I was excited for a presentation and tasting for wines of Masciarelli the other week during Milano Wine Week. Yes, there was a Milano Wine Week, and it was in Houston, too, at least as a part of it, via videoconference.  I was familiar with Masciarelli as a value producer of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.  I knew that it had some well regarded wines but I had just experienced its base wine, a very affordable rustic red that would adequately wash down a weekday dinner.  This tasting highlighted some of its best bottlings, both Montepulciano and the white Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, all of which turned out to be quite good.  That wasn’t surprising.  Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, along with Barolo, are the favorite wines of legendary restaurateur Piero Selvaggio, who won a James Beard Award for wine and whose Valentino in Santa Monica had, for decades, one of the very best wine collections in the country
 
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo ("mohn-tay-pool-chee-AHN-oh duh-BROOTZ-oh) translates to the native red Montepulciano grape from the largely mountainous Italian region of Abruzzo that is east of Rome and abuts the Adriatic in the center of the country. Both the mountains and sea give the wines its often unique character. From Burton Anderson's The Wines of Italy these are generally, "full-bodied, even robust, with a capacity to age but with a supple smoothness that can make it eminently drinkable even when young." These wines have gotten much better in the past couple of decades, especially at the higher price points. These are the ones that Selvaggio really likes. But, bargains still abound.  Eric Asimov in The New York Times had an informative piece some years ago, "For Wine Lovers on a Budget, Try Montepulciano d'Abruzzo."
 
The better Montepulciano’s from Masciarelli, from the Marina Cvetic and Villa Gemma, provide something a little different, even for those familiar with Italian wines – a leanness to the wines, a lean structure.  Still deeply rub red colored, but the rusticity, maybe the most noticeable facet of the inexpensive versions of Montepulciano, is not much in evidence in these.  There are still noticeable tannins, but are firm and smooth, but the nose in each is noticeable, exuberant for the Villa Gemma Rosso Riserva 2017. The wines are smooth and flavorful.  Delicious, especially, with the Villa Gemma, which retails for around $80. The Marina Cvetic sells for roughly $30. 
 
To note, it's not related to the similarly named Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Tuscany. That is made with a clone of Sangiovese. These can also be very fine wines, too, and a wine label with even more syllables.

When we finally booked our rental in Verona for June, I knew for sure that I was going to head to Soave, just about a half-hour away, during the stay there.  That was because of ignorance.  I really didn’t know much at all about the wines of Soave other than a few producers like Pieropan and Pra were highly regarded and I remember enjoying those in the past.  Soave is made primarily with the Garganega grape, which is largely unknown to most, myself included.  Reading about the spectacular, brand new winery at Pieropan made the trip there even more desired.  Then the town of Soave was named this spring as the "Borgo dei Borghi 2022” or the most beautiful village in Italy by an Italian travel television show.  The most beautiful village in all of Italy, which is filled with hundreds of beautiful villages, towns and cities, is quite something.  I felt that it would have been a sin not to visit.
 
Thankfully, we were able to get a reservation for a tour and tasting.  As Italy has changed with he pandemic and reservations required for seemingly most everything, we almost missed our chance.  My brother and sister-in-law ran to the winery near the close of business the previous day to sweettalk us into a nearly last-minute spots for a visit.
 
Not far from the autostrada, the next day our van drove through some of the village and then snaking through vineyards to a parking space in front of the winery.  Pieropan’s entrance is rather dramatic: numerous irregular tan columns set in front of a lengthy curving portico with a walkway leading to small glass door entrance and the bulk of the winery hid under the rising hilltop that is covered in more vines.  I’ve been to a number of wineries, mostly in Italy, and I’ve never seen anything like Pieropan in Soave.  Finally finished and opening to the public in April and costing a reported 20 million euros, it takes advantage of current technology, inspired industrial design, beautiful contemporary architecture, a minimalist décor, and a strong sensibility for a low-impact to the environment and sustainability in production.
 
After an introduction by the entrance, our smallish group was lead through dark gray, mostly unadorned and soaring hallways to the first of the production rooms.  That was one of the most striking aspects of the winery’s design was the compartmentalization.  Each part of the wine production – crushing, fermentation, aging for each type of Soave, bottling, packaging – seemed to have its own room.  Another was the extensive use of nitrogen, which was distributed from a room of its own, too.  Pieropan claims to be one of the first to use nitrogen in the bottles, allowing for much less use of sulfites as a preservative, just 30 to 40 grams.  Those lower amounts help the wines age much better they believe.  Their basic Calvarino bottlings of Soave can easily age fifteen to twenty years.
 
Large rectangular fermentation tanks fit snuggly against each other with no wasted space in the fermentation room.  The aging room for Calvarino initially appeared to be something out of Alien, large almost egg-like cement vessels in two sizes set in three straight rows alighted from below in a largely darkened room.  The next chambers, for wood-aged La Rocca wines was nearly as dramatic, featured rows of similar-looking red-banded tonneaux, the French 500-liter barrels, on the floor with a few larger vertical wood tanks visible along the walls, and a pithy phrase shown in neon above some of them.  We saw rooms for bottling, for the direct distribution to restaurants in Italy of specially aged bottles, and for bulk distribution that had plenty of space for trucks to be loaded.  There was a lot of extra space for substantial expansion.  The winery makes around 700,000 bottles of Soave now.  The most surprising thing to me was that there are just two production employees, if I heard our guide correctly.  That is efficient.
 
There were several other men in our small group for the tour.  Tall and poorly dressed, I assumed that they were German or Dutch.  Taking non-touristy photos like the inside of a large fermentation vessel and asking very technical questions, it turned out that they were from a winery in Croatia getting tips and inspiration.  There was a lot to learn from this new subterranean palace.
 
