bianco-rosso

Go over the Tanaro River from Barbaresco, or north of Alba, and you are in Roero. As with their Piedmontese neighbours, Arneis, Barbera and Nebbiolo grow across the Roero communes, with a sprinkl...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/02/matteo-correggia-arneis-docg-2012.html

Cantina Girlan is a co-operative established in 1923, working with a wide range of Northern Italian white and red grape varieties as well as making blends of these. This wine is from their "Clas...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/02/girlan-pinot-bianco-2012-sudtirolalto.html

This is the entry point red from famed Amarone producer Quintarelli. There is Corvina and Corvinone here, but not Rondinella or Molinara grapes. Bringing up the rest of the blend is some Cabernet...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/02/giuseppe-quintarelli-primofiore-igt.html

Serious Dolcetto here. A silky line, fuzzed up by well-extracted fruit tannin. Lots of length. As with the Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba, there is a beautiful lift of mouth-perfume here, on top of t...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/02/luciano-sandrone-dolcetto-dalba-2011.html

While I am still not convinced that Nebbiolo is for me, wines like this make a persuasive case for their place on the dinner table. The 'Valmaggiore' in the name of this bottling is a referen...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/02/luciano-sandrone-valmaggiore-nebbiolo.html

This is a new white blend from Pizzini, with a different varietal mix and character from the initial release. Riesling, Gewurtztraminer and Pinot Grigio are the varieties used. That mix says the ...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/02/pizzini-white-roman-2012-king-valley.html

I had hoped the 2010 vintage of Isole e Olena's Chianti Classico would come close to the quality of their 2006 release, which has been a favourite Chianti of mine. But not to be. I looked at th...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/02/isole-e-olena-chianti-classico-2010.html

Hilltops (draw a circle around Young in New South Wales) is a good region for a range of Italian red grapes. As the cherry and prune plum orchards in both regions indicate, there is a fair fit be...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/01/grove-estate-italian-nebbiolo-primitivo.html

Nocino is one of my favourite things to drink after dinner. Gentle, complex, faintly herbal, more cola-like flavour than anything particularly nutty; my first batch is three year old and drinking...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2014/01/nocino.html

Sherried at the front, honey and lemon juice through the middle. Aromatics are quite subtle, lemon, pear and dry hay. Length is good, mostly about a salty, mineral character and the last bits o...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/11/castellari-bergaglio-gavi-fornaci.html

Lemon juice and curd, a bit of dry herb, a salty, briny lick of flavour, this attractively-priced Sicilian white blend of Inzolia and Chardonnay is a Costco offering. Not a wide, mouth-filling sh...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/11/feudo-zirtari-inzolia-chardonnay-2011.html

Lots of flavour in this Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio, mostly in the pear (gris) spectrum. A little dried apple and the faintest trace of citrus, carried along by residual sugar to a finish that is ...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/11/tiefenbrunner-pinot-grigio-2012.html

Brought in by Beaune & Beyond, this 2010 Chianti Classico from biodynamic Tuscan producer Querciabella needs some time to settle and mesh. Previous Querciabella Chianti releases have had a 5% boo...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/11/querciabella-chianti-classico-2010.html

The Vecchie Terre di Montefili site, between Panzano and Greve, is high (550m), rocky and low in soil fertility. Aside from the incongruity of those cypress (which reminds me a little of a Jeff...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/11/vecchie-terre-di-montefili-chianti.html

Here's a good example of a flavoursome white from the north of Italy that does not rely on fruit character. The Südtirol / Alto Adige producer Peter Zemmer makes a dozen different whites with an...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/11/peter-zemmer-pinot-bianco-2012-alto.html

Continuing my run of northern Italian whites. Fattori is a family-owned and run producer, operating since the 1970s out of the Veneto. Their white wines come from a mixture of varieties grown o...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/11/fattori-roncha-2011-veneto.html

Friuli has been in the news a bit of late, courtesy of Fulvio Bressan, and for attitudes about race rather than their wines. Producers from the region, such as Schiopetto, deserve a different kin...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/10/schiopetto-collio-friulano-2010-friuli.html

The twelfth Moda 'amarone' made by Primo Estate, this is 90% cabernet sauvignon from McLaren Vale and 10% merlot from both the Vale and Coonawarra. This bottle (apalling, powdered cork, but sound...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/10/primo-estate-joseph-moda-amarone.html

Big, rich, wild & juicy, this is still characterised by the sour cherry, acid cut and drying tannin of Sangiovese. There is 5% Colorino to lift the colour and weight of fruit. The mulberry and wi...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/09/rocca-de-montegrossi-2011-chianti.html

Earlier this week, I made it along to a tasting of a dozen Mencia wines from Spain. I have a lot of time for the Mencia grape and was keen to see wines from Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra and parts nearby...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/09/pieropan-la-rocca-soave-2011-veneto.html

Biondi-Santi's Rosso di Montalcino is intended for earlier drinking than their long-lived Brunello. The 2009 Rosso is a softly-spoken kind of wine. Quietly assured, no clamour for attention, no t...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/09/biondi-santi-rosso-di-montalcino-2009.html

Earlier this year I spent a bit of time tooling around Glenrowan, checking in to the old vine Trebbiano at Booths Taminick and a quick look at the Bailey's vintage port. Whereas I went to Baileys...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/08/morrisons-of-glenrowan-fiano-garganega.html

More Valpolicella. Peppery spice, sap and stalk to smell. Fruit to the rear, but it is there, as are tannin and acid, tucked down under. If Valpolicella had a cool climate shiraz love child, th...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/06/corte-santalda-ca-fiui-valpolicella.html

Higher alcohol does not preclude balance in sangiovese, but can make it hard to present a wine that tastes varietal. Which can be no big deal, if what you are aiming for is something other than v...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/06/alpha-box-dice-blood-of-jupiter-2008.html

Continuing my recent run of wines from the Veneto. The 2010 dry white from Quintarelli ended up on the same French bistro table (Pulp Kitchen in Ainslie) as the Tommasi Ripasso. With a plate of...

http://biancorossowine.blogspot.com/2013/06/quintarelli-bianco-secco-2010-veneto.html