Happy New Year to you all! 🙂
Happy New Year Cookie Tree
Happy New Year to you all!!!
We wish you all the best for this upcoming year: health, success, happiness and… lots of delicious food and greatly paired wine! 🙂
Francesca & Stefano
Happy New Year Cookie Tree
About time! Finally I managed to get the third chapter of my series about the OperaWine 2015 event in Verona published on Flora’s Table. This post includes my tasting notes for the wines from central Italy: check it out as there are a number of great wines and a couple of real gems!
For my general observations about the event and my tasting notes for Italy’s northwestern region, please refer to the first post in the series. For my tasting notes for Italy’s northeastern region, please refer to the second post in the series.
Enjoy! 🙂
With some delay, here is part 3 in my series about my tasting experience at the OperaWine 2015 event in Verona last month. On this post we will focus on my tasting notes for the wines from Central Italy. As you will see, lots of winners here.
For my general notes about the event and my tasting notes for the wines from Italy’s northwestern region, please refer to the first post in this series. For my tasting notes for the wines from Italy’s northeastern region, go to the second post in this series.
1. Emilia Romagna
Ermete Medici, “Gran Concerto” Rosso Brut 2011 ($N/A/€12): an extremely interesting Classic Method sparkling Lambrusco Salamino which matured for 30 months on its lees and was disgorged in 2014. The nose is immediately catchy with aromas of wild strawberries, raspberries, violets and fresh toast. The mouthfeel is refreshing and pleasant, smooth with…
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After last week’s post introducing France’s Alsace wine region and the Alsace AOC appellation, it is time to move on to the actual reviews and tasting notes of three Pinot Blancs from Alsace that you may want to bear in mind for your Spring/Summer wine shopping list: check them out on Flora’s Table!
Disclaimer: this review is of samples that I received from the producers’ US PR agency. My review has been conducted in compliance with my Samples Policy and the ISA wine tasting protocol and the opinions I am going to share on the wines are my own.
When I got an email asking whether I would review samples of three Pinot Blancs from France’s Alsace region, I wholeheartedly accepted because I generally very much like Alsatian Rieslings and Gewürztraminers, but I was not familiar with their Pinot Blancs so it sounded like a great opportunity to make myself an idea. Plus, Pinot Blanc is not a grape that you often see in varietal (as in, 100% Pinot Blanc) wines: it is more often used as a blending partner of other grapes, including in the context of the blend of certain French or Italian Classic Method sparkling wines together with Chardonnay
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On Flora’s Table, we just published an overview of France’s Alsace AOC appellation and its main grape varieties: if you are interested, go check it out! 🙂
Since I have recently received three samples of Pinot Blanc wines from Alsace which I am going to review on one of the next posts, today I am going to provide a brief overview of northeastern France’s Alsace AOC appellation in anticipation of my reviews of those three wines.
Geography and Soils of Alsace
Alsace is a region in France’s northeast, bordering with Germany and stretching some 105 miles/170 KM from north to south, encased between the Vosges Mountains to the west and the west bank of the Rhine River to the east. The region is divided into two departments: the “Bas-Rhin” to the north (near the region’s capital, Strasbourg) and the “Haut-Rhin” to the south.
Alsace AOC Map – Courtesy of Wine and Vine Search (click on map to go to website)
Throughout Alsace there is a significant diversity in terms of soils, with clay…
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There we go: check out on Flora’s Table the second installment in my series of posts about the OperaWine 2015 event in Verona. This post organizes my tasting notes for the wines from Italy’s northeastern region.
For my general observations about the event or my tasting notes for Italy’s northwestern region, please refer to the first post in the series.
Enjoy! 🙂
Here is part 2 in my series about my tasting experience at the OperaWine 2015 event in Verona last month. On this post we will focus on my tasting notes for the wines from Italy’s northeastern region.
For my general notes about the event and my tasting notes for the wines from Italy’s northwestern region, please refer to the first post in this series.