Though each of us was quite impressed with the design and look of the winery, we were mostly there to taste the wines, which did not disappoint after we had moved to a clean-lined conference room that looked out to the expanse of vines.  All were beautiful balanced, fruity enough and noticeable acidity and a certain depth of flavor.  Pieropan’s wines are made only with organic grapes if selected yeasts.  From the base Soave Classico, crisp and tasty and a very welcome aperitif, especially on a warm day.  The Calvarino Soave that is aged in the glass-lined cement tanks was my favorite, with a pronounced minerality, a salinity, and a long taste and notable finesse.  The wood-aged La Rocca was a favorite of a few of the others, offering a different, more deeply flavored aspect of the Garganega, with even a small portion of grapes that might see some botrytis depending on the year.  We also tasted a Valpolicella that Pieropan makes in a separate winery in the Valpolicella territory just to the west of Soave.  They “make red wine like white wine.”  Delicious, too.
 
A visit to Pieropan was the start to a very enjoyable day – there were two more stops in Soave – and one of the highlights of two weeks in Italy this summer.

All photos courtesy of Rob Montoya with the exception of the "Pieropan" wall, which is from Italian Weekly Wine News.

The name “Soave” doesn’t mean much to most wine drinkers.  If the name resonates at all, it doesn’t resonate well: it’s as a bland or insipid white wine, at least for those with a few vintages under their belts back when Soave was one of the most popular wines from Italy.  And, much of what was sold here under the Soave banner – from Bolla, for example – was truly bland and insipid.  However, the influential Italian wine critic James Suckling has asserted that “Soave should be your go-to dry white for food… [as a] fresh Soave pairs well with almost everything on your dinner table thanks to its approachable styles, freshness and wonderful balance that are keys to drinkability.”  That was a key take-away after recently spending nearly a week in Verona and visiting a few wineries in nearby Soave, the town, which gives its name to white wines made there and close by.
 
The cool, typically crisp, slightly fruity and balanced, surprisingly fuller flavored than anticipated Soaves, often with welcome minerality, paired extremely well with the very warm Italian summer and the Italian version of air conditioning.  Thanks to its evident acidity, these are very capable and versatile food wines, as Suckling wrote, more so we found with lighter fare.  We drank quality versions readily, as an aperitif, with the pasta course and even at the end of the evening.  
 
Soave does not feature a well-known varietal.  It is made with a minimum of 70% Garganega and a maximum 30% Trebbiano di Soave, which is Verdicchio in the Marche region, and possibly also up to 5% of Chardonnay.  Pronounced gar-GAHN-eh-guh, Garganega came to the Veneto, where it is almost solely grown, centuries ago from Sicily where its antecedent is known as Grecanico.
 
The Soaves we quite enjoyed there were: Ca’ Rugate Soave Classico 2021 San Michele; I Campi Soave Classico Campo Vulcano 2020; Le Battistelle Soave Classico 2021; Pra Otto Soave 2021; and three different expressions from Pieropan.  I was hooked, but it can take some effort to find these are similar quality Soave here.  There are seven Soaves at the closest Total Wine to me, including the terrific, mineral-laden Calvarino that regularly garners a prestigious Tre Bicchieri rating from Gambero Rosso and the richer, La Rocca that is aged for fifteen months in fairly large barrels then in 500-liter tonneaux, both that I really enjoyed both at the winery and afterwards.  The big Spec’s on Smith Street has only five, but the base bottling from Pieropan, the Soave Classico, which is still quite nice.  Be sure to check the vintage dates at Spec’s, which can’t really be trusted, especially for its Italian white wines.  From Houston for Soave, it might be easier to order from out of town.

At the new Pieropan winery in June in Soave.

“Wine was food, part of the necessary calories of the day” for those that worked here in years past said Vittorio delle Ore, the proprietor of the Villa di Maser, to our small group visiting earlier this summer.  Even the site of the villa, long called Villa Barbaro after its founders, was because the Barbaro brothers in the mid-16th century thought it was advantageous for vineyards he further explained. 
 
That statement was not surprising to me, but the juxtaposition of it with the extraordinary setting, in one of the most famous buildings designed by Andrea Palladio – “the perfect Renaissance villa,” according to a British Academy article and part of a UNESCO World Heritage site – while we were surrounded by magnificent and sometimes whimsical frescoes by Renaissance master Paolo Veronese covering its walls and ceilings, helped to emphasize just how important wine has been to Italian life over the centuries.  Though wine is luxury to many people today, where vineyards grew historically, wine was an important part of the daily diet for nearly all.
 
And in a link to its history, the vineyards here are still producing wine, now under the Villa di Maser label.  Wine remains a significant part of Italian life, maybe not as essential to everyday living but important for economic and cultural reasons, not to mention gastronomic and celebratory.  And, Villa di Maser’s wine were part of our enjoyment later.

The front of Villa di Maser, from Wikipedia

The strong smell of fish wafted by as the waiter brought a second platter with two very popular local items, baccalà and slices of prosciutto crudo, to the pair of slight college-aged women sitting nearby in the alleyway that provides the seating for the suitably small wine bar La Piccola Vineria in the medieval section of the port city of Trieste in Italy’s northeastern edge.  It’s certainly something not to be seen in wine bars in this country, an order, much less two, of reconstituted salt cod as happy hour snacks.  Nor the prices, which hovered around four euros – just four dollars these days – for most of the dozen or so likely delicious selections by the glass.  These are high quality wines that are at least $15 to $20 per glass here, if imported.  Maybe it was a little cheaper than most, but this is emblematic of the wine bars in Trieste, where high quality wine is very affordable, as the city lies quite near terrific wine areas all around, especially the Collio – which extends Brda in adjacent Slovenia – but also the Carso and Friuli Colli Orientali.
 
