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Riding His Luck in Brunello: Paolo Bianchini and the Rise of Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona

2 days ago

Riding His Luck in Brunello: Paolo Bianchini and the Rise of Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona

Paolo Bianchini, winemaker and former cycling pro, raising a glass of his Brunello di Montalcino at the tasting lunch in London in 2020 One of the things I shared with my first section editor on The Sunday Times many moons ago was a love of a good rags-to-riches story. The rise of the Bianchini family at Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona in Brunello di Montalcino would have been perfect. It isn’t quite rags to riches, but it’s a heart-warming story and all the more so because of t

WINE OF THE WEEK: Nero Oro Grillo Appassimento Sicilia 2019, Italy

Jan 28

WINE OF THE WEEK: Nero Oro Grillo Appassimento Sicilia 2019, Italy

£8.99/£9.99, Majestic Winemakers in southern Italy have been using the appassimento tecnique to make their red wines smoother and more concentrated, but a white given the treatment is a rarity. Perhaps it won’t be once more producers taste this Sicilian Grillo – a mouthwatering riot of passion fruit, candied grapefruit peel, pineapple, dried pear and spiced apricot, with succulent texture and pivotal acidity. The man behind the wine is the ever-creative Stefano Girelli, who h

Monterosola: Sitting Pretty Between Tuscany's Stars

Jan 5

Monterosola: Sitting Pretty Between Tuscany's Stars

Monterosola's stylishly labelled wines: two whites on the left, then four of the five reds I haven’t visited Monterosola in Tuscany, but having seen photos and tasted six of the eight wines I’m keen to go when we’re all travelling again. Geographically, it's very neatly located. The estate sits high up at 430m on a plateau to the east of the Etruscan city of Volterra in the Province of Pisa, between Bolgheri 50km to the south-west, San Gimignano and its DOC area to the east a

WINE OF THE WEEK: Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato 2019, Terre Siciliane, Italy

Nov 26, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato 2019, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£9.99–£10.75, Ocado, Vintage Roots I recommended an earlier incarnation of this organic wine a few years ago as a perfect spring red. In August this year, in searing heat, I had the 2019 and thought it was the ideal summer red. I've just had it again on a dark, chilly November evening and come to the conclusion that it's a delicious all-seasons red. With its gem-bright, pale colour and medium body, it doesn't have that hearty winter look, but trades it for suppleness, freshne

A Taste of Tuscany: First of the 2020 Extra Virgin Olive Oils

Nov 24, 2020

A Taste of Tuscany: First of the 2020 Extra Virgin Olive Oils

Normally the Conti Contini Bonacossi family get through about 70 litres of their own organic extra virgin olive oil a year, but this year is different. Beatrice Contini Bonacossi says it’ll be nearer 100 litres because they’ve all been lunching at home. Lucky them: the oil in question is Capezzana, an estate north-west of Florence that, in addition to producing beautiful Carmignano wine, has been making olive oil since Etruscan and Roman times. No wonder they know a thing or

WINE OF THE WEEK: Terra Costantino De Aetna Etna Bianco 2018, Sicily, Italy

Nov 19, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Terra Costantino De Aetna Etna Bianco 2018, Sicily, Italy

£16.76, Jeroboams Etna wines have become hugely trendy in the last few years, and rightly so. From soaring vineyards on the volcanic soils of an active volcano, they've got everything – quality, character and singularity. The Costantino family's 10 hectares lie at about 450–550 metres in Contrada Blandano on the south-eastern slopes, from where, they say, they can see the sea and taste the windblown tang of salt. Some of Etna's vineyards are twice as high again. Red wine heav

Connecting with Wine Growers the PICA Way

Nov 10, 2020

Connecting with Wine Growers the PICA Way

Before lockdown I visited the Cavit co-operative group in Trentino to see how it applies cutting edge technology to improve its wines and the environment. Last week I caught up with the head of agronomy on zoom to find out about its impact in a year like this. Colour-coded vineyard parcels, including Schiava Gentile, on the PICA app on a Cavit agronomist's smartphone In the tiny village in deeply rural France where I’m often based, we always know when a storm is about to whip

