THE Italian city of Verona lies in the country’s northeast and is one of the regional capitals of the Veneto district. Made famous by Shakespeare who used it as the setting for the Romeo and Juliet story, it’s now a mecca for tourists who seek out its art, architecture and history. For the oenophile, there’s…
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It was only late in 2001 that a Californian Professor and Geneticist, Dr Carole Meredith used DNA profiling to conclusively prove that both Zinfandel and the Italian favourite, Primitivo was in fact a Croatian grape, known as Crlenak Kastelanski. Until then, the Americans and Italians had both claimed the grape as a national native, but…
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Rich, voluptuous and complex. No, I’m not about to review a recent episode of the diatribe that the Kardashian clan masquerade as acceptable television content, but rather discuss the Nero d’Avola grape that is Sicily’s best known native red wine varietal. Often compared to Shiraz or Grenache, it has the fullish body of a warm…
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My slightly offbeat and spiritual sister would say it is fate or destiny, but some of the best viticultural discoveries I’ve encountered were completely unintended and happened upon purely by chance. Big Sis would take a fatalistic view and claim it was karma at play but I personally prefer to see these happenings as chance,…
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Maybe it was the cheap Chianti cloaked in a straw basket that we drank in the ‘90s that gave me such a poor first impression of Italian wines but having recently tried some of their modern-day reds, I am glad I gave their viticulture a second chance! Where the old-style Chianti was very dry, loaded…
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