Verdeca – Time for a Renaissance

Paul Howard Articles, Blog, Italy, Organic, Puglia, Sustainability

Trullo house at Martina Franca, Puglia

Verdeca – Time for a Renaissance Once upon a time, Verdeca was widely planted in Puglia, its homeland. If Puglia is the boot of Italy, then we are far down at its heel. Verdeca is an autochthonous white grape variety that grows mainly in the central provinces of Bari and Taranto but also further south in Brindisi and Lecce1. Unfortunately, …

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Not The Usual Suspects – Alternative Grape Varieties

Paul Howard Articles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Sustainability, Wine Business

Grape Varieties - Not the Usual Suspects

Not The Usual Suspects – Alternative Grape Varieties Are you tired of Pinot Grigio or cheesed off with Cabernet? Do you find Merlot mundane, or that Sauvignon isn’t your scene? In which case, why not broaden your vinous horizons? But wait – many wines featured on these pages are not these usual suspects. Estimates say that up to 10,000 different …

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Bodegas Tobía – Cuvée Blanco Rioja

Paul Howard Articles, Blog, Spain, Sustainability

Bodegas Tobía

Bodegas Tobía – Cuvée Blanco Rioja Last year, I tried a glass of Rioja Cuvée Blanco from Bodegas Tobía, a producer then unknown to me. As there are 66,902 hectares of vines and 748 producers in Rioja selling around 325 million bottles annually in many diverse styles, perhaps you’ll forgive me for not knowing all of them.1 Meanwhile, this glass …

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Maculan – Three Red Wines from Breganze in the Veneto

Paul Howard Articles, Blog, Italy, Sustainability, Veneto

Maculan Reds

Maculan – Three Red Wines from Breganze in the Veneto The Veneto in North Eastern Italy is one of the powerhouses of Italian wine.  After all, this region has been making wine for three or more millennia. Today, it contains many famous appellations, such as Valpolicella and Soave, and even more famous wines, such as Amarone, Prosecco and Pinot Grigio. …

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Rossese Bianco from Josetta Saffirio is WOTY 2024

Paul Howard Articles, Blog, Italy, Organic, Piemonte, Sustainability

Josetta Saffirio Rossese Bianco

Rossese Bianco from Josetta Saffirio is WOTY 2024 Wine Alchemy’s Wine of the Year (WOTY) 2024 goes to Sara Vezza in Piemonte, Italy. This is for the rare white wine Josetta Saffirio, Rossese Bianco, Langhe DOC, 2022. As is usual, the Wine Alchemy WOTY is inspirational. Exceptional taste is a given. But, in addition, the winning wine must be genuinely …

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Greatest Hits – A Case for Christmas 2024

Paul Howard Alto Adige/Südtirol, Articles, Biodynamic, Blog, Calabria, England and Wales, Italy, Lebanon, Lombardia, Molise, Organic, Piemonte, Sardegna, Spain, Sparkling Wine, Sustainability, Toscana, Veneto

Greatest Hits - Happy Christmas 2024

Greatest Hits – A Case for Christmas 2024 This year, I’m ringing the changes for the Case for Christmas 2024 article. This time, it’s a Greatest Hits package. This features a dozen wines selected from all my previous annual Christmas wine recommendations. They are twelve wines that stand the test of time and fully deserve highlighting again. Such a listicle …

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Pisa – Stay and Explore at Badia di Morrona

Paul Howard Articles, Blog, Food, Hotels, Restaurants & Pubs, Italy, Sustainability, Toscana, Travel

Pisa and Badia di Morrona

Pisa – Stay and Explore at Badia di Morrona The Badia di Morrona winery near Pisa has been featured previously on this website for some excellent red wines.  The first article concentrated on I Sodi del Paretaio, two Chianti DOCG wines. Then, the second piece featured their flagship wine, VignaAlta. This latter red wine is a Tuscan gem, the best …

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Gravner New Solutions Announcement

Paul Howard Articles, Biodynamic, Blog, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, Sustainability

Enokube Gravner new Solutions

Gravner New Solutions Announcement In Part 2 of my previous three-part article about Joško Gravner, published over the summer of 2024, I mentioned that Gravner was experimenting with new maturation technologies to complement his use of Qvevri amphorae. However, a promise was not to reveal these commercially sensitive details until Gravner’s formal announcement. Hence, today’s press release officially heralds these …

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Kellerai Kaltern – Schiava Specialists

Paul Howard Alto Adige/Südtirol, Articles, Blog, Italy, Sustainability

Lago di Caldaro - Kalterersee

Kellerai Kaltern – Schiava Specialists Kellerai Kaltern (Cantina Caldaro) is the largest cooperative winery in northern Italy’s Alto Adige (Südtirol) region. It’s in Kaltern an der Weinstraβe (Caldaro sulla strada di vino). Its long name shows its proximity to Kalterersee (Lago di Caldaro), the region’s largest lake. The name also appends the regional wine route, which winds 150 km through …

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Two More Bright Stars From Tenuta Stella

Paul Howard Articles, Blog, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, Organic, Sustainability

Tenuta Stella

Two More Bright Stars From Tenuta Stella I wrote an article on Tenuta Stella in the Collio Gorizia in June 2024. This featured their excellent Malvasia Istriana wine. You can read about that here. I also promised a further article about two other wines from this excellent organic winery at that time. These are equally bright stars, namely their Friulano …

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