1. Trentino Alto Adige
Ferrari, Trento “Perlé” Brut 2006 ($34/€30): an outstanding Classic MethodBlanc de Blancs from the Trento DOC appellation expressing the delicate aromatic complexity that it developed in the five years that it spent maturing on its lees: fresh toast, roasted hazelnut, apple, white peach, honey and white blossoms. Then a creamy smooth sip that is perfectly supported by fresh acidity and tasty sapidity with matching flavors of apple, toast, roasted hazelnut and mineral notes. Outstanding 
Ferrari, Trento Perlé Brut…
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Check out a cool new project that just launched over at Flora’s Table: a database summarizing the main regulations of all of Italy’s top DOCG appellations broken down by region plus an explanation of the basics of the Italian appellation system!
Go take a look for yourself! 🙂
We are pretty excited to share the news of a new wine project and powerful tool that we just rolled out on Flora’s Table: an overview of all of Italy’s 74 DOCG appellations (those that are at the top of the Italian appellation system pyramid) broken down by region.
More in detail:
At the time of this post, the project is still a work in progress as a little more…
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Check out on Flora’s Table the first post of my series about the outstanding OperaWine 2015 wine event in Verona, Italy, inclusive of my tasting notes. This post focuses on Italy’s NorthWest.
Enjoy! 🙂
On March 21 I had the opportunity to attend OperaWine 2015, an exclusive wine tasting event that serves as the preamble to the Vinitaly event in Verona, Italy. OperaWine is jointly organized by Wine Spectator and Vinitaly and it aims at showcasing 100 of the greatest Italian wine producers selected by Wine Spectator, thus recognizing excellence in Italian wine.
OperaWine 2015 – Palazzo della Gran Guardia
The event is reserved to media and trade and is much more compact than Vinitaly. OperaWine took place in the beautiful context of Verona’s Palazzo della Gran Guardia and the organization was excellent: registration was straight forward and the booths of the 100 selected producers were laid out in a logical order.
One thing the organizers deserve particular praise for is their decision to encourage selected producers to bring to the event (where appropriate depending on the wine they were…
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Check out our latest wine review on Flora’s Table: Domaine Chante Cigale, Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC, 2009 – a delicious CDP wine with a good quality to price ratio.
Enjoy! 🙂
Our previous post provided a general overview of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the territory, the appellation and the main winemaking practices, so if you missed that you may want to go back and take a look at that before reading this post, which instead revolves around my review of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine that I really like: Domaine Chante Cigale, Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC, 2009 ($35).
The Bottom Line
Overall, the Chante Cigale CDP 2009 that I had was a very good to outstanding wine: I was impressed both by its broad and intense bouquet of aromas (tart cherry, black currant, wild berries, violet, cocoa, wet soil, leather, sweet tobacco, rosemary, vanilla, licorice, black pepper, forest floor and a barnyard note) and by its delicious mouthfeel, which combined fruity and spicy flavors with a smooth, balanced sip. All in all, an extremely pleasant and ready to drink wine which delivers good bang for the buck.
Rating: Very…
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Check out on Flora’s Table our overview of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine region and appellation, including its history, terroir, permitted grape varieties and winemaking practices.
Enjoy! 🙂
As a prelude to our next post in which we will temporarily leave Italy and review a French Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, in this post we will provide a brief overview of the southern French wine region that goes by the same name, including its history, terroir, permitted grape varieties and winemaking practices.
In General
Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an area encompassing 3,200 HA of vineyards that is located in the southern part of the Rhône Valley, in France, between the towns of Orange (to the north) and Avignon (to the south).
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation Map – Courtesy of Fédération des syndicats des producteurs de Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Thirteen different grape varieties are authorized in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards, with Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre (the so-called “GSM“) being the dominating varieties, as well as the traditional core grapes in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape blend (see below for more information about these grape varieties). Other permitted varieties include Cinsaut
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Check out on Flora’s Table the new post in the Variety Show series, this time dealing with the tough question: are Primitivo and Zinfandel two different grape varieties or one and the same?… Or is there even more to it?…
Find out for yourself and discover in the process cool facts about their origins, history, DNA profiling, main appellations and recommended producers!
