2012 Librandi Ciro Rosato, Calabria, Italy
To be sure, this is the first time I’ve seen or sampled a wine made from 100 percent Gaglioppo grape. It finds its home in the Calabrian region of Italy, which likewise is not always the first that comes to mind when one thinks of that country’s… Read more
NV Stella Rosa ‘Stellaberry,’ Italy
Take a sweet Moscato wine that is a perennial best-seller, add a bit of natural berry flavors, and what do you have? A crowd-pleaser, that’s what. The sweet nose shows lots of strawberry and raspberry flavor, which follows through in the mouth…. Read more
2011 Serragghia Fanino Catarratto e Pignatello, Pantelleria, Italy
Psst! Hipster wine geeks! Look here! Made from old vines on a virtually unknown island near Sicily? Check. Vinified in clay amphorae, the old way? Check. Entirely natural? Check. Impossibly strange? Check, double check, triple… Read more
2005 Fattoria Le Pupille, Tuscany, Italy
Opaque dark crimson color. Oodles of smoke, earth, and nuts, which gives way to show dark chocolate, cherry liqueur, citrus, and anise. The tannins at the end are chewy. Cellar for a few more years. Retail Wine Price: $50 Wine Lines rating:… Read more
2009 Enzo Boglietti Nebbiolo Langhe, Piemonte, Italy
Translucent bright ruby color. A mélange of aromas, including cherry, banana essence, pie crust spices, and berry fruit. Initial sweet fruit impression in the mouth, then shows some earthiness mid-palate and some grip at the end. Retail Wine… Read more
2010 Cantina Girlan Aimé Gewürztraminer, Alto Adige, Italy
Bronzed straw color. Aromas and flavors of litchi nut, honeysuckle, light rosewater, and honeyed fruit. sweet and viscous on the palate. Retail Wine Cost: $20 Wine Lines rating:… Read more
2010 Azienda Agricola Donati Camillo Malvasia dell Emillia ‘Il Mio”
Malvasia is hardly a commonly known grape in the U.S. market, and this is hardly your everyday sparkler. Gold and almost appearing oxidized, there’s pear, cedar, beeswax and lemon balm on the nose, with a taste remotely akin to slightly sweet cider…. Read more
2011 Frank Cornelissen ‘Susucaru 4,’ Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy
Frank Cornelissen makes the kind of wine I adore — and other people frequently (and quite literally) turn their noses up at. Cornelissen’s wines, vinified from a combination of white and red grapes that grow on the side of the volcano, are not… Read more
2010 Terredora Dipaolo Aglianico, Red Blend, Campania, Italy
Bright red berry fruit mingles with ashen, volcanic soil that lends a dusty, flinty quality to this light Italian red best served with a slight chill. Smooth and quaffable, there’s an acidic finish that makes this wine easy to drink with robust… Read more
2011 A-Mano Fiano-Greco, Puglia, Italy
Light straw color. The crisp, floral nose has haunting aromas of exotic, fleshy tropical fruit. There is a pretty, sweet-tart juiciness in the mouth that begs for the next sip. This unusual grape blend is a refreshing change-of-pace white that would… Read more
