Certainly, Amarone is expensive due to supply and demand, but it’s also due to the unique production method used to make these wines. Made from partially dried grapes (mainly Corvina, but also Corvinone, Rondinella, and others), it simply takes a lot of effort and time to produce, from hand-harvesting to long fermentations and aging. The […]
Amarone Assault #3 Read More »
For the first time in the fourteen years that we have been doing these tastings, we had a triple-win (the less optimistic may refer to this as a three-way tie). Two of them turned out to be the same bottling (also relatively rare) that received votes from all tasters, plus one bottle that received the
This was our second comparison of wines from Sicily (the first was in May 2007), and was again more of a sampler compared to the usual format of our tastings, with three whites and three reds. Overall, these were well-made wines, leaving us pleased about the state of winemaking in Sicily, with the whites being
Sicilian Showdown #2 Read More »
While we’ve compared wines from Italy’s Piedmont before, this was the first time we focused purely on the appellation of Barbaresco. Not surprisingly, this was an impressive lineup, and though there was a clear winner (and great value), all the wines were well-made and all received points. We would have not been disappointed by any
Rosso di Montalcino wines are made from the same grape as the revered wines of Brunello di Montalcino. These grapes are grown within the exact same geographic boundary as Brunello. So what’s the difference? For many, the most obvious answer is price — these “baby Brunellos” cost less than half the dollars of their
Rosso di Montalcino Throwdown Read More »
An astonishing five years had passed since our first Barolo Battle, which is far too long a period to go without an organized tasting of such great wines. Our results this time confirmed the greatness of this appellation, with all the entries being well-made and interesting. Every taster gave Josephine’s bottle their #1 vote, a
This was the second round of the Battle of the Unusual Italian Whites (the first being in September 2009), focusing on some whites that don’t get a ton of attention from consumers. Our top three wines were only separated by three points, and everyone felt that these were very good pairs with food. While our
Battle of the Unusual Italian Whites #2 Read More »
February marked the 10th anniversary of the beginning of these tastings, so we thought it fitting to taste the same wine category from the one that started it all. Our top two bottles were actually the same wine, and though nobody at the table suspected they were matches, we all dithered about which one
Battle of the Italian Merlots #2 Read More »
We tried these wines hoping that they would be a good middle ground between higher-priced Chianti Classicos and the usually unworthy basic Chianti, and for the most part, they lived up to the billing. There are seven Chianti sub-zones surrounding the heart of Chianti, and while it’s difficult to find many of them in
Chianti Sub-Zone Challenge Read More »
Astonishingly, it had been since March 2005 since we had last tasted the great wines of Amarone. While none of the wines were poor, the top wine finished with everyone’s top vote – a rare occurrence. Kristin repeated her first place finish with these wines, clearly showing she knows how to pick a top-level Amarone. And
Amarone Assault #2 Read More »