Tag: Lambrusco

While I was Grinch-like in awarding 5 stars to only three wines I tasted in 2024, I was more Oprah-like with the 4.5-5 -star wines.  Plus, there are many quality wines, so it should not be a surprise.  This year there were 13 BC wines, 18 Italian wines, 4 French wines, 2 Californian wines, and 4 wines from New Zealand…

While Italy has been known to produce robust, hearty reds, many of the country’s greatest wines offer a lighter touch without sacrificing flavour. This seminar, “Italy’s Lightness of Being”, led by Filippo Bartolotta and Michaela Morris, took us through sparkling wines, white wines with texture, and much more.  Winery principals, Fabio Bosio, Tommaso Chiarli, Daniel Grace, Stefano Inama, Nicola Mazzella,…

Although Italy contributes approximately 20% of the world’s wine, it remains a relative mystery to many people, due to unfamiliar grape varieties and wine region names.  Wine journalist and educator Filippo Bartolotta led us exploring the rich history, modern innovation, and the renaissance of Italian classic wine styles shaping the current identity of this historical wine region.  The winery principals…

71 Italian wineries presented their wines at VanWineFest 2024.  With each winery pouring 5 different wines, we had 355 wines to sip and savour in the International Festival Tasting Room.  I spent my Thursday tasting white and sparkling wines and Friday tasting the red wines.  In this article, I cover my favourite white and sparkling wines.  In some cases, there…

One of the newer Italian wineries, FEMAR VINI SRL, formed in the 1990s.  They are in the Apulia region of Italy and will be attending VanWineFest 2024 to let us try their wines.  They use an appassimento method where they dry the grapes.  Other wineries pick the grapes and dry the grapes in bins/racks.  FEMAR lets the grapes dry on…

Lambrusco is a sparkling red wine from Emilia-Romagna, Italy, that you may have heard of, but never tasted.  In the past, there were low-quality sweet versions of this wine in the market, but in recent years the quality of Lambrusco has increased and we are getting nice examples in our market.  I received a bottle of Tomato Wheels Reggiano DOC…

Gambero Rosso is the leading platform for the promotion of Italian Wine in the world.  Each year they have a tasting of all Italian wines submitted to them and they rank the wines with the top wines given the title of Tre Bicchieri, Three Cups in English.  With these Tre Bicchieri wines, Gambero Rosso visits select cities around the world…

When we drink wine, we probably think of wines made from vitis vinifera grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Syrah.  But there are grapes that are a hybrid between vitis vinifera and another vitis species, such as labrusca or riparia. Why would you do this?  One reason is to make the vine more resistant to cold winters which…

I have 3 “Bohemian” wines for you from Winemaker’s CUT in the south Okanagan to tell you about.  Have you ever tried Lambrusco wine?  One of the BOHO wines by Winemaker’s CUT reminds me of it.  BOHO wines are a naturally made wine style that use wild an organic yeast to ferment these wines.  Winemaker’s CUT makes 2 BOHO wines;…

Although France was the theme country this year at the Vancouver International Wine Festival, there was a great contingent of wineries from around the world and from BC to pour their wines for us.  Below are wines that I enjoyed from countries other than France.  Enjoy! White and Sparkling Wines Cantine Giacomo Montresor Rose Royal Brut NV, Italy – Light…