Sipping Siepi with the Best of 'Em

Oct 28, 2020

Sipping Siepi with the Best of 'Em

Gnocchi with girolles, chanterelles and black truffle paired with the 2011 vintage of Castello di Fonterutoli's super-Tuscan Siepi, at a dinner hosted by Giovanni Mazzei at The Petersham restaurant in London The text of this article was first published in The World of Fine Wine issue 64 The first person I met at the Siepi winemaker dinner at The Petersham restaurant in London’s Covent Garden was an engagingly conversational Jermyn Street shirtmaker. He didn’t say whether he c

WINE OF THE WEEK: Andrian Alto Adige Müller-Thurgau 2019, Italy

Sep 17, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Andrian Alto Adige Müller-Thurgau 2019, Italy

£14.50, The Daily Drinker This is the first time I've mentioned Müller Thurgau on my website; never mind recommended it. Extraordinary. And yet not so extraordinary. As a grape variety, its reputation rests on early ripening pretty well anywhere and all too plentifully. As a white wine, its past reputation in Germany, England and New Zealand is best forgotten. But in Italy's Alto Adige (aka Sud Tirol or South Tyrol) it's something else. The delightful Müller Thurgau from Kell

Prime Time for Pink: Summer Rosé Round-up

Aug 4, 2020

Prime Time for Pink: Summer Rosé Round-up

Another summer, another round-up of delicious dry rosés, plus a featherweight, lightly sparkling sweet wine from Italy and a pink Champagne that I wasn't familiar with and which hugely impressed me recently. There are lots of different styles, shades, flavours and grape varieties, but it has turned out to be an almost all-European selection this year, reflecting the limitations the pandemic has imposed on tastings, travel and trade. The one exception (perhaps ironically) is f

WINE OF THE WEEK: Rosa di Santa Tresa 2019, Terre Siciliane, Italy

Jul 23, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Rosa di Santa Tresa 2019, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£9.74, Majestic I shall be posting this summer’s rosé round-up soon, but another pink as Wine of the Week is well overdue, so here it is: a delightful, copper-tinged salmon pink organic wine from southeast Sicily – and a timely reminder that rosés don’t have to be off-the-scale-pale to be sophisticated. Some of the most interesting and authentic are anything but. Sporting a pretty name and label as well as a pretty colour, Rosa di Santa Tresa is made from half and half Nero d

A Story of Redemption: Castello Banfi in Montalcino

Jul 14, 2020

A Story of Redemption: Castello Banfi in Montalcino

The imposing medieval Castello Poggio alle Mura with just below (on the right of the picture) part of the luxury Castello Banfi Il Borgo hotel When John Mariani bought the Poggio alle Mura estate just south of Montalcino in 1978, it had had only two previous owners, the Sicilian family living in Venezuela that he bought it from and a Sienese family. In itself, it’s not necessarily remarkable, but the Castello dates from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, so it was a big c

Two Exciting White Wine Rarities – And They Won't Break The Bank

Jun 24, 2020

Two Exciting White Wine Rarities – And They Won't Break The Bank

These two singular and rare dry white wines, one from France and one from Italy, could hardly be more different in style – a textbook compare-and-contrast study. Domaine Jones On The QT Bin 23 Carignan Gris 2019 is very pale, delicately perfumed, lively and medium-light with a fine, faintly chalky texture, fresh pear and apple, hints of apricot and ginger root, and herb (including fennel) and mineral flavours. It's a Vin de France from a vineyard in Languedoc close to the Rou

WINE OF THE WEEK: Fidora Tenuta Civranetta Pinot Grigio 2019, Venezia, Italy

Jun 4, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Fidora Tenuta Civranetta Pinot Grigio 2019, Venezia, Italy

£8.58, Jascots Pinot Grigio has to work hard to earn itself a place as Wine of the Week. It's not that I don't like the grape variety. I do – very much – but not the neutral, light style that northern Italy has made its own. This single-vineyard, organic wine is miles away from that: not remotely powerful but with delicious liveliness and intensity and a creamy, lees-enriched texture, plus leafy, lime and delicate bread-crust notes on the nose and a mouthwatering, saline, min

