Decanter Italian Fine Wine Encounter this weekend
It’s that time of year, the Decanter Italian Fine Wine Encounter. I always seem to miss it but this year for whatever serendipitous reason, I am in town and looking forward to attending the event. I had a look at some of the producers attending...
Friday Wine Sips: Some Italians
I know, you’re thinking, “F.K., why don’t you just call this weekly series Saturday Wine Sips, since you seem to have so much trouble getting the thing written and posted on Friday?” Well, because Friday is the lead-in to the weekend, and I think of this series as brief reviews of wines My Readers would...
2007 Brunello and an early look at 2010 Rosso di Montalcino
I have been excited about the 2006 vintage in Montalcino. The Riservas are now coming out and are impressive. The 2007 vintage is also showing well albeit a bit warmer - not as great as 2006, but still quite good with decent structure and acid. I tho...
Tasting Quality wines from Sartori di Verona
... fabulous experience today tasting the wines of Sartori di Verona at SD26, a fine Italian restaurant in Manhattan, where these excellent wines were paired with five courses. What made the tasting lunch so special was the passion of owner Andrea Sartori, who came across as a very traditionally-minded Italian of the classic world. In...
Pizza and BBQ Ribs and Wine
Pizza and barbecue ribs don’t have much in common; the first is a form of savory flatbread, while the second is pure meat and bones; the first cooks quickly, the second luxuriates in long, slow heat. Of course pizza often has some form of meat as a topping (certainly the case at my house; I...
Friday Wine Sips: Spring Has Sprung
Today we look at seven wines chosen to satisfy the sense of freshness and renewal that comes — or should come — with Spring. In fact, it’s gently raining in my neck o’ the woods at this moment, and all the shades of green in the backyard are pulsing with color. These are mainly delicate...
Forcing Myself to Drink New Wines
I could probably grow old drinking exactly what's in my cellar now and be perfectly happy. I mean really - Burgundy, the Loire, Sherry, Champagne...what's not to love? It's important also to drink things from time to time that are outside of the comfor...
Pairs of Great Wines #4: Biondi-Santi & Biondi-Santi
The tale has often been told about how the wine we known as Brunello di Montalcino was created by Ferruccio Biondi-Santi (pictured at right) on his Tuscan estate Il Greppo and first bottled in 1888. The family was the only producer of Brunello di Montalcino until after World War II and had, in fact, released...
Visiting Petra winery in Italy’s Maremma region
"This looks like the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco" I exclaim, coming upon the incredible structure that rises from out of nowhere in the Maremma wilderness. This state-of-the-Art winery was designed twelve years ago by Mario Botta (who incidently also designed the SF museum) and is a curious balance of new and old....
