Italy – Here I Come

So, this happened this week.  I booked a trip to go to Tuscany, Italy.  I’ve never been to Europe before, so it’s my first time crossing that ocean.  I am going as part of a wine tour.  Going with a like-minded group of people, who all love wine, and we’ve rented a villa in Tuscany.  And it has a pool, and there’s going to be wine, lots of wine.  Apologies to my liver in advance.  So for the beginning of this blog, we are heading to Tuscany,  The launch vibrant rolling hills of Tuscany!

I got to enjoy this beauty when I was taking my Methods in Modern Winemaking course.  This is a beautiful Classico Chianti from Marchesa Antinori.  Is it a coincidence that my first wine is from the Tuscany region, I think not!  It’s a beautiful Chianti that is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.  Antinori was the first vineyard to ignore DOC regulations and make a Chianti style wine that blended Sangiovese and Cabernet, back in 1971.  Others followed suit and Super Tuscan wines were becoming a fantastic hit among consumers. Regular readers will remember me talking about Super Tuscan wines in the past.  They are wines from Tuscany that incorporate non-Italian grapes like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.  We enjoyed it in a blind taste test and the brownish hue told me it was an older wine. There were some wood notes on the nose, along with stewed fruits and spice.  Aged in oak for 14 months, the tannins are great on this wine and it says Italian all the way.

Another well known winemaker from Tuscany is the Frescobaldi name.  This is one of the vineyards we will be visiting on our wine tours, and I am so looking forward to it.  The name Frescobaldi and Tuscany go hand in hand, as the family has been making wine there for 700 years.  Imagine how well you do something, when you’ve been doing it for 700 years.   This is also one of the very affordable Frescobaldi Chianti wines, selling for just $18.  Medium-bodied and very fruity, its a lovely expression of a Tuscan wine.

We are going to leave Italy and head to Nova Scotia.  Isn’t it great how wine allows you to do that.  This locally made Baco Noir from Blomidon Estate was fantastic.  Baco Noir is grown in several areas of Canada, including Nova Scotia, and I love its inky dark color.  It’s a hybrid grape, which means its a cross between two other grapes, and grows well in cooler climates like Canada.  This one has hints of smoky blueberries and is a fantastic wine to go with pork dishes.

And now for my wine of the week, we head to France…

This delcious wine is from the Burgundy region in France, and is of course Pinot Noir.  Very fruity wine with strawberry and cherry flavors, and its also a very balanced wine.  Soft tannins makes for a smooth journey from  palate to tummy.  I was reading that the wine cellars of this vineyard in Burgundy contains over 100,000 bottles of wine, the oldest dating back to 1908.  Imagine getting locked in that wine cellar!  At $50 a bottle, it’s a treat, but worth it.

Well, that’s it for me this week.   In the upcoming week I may have to be trying a few more Tuscan wines.  I don’t leave until May 19th so it won’t be all Italian between now and then?

Until next week, Cheers

Darlene