Tag Archives: Italy

Off the Beaten Wine Trail: Aglianico

Aglianico (pronounced “alli-yawn-nico”) is the best red wine from Italy that you’ve probably never heard of.

For the past several decades, wine critics and therefore wine consumers have almost exclusively favored the wines of northern and central Italy – Barolo, Amarone, Brunello di Montalcino, Super Tuscans, etc. The wines of southern Italy have been not only overlooked, but relegated to a category of low quality bulk wine. There had been a general belief that southern was too hot to produce elegant, ageworthy wines.

However, southern Italy is home to some real gems, including the wine with the region’s greatest potential – Aglianico. Along with Nebbiolo and Sangiovese, Aglianico is generally believed to be one of Italy’s three greatest wine grapes, and yet is often overlooked.

Aglianico has been called the “Barolo of the south”, with its best expressions found in the regions of Campania and Basilicata. It is full-bodied and rustic with dark fruit notes of plum and black cherry. It can also have hints of tobacco, coffee and leather, with earthy and gamey notes as it ages. Aglianico’s high tannins and high acidity make it an ageworthy choice for cellaring. Just like Nebbiolo (Barolo), well-made Aglianico wines come into their best after 10 or so years of age.

When looking for these wines in a wine shop, looked for labeled as Taurasi DOCG or Aglianico del Vulture DOCG.

  • Taurasi is located close to Naples near the coast. The wines must be made from at least 85% Aglianico, but are often 100%. They must be aged for three years, with a minimum of one year in barrel, before release. Taurasi tends to offer more floral notes with aromas of rose and sour cherries. It is also less approachable upon release with most needing at least an 8 years in the cellar to soften their grippy tannins.
  • Aglianico del Vulture is located in Basilicata, closer to central Italy away from the coast. Here, the vines grow on volcanic soils, lending the wines power, structure, complexity and minerality. These wines must be 100% Aglianico and must be aged at least 12 months in cask. The shorter aging period means they are also approachable while young. The riserva style requires five years of aging, with at least 24 months in cask.

Recommendations:

  • di Majo Norante Aglianico Molise Contado ($17)
  • Donnachiara Taurasi Aglianico 2016 ($30)
  • I Capitani Taurasi Bosco Faiano ($40)
  • Salvatore Molettieri Vigna Cinque Querce ($45)

Wine with Mushrooms Makes A Fun-gi!

I was at my local farmer’s market this past weekend and there was a mushroom vendor selling a variety of fungi, some of which looked like they came from another planet! I simply couldn’t resist buying some. I love that rich earthy, umami character of sautéed mushrooms, especially when cooked with garlic, onions and butter – yum!

There are over 2,000 edible species of mushroom in the world, so how the heck do we even start to figure out how to pair all of this variety with wine? Luckily, there are only a small handful of mushrooms that commonly make their way onto our plates, and we can fairly easily divide these into two categories.

  1. Delicately flavored mushrooms such as lobster, enoki, maitake, oyster, and button mushrooms. These are best paired with creamy white wines, such as Chardonnay, Viognier, and white Rhone blends. They can also work well with lighter reds, especially those that have an earthy character, such as Pinot Noir. For something a little different, you can even open a bottle of Champagne for its yeasty, earthy note and acidity that contrasts with the savoriness of the mushrooms.
  2. Hearty, earthy mushrooms such as truffles, shiitake, portobello, porcini and morels. These bolder and meatier mushrooms can definitely stand up to bigger red wines. Again, look for big reds that have an earthy character, such as Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Bordeaux and Syrah.

So, my local mushroom vendor at the farmer’s market inspired me to make a mushroom risotto for dinner. I tend to prefer a blend of various mushrooms in my risotto that combines both delicacy and boldness. As a result, I chose shiitake mushrooms, a maitake mushroom (commonly known as Hen-of-the-Woods) and dried porcini mushrooms. As a side note, dried mushrooms reconstituted in hot broth will add a very bold pop of umami flavor!

Click here to check out my recipe for Mushroom Risotto!

As for the wine pairing, I chose a 2005 Corino Vigna Giachini Barolo from Piedmonte, Italy that has been maturing quite nicely in my cellar for more than a decade. It could have remained in the cellar for a few more decades, but I knew it was going to be perfect with this dish, so Carpe Diem! I was not disappointed.

This wine had that telltale pale, brick red color of Barolo with pronounced aromas of earth, dried leaves, roses, sour cherry, smoke and leather. Its high acidity and high tannins not only allowed it to age so well, but provided brilliant structure to the fruit. The finish went on and on, both lingering and evolving on the palate. The wine’s earthiness perfectly complimented the savory mushrooms, while its high acidity cut through the creaminess of the risotto. Barolo and mushroom risotto is a match made in gastronomic heaven!

