Category: Delicious

' “When an Austrian company launched Rich prosecco two years ago in gold soda-pop cans and promoted it with ads featuring Paris Hilton naked, covered in gold paint, Italian producers felt assaulted,” said Vittorio Zoppi, marketing manager for the Consorzio del Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, in a phone interview. “They felt they had to protect the wine’s image.” '

'When is a $15 bottle a bargain wine? … When it typically sells for $20 or more and is worth every penny of it.'

'Chianti – perhaps the most easily recognized Italian red wine – has come a long way from straw-fiasco-bottled plonk of the 1970s and '80s. Chianti is primarily made of Sangiovese, Italy's most important red grape.'

'All told, the lunch was a resounding success — good food, good wine and good friends on a memorable late-summer afternoon.'

'While there are plenty of expensive Italian wines, there’s also a very strong selection at the lower price points. There, you’ll find many wines made from indigenous grape varieties, especially sangiovese, but Italian producers have also rallied strongly to what are called the “international varieties” — chardonnay, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and so on.'

Not too long ago, purchasing a Spanish white for less than $12 could be a crap shoot, a winner sometimes and a loser more often unless you knew the wine well. That has changed, though, in recent years as Spanish wine makers have adopted more modern and cleaner production techniques.

'With one more outdoor summer holiday party to go, Labor Day seems worthier of shrimp and steak than the franks and burgers that filled the grill on the Fourth of July. So, too, the frivolous wines of mid-summer should give way to more serious bottlings, without paying too much for the pleasure of drinking them with good food.'

'Richard Sanford is in his third incarnation as a winemaker. For a follower of Eastern philosophy who practices tai chi and considers himself a spiritual Taoist, reincarnation is not a far-fetched concept.'

'A survey by Full Glass Research found that many consumers aren't aware of petite sirah and that retailers and restaurants don't push the variety. The grape's fans, however, understand that it produces dark, robust, teeth-staining wines with tannins that range from firm, but manageable to very intense and drying.'

'Because they're versatile and food-friendly, we drink zins year-round, with a special preference for those made from the intensely flavorful grapes grown sparingly on old vines. The 2007 Zen of Zin Old Vines Zinfandel (about $8 but often discounted at big box stores and supermarkets), from Sonoma County vintner Ravenswood, fills the bill for us nicely.'