Vini Curiosity Online Mini-Tasting with Bat & Bottle Recently, I had the pleasure of taking part in an online wine mini-tasting called Vini Curiosity, run by UK wine merchant Bat & Bottle. Ben and Emma Robson are the founders and owners of this Italian wine specialist in Rutland. I have known Ben and bought some of the Bat & Bottle …
Eat Amatriciana for Amatrice
Eat Amatriciana for Amatrice First Published on this website 25 August 2016 – TEN YEARS AGO By now, many of us will have seen the devastation caused by the earthquake in Central Italy this week. The epicentre was close to the town of Amatrice. It’s famous for the Amatriciana pasta sauce central to Roman cuisine. To add insult to injury, Amatrice …
Ottavianello by Vallone in Puglia
Ottavianello by Vallone in Puglia Ottavianello is true rarity. A red grape variety mostly grown in the super-obscure Ostuni DOC, on the Salento peninsula of Puglia. DNA profiling shows it’s the French Cinsault 1, widely grown in Provence and Languedoc. There’s no doubt though that it’s gone native since arriving in Puglia in the nineteenth century. It’s a distinct biotype. …
Four Facets of Domìni Veneti
Four Facets of Domìni Veneti Looking back to the beginning of my wine journey, I quickly found that the best way to get an overview of a wine region and its wines was to visit the local cooperative winery first. That was certainly the case with Cantina Valpolicella Negrar in Valpolicella Classica, with its wide range of wines from across …
Carminium by Inama – The French Connection
Carminium by Inama – The French Connection Carminium is a dry red wine from the famous Inama estate, and is 100% Carmenère.1 That’s a rare cuvée in Italy, as we shall see. In 2017, while visiting the Colli Berici DOC, I spent a memorable August afternoon at Inama’s Oratorio vineyard, though at that time, Carminium was still in the future. …
Titolo by Elena Fucci, Aglianico del Vulture
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 …
Garda is evolving – What’s new in Garda DOC?
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
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 …
Ben Ryé Meets Westmorland Pepper Cake for WOTY 25
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 …