Happy Prosecco Week!

This week – July 20-26, 2020 – we are celebrating the 3rd annual National Prosecco Week! So pop a cork on your favorite bottle of Prosecco, pour yourself a glass of that cold, refreshing, crisp bubbly, and read on to learn all about this super popular sparkling wine.

What is Prosecco?

Prosecco is Italy’s most popular sparkling wine, made from the Glera grape in the northeastern part of the country. It is produced in a large area covering the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions, and is named after the village of Prosecco.

What does Prosecco taste like?

Prosecco is a dry style sparkling wine that is light bodied, fresh and crisp with fruity flavors of green apple, honeydew melon, pear, and honeysuckle. Prosecco bubbles measure in at approximately 3 atmospheres of pressure, while Champagne in comparison has stronger bubbles at approximately 6 atmospheres.

Although it is fruity, Prosecco is not sweet. It contains only small amounts of residual sugar to balance out the high acidity, but this sugar is generally not detectable on the palate. The levels of sweetness in these wines are labeled as follows:

  • Brut: 0-12 grams of residual sugar per litre.
  • Extra-Dry: 12-17 grams of residual sugar per litre.
  • Dry: 17-32 grams of residual sugar per litre.

How is Prosecco made?

Prosecco is made using the Charmat, or Tank, method. This is a different manner of producing sparkling wine from the Traditional method, which is used to make Champagne.

The Charmat method was invented in 1895 and enabled large volumes of sparkling wine to be made inexpensively and quickly, so they could be released for sale faster. By comparison, the Traditional method is longer, more labor intensive, imparts deeper flavors of yeast and bread into the finished wine, and results in a more complex, yet more expensive bottle of wine.

Prosecco’s Charmat method is an expedited production process ideal for fruity wines. These wines are produced using the following steps:

  1. Fruit for sparkling wine is often harvested early while the grapes contain higher levels of acidity and lower levels of sugar. The fruit must be in perfect, healthy condition when picked, as any bad flavors from rotten fruit will be enhanced by effervescence. Therefore, the grapes are usually hand harvested and sorted.
  2. The grapes are gently pressed to extract clean juice while minimizing skin contact to avoid bitter tannins (tannins are contained in grape skins).
  3. The juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks by adding yeast, which converts sugars into alcohol. This creates a base dry white wine. Since the grapes are picked early with low levels of sugar, the resulting base wine has a low level of alcohol.
  4. The base wine is then transferred to autoclaves, which are sealed and pressurized tanks. A mixture of sugar and yeast is added to trigger a second alcoholic fermentation. The CO2 produced during this stage of fermentation is trapped in the wine because the tanks are sealed, resulting in bubbles! This secondary fermentation also increases the level of the alcohol in the final wine.
  5. The wine is then brought to the desired sweetness level either by adding “dosage” (a sugar and wine mixture), or by stopping fermentation by cooling the wine when the desired pressure and sugar level is achieved.
  6. Occasionally, higher quality and more expensive Prosecco’s will be aged for several months before release, but the majority of wines are bottled immediately and sent off to the marketplace!

How do I choose the highest quality Prosecco?

Italy has wine laws that designate a quality hierarchy as follows:

  • Vino de Tavola (VDT) – simple table wines
  • Indicazione Geographica Tipica (IGT) – Upgraded table wines with higher quality standards.
  • Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) – indicates superior quality wines in Italy.
  • Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Guarantita (DOCG) – identifies Italy’s highest quality wines, and the most stringent rules apply. These wines must pass an in-depth laboratory analysis and tasting panel to guarantee their merit.

Most of the growing region for Prosecco is a DOC zone. However, within the larger Prosecco geographical area is a smaller, more prestigious DOCG area called Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco in the hills between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene.

This area produces the most elegant expressions of Prosecco due to its steep hillsides, stony soils, and cooling breezes from the Adriatic Sea, all creating a moderate climate with ideal growing conditions. These Prosecco Superior DOCG wines must follow stricter rules including lower grape yields, hand harvesting, higher minimum alcohol levels, and vintage dating.

To find these wines, look for “Valdobbiadene Prosecco” or “Prosecco Superior DOCG” on the label, along with a DOCG sticker usually placed around the neck of the bottle.

How popular is Prosecco?

Prosecco is the best-selling sparkling wine in the world by volume, taking away from the market share of Champagne in recent years. Prosecco’s success is attributed to its lower price, its greater approachability of fruity flavor, and its profile as a sparkling wine that can be drunk anytime, and not just for special occasions. With an average production cost of $4.20 per bottle, a fraction of Champagne’s average $11.63, Prosecco can be purchased at a price that makes it easier to buy for more casual settings.