Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Articles”
Susumaniello by A. Mano – the Donkey of Puglia Susumaniello is a red grape native to Puglia, grown mainly around the major southern port of Brindisi, in the heel of Italy’s boot. Like some other Italian native grapes, Susumaniello became rediscovered in the late 1990s. Modern wine-growing has enabled it to make a significant comeback in this area, with around …
Txakoli: The Drunkard, Zarauz, by Joaquín Sorolla Usually, it’s the wine itself that inspires the desire to write about it. However, at other times, inspiration comes courtesy of an entirely different subject. This time, Art has inspired me to write about a less well-known yet distinctive Spanish white wine called Txakoli. The Drunkard, Zarauz The painting shown above is The …
Titolo by Elena Fucci, Aglianico del Vulture Welcome to the final Part 3 of a feature on Italy’s three greatest red grape varieties. These three were written in honour of Burton Anderson, the best writer about Italian wine in the English Language. So far in the series, we’ve covered Nebbiolo in Part 1 from Barolo DOCG in Piemonte (north), and …
Les Crêtes – Petite Arvine – An Ode to Joy You could be forgiven for assuming that the Les Crêtes winery, run by the Charrère family, is French. In fact, this is an Italian producer based in the Valle d’Aosta, the autonomous Italian region bordering France and Switzerland. For many, the Aosta Valley provides the first experience of Italy when …
Garda is evolving – What’s new in Garda DOC? Regular readers of these pages will recall that I visited Lake Garda last year. This was to explore the Garda DOC appellation at their annual Garda Wine Stories event. You can read about this in a two-part article here and here. Part 1 was about Lake Garda and the role of …
Parusso 100 Mesi Extra Brut – Ancient Yet Contemporary The Parusso estate is at Monforte d’Alba, with a stellar reputation for great Barolo DOCG, one of the world’s greatest red wines. Meanwhile, Monforte d’Alba is one of the major wine villages of the Barolo DOCG. It has previously featured on these pages several times, and is one of my favourite …
Ronchi di Castelluccio in Romagna Ronchi di Castelluccio is a boutique winery at Modigliana, on the hillsides of Romagna in Italy. When the opportunity to try their flagship wines arose, no further encouragement was necessary. This wasn’t just because of high-quality or because the wines of Romagna deserve better recognition abroad. In fact, it was a way to revisit this …
Vegetarian Haggis – It’s Not so Offal Vegetarian Haggis? A contradiction in terms. Hold on, not so fast. In the early 1990s, while staying in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, we happened by chance on Macsween’s butcher’s shop. It was there that the late John Macsween built his reputation as a premier Haggis maker. On entering, we discovered his Vegetarian …
Ben Ryé Meets Westmorland Pepper Cake for WOTY 2025 Welcome to the Wine Alchemy Wine of the Year (WOTY) award for 2025. This year, it is also part of the occasional series that pairs Wine with Cake. This year’s WOTY is Ben Ryé, one of the world’s greatest sweet wines, and a true masterpiece. Here it pairs with Westmorland Pepper …