Enjoy! 🙂
Today’s grape in the limelight of our Variety Show is Primitivo, a black-berried grape variety that has sparked a long-lasting controversy as to whether it is the same variety as Zinfandel or a different one.
With the help of the precious and up-to-date scientific data from the brilliant tome Wine Grapes, by Robinson-Harding-Vouillamoz, Allen Lane 2012, this post intends to shed some light on this debate and provide an overview of the scientific evidence that settled it.
1. A Brief History of Primitivo
The earliest documented mention of Primitivo in Italy dates back to 1799 and can be found in a note of an amateur botanist from Puglia who called “Primativo” (from the Latin “primativus“, meaning “first to ripen”) a particularly early ripening grapevine that he found in his own vineyard.
2. How Zinfandel Made It To The USA
The introduction of Zinfandel to…
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Check out on Flora’s Table the new post in the Variety Show series, this time putting the Aglianico grape variety in the spotlight! Discover cool facts about its origins, DNA profiling, main appellations and recommended producers.
Enjoy! 🙂
Today’s grape variety in the spotlight is… Aglianico, together with its clone Aglianico del Vulture.
1. Aglianico’s Origins And History
Aglianico is a black-berried grape variety that is indigenous to Southern Italy. The earliest written evidence of this variety dates back to 1520 referring to the grapes as “Aglianiche”.
Although it is widely believed that the name “Aglianico” comes from a variant of the word “hellenic”, hinting at a Greek origin of the variety, this theory is confuted by others (including the authors of Wine Grapes) who contend that the word actually comes from the Spanish word “llano” (meaning “plain”), thus referring to Aglianico as the “grapes of the plain”.
2. Aglianico’s DNA Profiling
DNA analysis supports the authors’ theory as Aglianico’s DNA profile does not resemble that of any of the modern Greek grape varieties, while it is similar to Aglianicone’s, a Campanian variety…
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Read on Flora’s Table the whole story behind a special wine tasting: Gaja, Barbaresco DOC 1967! Tasting notes, grape variety information, facts about the Gaja estate and much more.
Check it out! 🙂
The wine we are going to review today was certainly quite a treat: last month, my good friend Anatoli (who pens the Talk-A-Vino wine blog) and other friends came over for dinner and I decided time was right to open a bottle that had been sitting around for a while: Gaja, Barbaresco DOC 1967.
This post tells the story of that experience. For a different take on it (plus other wines we had that night), check out Anatoli’s post on his blog.
But let’s get to it.
The Bottom Line
Overall, Gaja’s 1967 Barbaresco was a spectacular treat to taste after 48 years of aging: a true testament to the longevity and age-worthiness of a wonderful, albeit difficult, grape variety such as Nebbiolo. Even after so many years spent in the bottle, the wine was still an outstanding performer and still retained much of its fruity aromas and flavors…
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FsT Variety Show: the first grape in the spotlight is Glera, also known as Prosecco. Learn some cool facts about this variety and its origins!
Enjoy! 🙂
Today’s grape in the limelight of our Variety Show is Glera, formerly known as Prosecco.
Up until recently, Prosecco was the name for three things: the wine, its main grape variety and the homonymous village near the town of Trieste (in the Italian region of Friuli) that probably gave the wine and the grape their name. Relatively easy so far.
Then in 2009, with Prosecco’s popularity and sales soaring (in 2011 the overall production of Prosecco was about 265 million bottles, 55% of which were exported), the consortium of Prosecco producers obtained an official change in the name of the grape variety, from Prosecco to Glera, so that Prosecco would only be the name of the wine (and not of the grape variety too) and could therefore be reserved for its designation of origin, thus preventing other producers from other Italian regions or other countries from…
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Check out Flora’s Table new column, Variety Show, which will showcase different grape varieties from all over the world, providing cool facts and DNA profiling data!
