Italy

• Abruzzo
• Alto Adige
• Apulia
• Basilicata
• Calabria
• Campagna
• Emilia-Romagna
• Friuli-Venezia Giulia
• Liguria
• Lombardia
  • Franciacorta
• Marche
• Molise
• Piedmont (Piemonte)
• Sicily
  • Mt. Etna
• Trentino-Alto Adige
• Tuscany
  • Brunello di Montalcino
  • Chianti
• Umbria
• Valle d'Aosta
• Veneto
  • Prosecco
  • Soave
• Sardinia

This is 100% Nero D'Avola from Sicily.  This is another value priced wine that drinks well and is also quite interesting.  For those unfamiliar with this grape it is similar to Pinot Noir with a bit less body and a bit more acidity.  Garnet in color, clear and bright.  The nose has cherries, black cherries and anise.  Medium bodied.  On the palate, nice cherry fruit with good acidity.  A bit of anise (black licorice) on the finish.  This drinks better with food.  Pasta or pizza would be a nice match.  Drink over the next few years.  

This is an interesting 100% Montepulciano D'abruzzo.  Ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is filled with cherries and some balsamic vinegar.  Medium bodied.  On the palate, the cherries come thru along with some tart acidity.  Like most Italian wines, this begs for some food.  Spaghetti alla Chitarra with a nice meat sauce would work well.  Drink over the next few years.  At $15, this is a very nice value and makes for a nice bottle with a weekday dinner.  

Tasted blind with a group of experienced tasters.  In all, three bottles of Italian wine were opened and we all agreed that there was a surprising lack of acidity, across three vintages 2011, 2015, and 2016.  It used to be one of the real clues for identifying an Italian wine, blind.  Not sure if this is a trend, global warming or random chance, or perhaps just.  Maybe being the last day of Libra it was just a root day.  :-)  In any event, I thought it was a Loire Cabernet Franc.  Deep garnet in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is nice with dusty, cherries, and some tobacco.  Full

Tasted blind, I thought this was a Châteauneuf du Pape.  It had a lot less acidity than I might have expected but such is blind tasting.  The wine itself was much better than my blind tasting abilities.  Ruby in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose has cherries, some black cherries, spice, black licorice and slight floral notes.  Full bodied.  On the palate, this is drinking well.  Medium tannins.  Plenty of black cherry fruit with some licorice on the finish.  It drinks well on its own and would work nice with a pizza.  Drink over the next seven to ten years.  

Served blind, I was able to successfully guess Barolo but not without some consternation.  This hade all the earmarks of Nebbiolo but lacked the acidity one would normally expect in an Italian wine.  Still, it drinks very well at age ten.  Ruby in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose has cherries, anise and a slight dried floral note.  Medium to full bodied.  On the palate, this is tannic.  Cherries with underlying "sticks and twigs".  Some level of complexity.  Good finish.  This seems a bit short of peak but it won't likely get better.  It should drink well for ten to twelve more yea

Everytime I drink a Barbera likes this I think I need to drink more Barbera.  This is outstanding and while this vintage is mostly gone, newer vintages are good and sell for under $40.  Deep garnet in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, black cherries, anise and baking spices.  Medium bodied.  A nice backbone of acidity.  Light tannins.  On the palate, fresh pure black cherry fruit with some spice.  Long finish.  This is made for food and will work great with pasta, mushrooms, and especially pizza.  Drink over the next seven to ten years.  

Light golden/straw in color.  The nose is nice and mostly mineral driven but also a bit of pears and slight almond note.  Light bodied.  On the palate, this has strong acidity.  It begs for some food to pair with.  The minerality comes thru with some pear.  Medium finish.  Pasta with a cream sauce would work well.  Drink over the next couple of years.  

Anyone who has ever visited San Gimignano probably has a soft spot in their heart for it.  A beautiful picturesque hillside town, famous for its towers.  This winery has been making wines here since 1996, so how come I am just now hearing about it?  So it goes in  the world of wine.  But this wine is excellent!  Light yellow/gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with apples, some minerals and slight pine.  Medium bodied.  But the tension in this wine.  It's precision.  Tight layers.  Bright acidity.  It wakes up the palate and then satisfies it.  The palate has great minerality

This one is drinking very nicely at 9 years from vintage.  Ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, slight black cherries, rose and slight menthol.  Medium bodied.  Medium tannins.  On the palate, nice cherry fruit with underlying char and a bit of woodiness (sticks?).  Good acidity.  This is accessible now and may still improve but no reason to wait.  It should easily go another seven to ten years.  This drinks nicely on its own but will be better with food.  Pasta with mushrooms in a cream sauce should be excellent.  

From one of the top producers in this part of the world,  His Valpolicellas are better and more serious than most Amarones (and more expensive, too).  This is a blend of 70% Corvina,  20% Rondinella, 5% Croatina and 5% Oseleta grapes.  Purple in color, opaque and flat.  This is a dense, concentrated wine.  The nose has cherries, cedar, leather, dark chocolate and a hint of VA (just enough to raise the aromatics without being off putting).  Full bodied.  Concentrated.  Firm tannins with a lush texture.  On the palate, this is teeth staining and delicious.  Cherries, black cherries, with some