Christmas is over, the time of powerful reds has passed us by. The rain is hitting the window and the sun is hiding behind 4 layers of thick clouds. January folks. So, instead, let’s focus on spring, it will come, hopefully, sooner than later.
This slightly unusual rosé from Piemonte, Italy, has what so many rosés are missing: texture and character. And as you’ve probably already guessed it’s a natural wine, hence the label. La Lupa is wonderfully nuanced, fruity and spicy. The wine is refreshing and yet textured. It has body and a bit of oomph is what I’m hinting at. In many ways this wine is more of a very light red than a dark rosé, if that makes any sense?
Yellow prosecco, blue prosecco, that prosecco with a brown label, prosse is perhaps exactly what we think of when we think of Italian bubbles. Instead, I throw out Rotari, a sparkling wine from northeastern Italy.
No wonder many of the reviews of this wine just said FREAKIN’ DELICIOUS. Because it is, if you’re into tannin and acid that is. Barolo DOCG is a style of wine made from the grape Nebbiolo, originating from Piemonte in the northwest of Italy.
Looking for a fruity berry blast with a hint of horse stables? Then this is your bottle. There are few times in life where you connect the aroma of horse stables with something delicious, well, this is one of those times.
So what are Etna wines? These are wines grown in Sicily, more specifically on the slopes of the volcano Etna, hence: volcanic wine. Like Benanti here, they are a little smoother in flavour, low in tannin, pale color, and Benanti specifically has a lot of lovely notes of berries to it. Elements of cherries and red berries, it has an earthy tone with the typical smoky style of wine from the area.
Firstly, how good-looking is the bottle? The Mafia boss personified in bottle format. Made from 100% Frappato (Nerocapitano is the old name for frappato).
Juice, not so much wine, partly due to low alcohol content of 10%. An absolutely lovely apertif on a hot summers day, cold as hell, but it didn’t quite stand up to the harsh autumn day it was consumed.