Ever since winemaker Valter Fissore treated me to vertical tasting of his Nascetta (stretching back to 2001), I’ve been obsessed with this wine. That was back in 2008 and I’ve collected the wine with each new vintage since then. Click here for a thread of posts devoted to this wine, including the correct pronunciation of […]
Click here for the complete series of Italian Grape Name and Appellation Pronunciation Project videos. When it came to the correct pronunciation of the ampelonym (and enonym) Nascetta (nahs-CHET-tah), it seemed only right to turn to the man who has done more than anyone else to revive and respark this once popular grape from Piedmont, […]
I get so many emails from folks saying how much they appreciate this post on the story behind the ampelonym Nascetta that I thought I’d repost it today. Buona lettura! ***** Romeo, doff thy name! Above: Valter Fissore of Elvio Cogno (Novello) single-handedly delivered the Nascetta grape from oblivion after he tasted a wine made […]
Romeo, doff thy name! Above: Valter Fissore of Elvio Cogno (Novello) single-handedly delivered the Nascetta grape from oblivion after he tasted a wine made using this once highly praised grape in 1991. The wine had been bottled in 1986. It’s regrettable that when I tasted the Nascetta grape for the first time last year, it […]
Here in Piedmont where I’ve been teaching at Slow Food U this week, people drink red wine. When you talk to the old timers, they’ll tell you that in their day, there was no white wine to drink here. No Timorasso, no Anascetta, and maybe just a little Arneis (that no one really cared about […]
When I spoke to my mom the day of Erev Rosh Hashanah on my way home to La Jolla from the San Diego airport on Monday, I asked her to pick a couple of bottles from the mini-cellar I keep at her house. She opens the wines for her friends when they visit and we […]
The land of Irpinia (Campania, southern Italy, near Naples) is as wild as it is delicious. Please place your order before Wednesday at noon PST. Order simply by emailing me here. The Do Bianchi Christmas 2016 Six-Pack a flight of six dinner party wines perfect for a part of 6-8 guests Bele Casel NV Prosecco […]
Tracie P and I were blown away — BLOWN AWAY — by the superb flight of wines that we tasted yesterday at the Collisioni festival’s Roero event. That’s Enrico Cauda of Cascina Fornace, above, just one of the roughly 20 producers who showed their wines at Malabaila castle in the historic center of Canale (township). From the […]
In the light of last week’s events, I wanted to wait a little bit before sharing this press release, which was issued on Monday, June 13 by the Elvio Cogno winery. I’m a huge fan of the estate and have had the great fortune to taste so many fantastic vintages of Marcarini that were made […]
A note of thanks to my friend and colleague Brittanie Shey (Houston-based music and lifestyle writer) who brought this New Yorker piece to my attention: “The Curse of the Diaeresis.” It interests me for three reasons: 1) my doctoral thesis on medieval & Renaissance prosody (meter/versification) and transcription included a chapter devoted in part to […]
Do Bianchi 