Joel | March 31, 2011
Rainoldi Sassella Valtellina Superiore 2006
I like to think about harmony in wine as I do about harmony in music: a super-connection of relaxations and tensions that manage to stay balanced in a way that’s pleasing to the senses.
And, Rainoldi’s Sassella Valtellina Superiore 2006, I’ve found, is a wine that is, first and foremost, one [...]
Joel | March 25, 2011
Nusserhof Tyroldego 2006
Nearly forty years have found their way by me since I walked with my dog Storm through the forests surrounding my boyhood home in New England.
Warm days of skunk cabbage, lady slippers and princess pine, watching the ground for specimens to add to my pine cone collection, hands all pine pitch and never [...]
Joel | March 17, 2011
Two wines from Arianna Occhipinti: Sicilia Bianco 2009, Nero d’Avola e Frappato 2009
Sprezzatura, that Italian word which refers to the art of doing something difficult with nonchalant ease, echoes its meaning in Arianna Occhipinti’s SP68 Bianco Sicilia and her SP68 Nero d’Avola / Frappato.
In true sprezzatura fashion, I found both wines to be effortlessly fresh, [...]
Joel | March 1, 2011
I knew there would be good wines. It was, after all, a prestigious Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting. But, even good wines can have the nasty habit of wanting a lot of other things from you besides that you enjoy them.
Today, my attention is directed to wines heroic in their ability to [...]
