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The Italian Abroad Wine Blog is a wine blog and diary where I share my thoughts, primarily about Italian wine and food, but also on wine, food, and travel in general. I founded Italyabroad.com in 2003 and have been living abroad for over 20 years. Coming from an Italian winemaking family, I was introduced to wine at a very early age. While my roots are in Italian wine, I appreciate and enjoy good wine from all over the world, alongside great food and the joys of travel. My posts often weave these passions together.
To help you better understand Italian wines, we've created a series of Italian wine regions maps that show DOC and DOCG wines, their origins and the grapes they are made of, including your favorite Italian wines. I’ve also written a post on the Italian wine appellation system explaining and demystifying the Italian wine classification system and what it really means for wine lovers and enthusiasts.
Additionally, I host a YouTube channel , where you can watch me taste some of our wines and answer your questions about Italian wines and grapes. From the meaning of DOC to what makes an orange wine, we cover it all.
I hope you enjoy reading this wine blog! Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Salute
Andrea
Finding the right wine and food pairing not only is the epitome for any wine and food lover, it takes the dining experience to another level. But before we start talking about pairings, it is important to consider the characteristics of the food and wine individually. The general criteria for pairing wine and food follows two approaches: matching by agreement or matching by contrast.
Lets hope that 2024 will bring plenty of good Italian wine. My dad, when growing up, used to say to me “if you are going to get drunk, do it by drinking good wine, at least you won’t have headache the next morning”. My dad’s recommendation aside, less is better, and this applies to wine as well, drink less but drink better and more importantly enjoy your wine, sip it. Maybe this living cost crisis will help all of us to enjoy and appreciate more, whether wine or clothes.
2023 has been a significant year for us, first and foremost because we celebrated our 20th birthday. I still can’t believe, 20 years have flown by, and what a rollercoaster has been, plenty of ups, with very highs, and downs, including very lows. But 2023 has also been one of our busiest year ever thanks to all of you who trusted us for their “Italian” shopping, and on that positive note, I want to bid farewell to 2023 and welcome the 2024, hoping that it will bring all of us joy and health and success, whatever it means
I did not and it is not the case, prosecco is made following the Charmat or Martinotti method, where the second fermentation takes place in the tank, however, this was what I read on an award winning wine merchant website
If you follow my blog, you read more than once of my frustration in not being able to find natural wines. I believe that a wine is first and foremost a wine, and whether natural or not, becomes irrelevant if the wine is not drinkable. Until recently, all natural wines I had tasted were either undrinkable or with an unjustified price, so we decided to wait despite the trend. Making natural wines is certainly more expensive compared to conventional wines, but also more difficult, since it follows the natural process and the wine maker can do very little to control and guarantee the outcome
For Italians, pizza and wine are both in our DNA but until recently, the two were rarely served together, pizza would go with beer and everything else with wine. As time has evolved, and pizza has become "gourmet", pizza and wine is now an accepted and refined pairing but it has also become a challenging and fun exercise due to the myriad of toppings that can be used for a pizza and the thousands of wines. Not only there is a wine for every palate, but there is also a pizza, lets combine the two together for a delicious journey through the Italian's flavours
The 2023 harvesting will be remembered, yet again, from winemakers all over the Italy for its many challenges, due to the unpredictable weather patterns. From the devastating floods in Emilia-Romagna to the scorching temperatures in Sicily, to the lack of dry days during the spring that has caused the Peronospora to attack the vines. The 2023 grape growing season is one that has been marked by extremes across the country, from north to south, with no exception. Climate change is now widely acknowledged as the cause of these extremes and unpredictable weather events. Italian winemakers have not had a “normal” harvesting for several years now and each harvesting brings more and new challenges
Starting from August, unless of a last minute scrap or extension which we are all hoping for, climate change will affect the price of our favourite wine. The duty on wine will be determined by the alcohol content affecting wine produced all over the world especially warmer climates. Any wine with an alcohol content of 11.5% and above will see an increase in duty, increase that will force importers to put prices up
For nearly two decades, the Association of Moscato di Canelli producers, have battled with the Italian bureaucracy and wine establishment to get the Canelli DOCG recognised. Canelli is considered the home of Italian sparkling wine production and to produce the best Moscato d’Asti but until recently, it was only recognised as a sub zone of the Moscato d’Asti with some producers indicating Canelli on the label. Finally, the Ministry of Agriculture has granted the application and Canelli has been granted DOCG status.
Creating the “superiore” denomination not only will not make any difference on the wines’ reputation, wines because the article mentions all regional DOC wines, but will create even more confusion for the consumers, the wine drinkers, the people that will eventually buy it. To protect the appellations and the consumers, much more needs to be done
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