in the mouth. Related articles
Original Post By: http://ift.tt/MXr2W5
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