We asked our wine buyers to recommend good-value Italian red wines to enjoy this spring and beyond. Here are six we think will become favourites for 2018… Even if you have your ‘go-to’ wines, one of the joys of wine appreciation is finding a new bottle that surprises you and goes on to become a favourite. […]
Piedmont’s Gavi and Arneis wines remain in the shadow of the region’s mighty reds, but their star continues to rise in the world of white wines. We take a look at some of the best Piedmont is a region renowned for its bold red wines. Most wine lovers will have heard of its big players: […]
Although we now associate Italy with iconic red wines, in fact, the greatest wines of Ancient Rome were sweet whites. Italia! delves into Italian dessert wines… The Classical texts of Cato, Pliny and Virgil tell us that the Romans liked their wines white, sweet and oak-aged. This was (and still is) achieved by picking selected […]
From ‘Super Tuscan’ to Brunello, there are plenty of fine Tuscan non-Chianti reds, and they’re not all super-expensive either. Here’s a selection of Tuscan reds your wallet will love… Traditionally in Tuscany, if you were making red wine, you used indigenous Italian grape varieties like Sangiovese and that was that. During the late 1960s and […]
Once the go-to Italian white with mediocre credentials, now is the time to take another look at Pinot Grigio – the fine examples being produced today are worthy of our attention. Grown throughout northern Italy, the Pinot Grigio grape is most widely found in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Veneto, Umbria, Trentino and Emilia-Romagna. Not that long ago, any […]
Bring a dash of Italian style to the festive season with our gift ideas for the whole family Adopt an Olive Tree For an unusual gift that lovers of Italian food will adore, why not adopt an olive tree? The recipient of your gift will be sent an adoption certificate and a welcome pack, together […]
How do you choose from the thousands of gastronomic festivals throughout Italy? We’ve made it easy for you with five of the best to tickle your tastebuds… International White Truffle Fair Alba, Piedmont Do you love ’em or hate ’em? Well, if you’ve got a smidgen of Italian joie de vivre coursing though your veins, the […]
From the sweet and fruity to the bitter and boisterous, Italy has an impressive heritage of alcoholic tipples. We had a lot of fun picking our five of the best… Grappa One of Italy’s oldest alcoholic drinks, historians speculate that grappa may have been around for up to 1,500 years. It was probably developed in […]
Sangiovese is the only grape permitted in the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, where the people of the town make one of Italy’s best wines. But eight years ago, they nearly lost it all… In 2008, a scandal broke in Montalcino. It was said that certain people in this small but highly prestigious DOCG region had […]
Rich and deep and made for ageing, Barolo is Italy’s most famous wine – and the one that brings producers up and down the country the most prestige… When people talk about Italy making truly world-class wines, when they start talking about Italy being on a par with France as a wine-making nation – and […]