Sicilian wine provided all the southern Italian warmth and attitude you could hope for at the kick off event of our 2013/14 Boston blind tasting series. Frappato arancini, panelle, escarole and bean soup, hand made orecchiette, and Sicilian green olive tapenade with fresh ricotta had little chance of upstaging these overly expressive wines. While the […]
Alessio Planeta, Sicily, and Frappato
Alessio Planeta is amiable, direct, and very Sicilian. That’s all immediately apparent. As his story unfolds, he bares an even more adventurous lining. He is one of Planeta Wines‘ family shepherds; opening wineries and tending vineyards like explorers criss-crossing Sicily’s southern slice of the Italian peninsula. Forget the easier approach of vineyard and fruit contracts […]
Cos Frappato 2010 Delivers Sicilian Style
What’s not to like about Sicily’s frappato grape? Bright cherry and red berry fruit, silky juice, light body, excellent acidity, and great consumer value. Earlier this year I was knocked out by the frappatos and nero d’Avolas from Arianna Occhipinti, realizing how unadorned (maybe a good alternative to the overused “natural” marketing spin?) winemaking can turn […]
2011 Wine Highlights Part 1: Wine & Restaurants
While the best wine and food might still appear on my table over the next couple of weeks, 2011 is quickly shutting down like newly bottled Bordeaux and I catch myself reminiscing over the year that was in wine and food. These musings must not be mistaken for a quintessential nor ultimate reminiscence of global […]
Top Three Wines of August: Northern and Southern Italy
This month’s top three wines are neither ordinary nor expensive. They are celebrations of authentic wine making and candidates for greater honor than simply top wines of the month. The wines made by Sicily’s emergent superstar Arianna Occhipinti are recipients of mounting natural winemaking acclaim, sought out by in-the-know fans of deliciously authentic wines. The Schiopetto is […]
One-Word Buying Strategy and a Must-Have Wine
I look forward to hearing from Matt Kramer in his regular Wine Spectator column. He delivers “regular guy” sensibility with intellectual strength wrapped in an entertaining style. His cut-to-the-chase humility combines with child-like amusement when discovering sources of fairly priced, quality wine that are messengers for their place of origin. I mean wines that unleash vineyard identity, maybe […]