The wines of the Collio are generally serious but approachable, seemingly always with evident minerality, sufficient and enjoyable fruit notes, a complexity, pleasant acidity – a brightness – and nearly always balance among its white varietals from the crisp Ribolla Gialla both in still and sparkling versions; Pinot Grigio, which seems to reach its apex here; the local favorite Friuliano that seems made to accompany seafood; the rich and savory Sauvignon and Chardonnay, both tasting different than elsewhere and nearly always quite pleasurable.  And others.  I believe that it is clearly best region for white wine in Italy.  And then the wines from the small Carso appellation surrounding Trieste, lead by light and often almond-scented Vitoska, Malvasia, the unique, vivid red Terrano, can be quite nice.
 
Though it was wine that played a part in bringing me to Trieste – I had been on a trip nearby sponsored by the consortiums of Collio and Carso a decade ago – it took me a few days to discern the bars where best to discover and enjoy quality wines, as I didn’t come across signs announcing “wine bar” or its Italian counterpart “enoteca” in my walks around the city.  I miss some things.  There are certainly no shortage of places to get a glass of wine in the tourist-friendly expanse of central Trieste, though.  Cafés and restaurants both with plenty of sidewalk-facing seating abound.  Coffee might be the beverage that most would associate Trieste with.  It is home to the famed Illy brand, around 40% of Italy’s coffee comes through its port, and there are still a few grand Viennese-style cafés.  Then Trieste has culture of drinking that might be more pronounced than elsewhere in Italy due, in part, to its Austrian and Slavic influences. The enjoyment of coffee, aperitivi and wine might be on display at many of these places, often at the same time, even well before noon.
 
You can get some really good wine by the glass at many or all of these, but it really helps to do some research.  I finally did that, or remembered some, after my first few days.  My unimpressive and uncomfortably warm business hotel had a magazine guide of the city from the end of last year, and in it was a page recommending spots to drink wine from Stefano Cosma, a food and wine writer in the area.  I also found a piece online a few years earlier from the estimable Jancis Robinson and re-read a helpful “36 Hours in Trieste, Italy” from The New York Times.  I used these to track down a spots, and wines, especially where there was overlap between the articles. 
 
Here are wine bars to suggest in Trieste near the tourist heart of the city, all unpretentious, which provided some excellent white wines to help quench my summertime thirst:

• Al Ciketo – Just off the pedestrian via Cavanna that is strewn with shops and restaurants, and a stone’s throw from La Piccola Vineria, this tiny, atmospheric place with alleyway seating can be a popular happy hour stop, and it’s blackboard filled with interesting wines both local and from elsewhere in Italy and there are cicchetti, small plates, to accompany.
• Enoteca Nanut – Around for a quarter of a century tucked away in the touristic center by the Canal Grande but easy to miss, here you can explore lesser-known Italian labels along or indulge in bubbles from Champagne, and it has a kitchen, too.
• Gran Malabar – Walking by, a visitor would probably just see this as a comfortable attractive café with tables on the small piazza in front.  The chalkboard of wines by the glass is notable, enticing with about three dozen selections, mostly white and mostly regional, but also a nice collection of bubbles from Champagne and Franciorta, and items like Gaja’s Chardonnay and a Gewurztraminer from Elena Walch.  The staff might have no idea what a barrique or tonneaux is, but what they are pouring will be very enjoyable. 
• La Bottiglia Volante – A couple of blocks from the Canal Grande, this smart and contemporary space is inviting and gives off a trendier vibe with its penchant for natural wines.  
• La Piccola Vineria – Invitingly quaint and friendly, you might enjoy a Collio producer like Toros that’s not widely distributed in this country, or even a Champagne from a historic house.
• Portizza – On the busy Piazza della Borsa, this popular café sports a terrific collection of regional wines that many spritz-drinking tourists and locals might not notice.

 
Though these wine bars might be the best places to casually explore the wine regions nearby, seemingly all the local restaurants will serve quality wines for a pittance.  Along those lines, I had to stop and gaze at the wines by the glass menu – “vini alla mescita” – posted outside of a humble restaurant serving the hearty fare of Alto Adige. For between all of between three and five-a-half euros per glass was about a dozen choices including the excellent wineries Venica & Venica, Villa Russiz, Russiz Superiore and Jermman, that last with a couple wines. 
 
Trieste is a wonderful place to drink wine, especially white wines.
 
Something else to mention concerning wine and Trieste: Though it doesn’t ship to the U.S. – I tried when I was there – Enoteca Bischoff, a retail shop along the busy via Mazzini and about a block or so from Enoteca Nanut that’s been around in some form since 1777 is worth a perusal for wine lovers for its impressively curated selection of wines, mostly Italian and well beyond the region and more.

Just the white wines at Gran Malabar in Trieste in June

When asking for recommendations for Verona from a friend in the wine business and a native of Verona, at the top of her list, and bolded at that, was dinner at Antica Bottega del Vino, the famed wine bar-restaurant in the heart of historic city center that boasts one of the best wine lists not just in Italy but the entire world.  With 4,700 interesting selections on its wine list and a cellar of 18,000 bottles, it’s owned by thirteen of the top Amarone and Valpolicella producers and the city of Verona is a nexus for the nearby wine regions of Soave, Bardolino, and Lugana in addition to the fruit of the vines coming from the nearby Valpolicella hills.  The sheer amount of vines that can be seen when driving near Verona is amazing, befitting the largest city in largest wine-producing region in Italy.  I had actually been looking forward to visiting Antica Bottega del Vino for years.
 
My two initial attempts at reservations a week beforehand were not successful; the restaurant was booked for both its seatings for the midweek evening that suited the group.  There were nine of us, which did not help, a big table at a very popular destination with international renown.  I was resigned to just visiting for glass of wine or two sometime during our time there.
 