Today we are going to launch a new column called Variety Show. Each post in this series will feature a different grape variety from around the world.
Each post will contain cool facts, cutting-edge DNA profiling data and ampelographic notions about a specific variety, mainly taken (of course, with the authors’ kind permission) from the wonderfully informative and scientifically researched volume “Wine Grapes” authored by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and Jose Vouillamoz, Allen Lane 2012. Wine Grapes is an impressive 1,242 page long collection of detailed and up to date information about 1,368 vine varieties from all over the world. Please consider purchasing your own copy of Wine Grapes: it will provide a ton of invaluable information about everything that you may want to know about grape varieties.
The first featured variety on our next post will be… Glera, the grape used for making Prosecco sparkling wines:…
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Check out the third and last installment of my full report on the 2015 Gambero Rosso “Tre Bicchieri” wine event in New York City. Part 3 focuses on wines from Southern Italy and Italy’s main islands.
Enjoy! 🙂
In this third and last chapter of my report on Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri 2015 NYC event, you will find my tasting notes for those producers from southern Italy and the two main islands (Sardinia and Sicily) that I enjoyed the most among those that I tasted at the event. It goes without saying that the list below is far from being complete and that there were many more very good wines at the event that are not listed on this post.
For more information about the Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri 2015 NYC event and my tasting notes for northern Italian producers, please refer to the first chapter of my report, while for my tasting notes for central Italian producers, please refer to the second chapter of my report.
(Explanation of our Rating and Pricing Systems)
1. CAMPANIA
Alois, Trebulanum 2011 ($N/A): an interesting, varietal Casavecchia
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Check out part 2 of my full report on the 2015 Gambero Rosso “Tre Bicchieri” wine event in New York City. Part 2 focuses on Central Italy’s wines.
Enjoy! 🙂
In this second chapter of my report on Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri 2015 NYC event, you will find my tasting notes for those central Italian producers (loosely interpreted, as I am adding Liguria among them…) that I enjoyed the most among those that I tasted at the event. It goes without saying that the list below is far from being complete and that there were many more very good wines at the event that are not listed on this post.
For more information about the Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri 2015 NYC event and my tasting notes for northern Italian producers, please refer to the first chapter of my report that was published in the immediately preceding post.
(Explanation of our Rating and Pricing Systems)
1. LIGURIA
Cantine Lunae Bosoni, Colli di Luni Vermentino “Etichetta Nera” 2013 (~$30): a white wine from Liguria with a pleasant bouquet of…
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Check out part 1 of my full report on the 2015 Gambero Rosso “Tre Bicchieri” wine event in New York City. Part 1 focuses on Northern Italian wines.
Enjoy! 🙂
A couple of weeks ago was that time of the year yet again, when I got to participate (along with my good friend Anatoli, AKA Talk-A-Vino) in one of the most eagerly anticipated Italian wine events in New York City reserved to media and trade: Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri 2015 NYC. As you may know, only those Italian wineries that are awarded the coveted “Tre Bicchieri” (i.e., three glasses) top ranking in the Gambero Rosso wine guide are invited to participate in the event.
This year 180 wineries were represented at the Tre Bicchieri event, just the same as last year, presenting some of their best wines to media and trade.
The organization of the event was okay, except the totally unintuitive (at least to me) order of the tasting tables and the lack of an index of the participating wineries that would group them by…
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Japan, Nagano: Snow monkey (Macaca fuscata) nursing her baby
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you who celebrate it! 😉
This year, my Valentine to my readers is an intimate, misty portrait of a snow monkey (Macaca fuscata) nursing her baby that I took on Japan’s big island, at Jigokudani Yaenkoen National Park. Should you be interested in knowing more about these animals and the place they live in, you can check out my previous snow monkey post that contains information in that regard.
If you would like to see more images of mine, feel free to browse my Galleries.
