Italian Varietals
Castello Banfi 2010 Rosso di Montalcino
A very enjoyable wine but possibly missing a little something that might make it memorable. To be frank, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this as I don’t know all the areas of Italy yet. It was a nice wine, nice nose, fruit – I thought maybe a little pear. Nice tasting wine as [...]
Castello di Gabbiano Chianti Classico Riserva 2008
I’m going to kick this off before I even taste the stuff – dig around the net a bit and see what I can find out about Gabbiano Chianto Classico. I expect it will be nice, having a few years of age, coming from a reputable chateau and having the highest classification given to Italian [...]
2010 Lemura Nero D’Avola Sicilian Wine
This is one of those wines that I find a little tricky to pin down. First – I like it, don’t love it but I like it. I can see this going down pretty well with a nice lasagna. Looking at the wine – for some reason I was expecting a bit of a red [...]
2009 Sangiovese Umberto Cesari
It’s hard to put a finger on the nose. These is something distinctive about it but it’s escaping me. Not quite the famous ‘barnyard’ but close. How about I just call it the country. My wife was not a fan of this one but I must say – I like it. I don’t like it [...]
My Wine Tasting is as good as the Pros
Blind wine tasting – I love watching these guys. First, kidding aside, I do love the format and ambiance of this series. As I’ve mentioned many times already – I’m in the early stages of my wine appreciation – still trying to build a vocabulary and become more experienced. I thoruoghly enjoy the attempts made [...]
2008 Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva Sella & Mosca
I must say that I’m rather pleased with myself on this one. As you may know I’m a novice when it comes to wine tasting/writing. I’ll tell you what I like and don’t like but I’m still in the early stages of building a decent wine vocabulary. My methodology for writing these snippets is to [...]
Shootout: 2010 Santa Cristina Chianti Superiore VS. 2010 Tuscana
Here’s a first for me, a wine shootout. I’ll be tasting two wines from the same winemaker, Santa Cristina. The vintages are both 2010 which I hear was a good year for them. I’ll be comparing a Chianti Superiore which has the DOCG designation while the Toscana is only an IGT. Based on this alone [...]
2006 Umberto Fiore Barbaresco
The first thing I noticed after pouring the Barbaresco was the distinctive orange hue to the wine thinking it looked a lot like the Barolo I had a couple weeks ago. It was only later that I realized that Barbaresco is also made from Nebiollo grapes and is only about 10 miles from the Barolo [...]
Review of Fontanafredda Barbera D’alba 2009
I like to try and review a bottle while enjoying it – so, with a glass of Fontanafredda Barbera D’alba in hand here we go. Nice but.. I have a feeling a lot of my reviews (mainly due to my typical price range of $10 – $15) may fall into this general category. Pleasant but not [...]
Sangiovese Wine: Pater 2009
Some notes on this Sangiovese wine Frescobaldi mention on their website that 2009 was a particuarly good vintage as the early heavy rains and drier late summer were terrific for the grapes. September’s cool nights and warm, sunny days ensured that this demanding grape variety ripened perfectly and yielded wines of remarkable quality. - Frescobaldi [...]