I did that with a couple others on our first full day in the area.  On lookout for its sign, “Bottega Vini” tucked away on a side street off the marble-laden ritzy retail pedestrian street, Via Mazzini, we finally found it.  Thin and festooned in dark wood, and really not much to the ground floor interior but with an feel of comfort bereft of much fanciness much less pretentiousness, we walked in past the glass case of appealing cicchetti, the area’s version of tapas, just inside and gazed up at the chalk boards behind the bar to decide on the first wine of the visit.  There were thirty whites, rosés, reds and sparklers plus a bakers’ dozen of Amarones, one from each of the houses that own the restaurant - this is certainly the best spot to sample Amarones.  Both an impressive and inviting list of wines by the glass, with neat choices from nearby but also further afield especially from Champagne.  The prices were friendly, too, ranging from €5 to €19, though for an Amarone Riserva, most were well under €10 for wines that might be three times as expensive at restaurants and wine bars here.
 
We started with Bardolino Chiarettos and a Franciacorta Satèn, a rosé from nearby Lake Garda and the lower pressure bottling of that method champagne method wine, and sat down at one of the tables that were empty before the dinner service that begins at 7:00.  The couple at the neighboring table were drinking a rich Valpolicella Ripasso, ignoring the temperature that neared ninety with sufficient humidity.  It was certainly a good wine.  And they turned out to be practiced imbibers, English, saying that they had visited Antica Bottega del Vino on fifteen or so trips to Verona over the past couple of decades, if I heard them correctly.  We soon got shooed outside because of the necessary preparations for dinner and found space at one of the few tall tables set out in front.  Another round ensued, different, chilled wines to sample.  It was a very pleasurable introduction to the place.  I could readily understand why we could not get reservations for dinner: there are maybe eighty seats both inside and out on the street just outside its door.  Maybe.  And it was quite well known to many people who liked wine well beyond Verona.
 
The restaurant was also a favorite of the owners of the villa, Giorgio and Alessandra, we had rented in the hills of the city.  Fortunately for us, they lived in an adjacent property and had mentioned in one of our first conversations with them there our inability to get a table and they had some strings to possibly pull there.  They couldn’t promise anything but would try.  Alessandra notified the next day that she was able to get a table for all nine of us at nine that night under her name.  It’s good to have connections.
 
The visit was prefaced by aperitivos at one of the crowded cafés a few blocks away on Piazza Erbe as my friend suggested.  The aperitivo is welcome part of near-daily life in Verona and much of northern Italy these days, it seems.  Then after one bitter starter, we ambled near the storefronts for Gucci, Burberry, Bottega Veneta and Dolce & Gabbana, we made it to the more humble one for the restaurant.
 
We were seated at the long table not far from the entrance where we initially were the other night when the place was much emptier, greeted with the first side of The Clash's "Combat Rock" in the air seemingly spun from vinyl.  The dinner that night was a lot of fun, one of the highlights of the trip.  As we sat down and begin to order, the street in front of the restaurant and small area near the front of the counter began to fill up with a festive crowd, seemingly mostly locals, not too young nor too old.  Mostly single, at least for the evening, it seemed.  Seated nearby, the indoor dining area is not much, it was a fun environment for a wine-soaked meal. 
 
Antipasto, pasta with truffles as the primo or the house specialty Risotto con Amarone for me next – “Fantastico” was Alessandra’s description – then the meats and finally dessert.  We did it up in the indulgent tourist fashion.  Plenty of wine, too, of course.  It was a joy to thumb through one of the oversized wine lists to try to select the wines, at least once with help from one of its sommeliers.  The Pra Otto Soave, Speri Valpolicella Classico, and Torre d’Orti Valpoicella Ripasso Superiore were each very well made, delicious, complementary to their parts of the meal, and very reasonably priced for American customers.  I did note again that Vitello alla Milanese gets less desirable the further you travel from the Milan area, as mine was drier and less flavorful than it should have been, hence the need for accompaniments of tomatoes and mayonnaise.  No matter, a very enjoyable night.  After finish the desserts and rest of wine and digestivos, I seem to remember, we split up to find cabs in different parts of the city center in a still bustling Verona past midnight on a weekday.
 
Antica Bottega del Vino is a terrific stop for wine whether or not a full dinner is in store.  A number of cicchetti can be a great partner to the second glass of wine and can make for a meal in itself.  The restaurant, the bar, is worth more than just one visit, in fact.  I’m looking forward to a future return.
 
Antica Bottega del Vino
Via Scudo di Francia
37121 Verona, Italy

I can’t believe that I did this, especially warning friends to avoid doing so. “Be careful of the well past prime white wines that Spec’s likes to leave littered on its shelves like brown-tinted booby-traps,” is what I recently wrote.  I had seen too many too old bottles, and in a distressingly frequency, along the Italian white wine aisle at the big Spec’s on Smith Street over the years.  In other aisles, too.  The big format whites and rosés might be as bad for having bad bottles litter its spaces.
 
But, the other day, seeing a producer I liked, one whom I raised toast with during a wine trip to Friuli some years ago, actually, Gradis’ciutta, from a terrific region for white wines, the Collio, I picked up a bottle of its Chardonnay.  And I had a couple Chardonnays on trip to Trieste last month and was still intrigued on how this ubiquitous varietal thrives in a different fashion or fashions in areas near there like the Collio and Carso.  The bottle of Gradis’ciutta was of the brown and in my haste and interest in the wine, I didn’t check the vintage shown in small print on the back of the bottle, 2015.
 
The wine was spoiled and awful.  A small sip and quickly down the drain.
 
I believe that I am done buying wines at Spec’s for now.  It is much safer to purchase wines from Total Wine, Houston Wine Merchant, French Country Wines, Coscto, Whole Foods, etc.

A big glass at that.  On my last night in Italy recently, I went ambling out from my hotel on an early evening with the temperature around ninety accompanied by plenty of uncomfortable humidity in an attempt to snag an initial dinner spot in one of the better restaurants near the historic center of the small town of Conegliano; my e-mails requesting a reservation at maybe the best one went unanswered for the second day in a row.  My first choice was to open at 6:30 according Google, and I wanted to grab a glass of wine or two beforehand in a smart wine bar of which several assuredly existed within a block or two or so.  After all, Conegliano is the home of first school of viticulture and enology in Italy and a base for the prosecco region, a wine style that originated there.   
 