As per my copyright notice, please respect my work and do not download, reproduce or use the image above without first seeking my consent. Thank you 
Looking for a special wine for Valentine’s Day? Here is one to consider, a delicious Sauvignon Blanc from Italy’s northeast region of Alto Adige: St. Michael-Eppan, Alto Adige Sauvignon “Sanct Valentin” DOC 2013.
Check out our full review and… Happy Valentine’s Day! 🙂
St. Michael-Eppan, AA Sauvignon “Sanct Valentin” DOC
Image courtesy of St. Michael-Eppan
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, there is just no other wine that comes to mind than St. Michael-Eppan, Alto Adige Sauvignon “Sanct Valentin” DOC 2013 ($34) 😉 So, that is the wine that we are going to review today.
Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! 😉
The Bottom Line
Overall, the Sauvignon Sanct Valentin was very good: it had an expressive bouquet with tertiary aromas well under control (thanks to its being aged mostly in stainless steel) and a great, coherent mouthfeel, where its high ABV and gentle smoothness were perfectly balanced by its intense sapidity and zippy acidity.
Rating: Very Good and Recommended 
– $$
(Explanation of our Rating and Pricing Systems)
About the Grape Variety and the Appellation
Sauvignon Blanc is a white-berried grape variety originating from France.
Recent DNA analysis has identified a
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Here comes our second post about Chateau Figeac: a wine tasting and full review of a bottle of Chateau Figeac, vintage… 1988!
Check it out to see how it was! 🙂
Chateau Figeac 1988
Following our previous post about the history, estate, terroir and winemaking process at Chateau Figeac in Bordeaux’s Saint Emilion region, let’s now focus on my review of a bottle of their Grand Vin that I had an opportunity to taste: Chateau Figeac, Saint Emilion Grand Cru AOC, 1988 ($200).
The Bottom Line
Overall, the Chateau Figeac 1988 that I had was an outstanding, elegant wine: after 26 years of aging, it still performed flawlessly, offering a broad aromatic palette that unsurprisingly underscored tertiary aromas, but still presented fruity, secondary aromas to complement them. It still had enough acidity to keep it alive (although I would not wait much longer to drink it) and noticeable but gentle tannins, along with great smoothness – attaining a nice balance. It had pleasant and vivid mouth flavors of fruit and spices and a long finish. Outstanding!
Rating: Outstanding
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Check out a new chapter in our Saint Emilion Chronicles saga, featuring a visit to famed Chateau Figeac and a detailed overview of their winemaking process.
Enjoy! 🙂
FRANCE, Saint Emilion
– Chateau Figeac (Premier Grand Cru Classé B)
For those of you who remember our Saint Emilion series, this is its next installment: after our post on Chateau de Ferrand, today we will talk about another Chateau that we visited – Chateau Figeac.
On a previous post, I have provided a general overview of the Saint Emilion wine region and its wine classification system: if necessary, take a look at it for a refresher.
History
Chateau Figeac’s origins date back to the II century AD, when it comprised a Gallo-Roman villa and a large estate which were owned by the Figeacus family after whom it has been named.
By the XV century, Figeac became one of five noble houses in Saint Emilion and there is evidence that in the XVI century (when Chateau Figeac was rebuilt in a Renaissance architectural style) grapevines were grown and wine was made…
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Here is my review of the Benvenuto Brunello 2015 event in NYC and of my top 10 Brunello’s from the event. Enjoy!
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Benvenuto Brunello USA 2015 event which was organized and sponsored by the Brunello di Montalcino Wine Consortium at the gorgeous location of Gotham Hall in New York City in order to unveil to the press and trade the 2010 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino wines made by 44 selected producers.
I definitely enjoyed attending the event and the related seminar about Montalcino and its exceptional 2010 vintage, despite a few problems marring the seminar – namely:
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For the convenience of those readers who do not follow Flora’s Table, below is a post that I published on that blog today with some material that may be of interest to fellow oenophiles: a free, downloadable wine tasting chart! Keep reading if you want to know more about it.
