Comments on: A Recipe for Life

By: Dave O

Dave O — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:01:42 +0000

Rich,
I have ordered some of the Chianti Peghera from the recommended Tuscany wines shop. Thanks for the tip. I will let you know how I like your suggestion. All the best!

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:08:15 +0000

The best new red we discovered…hmmm. It is so difficult to narrow the field because we had so many excellent and different wines in so many wonderful settings. By new, I am assuming you mean new to us, rather than new to the world, because many of the “best” ones have been produced for a very long time using traditional methods. I can’t say there was one absolute best, because they are so different from one another. So, I’ll limit this answer to a traditional Chianti we encountered at PoggioantinorA, a vineyard in Chianti (www.poggioantinora.it) nearer to Radda than to Gaiole. We sampled their 2002 Chianti Classico Pèghera di Baccio Riserva. PoggioantinorA’s website describes it as “a wine produced from 1992 in the old ‘ricasoliana’ way, with a percentage of white grapes (Malvasia del Chianti and Trebbiano). It is a ruby red shading to garnet–red and has a flavoured scent and a delicate, velvety and balanced taste.” Their description is very accurate and this wine is among the short–list of the best Chiantis we found on this trip. My notes state that the nose was lightly reminiscent of a Cinghiale ragout, with a subtle, balanced flavor, very light on the palate compared to some Chiantis. We had left the kids at home and we lingered in the shade on a warm, sunny day at Antinora’s hilltop tasting patio, looking over the Chianti countryside in the early afternoon. When I asked how to get it in the USA, I was given the contact information for Tuscany Wines (www.tuscanywines.net) in Florida. This wine is listed on their site today for $34.95 a bottle and it may be available elsewhere (but I haven’t done a search yet). We found a new favorite Brunello di Montalcino at Fattoria dei Barbi and a vintner named Stefano Milanesi whose wonderful wines haven’t made it to the USA yet. We’ll be writing more about all of these wines and others in the coming weeks. Ciao!

By: Dave O

Dave O — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:21:35 +0000

Rich,
what was the best new red you discovered and is it avaialble in the US?

By: jerry L

jerry L — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:39:39 +0000

We look forward to viewing some of the photos.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:50:02 +0000

Yes, we have a lot of pictures. We’ll pull out a few and put them in the detailed posts about various aspects of Italy. We went only to Italy this time, except for connecting flights.

By: Leona

Leona — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:15:10 +0000

What? No preview pix?! Certainly you must have taken many (by the look of your itinerary). I myself just recently returned from a trip to Europe and can’t wait to cross-compare our finds in Italy. Did you just keep to Italy, or visit any nearby countries? Europe boasts of many wine regions, but Italy will always remain my favourite!