Manoavino Taste!

Summer Wines 2011 part 2 of 4 - Three Italians Whites We Love for Summer - Verdicchio, Vermentino & Vernaccia

We had some friends over for a friday night wine tasting, they said they liked to try new wines and enjoyed Italian, and whites were fine.  I needed nothing more to happily bring out my favorite Italian trio, Verdicchio, Vermentino & Vernaccia.

These wines span Italy from the isle of Sardinia, across Tuscany to Le Marche. West to East.

Why these three? Because they are all very balanced, easy to drink and go well with summer food like salads, light cheeses and seafood.  I love Vermentino with linguine and white clam sauce. Get some fresh clams, garlic and parsley from the Montclair Farmers' Market and you are on your way to a great meal.

Summer Wines 2011 Part 1 of 4 - Greystone Cellars California Chardonnay and M. Chapoutier "Belleruche" Blanc

Welcome to a series of posts on our tastings of several great summer wines, all  very well priced and very delicious.

In our first  post of the series we are sharing our enjoyment of two lively and delightfully pleasant white wines.

The meal was a big gleaming fresh salad of wild roquette, campari tomatoes, warmed baby bella mushrooms, grilled applewood smoked bacon and havarti dill cheese, dressed with a handmade vinagrette of greek EVO, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard and fresh herbs from the garden.  Simple yet delicious.

The weather was perfect for dinner outdoors creating a wonderful venue for tasting these wines. With a party of six the wines flowed quickly and were thoroughly enjoyed.

Let me tell you what makes these two wines very special.

Tutidi - A Sensational Italian Sparkling Red Wine for Your Summer Pleasure

Found this great summer sparkling wine that is perfect for parties, at the beach, by the pool or just any occasion.

Tutidi, the Piemontese word for "Everyday", is a tantalizing red wine made from the aromatic Brachetto grape found in the Piedmont region of Italy. 

It is gently sweet and full of fresh raspberries and cherries flavors. I added some lemon and mint which was a perfect touch. Sells for between $9 & $14. Available throughout NY & NJ.

Exceptional Everyday Wines of Marchesi de' Frescobaldi - A Wine Tasting with Alesandro Lunardi or What is Terrior and Why Should You Care?

So what is terrior and why should you care? Well, I learned at a tasting this past week that there may be no one who knows the answer to this question better than the wine makers of the seven Frescobaldi estates in Tuscany. You see they go out of their way to plant and nurture in hard to farm places just to get the best terrior.

In case you are wondering, terrior is the characteristics of the land, micro-climate and topography of where wine is made. Using another word, it is nature. It also encompasses I believe certain human intervention like pruning, trellising or grape selection.  It is really what makes a particular wine great. 

If you think back to best, most memorable, happily unique wines you have enjoyed, they were that good because of their terroir and how the winemaker embraced it. Think nice juicy heirloom tomato from a local farmer vs. those funny red slabs you get at a diner from some tomato factory farm god knows where. Get the picture?

You see, in this world of globalization and mass production many wine makers ignore the terrior and lean on technology the result is wine that is acceptable, or bad, but is generic, boring, with no real personality. 

This is not the case with Marchesi de' Frescobaldi, one Italy's most prolific producers.

Red White & Bubbly Great Wine Shop in Park Slope Brooklyn

I met Edna Lee of Red, White and Bubbly at a wine tasting at Imperial No. Nine, the exciting restaurant by Chef Sam Talbot at MondrianSOHO on Mercer St.

The event was a remarkable vertical tasting of the 2005-2009 vintages of the fabulous Gruener Veltliner called Charming by Laurenz V. We also tasted the 1979, that was a once in a lifetime experience, and the current vintage of their Singing, Gruener Veltliner.

I fell in love with the 2005 Charming and it turned out that Edna was able to get it for me, which lead to a trip to Brooklyn to her wine shop which joyfully exceeded my expectations.

In Buenos Aires there are Many Charming Cafes that We Enjoyed

In fact they are on on almost every block in the Centro or Downtown the area where we stayed. One of our favorites was El Gato Negro on the busy Avenida Corrientes at 1669.

These coffee places are often called cafeterias and offer a selection of cafes and teas as well as pastries and often sandwiches and other luncheon fare. We started every day with a visit to a cafe.

We loved this one because the coffee was so good and it had wonderful atmosphere. It was opened in 1929. There are many great cafes, bars and restaurants that date back to the early part of the 20th century. Foto by Adapar 

My Trip to Buenos Aires - A Wonderful City Rich in Culture, Food and Wine

Well I am back from an amazing trip to Buenos Aires and have much to share.  This is the first of many posts about this beautiful city that is very rich in culture, wine and food.

My daughter Nell has been touring South America for three months and we agreed to meet in Argentina for a week at the end of her trip. It is a country I have always wanted to visit. My trip down there was a rather harrowing experience with delays in Guarulhos, Brazil due  the Chilean volcano, but I finally arrived after 3 days of travel .

We stayed in a lovely apartment in the center of the city, a neighborhood called  Congresso, convenient to the three subways and bustling with life during the week but very quiet during the weekend.

People ask me what I like most about Buenos Aires. It is hard to answer that question as we had so many amazing experiences, in the end I would have to say the people and their enterprise. Here we are in a wonderful cafe on Placita Serrano in another neighborhood, Palermo Viejo enjoying a delicious lunch and some exotic cocktails.  In posts to follow we will share more

Tasting Laurenz V. Charming Gruner Veltliner a Precious 2005 Vintage - What are you drinking?

  
Laurenz V. (www.laurenzv.com) was created for white wine lovers everywhere. The winery focuses on a single wine variety—Grüner Veltliner—that has long been a favorite in its native Austria, where it represents nearly a third of the country’s wine grape production. Grüner Veltliner has been quickly catching on in the rest of the world, too! Folio

What are you drinking? Send us a comment.