These certain-to-exist wine bars either were not near the old part of town, not what I envisioned or not open around 5:30.  So, I continued to walk toward the restaurant in mind.  It was warm.  After absorbing some more of the weather, I decided to stop into a bar that didn’t appear too promising at first glance, but it was open and it had some semblance of air conditioning.  Bar Ciotta’s.  Serendipitous, as it turned out.  Just opening, the owner was friendly, energetic, evidently passionate about food and wine, thankfully spoke much more English than I did of Italian, and had a really neat short list of wines on a chalkboard on the wall.
 
Still sweating, I ordered a glass of the Piazza Extra Dry Prosecco for all of €3 for a substantial pour in a large wine glass.  I usually prefer Extra Dry for Prosecco, especially on a hot day.  It is just slightly sweeter than the ubiquitous Brut, with typically 12 to 17 grams per liter of residual sugar versus less than 10.  The folks at the informative Wine Folly site seem to agree: “if you haven’t had an Extra Dry Prosecco yet, this style offers a great balance between Prosecco’s fruit, tingly acidity, and subtle sweetness.”
 
The Piazza has even a just little more sugar than typical, about 18  grams per liter, but the wine was nicely balanced and still quite dry, with evident acidity and prefaced with a hint of apples on the nose and soft citrus flavors, all of which I found perfect that late afternoon, especially for the price.  A second one was necessary.  Only 8,000 bottles of this made each year, so it is probably impossible to find here, but Prosecco Extra Dry is something you might want to try, if you enjoy an occasional glass of Prosecco.  It seems to go very well with summer weather there and here.

Chianti is the most recognizable name and image in Italian wine – the Chianti flask – and a fixture at Italian restaurants since there were Italian restaurants in this country.  Though the name “Chianti” is certainly well known, the region and its range of wines not so much.  There is actually a lot to Chianti.  These are both the recognizable, easily consumable and also the hearty and serious red wines from the beautiful, tourist-trafficked heart of Tuscany. 
 
What these have in common is a distinctive, familiar Italian red wine taste: slight bitterness, with a definite tartness along with an earthiness or dustiness, plus cherry, plum or strawberry notes, all of which help make them eminently food-friendly.  These are the prototypically Italian wines for many, and range fairly widely in terms of richness, tannins and complexity, and price, of course.
 
The famous emblem of the Gallo Nero, the black rooster, of Chianti Classico denotes the birthplace and historic heart of Chianti and is home to the most of the most renowned and expensive bottlings, some of which don’t carry the Chianti name at all – those Super Tuscans that grew out from the slow-moving bureaucracy of the wine region a few decades ago.  In addition to Chianti Classico, there are seven, soon to be eight, other subregions plus the overarching Chianti DOC.  So, ten appellations for Chianti, in all.  The Chianti name is spread over larger area of Tuscany than ever before, with well over 3,000 producers.  It’s also better than ever, and maybe more confusing. Then, Chianti Classico has eight subzones.
 
I have certainly drunk a lot of Chianti over the years, purchase it on a regular basis, and have even visited the area a few times, but my knowledge about it was comparatively limited.  A seminar in January hosted by the Chianti consortium helped to grow my understanding.   
 
In 1996, the Chianti Classico zone became independent from the Chianti DOC and the terms for one are a little than for the other.  The larger Chianti area – from Chianti DOC – regulates that wine under the Chianti banner must be between 70% and 100% Sangiovese, including up to 10% that can be white.  Chianti was once known a white wine region, after all.  There are three main categories, which are predicated on aging: annata, the wines that are ready on March 1 after the harvest; Superiore, with at least a year of aging; and Riserva that has two years aging in the cellar.   
 
The fresh young Chiantis, the annata bottlings, are among my favorite wines to consume when I am in central Italy.  These more inexpensive wines are not as imported as readily and are meant to be consumed quickly.  I do enjoy each of the styles when well made, as the good bottlings are “always in balance,” something that the brand ambassador at the seminar and tasting stressed.  The eight wines in the tasting certainly were.  Delicious, too, for the most part.  At events like this, I put a check mark for the wines I am impressed with and truly enjoy.  I checked six of the eight.  My favorites were an annata from Colli Senesi, which is my favorite subzone, where the wines are about the richest in all of Chianti, being the furthest south and often made from Brunello producers who might also have very similar tasting Rosso di Montalcinos.  Three of my other favorites were also 100% Sangiovese like that one, but Riservas from 2018.  Even bigger, more deeply flavored, more complex.  All the wines were indeed very balanced, with very nice fruit – often missing in lackluster bottles – noticeable acidity and a proper amount of tannins depending on the style.  And the wines were without the hint of mustiness that I often associated with Chianti.
 
I’d recommend learning more about Chianti.  That means purchasing and drinking more Chianti.  It will make your meal taste better, and for more than with pizza and tomato sauces.  Nicely, these can still be price performers, making the exploration easier.

I’ve long joked that one of the things that I would definitely do if I won the lottery would be to drink Burgundy daily.  Given the prices of it, from the most sought-after wine region in the world, it would have to be a big lottery payout.  It’s not just because of the preciousness of fine Burgundy.  These are some of my favorite wines, both the Pinot Noir- and Chardonnay-based bottlings.  The former, usually medium-bodied, with tastes of ripe cherries and maybe raspberries balanced featuring a backbone of acidity and with tannins well in the background.  The latter, I found to be the best expression of Chardonnay – as does most everyone world over – often the flavors of apple, apricot and lemon, usually full-bodied with some welcome acidity – and some more of that with Chablis – providing a liveliness and almost always an equilibrium even when aged in the new, small oak barrels that seems too often to get overplayed in the results of the varietal elsewhere.
 
