Southern Italy – an eruption of terrific white wines

A lot of things have been happening to me recently, I have been visiting some amazing wine regions and tasting a wide array of great wines – more of which very soon. Amongst the less expected things I have tried of late has been a whole load of stunning wines from southern Italy.

Like most of us my image of Italian wines is based on those from the cooler north of the country – Tuscany, Piemonte and the Veneto. These regions were the places that originally made Italy famous for wine, but of course the rest of the country has also made wine throughout history and it seems to me that the wines from the south seem to get better and better as well as more interesting.

The quality of many of the red wines is perhaps less unexpected as this parched Mediterranean land naturally lends itself to ripening black grapes. Just as in much of Spain though, the seafood and vegetable rich cuisine often strikes me as being a better match with whites and it is these in particular that have captured my imagination. It seems to me that they are a perfect match for light summer meals of grilled fish or chicken and a salad – if nothing else they might get you into the holiday mood.

Terredora’s vineyards in Campania – photograph courtesy of Terradora

The first gem I tried was a white wine from Sicily:

wine map of southern Italy – click for a larger view

The Cinque Terre – a hidden land

I have long wanted to visit the Cinque Terre, it is a place that has captured my imagination, so the other week I seized my chance and visited this tiny wine region.

The place is named for the five towns – Cinque Terre - which sit in a spectacular landscape of intricately terraced agricultural land covering steep cliff faces all the way down to the sea. The towns themselves cascade down the cliffs in the most amazing way that makes them achingly picturesque – especially in the sunshine.

Manarola

These towns sit at the head of small valleys, ravines really, which means they can be at sea level rather than on the cliff tops – historically these lands were quite isolated and, before the railways, the main form of communication between them would have been by water. Even today the best way to see the vineyards is by boat as they are dispersed away from the towns and getting around is still hard. Corniglia is the one exception, it sits on the cliff-top and has no harbour.

X Marks the Spot – a Tuscan Mystery

Pietro Beconcini Agricola – even lovely on a rainy day

San Miniato is not a big place, but midway between Pisa and Florence it is part of a landscape that has produced wine since Etruscan times. Unlike the more famous areas of Tuscany though the wine has traditionally been seen purely in local terms. In the past it seems that many of the region’s big producers have bought grapes or wine from the farmers of San Miniato to beef up their own wines and give high quality at a good price. Much like Fronsac in Bordeaux it has historically been something of an insider’s secret.

My Favourite Wines, Top Discoveries and Experiences of 2011

I feel like a respite from all the self indulgence that the Christmas holidays force upon me and feel my thoughts turning back to wine. As the New Year is coming up fast I thought that I would attempt to tell you about my wine highlights for the year.

Most of my top wines have been written up here on my Wine Page, but some have slipped through the net and are new today. Please always remember that this is an entirely personal list, but I hope you enjoy it and that it gives some food for thought.

Sparkling Wines

I was really spoiled for fizz this year, 2 Champagne tastings stand out in particular:

Champagne:

Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut Non Vintage based on the 1953 vintage
This whole tasting was extraordinary and provided a wonderful insight into a type of Champagne that it is all too easy to take for granted – read about it here.

1995 Perrier Jouët Belle Époque
In February I was lucky enough to taste four different vintages of Belle Epoque out of jeroboams, the 1995 was the standout wine for me, but they were all superb – read about it here.

Franciaorta – sparkling wine with a future

The lovely Azienda Agricola Villa

I have long wanted to try the sparkling wines of Lombardy’s Franciaorta region, so I leapt at a chance to attend a tasting and dinner hosted by the Azienda Agricola Villa.

It was quite an event and it took place in the wonderfully stylish Dego just off Great Portland Street near Oxford Circus in London. This is an Italian restaurant and wine bar that is incredibly chic and nothing like your normal stereotypical Italian eatery.

Mastering the vernacular – Getting to grips with Vernaccia di San Gimignano

San Gimignano

My recent trip to Tuscany included a wonderful visit to San Gimignano. I had long wanted to see this place and it certainly lived up to my hopes – it is very beautiful and quite extraordinary. I loved the town, the sense of history, the dramatic, almost bizarre buildings and the feeling that I was in a complete medieval town with nothing of the 21st century around me.

