Sicily’s Iconic Donnafugata Winery
A leading producer of the “wine continent.”
The quality of its top wines, exemplified by Donnafugata’s range, means Sicily will soon take its place as one of Italy’s leading wine regions.
Italian Wine
A Primer on Piedmont’s Best Wines
Cin cin!
In the world of wine, few names have the prestige of barolo and barbaresco, with bottles selling for hundreds and even thousands of dollars. These wines hail from Piedmont, Italy’s second-largest region. Piedmont has the ideal combination of Mediterranean sun and cooled Alpine air to produce the highest-quality grapes. If you’re looking for the perfect bottle to pair with holiday meals, here’s a primer on seven wines and the winemakers to look for.
The Wines Blending Innovation and History
The Collavini wines of Italy’s Friuli region.
Collavini brings together two apparently contradictory practices: making wines in pioneering styles and drawing on indigenous varieties that have grown in Friuli for centuries, perhaps millennia. Call it blending innovation with history.
Cheers to Metodo Classico in Italy’s Franciacorta
Appreciate its charms.
When you think of celebrating with bubbly, champagne is usually the first thing that springs to mind. Some reach for prosecco, or maybe even cava, but there’s a little-known region near Milan producing fantastic sparkling wine using the traditional method (metodo classico) that often costs less than a bottle of champagne.
A Delightful Treasure From Friuli Venezia Giulia
The year 1956 was an important one in the history of Italian winemaking.
Fans of pinot grigio, the second-most-consumed white wine in North America, will surely know of Livio Felluga, possibly the most prestigious producer of white wine in Italy. The history of the Livio Felluga estate is well known not just to the people of Friuli Venezia Giulia but to all Italians and oenophiles.
Tuscany Is About More than Chianti
Sangiovese-based vino nobile di Montepulciano.
Chianti is not Tuscany, and Tuscany is not Chianti. Chianti co-exists with other Tuscan wine regions that sometimes struggle to escape the shadow of their better-known sibling.
D.O.P: Where Instagram-Worthy Raviolo Is on Hallowed Ground
Nonna’s ode to the old country.
Calgary’s newest hotspot, D.O.P, in the former home of Bar Von Der Fels, seems to have respected the codes and customs of its namesake authority. The traditional fare of its downtown 1 Street SW address is distinguishable by its adherence to the exhilarating admixture of rusticity and gastronomic boldness.
Tuscany’s Luce Wines
Light in name. Anything but light in quality.
While Luce plumbs the depth of the fruit each vintage, the second wine, Lucente (about $35 in Canada), is made in a more approachable and modern style.
The Complicated and Delightful Origins of Tuscan Wines
More than Chianti, more than sangiovese.
In the 1970s, for example, some leading Tuscan producers rebelled against restrictive wine laws and began to make such wines as Ornellaia, Tignanello, and Sassicaia, whose quality quickly made them more expensive than any other Italian wines.