It’s also the great utility of red Burgundy that I appreciate.  I’ve come to accept something I heard at a wine class, seminar, or maybe just from a wine salesman: that red Burgundy, because of its of medium heft, its acidity and light tannins, is the most versatile food wine around.  It can make food and wine pairing much easier.  And, these are quite easy to drink on their own.
 
Over the years, it hasn’t been just the expense causing my hesitation with exploring more of the region, though that is the certainly the primary consideration, but there is also the amount to know to really know Burgundy.  As noted wine educator Kevin Zraly opined, “Burgundy is one of the most difficult subjects in the study of wines….here are a lot of vineyards and villages, and they are all important.”  There is so much to try to grasp. There is Burgundy, the wines labeled “Bourgogne,” and then in increasing selectivity, and expense, comes the seven regions – like Côtes de Nuits and Côtes Chalonnaise – the many villages, then the premier crus and the grand crus at the pinnacle.  Then white-centric Mâcon region itself has three levels of regional levels, too.  There is a lot to know with Burgundy.  I used to know more, though far from anything approaching expertise, and I am usually fairly befuddled in the Burgundy aisle these days and have been for a while.
 
Before attending a trade luncheon before Christmas about Burgundy’s best kept secrets, it was my thought that its theme might be the promotion its secondary white varietal, Aligoté, that has gotten space on wine lists in recent years, or maybe the base Bourgonge classification, the most affordable, or that it might take a broader view of Burgundy, to include Beaujolais, also.  The mass of Burgundy – Côtes de Beaune, Côtes de Nuits, and the grand and premier crus scattered among them, Chablis – does not need promoting, I thought.  Burgundy “has become the most coveted wine in the world,” to quote Eric Asimov, the New York Times wine writer.  But, it seems that it does, and least some parts of it.
 
At the luncheon, a group of local wine professionals was lead in a blind tasting of nine wines, six white and three red.  We were asked to assess the level of each of the wines after each three-wine flight.  Village was the most common retort, though premier and even grand cru were heard.  It turned out that every one of the wines were from one of the regional appellations, though.  And all were Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, the core of Burgundy.
 
My favorites were  Maison Ambroise Hautes Côtes de Nuits 2018, which is white; Château de Messey Mâcon Cruzille, Clos des Avoueries, 2018, white; and Domaine Fournier, Côtes d`Or, 2018, red. The retail prices for these are $30, $34, and $25, not inexpensive and more than what I typically pay for a bottle of wine.  But, I thought that these prices were quite fair, probably lower than the quality would indicate, in fact.  These three were about the most expensive of the nine.  What struck me was the value throughout.  These were obviously very well-made wine, often delicious, sometimes offer a decent amount of complexity, all for very fair prices.  Some were excellent values, including Domaine Marc Mâcon Pierreclos, a white for just $11. 
 
The producers above might be somewhat obscure, at least to me.  I didn’t see any of these at Total Wines this morning.  We were told that there are good values in the Mâcon, and that might be a short-hand two-syllable name to remember when a white wine is in order.  And I did happen to pick up a couple of bottles with Mâcon on lable today, both definitely under $20.  Some of the other values we sampled were the result of a warming planet.  Also values are to be found in Hautes Côtes de Nuits and Hautes Côtes de Beaune, two areas just outside those two famed areas that long produced wines that were once thin and consumed mostly locally and quite cheaply, but recently, because of much higher temperatures, the grapes are much more fully ripened and the wines are fuller and more flavorful.  Some good out of the bad.
 
There is still a lot to understand – a lot of names to learn, and ones that can be tough for many of us to pronounce – when it comes to affordable Burgundy, but I found it heartening to learn that there is fairly affordable wines from there that are actually a fine value for the quality.

One of the main attractions of wine bars for me is the opportunity to discover new wines, especially new wines that I can comfortably afford.  Thankfully, there are a handful of wine bars in Houston that do an excellent job in selecting wines and in introducing new wines to their offerings on a regular basis.

The best value of these is the relaxed and comfortable, and amusingly named, How to Survive on Land and Sea in the East End on Harrisburg.  This is because every day from 4:00 to 8:00, every day, it offers a red, white rosé and sparkling wine for just $5.50 a glass, with a regular-sized pour.  Amazingly, it’s been my experience that each of the four happy hour wines is very knowingly selected and often delicious.  I’ve about a dozen of these happy hour wines in the course of more than a few visits.

​The happy hour wines and the selections overall have a strong Old World tilt – restrained fruit notes, evident acidity, and more earthiness or minerality, generally – which I enjoy.  A few of the highlights have been:

Domaine Jean Royer Le Petit Roy 2020, Rhone, France – A blend of Mourvedre Grenache, Syrah and some Alicante, along with a bit of Chateauneuf du Pape wine that didn't make it into those bottles. This is essentially a Cotes du Rhone without the name, with maybe some more heft.  With more fruit than can be expected for a Cotes du Rhone, this is nicely balanced and quite easy to drink by itself. And typical of the area these days, it registers at 14.5% alcohol, hardly petit, but it doesn’t seem overly hardy.

Heger Pinot Noir 2015, Baden, Germany – More straightforward and not quite as interesting, but very enjoyable is this juicy and lively medium-bodied, well-rounded red wine from Germany.  One of the benefits of global warming is that there is more and more good Pinot Noir coming from Germany, and this is an affordable example.

Weszeli Zweigelt Rosé 2020, Kamptal, Austria – It’s tough for me not to look toward a rosé during these long summer months and this unusual one from Austria is easy to like.  It is made with 80% Zweigelt and 20% Cabernet Franc, all from older vines.  With nice fruit like some peach and raspberry, evident minerality, and tartness from the Zweigelt, it has some more structure than most rosés at this price point that might be welcome.

Weingut Schlossmuhlenhof 'Boden Funk' Riesling, Rheinhessen, Germany – This very dry, unfiltered Riesling is not-at-all funky despite the label and would likely appeal to those white wine drinkers who shy away from the varietal. Lots of acidity and citrus notes highlight this very well-made wine that I found terribly refreshing on a hot, humid day.

