04th March 2010
Umbria is the only region of Italy that has no seacoast and borders no foreign country. But is a great place to visit, especially in springtime. Many of its cities and towns are medieval and often are situated in the hills. Early March may be chilly, but ...
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03rd March 2010
After several years and considerably more than one hundred fifty wine reviews this is our first review of a nearly $100 wine. Before you say that you'll never spend so much money on a single bottle of wine, please note that $100 may get you four movie the...
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03rd March 2010
The island of Sicily is situated southwest of southern Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. You may be surprised by the weather here, especially in early March. Don't even think about sipping a coffee in a terrace by the seaside in the early spring. But by lat...
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03rd March 2010
In the good old days the red Carmenere grape was a major player in the vineyards of Bordeaux, France. Between disease and the Phylloxera louse, it virtually disappeared from France but bacome Chili's signature grape. The word has it that Carmenere is now ...
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01st March 2010
The multicultural region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia sits in the northeast corner of Italy bordering on the Italian region of Veneto, Austria, Slovenia, and the Gulf of Venice. Fruili's capital and largest city, Trieste, was only ceded to Italy in 1954, mark...
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26th February 2010
The region of Emilia-Romagna stretches nearly all the way across northern Italy from the Gulf of Venice on the east to Tuscany and Liguria (the Italian Riviera) on the west. As with so many other parts of Italy the spring months are not very pleasant in e...
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24th February 2010
Is there anything more magical than Tuscany in spring? I hate to disappoint you, but if you're talking about early spring, such as the beginning of March, you may find the Tuscan weather chilly. And yet there are plenty of things to see and to do, and bef...
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23rd February 2010
Very early in this series I reviewed a quite inexpensive Hungarian Rizling, also spelled Riesling. Now it's time to review another Hungarian white, based on the unknown Irsai Oliver grape. Given its name, we may assume that these grapes come from near Lak...
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23rd February 2010
Calabria forms the toe of the Italian boot; it's kicking the football which is the island of Sicily. Calabria is nearly surrounded by water. It borders on the Gulf of Taranto to the northeast, the Ionian Sea to the south, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the eas...
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19th February 2010
It may be kind of hard to believe but even after some six months this is only our second Spanish wine and our first Spanish white. Spain is of course a major wine producer. Marques de Riscal, the makers of the wine reviewed here, has been in business for ...
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19th February 2010
Apulia, also known as Puglia, is a long thin region of southern Italy facing on the Adriatic Sea. Because it is a southern region, spring comes here fairly early. On March 19 the town of Cisternino located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Brind...
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16th February 2010
The small region of Abruzzi of central Italy lies on the Adriatic Sea. It's quite traditional and is a fine place to see the "real" Italy. In this region early spring is likely to be fairly chilly, and late spring can resemble summer. March 19 is the Fest...
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15th February 2010
We are planning to review several fine Australian wines to accompany our columns on fine French, Italian, and German wines. This is our second review of an inexpensive Australian wine (the first was a Shiraz tasted early in this series.) When you think of...
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11th February 2010
Latium, which is also called Lazio, is located in central Italy on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Pretty well smack in the center lies Rome, the Eternal City, the capital of Italy and according to its locals, the capital of the world. Do you need any fe...
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11th February 2010
New Zealand has become a real success story for wine. Not all that long ago they were making wine from virtually unknown grapes such as Isabella, which isn't even a member of the wine grape family. Now their signature grape, Sauvignon Blanc, has stole a l...
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