A few months ago, I braved the utter hellishness of I-76 rush hour traffic (along with several other fine Philadelphia-area wine pro folks) to attend a media dinner at the venerable Old City restaurant Panorama. The star attraction? Wines from Italy’s Sannio DOC in Campania. Sannio was awarded DOC status in the 1990s, though its…
Category: elegant wines
“The Circle Is Now Complete” (Visiting Donnafugata in Vittoria)
I’ve spent a good amount of time getting to know (and, of course, writing about) Donnafugata, one of the largest and most important producers in Sicily. Hell, I was even present for their first-ever retrospective tasting of Ben Rye (which either makes me insanely lucky, or old, or probably both). During the previous decade+, I’ve…
Asolo Miiiiiooooooooo (Getting to Know Asolo Prosecco)
Like most Italian wine regions, just when you think you’ve got Prosecco all figured out, it smacks you upside the palate and rearranges your thinking and perceptions. At least, that’s what it did for me during a virtual media tasting tour of Asolo (“AHH-zo-low”) Prosecco Superiore, the “other” Prosecco DOCG that gets much less media…
“Deciduous Rain-forest” Winemaking (2023 Virginia Governor’s Cup Case Tasting)
Virginia is a challenging spot in which to make fine wines. Yes, that’s despite global warming trends. In fact, those trends might even make it a bit more challenging. No one knows the challenges impacting that promising little corner of eastern U.S. wine making like the folks with whom I had a recent Zoom tasting:…