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About Wine (32) Italian Grapes (1) Aperitifs Coffee (52) Northern Wine (23) Central Wines (21) Southern Wines (4)

Favorite 2004 Roero and Barbaresco
This spring I was invited to Alba Wines, the annual vintage presentation of Southern Piemonte's great Nebbiolo-based red wines, Barolo, Barbaresco, and Roero. Barolo was frankly difficult -- the 2003 vintage was not good -- but 2004 is a different story, and there are some very fine interpretations of Roero and Barbaresco that are by now reaching wineshops. Here is what impressed me the most, the…

Tuscan Coastal Wines Released in 2006
Though Chianti is the best known Tuscan wine producing area, there are others, including the swath of coast from Bolgheri to Piombino, which are home to some of the finest wines in the world, including Sassicaia and Masseto. I tasted the 2006 releases this spring, and this is what I liked best.

Peschen
Peschen: Everyone knows that peaches are one of the delights of summer, especially when sliced into a good glass of wine. But if you have access to a tree, you can also make a liqueur from the leaves.

Rosolio: Scents of Spring
Come spring, roses bloom. They're beautiful to look at, but one can also do more, capturing their essence to enjoy them later in the year. How? By making rosolio, the sweet liqueur enjoyed by the Ladies in the 1800s. And not only; Elisabetta's Uncle Renzo used to tell about loving the beignets filled with rosolio they sold at fairs when he was a boy (early 1900s); they were called mangia e be'i, eat n'drink, and half the fun was eating them without squirting the rosolio all over.

Limoncello Cream
Limoncello Cream: This is a very nice variation on the standard Limoncello from Sorrento, which I enjoyed at a dinner in the hinterland of Verona.

Rosolio
Alex writes, "I am looking for a recipe for an Italian Liqueur that is made with grain alcohol, lemon, and milk.... A little old lady from Italy used to live in my neighborhood and made it." The combination might sound odd, but the liqueur is crystal clear -- the acidity of the lemon curdles the milk, and the curds stay behind when you filter it prior to bottling it.

Syrups, Coffee, Liqueurs etc.
Wine is of course the most classic Italian drink, but there's much more: refreshing ice water flavored with fruit syrup, cordials and liqueurs, amari, and so on.

Denominations
When I began doing this site, it was dedicated to Italian wines, and here you'll find discussions of many of the major Italian appellations, which are known as Denominazioni.

Trends and Observations: Wine and Drink
All sorts of things from past issues of Cosa Bolle in Pentola, my newsletter.

Wineries
Since I also write about wine, it follows that I visit wineries, and occasionally mention them here.

Wine Tastings and Comparisons
Just what it sounds like, notes from vertical (several vintages of the same wine) and horizontal (several wines of the same vintage) tastings, and more besides.