Nowadays many people seem to be of the opinion that loving wine means drinking the most expensive wines in existence. While particularly at the more affordable end of the market, the price tag has some correlation with the quality of wine as it will determine how much the wine maker could afford to spend on creating the…
Cellar Tour: Hofstatter and its Alpine cowboys
Hofstätter is located in a 15th century building founded as an inn by Joseph Hofstatter in the town of Tramin (Termeno) in Alto Adige. This is the Germanic part of Italy and Tramin looks more like Austria. The inhabitants speak German first then Italian and Ladinish. Hofstätter wine was originally produced from the inn’s mountain-side…
Cellar tour: What is the secret ingredient in San Leonardo?
San Leonardo uses largely French grapes and is located in an area not known for fine wine (mainly bulk wine growers using Marzemino and Teroldego vines) but this is not only what makes this winery unique. History San Leonardo is a very special winery started by crucifer monks (Frati Crociferi) in 1215. Wine had been…
Cellar Tour: La Giaretta: A Family Tradition in Valpolicella
Standing next to Valpolicella giants such as Masi and Allegrini and superstars such as Quintarelli and Dal Forno, La Giaretta sits out of the spotlight quietly producing its good value, quality wines. We had the privilege to visit this small, family run winery in Valgatara in Marano in the heart of the Classico zone (the…
Top 10 misconceptions about wine
1. Wine is expensive. Actually most wine is inexpensive. When I was in university in Italy, beer was more expensive than mineral water. Mineral water was more expensive than wine. So wine was cheap. You can guess what calculation most people on a student budget made. Wine is similar to clothing, in that most clothes…
