There are over 35 D.O.C. and D.O.C.G.s in Tuscany, for now I am concentrating only on two, Cortona and Montepulciano. Since I often try wines from different areas of Tuscany you will find them here.
At some point I plan on adding more sub-categories to the Tuscany menu to break it down by region, but in the meantime here are my “Tuscany” tasting notes, please enjoy!
Even as I read the title of this blog post I am taken aback. Petit Verdot from Chianti? 100% AND barrel aged? What, what??? Interestingly enough I discovered this Petit Verdot at the Chianti Classico Collection 2014 event in Florence. Terreno was there with their Chianti wines and just happened to be pouring tastes of their unique Petit Verdot. It was downright startling after tasting all of the different Chianti but then after my next sip I realized just how amazing this wine is! I had to have my own bottle…perhaps more than just one....
read moreI had the pleasure of meeting Riccardo Talenti and tasting his newly released Brunellos at Benvenuto Brunello 2013. Besides being very charming and approachable (I’m talking about Riccardo!), I was very impressed with the new Talenti Brunello releases. Here’s the skinny: Talenti Brunello 2008 – Not a lot on the nose, but it was the beginning of the day and the bottle had just been opened. In the mouth there was red fruits, hints of orange and definite cocoa powder. The fruit is bright enough on this one that it will be...
read moreWhen art makes wine. With a little sex thrown in. Soffocone di Vincigliata comes from Azienda Agricola Testamatta in the hills of Fiesole, just above Florence. The owner, Bibi Graetz, of Italian/Norwegian descent, is an artist who only started making wine in the late 90’s with the help of winemaker Alberto Antonini who worked with him for four years using Graetz’s family land. Antonini has worked with Antinori, Frescobaldi, E & J Gallo, Altos Las Hormigas, Concha y Toro, just to name a few. By 2006 Graetz had Robert Parker...
read moreI had the absolute pleasure to attend THE Benvenuto Brunello 2013 event this past Monday in Montalcino and taste many of the newly released Brunellos. WAY too many to talk about in one post but I promise to report all my findings soon. As the icing on the cake we stopped in at Casanova di Neri on our way back to Cortona, where I literally was RUINED for all other Riserva Brunellos 2007. And trust me, I tried some really good ones. All of the Casanova di Neri Brunellos are fantastic, from the Rosso di Montalcino to the Brunello to the Tenuta...
read moreThank goodness I’m a wine blogger. Otherwise I don’t know what excuses I have for all the crazy great wine I imbibe. Take Friday night, for instance. Mutual friend comes into town. Dinner plans are made, small group of friends gather including our Cortona wine shop owner, Marco Molesini. Which in itself is great because Marco is fun. But Marco also likes wine. Good wine. And he has a wine shop. And if you own a wine shop why would you every order wine off a menu? Yes, it does suck to have friends like that if just for the...
read moreCould the last wine tasting dinner of the season have been any more fabulous? I don’t think so. Hosted by Molesini Wine Shop and Del Brenna Jewelry, the free wine tasting in the piazza was already teetering on over the top. As we arrived late to the party as usual, they were lighting a couple of lanterns at the tasting, creating quite the spectacle, but in a-very-amazing-ambiance-at-dusk kind of way! There was a lovely line up. Biserno, the featured winery of the night, was pouring generously for the tasting in front of the Molesini...
read moreTalk about being in the right place at the right time! The other night we met up with visiting friends over dinner and later walked over to visit yet another friend, our fabulous local chef Emiliano Rossi of Osteria del Teatro and newly opened the little Fett’Unta Fiaschetteria. Having just finished serving dinner to the masses, Emiliano welcomed us by opening a bottle of Fontodi Case Via Syrah 1999 vintage. Breaking it down: Pour a wine into a loooong decanter and you’ve impressed me. Yes, I know, I’m easy like that....
read moreContent-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit this is just a test — Tania von Barkenhagen Blog/Photojournal: Eurobimbo’s Journey to Enlightenment Tuscan Countryside Tours & Cortona Cooking Classes: Tuscan-tours.com 3 bedroom rental in a Tuscan Farmhouse: Casa bel Posto 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil: L’Arte dell’Olivo Email:...
read moreSaturday night we had a late dinner up in Cortona and none of us were able to decide on the wine after multiple passes at the menu. I had to take matter into my own hands and decided we would try an IGT Toscana I had never heard of. The Rocca di Montemassi Sassabruna 2006. Breaking it down: My initial thoughts, with “the group“ consensus, was great value. Only 18 Euro on the restaurant menu AND an IGT from the Maremma where a lot of yummy wines are coming from these days (yes, as a matter of fact “yummy” is an...
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