Italian Wine: Part 1
Posted by Theo Heselmans on September 17th, 2010
I don't blog enough (about wine). So let's do something about that.
12 years ago, in 1998, I started enjoying and learning more about wine. I'm still not a big fan of 'old world wines', but I have to admit I have tasted some excellent French and Italian wines. Wines from France are rather 'known' territory, but Italy remains somewhat blurred. My biggest problems with Italian wines are the enormous variety of indigenous grapes, the plethora of IGT/DOC/DOCGs and the complex labels.
So I enrolled in a wine course, given by my good friend Wim of Wijnkennis.
Today was the first 'introductory' lesson. A nice small group of 13 wannabee Italophiles learned about the history, the 20 different regions, the Italian wine-laws, closing the 'theoretical' part with some myth-busting.
Then we got to the more 'juicy' part: wine-tasting :-)
All wines were tasted blind, evaluated and then revealed. As this was the first lesson, we got wines from all over Italy. The following lessons will cover specific regions more in depth.
These are the wines we tasted:
 A lame 'bubble' Pinot Nero from Parma |  A weak Sicilian from the Catarratto varietal |  A nice fresh Friuli |  A great mineral Riesling from Alto Adige |
 A modest Barbera d'Asti From Piemonte |  A simple but correct Sangiovese from Toscana |  A super (really) Aglianico from Campania but too expensive (50 EUR) |  An OK sweet Veneto wine from the Garganega grape |
Wim finished the evening with some typical Italian (food) specialties. Nice touch.
Looking forward to the next sessions. I'll keep you posted.
Category: Wine | 
Technorati: Wine
Comments (6)
Look forward to it. One of my favourites (especially when consumed in Rome...) is Greco Di Tufo.
Lovely way to spend a lunch!
There will most certainly be a Greco di Tufo at the tasting table. For me, one of the best white wines from Italy.
Try a Fiano di Avellino next time...it's pretty similar to Greco and has even more roundness ;-)
Wim,
Oh yes - very familiar with Fiano di Avellino - another classic wine that we see together with Greco di Tufo in most restraunts in Rome!
Bit partial to a gavi di gavi as well... Try to stay clear of reds - anything "heavier" than Bardolino gives me a bit of a sore head...
At christmas time we tend to bend the rules with some castello banfi wines - they cost a few quid but are worth it.
Chris, just try a Lagrein Reserva from Alto Adige in red. A bloody good one is Nals Margreid Salvadori! just taste it ;-)
Wim - thanks - will look out for that!!
I'm Italian (not a wine expert) and my favorite wine is from Abruzzo region, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, especially the ones from Cantina Tollo:
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You will love it!