Zull Grüner Veltliner 2020, Weinviertel, Austria – More flavorful than the typical inexpensive 1-liter sized Grüner Veltliner, this is decidedly crisp, with some pear and minerals on the palate and that is easy to consume.

I would have, and have, readily paid the full price – two or two-and-half times the happy hour tariff – for each of these wines and a few others.  As far I can tell, most of the happy hour wines retail between $15 and $25 if you can find them elsewhere.  Most importantly, these have been very well chosen.

​Houston to Survive on Land and Sea
3401 Harrisburg (at Sampson), 77003, (346) 320-2926
howtosurvivehtx.com

​On my gastronomic trip last month to Pavia and its surroundings, the meals each featured a locally popular red wine from the Oltrepo Pavese, the productive wine region south of the city, Bonarda Vivace.  Bright and vivacious, just slightly bubbly in fact, and very pleasant, this dry medium-bodied red is very well suited to seems to the task of accompanying a large share of the non-seafood dishes in the area.  When it was already on the menu as part of the group, it was recommended for at least part of the meal when I dined on my own in Pavia.  And, it worked well in every case. 
 
Bonarda Vivace exhibited characteristics of a broad a style of wine that I have really enjoyed when I’ve encountered in Italy over the years: lighter in body and alcohol, a refreshing tartness, low tannins and enough fruit for my palate.  Very moderate prices, too.  The seven or so Bonarda Vivaces on the wine list at an acclaimed old-line trattoria ranged from €13 to €16.  Easy to consume a sufficient amount around the meal without worrying too much about the effects, on the head or in the wallet. 
 
As much wine that I consume, as much Italian wine that I shop for and consume, Bonarda Vivace wine about which I was unfamiliar as it doesn’t appear to be exported to the United States.  I recently had a fully still version at 13 Celsius, a wine that is a little bigger and more structured and less of a quaffer.  And that might be the only one I’ve encountered on a wine list here.  And I also get the impression Bonarda Vivace does not take much in the way of wine list space even in the big metropolis of Milan, just thirty to forty miles distant, and a perusal of a few lists seem to confirm that.  Just from their province of Lombardy, these have to compete with excellent Nebbiolo-based wines from Valtellina and then the great wines from Piedmont aren’t even 100 miles.  Even among the wineries of Oltrepo Pavese, Pinot Nero, Pinot Noir, is considered the better varietal.  And it is.  Their sparkling wines grab more attention, too.
 
But I found these wines to be very easy-drinking, helped with its effervescence and welcome acidity, light tannins and some nice fruit – often red currants, plums and sour cherries – judicious in typical Italian fashion and tempered with some earthiness or underbrush.  These are food wines, tasting better with food, as most Italian wines do.  These are wines that are not great, at least the dozen or so I sampled, but more than good enough.  No Bonarda Vivace received the coveted Tre Bicchiere in a very recent Gambero Rosso wine guide I have, though about fifteen received the two-glass designation, the next level down.  In different guises, it’s been simple well-made Chianti, a surprisingly light on the palate Aglianico, or the lighter Dolcettos and Barberas and Valpolicellas of more than decade ago before the warming globe helped to pump up the alcohol content.
 
Part of the difficulty for consumers with Bonarda Vivace – after the fact that Americans can’t get them – is that there are the two Bonardas, the Vivace, which will almost always have “Frizzante” on the back label – the fuller, still one that I mentioned above.  These Bonarda wines are made with 100% Croatina.  Sometimes wineries will bottle the grape as Croatina.  And then there is Bonarda made in neighboring Piedmont.  It is a different grape, as is the Bonarda made in Argentina and California.  It is confusing, even more than most Italian wines, a difficult thing to achieve.
 
I believe that it’s certainly worth sampling, but you almost have to go to source to do so.  Another reason to visit Pavia, a place that I quite enjoyed.

I just returned from a trip to Pavia and its surroundings that was sponsored by its local chamber of commerce and included the significant nearby wine region of Oltrepò Pavese.  Located in northern Italy barely a half-hour train ride south of Milan, this is a city and region just a little further south that are essentially unknown to most American wine drinkers, including those who purchase a lot of Italian wine, like myself.  Just as unknown is that the Oltrepò Pavese produces a lot of Pinot Noir.  In fact, with more than 7,000 acres of the grape and roots in the area back over 150 years, the Oltrepò Pavese “earns the distinction of Pinot Noir’s Italian home” according to the Wine Spectator.
 
Used mostly in sparkling wines – where the region is also a big producer and unknown to American consumers – it also makes a fair amount of still Pinot Noir.  Or, Pinot Nero, as the varietal is called and labeled there and nearly everywhere in Italy where it is bottled.  It’s been planted in Italy since the mid-1800s at least and the Italianized name is quite longstanding unlike the more recently planted Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
The labeling of Pinot Noir as Pinot Nero is a problem, I believe.  If American can find a Pino Nero from the Oltrepò Pavese or anywhere else in Italy, they might not immediately think that the wine is Pinot Noir.  Or if they know Pinot Nero is Pinot Noir that might think that it is something outside the bounds of typical Pinot Noir, maybe even adulterated.  I mentioned this to the owner of Prime Alture, one of the wineries that we visited.  I should have looked at his Pinot Noir first.  He seemed to have the same concerns as me, and his is labeled as Pinot Noir.  Unfortunately, though he said that he is in most of the top restaurants in Milan, he doesn’t yet have an American distributor, even if he might be more ready for the market than most.
 