As lovely as the place was, I was there to try the local wine and I did not really know what to expect. It is an oddity in Tuscany as it is white and made from a grape peculiar to this place – Vernaccia. Of course there are many other wines called Vernaccia dotted around Italy, but it seems that they are all unrelated to each other – indeed a couple of them are even red. One reason is that the word Vernaccia comes from the same linguistic route as the word vernacular and simply means local or indigenous. However, I have heard it claimed that the Tuscan Vernaccia and the rarely seen Ligurian Vernaccia may well be closely related.

The Little Wine Shop Around the Corner

For a long time I have been close to despair about the wines a great many UK consumers buy, where they buy them and how they are offered for sale. Nowadays the majority of wine is bought from supermarkets and in the main the ranges are pretty dull and reflect what sells rather than a desire to lead and excite the customer.

Well, perhaps there is the beginnings of hope that this could change. The demise of Thresher/First Quench two years ago was both a blow to the independent wine sector and a huge opportunity, which coupled with Oddbin’s double collapse could well transform the landscape of wine retailing in this country.

Thresher’s end meant that there were hundreds of places all around the country that were no longer served by a dedicated wine shop – of any quality. This was then exacerbated by Oddbins also going under which left Majestic as the sole multiple independent. However, many of the people who worked in these stores had a real passion for wine which it seems they want to share with the British wine buying public.

A huge number of truly independent wine shops are opening up to fill the gap left by the former multiples and it seems that many of them are run by former Thresher people. These vary in size from small groups, like the new Wine Rack to one off stand alone stores. Some of them are fine wine specialists, some specialise in specific regions, some have an interesting angle and some are good traditional general wine shops.

There might be something wonderfully perverse and British in dozens of people working for a company that falls in ruins around them and when they come out the other side think – I know what I’ll do, I’ll open a wine shop. Hope over experience? Let’s hope not.

I will report further on some more of these places soon, but thought I would start with my new local wine shop. One of the owners used to work for Threshers Wine Rack and the original plan had been to revitalise one of their sites, but life brought them to Worcester Park in Surrey where there had never been a Thresher or a Wine Rack, so they had to start from scratch.

Arét & Mislav Kapetanović

Lovely Lucca – lovely lunch

I just wanted to share a little hedonism and a rather splendid lunch with you.

Lucca is a very beautiful town, everywhere you look there is something wonderful to take in. My recent trip to Tuscany ended there and I took the opportunity to see this amazing place. It is perfect to enjoy on foot as the centre is theoretically a car free zone – although some of the locals seem unaware of this fact and also appear to take very little care when riding a bike, but as long as you keep your wits about you this is a small price to pay.

Wine Map of Tuscany showing Lucca - click for a larger view

Lucca from the air - you can clearly see the walls and fortifications - click for a larger view

Tenuta di Capezzana – the beating heart of Carmignano

Tenuta di Capezzana

Carmignano is a village in Tuscany that produces D.O.C.g wines and my recent trip to Italy included a visit to the leading producer – Tenuta di Capezzana – which can boast a long and noble history.

Wine Map of Tuscany - click for a larger view

You can be forgiven for not having come across it before as it is a small wine region of barely 100 hectares and 20 producers in a beautiful valley 16 km west and slightly north of Florence.

It Shouldn’t Happen to a Wine Blogger – the perils & frustrations of blogging while on the move

The view from my hotel room in Florence - lovely, but no wifi!

I hope you can forgive me for writing a piece that is about the medium of blogging rather than my subject – wine, food and travel.

I do not really regard my Wine Page as a blog in the traditional sense as it is not a web diary, I hope my articles are more considered than that. However, I call it my blog by way of a shorthand explanation as to what it is. Therefore I am a wine blogger and that is sometimes a very frustrating thing to be.

When out and about it is often absurdly hard to stay connected and therefore to be able to publish articles. I find it very strange that it is so difficult, to me it defies logic. I have an excellent internet provider and wireless network at home, so surely hotels could have the same thing?