The New Order at Luce: New Wine, Winemaker and Winery and a Retrospective Tasting

Apr 7, 2020

The New Order at Luce: New Wine, Winemaker and Winery and a Retrospective Tasting

Looking across the Luce vineyards to Frescobaldi's Tenuta di Castelgiocondo in southwest Montalcino in the November sunshine The text of this article was first published in The World of Fine Wine issue 63 There must have been no shortage of potential candidates for Lamberto Frescobaldi to choose from for the newly created post of technical director and oenologist at the new, all-singing, all-dancing, no-expense-spared Tenuta Luce winery in Montalcino. It was surely a red-hot

WINE OF THE WEEK: Boccantino Passerina Terre di Chieti 2018, Abruzzi, Italy

Mar 19, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Boccantino Passerina Terre di Chieti 2018, Abruzzi, Italy

£11, The Daily Drinker The Passerina grape is an old variety grown in central Italy, especially in Terre di Chieti in the Abruzzi, but you don’t see it as much on labels as the better-known Pecorino because it’s often blended and also used for sparkling wines and Vin Santo. Perhaps its versatility, together with high yields (one of its synonyms, Pagadebit, means ‘pays the debts’), have stood in the way of a higher-flying solo career. This, anyway, is pure Passerina, organic a

WINE OF WEEK: Le Volte dell'Ornellaia 2016, Toscana, Italy

Dec 19, 2019

WINE OF WEEK: Le Volte dell'Ornellaia 2016, Toscana, Italy

£19.99, Majestic; £20.99–£22.95, Hard to Find Wines, Armit, Caviste, Davy's This would be a wonderful bottle for the festive table if you're having a bird, meat, game or vegetarian (if fish is on the menu, find something in my Festive White Wine Guide or one of the lighter reds in the Festive Reds Guide). The 2016 vintage in Tuscany's coastal Bolgheri region was excellent, giving this dry red its opulent fruit, silky texture and waves of cassis, blackberry, dried cherry, frui

WINE OF THE WEEK: Purato Siccari Appassimento 2018, Terre Siciliane, Italy

Dec 4, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Purato Siccari Appassimento 2018, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£7.99–£8.99, Ocado and Majestic Organic, vegan-friendly and sustainable (vegetable ink, recycled paper, glass and cardboard), but there’s so much more to this Sicilian red than ticking boxes. It has Christmas written all over it. Dark, rich, spicy, warming and velvety, with layers of ripe red cherry, candied orange, toast, coffee, Christmas cake and Persian spice flavours, and it’s not too dry, giving it the wherewithal to stand up to cranberry sauce, spicy stuffings, herby s

WINE OF THE WEEK: Castello Collemassari Montecucco Rosso Riserva 2015, Tuscany, Italy

Oct 24, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Castello Collemassari Montecucco Rosso Riserva 2015, Tuscany, Italy

£14.99, Waitrose This is the perfect wine for people who like the thought of Chianti but sometimes find the reality too lean and tangy. It has Sangiovese's earth-sweet tobacco and autumn-forest flavours, but it's plump and fleshy with a velvet texture and perfumed cherry fruit. It's polished and structured but slips down effortlessly – in other words, the flavour of Sangiovese but none of the potential pain. The Montecucco wine region is in warmer southern Tuscany, sandwiched

WINE OF THE WEEK: Vigneti Tardis Martedi 2018, Paestum Rosso, Campania, Italy

Sep 12, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Vigneti Tardis Martedi 2018, Paestum Rosso, Campania, Italy

£19.50, Berry Bros & Rudd I love southern Italian Aglianico and this is as authentic as they come, although it's not wholly Aglianico: it's a blend with Aglianicone. The producers, Bruno Conciliis of Viticoltori Conciliis and Jack Lewens, sommelier and owner of Leroy wine bar/bistro in London's Shoreditch, say Aglianicone is a forgotten clone of Aglianico, one with larger, thicker-skinned berries. Wine Grapes, the bible on the subject, is not a fan, saying that it's not a mut