I have a confession. I had never tasted Madeira until now. Oh. My. Goddess. I am in love with this fortified wine. I have missed out on so much, but trust me when I say I will make up for it now. Madeira – The Island, A Very Brief History You can not talk about the beverage until you talk about the island. So, the first thing to know is that Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago comprising four islands about 300 miles off the northwest coast of Africa (Morocco). It was found uninhabited in…
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… how do you like it? More, more, more. Well, that is a throwback to the disco days of my youth, 1976. When it comes to sharing wine, it’s always more. Corte Gardoni, Bianco di Custoza Greoto 2021, Veneto, Italy This barrel-blended white wine from Corte Gardoni is scrumptious. This northeastern wine region hangs north over the city of Venice and spreads west just past Verona. Well-known wines from this region include Prosecco, Soave, Valpolicella, and others. I chose this wine for an Italian tasting I did in June. This white blend starts with 40% Gargenega (the lone grape in…
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Since the last wine tasting we hosted on June 10th, we have been tasting, sampling, and drinking a variety of wines. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it. So wimg? Let’s dig in, shall we? WIMG (If you forget, this means: What’s in my glass?) Celler del Roere Vermell 2019, Valencia, Spain Pablo Calatayud of Celler del Roere transformed an ancient wine cellar on their property into a gold mine. Centuries-old amphorae remain embedded in the earth, and after being cleaned up and some repaired, they can still hold and age wine the way it…
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My sister went on a hiking vacation with some friends in Serbia. I know! While not a wine drinker or any alcohol (she is allergic), she still brought me home a bottle of wine. The group went to a wine tasting, and so she bought Gary and me a bottle of Živanović Probus. This was the favorite of the group, so my sister went with their recommendation. She told me it cost the equivalent of $7.00. Not a monetary risk for sure, but she still hoped we’d like it. It was delicious and perfect for the warm spring day we…
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This post is the fourth in a series about our trip to Sicily. This post is about Taormina, our first stop on our two-week excursion. Gary and I spent a day wandering the streets, enjoying the cuisine and sipping wines and limoncello. Check out our first, second, and third posts if you missed them when they were first posted. Taormina! We ate, we drank, we walked and walked and walked (17,000 steps), and we shopped. Then we dropped. Side Note: If you watched or are watching Season Two of The White Lotus on HBO Max, you have seen Taormina. When…
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I don’t drink a lot… I drink often. Part One New Discoveries T. Berkley Wines from Calistoga, CA, makes wine from two grape varieties, Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc. Ophelia is his entry-level Cab Franc retails for about $39.99. Sadly 2019 vintage, as well as the 2020 vintage, are already sold out. But 2021 is hitting shelves now. It has only been “in bottle” since August, so I might be inclined to buy and sit on it for about a year as it will only get better and better. The T. Berkley 2019 Oak Knoll Cabernet Franc was just released,…
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The last winery visit during our Sicily adventure was to Caruso e Minini in Marsala. This is a relatively young winery that was created when fourth-generation winemaker Stefano Caruso partnered with Northern Italian marketer extraordinaire Mario Minini to create this brand that now exports mostly indigenous Sicilian varieties, including Grillo, Catarratto, Grecanico, Inzolia, Zibibbo, Nero d’Avola, Frappato and Perricone as well as some international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah, and Merlot. Today, the company is helmed by Stefano’s two daughters, Giovanna and Rosanna. I am a huge fan of their wines. In addition to the Perricone, I have enjoyed…
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The inhabitants of Sicily have been making wine for millennia. However, the Phoenicians in the 1100 – 1000 BCE brought vines, advanced enology, and viticulture knowledge to the island, which began the quest for quality wine. Sicily’s wineries have been raising the bar ever since. Wine grapes are grown all over Sicily, including 23 DOC sub-regions and one DOCG sub-region. The island is most known for wines from Marsala DOC, Vittoria DOC, and Etna DOC. Etna DOC wines drew me to Sicilian wines, so we started our trip there. Side Note: In preparation for this trip, I read a couple…
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We have been home from our wine trip to Sicily for two weeks. Jetlag was a real ogre. I was almost non-functional for days. But now there is excellent clarity. We were on the island for a two-week trip using my self-guided itinerary. We accomplished a lot and covered a lot of territory, probably too much. But when I am in a new foreign location, FOMO takes over. I fear I may not return, so I cram the schedule full. Even though I left several days for sightseeing, it sometimes felt rushed, and I did not like that. But such…
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