Wine Archives - Page 2 of 15 - Hungry Travelers

Wine

Table wines return to the Málaga region

Posted on October 23, 2022October 20, 2022 by Pat and David

There' s a quiet wine revolution brewing in the Axarquía hills between Málaga and Nerja along Spain's southern coast. And it's based on a grape that either the Greeks or the Carthaginians brought here roughly 3,000 years ago. Locals call it Moscatel de Alejandría, though much of the international wine industry knows the grape as Muscat of Alexandria. North African in origin, it requires an incredibly dry climate because the grapes are very prone to mold. That makes it perfect for the mountains just inland from the Málaga coast. It's usually associated with dessert wines. But Moscatel can be coaxed to produce a delicious table wine. Just ask Clara Verheij, the winemaker at Bodegas Bentomiz (Finca El Almendro, Pago Cuesta Robano, Sayalonga; +34 633 049...Read More

Clean-crafted wines show their mettle

Posted on September 6, 2022August 31, 2022 by Pat and David

We're suspicious of food or drink that purports to have certain health benefits. The recent boom in ‶clean wine″ is a case in point. From the marketing, we expect every low-fat vegan bottle to arrive rolled up in a yoga mat. That's not wine. But in the world of clean wine, there's a refreshing alternative that seems well-grounded in both taste and science. Scout & Cellar (scoutandcellar.com) is a 5-year-old company that makes and markets wine that comes with what they call a Clean Crafted Commitment®. It's their registered trademark. They apply it to wine that's grown with no synthetic pesticides, vinified without synthetic additives or added sweetener, then lab tested after bottling to confirm that nothing untoward snuck in. Many of the wines carry...Read More

Knotty Vines: overachieving everyday wines

Posted on July 9, 2022July 7, 2022 by Pat and David

Courtesy Rodney Strong Wines If ‶Knotty Vines″ sounds familiar, you might be a fan of old-vine Zinfandel from Rodney Strong Wines. A zin pioneer, the Sonoma producer created the name for its wines made from its oldest vines. The company has now resurrected the name as an umbrella for a new line of modestly priced wines aimed squarely at millennials. Moreover, they've put the company's resident millennial winemaker, Olivia Wright (at right), in charge of making them. Wright explained that Knotty Vines was conceived to be an approachable and affordable entry point for new wine consumers. ‶It's a challenge for the whole industry,″ she said. ‶So I talk to family and friends about what they like. The word I hear a lot is 'smooth,' which...Read More

Summer’s ‘la vie en rose’ begins by Public Garden

Posted on June 7, 2022June 7, 2022 by Pat and David

The summer solstice may be a few weeks away, but balmy temperatures, bright sun, and unusually vigorous rose blooms have us thinking summer already. Our penchant for white wines fits the summer well, but we also tend to keep a bottle or two of rosé in the vegetable drawer. Pink wine is the perfect foil for summer food. Sommelier Andrew Thompson of Bistro du Midi (272 Boylston Street, Boston; 617-279-8000; bistrodumidi.com) agrees. In fact, the French bistro overlooking the Public Garden is going all out with rosés this summer in a reprise of the popular Tour de Rosé promotion. Two wines are featured each month along with some signature menu items from executive chef/partner Robert Sisca. For June, it's the Grenache/Cinsault Château Sainte-Marguerite from the...Read More

Wine tourism the hard way: Requena by train

Posted on April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 by Pat and David

The ease of wine touring in the United States has spoiled us. Wine tourism in the Valencia region requires more planning. The wineries are largely rural and unreachable by public transit, and visits and tastings are usually by reservation. Most serious oenophiles book a tour of several bodegas and lunch with one of a handful of companies in Valencia. We decided to do it on our own. Reasoning that the most important district was D.O. Utiel-Requena and that Requena had the most wineries, we headed there on the C3 local train. That's the old city plaza at the top of this post. Requena is about 40 miles inland, but the trip takes nearly two hours. The train backtracks on one spur and negotiates some slow...Read More

May your New Year bubble over with joy!