Exactly two years ago, I had published a post on this blog providing a general overview of the Italian Sommelier Association wine tasting protocol and the steps it entails.
Over time I have kept giving some thought about wine tasting and how the use of a common procedure and a common vocabulary may help making different people’s tasting experiences more comparable and convey information about a wine that readers can more precisely appreciate.
As a result, I have developed a one-sheet wine tasting chart that is based on a simplified and adapted version of the Italian Sommelier Association wine tasting protocol that I have been using in the wine reviews that have been published on this blog over the last two years.
After much work, consideration and fine tuning, I am quite happy with it and I am pleased to make it available as a free download through the link below to those wine enthusiasts out there who are prepared to take a more structured and disciplined approach in their tasting experiences, want to categorize their tasting notes in a standardized format or maybe just want to have fun with a few buddy wine aficionados in a blind tasting and then compare notes.
One caveat: the attached wine tasting sheet is loosely inspired by the wine tasting protocol of one of the several organizations out there which promote their own takes of wine tasting and its principles and criteria. As such, it is not intended to be the Holy Grail, the “ultimate oenophile bible” or “the one and only way to conduct a wine tasting”. Far from it. What it aims to be is a reasoned, structured way for non-professional wine tasters to keep track of their tasting experiences and organize and share their tasting notes in a standardized format.
A few words about the FsT Wine Tasting Chart:
So, if you like the goal of this project and you have not had professional wine tasting training, feel free to
Download the FsT Wine Tasting Chart
and then give it a shot the next time you taste a wine and see how you like it!
After you do, please make sure to come back here and share your comments (good or bad!), suggestions or questions about the FsT Wine Tasting Chart through the comment box below.
The FsT Wine Tasting Chart is a free download for all, but please (i) refrain from using it for commercial purposes without asking for our prior consent and (ii) if you want to share it via social media or your own website or blog, feel free to do so but give proper credit to the author (Stefano Crosio, Flora’s Table, LLC) and the source by linking to the original post on Flora’s Table blog or to this post.
Have fun and enjoy some good wine in the process! 🙂
Yes, it has been a while since the last post. This year, particularly the second half of it, has been incredibly demanding work wise, which has left very little time for everything else, including blogging. Oh well, hopefully with the new year we will resume our… regular programming, so to speak 😉
Apologies to all my cyber friends whose wonderful blogs I have been neglecting in this crazy period. Hopefully, I will also soon resume regular reading and commenting.
Having said that, Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate or simply Happy Holidays to those who do not! And of course, may the New Year bring you all that you openly or secretly desire the most! 😉
PS: The image above is a nocturnal view of Double Arch, in Arches National Park (Utah, USA).
PPS: If you would like to see more images of mine, feel free to browse my Galleries.
PPPS: As per my copyright notice, please respect my work and do not download, reproduce or use the image above without first seeking my consent. Thank you
Hey there y’all! 🙂
Hope everyone is doing fine, easing into Fall.
I am still under the gun at work, but hopeful that things will go back to quasi-normal sooner rather than later. Bear with me a little longer, if you will…
To start off your week with a… big yawn, here is an image of a Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) that I took while visiting the beautiful Kodiak Archipelago in Alaska.
Steller sea lions are the largest otariids and the fourth largest pinniped. They are sexually dimorphic, with adult males weighing three times as much, and growing 20–25% longer than, adult females. Steller sea lions feed on fish and invertebrates.
From a conservation standpoint, Steller sea lions experienced a dramatic and unexplained population decline of about 70% between the late 1970s and the 1990s, with the steepest decline occurring between 1985 and 1989, when the population was reduced by 15% per year. The population reached its low point in approximately year 2000 and has shown an overall annual increase of 1.5–2% since then, which has been enough to make the species move from Endangered to Near Threatened status in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Nature history and conservation information source for Steller sea lions: the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
If you would like to see more images of mine, feel free to browse my Galleries.
As per my copyright notice, please respect my work and do not download, reproduce or use the image above without first seeking my consent. Thank you
Clicks & Corks 