I had several versions of Pinot Noir recent trip and enjoyed them all, including a white wine made with the grape, which was new to me.  It very nicely complemented the sturgeon dish at a famed long-running trattoria in Pavia.  A few years ago, at a dinner at a sommelier’s house, I had a Pinot Nero from the Alto Adige that was fantastic, even outshining an excellent white Hermitage from the cult producer Jean-Louis Chave that had nearly twenty years of age.  To generalize, the Pinot Noirs produced in Italy provide a different take on the grape, neither Burgundian or Californian in any of its guises, dry with subtle red fruits like blackcurrant and raspberry, not bold, and balanced with nice acidity.  Each has tasted Italian to me, maybe with a hint of underlying bitterness that is present in a great many of the reds of the country or something.  If you enjoy Pinot Noir, especially with food, it’s worth your while to give Pinot Nero a try, from Oltrepò Pavese or elsewhere, provided you can find it.

A white Pinot Nero (or Pinot Noir) at Antica Osteria del Previ in Pavia just over a week ago. 

At a tasting the other week, I was surprised to learn that Moscato d’Asti, the naturally sparkling, agreeably sweet white wine from northwestern Italy, is actually a fairly versatile beverage.  I thought that I had known a fair amount about the wine, as my understanding and appreciation of it had grown with a trip the Asti area late last year as a guest, in part, of the Moscato d’Asti consortium.  The wine’s sweetness, up to around 130 grams of residual sugar -- which is quite a lot – makes it a natural choice in its home area to pair with desserts, fruit at the end of the meal, or just as dessert itself.  And, it can make for a very pleasant coda to an evening meal, with or without accompaniment. 
 
It was posited early in the recent tasting that Moscato d’Asti can work well as an aperitif, too.  I initially thought that it was an odd sentiment given the comparative sweetness of the wine.  Like a lot of people, I often enjoy a bit of bitterness in libations before dinner to help further whet the appetite (not that I usually need much help).  But, at the tasting the evident sugar in Moscato d’Asti helped it pair very well with the excellent salumi that had been plated for us; and prosciutto and salame that are popular picks for pre-dinner snacks, both in Italy and when I entertain.  That the Moscato d’Asti worked with the salty or piquant slices was just like the off-dry amabile version of Lambrusco is the preferred wine of the locals to drink with the cured meats in Parma and environs.  I had confirmed that this past summer while there; it seemed rude not to consume at least a half-kilo of prosciutto di Parma and culatello while in Parma.
 
The make-up of Moscato d’Asti, not only its relative sweetness but also its low amount of alcohol, just around 5%, also helps make it an appropriate starter here with our heat and humidity.  Moscato d’Asti can be light and fairly refreshing on our many, many warm days   A touch of sweetness goes well with warmth.  Though carrying a lot of sugar, Moscato d’Asti is also quite acidic. This acidity dampens the impact of that sugar while making the wines seem fresher and also work better with a big range of foods, including the prosciutto.  There is sweetness but it’s in balance with other aspects of the wine, making it more useful and enjoyable.
 
So, Moscato d’Asti really is something to consider before dinner here.  And, after dinner, too, of course.  It also has the added benefit of being quite affordable: a good bottle can easily be found for $15 to $20.
 

​The Moscato d'Asti went well with this cake, but it can work well before the cake, too.

​I’ve got to confess that I don’t know a lot about Burgundy.  I knew more about the wines of that region back forever-ago when I was in business school taking a fun (and very well done) wine class at the Cornell’s Hotel School.  The reason for the comparative ignorance versus other wines is that I just don’t drink it that often.  Well, other than a function-at-best $9.99 white Burgundy from Costco in recent months.  I wish drank more Burgundy, much more, but the prices scare me away.  Even thought of the prices, as I often miss the wines from Burgundy on wine lists.  That’s likely even subconscious as I’ve convinced myself that I won’t want to pay that much for a wine.  Doing a look at the wine lists at a few top restaurants, I was surprised how much Burgundy there was.  I had just overlooked these when dining at these places.
 
Since my knowledge has been lacking and I do usually really enjoy the wines of Burgundy, I was looking forward to a recent tasting featuring two dozen wineries from Burgundy and the Jura.  With a schedule permitting just about an hour, I didn’t even taste any wines that were burgundy in color; I limited myself to the whites from Burgundy, even missing a number of those producers, and omitting completely the reds, even from some famed – and expensively wrought – appellations and the oft-interesting wines from Jura.  There was too much vinous goodness for me too completely squeeze in that day.
 
The white wines I was able to sample were from Antoine Olivier, Chateau de Villars Fontaine, Domaine Decelle Villa, Domaine des Malandes, Domaine Feuillat-Juillot, and Maison Henri Pion.  Most of these wineries seemed to be looking for distribution in Texas, as it usually the case with these events. The wines ranged from the basic and easily affordable Bourgogne Blanc to the bigger named appellations like Chablis, Montagny, Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault.  The tasting, and these wines, exceeded expectations in terms of quality: each of the wines I sampled were evidently very well-made, nicely acidic, pleasant and appropriate fruit notes like melon and apple, good minerality, balanced, flavorful and complex to varying degrees.  Basically, delicious throughout.  Many of these wines were aged in small oak barriques, some vinified in these, too, but the presence of oak, which was rarely new, was always in moderation and without exception worked well as a complement to the whole. 
 
As much as I enjoyed tasting each, these wines are generally better, often much better, with food.  Comté seems to be preferred pairing among the representatives I queried, at least among cheeses, for many of the wines I tried.  Scallops were popular, oysters for Chablis, roasted chicken, and even lamb for the rich 2006 Le Rouard Hautes Côtes de Nuits from Chateau de Vellars Fontaine. Not sure about that, but Mathieu Piecourt from the winery was enthusiastic about it, and his wines were a very enjoyable treat.
 
The Wine Folly site that I visit from time to time puts it: “Once you’re hooked on white Burgundy, there’s no going back.” That sentiment rings very true with me.  These wines are best expression of Chardonnay, and some of the very best white wines in the world, both for most wine aficionados and for me, too.  I would certainly drink much more Chardonnay if I could convince myself to spend the money on the white wines from Burgundy.  Maybe I will now.