Posted on December 28, 2021December 20, 2021 by Pat and David

Popping open a bottle of sparkling wine seems like an occasion in itself. But when we perused our Google Photos feed with the search term ‶champagne,″ we were reminded of occasion after occasion of good times, good food, good drink, and good company. See the photo montage for a taste of cava, crémant, Champagne, Prosecco, or just plain sparkling wine. Cheers! Prost! Salud!

Reviving Istria’s ancient winemaking tradition

Posted on October 15, 2021October 13, 2021 by Pat and David

Greek traders brought wine grapes to Istria roughly 2,900 years ago, yet quality modern winemaking in the area didn't really start until after the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991. Politics always seemed to get in the way of making premium wines in this crossroads region on the northeast coast of the Adriatic. ‶My grandfather was born in Austria,″ pioneer winemaker Ivica Matošević (pronounced ee VEET sa - ma TOE she vitch) told us. ‶My father was born in Italy and I was born in Yugoslavia. My children were born in Croatia.″ He pauses for effect. ‶And the family has never moved.″ Matošević is one of a handful of visionaries who put Istria on the viticultural map in the 1990s, releasing his first imitation of a...Read More

Boccaccio’s ‘Decamaron’ and the solace of stories and wine

Posted on March 21, 2020 by David

The news from Italy, especially in the north, is nothing short of horrific. So quickly has the COVID-19 pandemic moved that everything was transformed in a manner of weeks. As I write this post in mid-March, it's hard to believe that just three weeks ago (February 25), a few hundred representatives of mostly northern Italian wineries were in Boston for the annual Slow Wine presentation. That's the irrepressible Roberto Bava of Cocchi (cocchi.it) in the Piedmont at the top of the post. Italy has seen such horrors before. The Decamaron by Giovanni Boccaccio is one of the foundational books of Italian literature. The frame story is set in the summer of 1348 as the bubonic plague was ravaging Europe. Three young men and seven young...Read More

Honoring the past, Rocca di Montemassi aims for the future

Posted on December 14, 2019December 11, 2019 by David

About 20 minutes southeast by car from the marvelous stone town of Massa Marittima with its 13th century Romanesque cathedral (above left), the Rocca di Montemassi estate celebrates the Maremma farming heritage all the way back to the Etruscans. It is only a short distance from Rocca di Frassinello (see previous post) but its style is lovingly retro. The Zonin family—famed for winemaking in the Veneto, Piedmont, Friuli, Tuscany, Lombardy, Sicily, and Puglia—purchased the land in 1999. Vines of Sangiovese, Vermentino, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah, and Petit Verdot cover about 15 hectares (37 acres) of the 20 hectare (49 acre) farm. “Farm” is the operative word. Not only do the Zonins produce wine here, they also keep pigs and Maremma cattle, a...Read More

Rocca di Frassinello balances Bolgheri and Scansano

Posted on December 12, 2019December 11, 2019 by David

Draw a line on the map between Bolgheri and Scansano, and Gavorrano is right at the mid-point. Featuring soils comparable to those found in Chianti and Montalcino, the home of Rocca di Frassinello (Località Giuncarico Scalo, Gavorrano; +39.0566.88400; roccadifrassinello.it) has one significant difference. Ambient temperatures range 4–6°C warmer, allowing grapes to mature three to four weeks earlier. That climatic difference also suits Bordelais grapes better than other regions of Tuscany, making a Franco-Italian collaboration seem inevitable. The wines hint at Scansano's traditions with Bolgheri's innovations. Seeking to replicate his extraordinary success of Castellare di Castellina in Chianti in the 1970s, Paolo Panerai joined forces with Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) in a grand experiment to harness Panerai's expertise with Sangiovese with the Rothschild mastery of...Read More