Abissi by Bisson - an innovative wine cellar under the sea...

Dear Wine Lovers,

today I'm going to tell you about a wine totally different from others mentioned in this blog, I'm going to tell you about a romantic love story between a man and the sea.

Ten years ago, Mr. Pierluigi Lugano, founder and manager of Bisson Wine Company from Portofino, started a really innovative project, an Italian sparkling wine (metodo classico) but with an amazing story...

Which are the best ambiental conditions to realize this kind of wine? a cellar with an environment that meets thespecific conditions of temperature and light (underground caves and tunnels)... but, in Portofino? do you know Portofino?

Portofino is a wonderful small fishing village protected by a promontory, amongst some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe, but this unique place is not famous for his underground wine cellars and tunnels, so the owner of the company, Mr. Lugano, has had an old but innovative idea....

He thought about the wrecks of the galleons under the sea, which have often returned wine boxes really well-preserved and with organoleptic characteristics intact, so, combining a passion for wine and love for the sea, he thought that the ideal place to rest the wine could actually be the seabed, why? Depth 60 m, +15 ° constant temperature, darkness, pressure and a series of favorable factors in this ideal context for the most exclusive "champagne".

This project named "Abissi" started in 2009 and they produce about 6.500 bottles per year. "Abissi" is a sparkling wine (metodo classico, as Champagne or our amazing Franciacorta for example). They send the bottles under the Ligurian sea, stowed in 11grids for 18 months. The grapes could be different year by year but usually they produce this original and unique wine with some native grapes from Liguria as Bianchetta Genovese, Vermentino and Pigato as well.

I tasted this wine a couple of days ago (thanks @Mamba for this special gift) the bottle is fantastic, full of remnants of the seabed, sand included. Maybe the wine is not the best wine that I've ever had but it's a good wine, well-done and it could be a really original gift for all people that love the world of wine. This is not only a "marketing idea", the experiment has worked and the final product is pretty awesome.

Some tasting notes: the colour is a clear and unloaded golden yellow, the perlage is firm but gentle, scents remind all the Liguria spring flowers with a touch of taste of the sea (minerality). It's dry, good acidity and I think that this wine is perfect for a spring aperitif with friends, to amaze them and have fun togheter.

and if u enjoyed this story, here you can find a post on an another innovative way to produce wine:

http://wineloverscorner.blogspot.com/2011/01/al-paradiso-di-frassina-magic-of-music.html

Stay tuned,

Angelo D'Alessandro

thedeliciousworld@gmail.com

Ornellaia - Cannot resist the temptations of life!

Dear Wine Lovers,

I'm writing this review dressed in a charming tuxedo because I'm going to tell you about a special dinner with special collegues and with a special wine.

In each field there are masters that naturally stand out, because they are unique, rare, inimitable; there are no schools to learn that. You have it in your dna or you don't. This goes for each profession, each person, each painter, poet and obviusly winemaker as well.

In Italy we have some masterpiece wines famous all over the world, them are our trademark in and outside the country of the world of wine and we are really proud of that. Like a Ferrari car or an Armani dress, we're also really famous and appreciated for some of the best wines in the world.

I have to get back to my main train of thought. Back to reality (it's 7am o'clock in the morning - at my desk - writing this post and listening an amazing Jazz CD of Blue Mitchell - now playing "When I Fall In Love" - tks to Mamone for this marvellous gift).

Ok, here I am again. As I was saying, a couple of weeks ago, two of my special friends and I (Cesare and Roberto - they are also my collegues) decided to go out for a wine tasting dinner, we went to a really cosy restaurant, soft lights, warm ambient and with great food. We started with a good bottle of Barbera D'Asti Superiore Riserva "Tredici Lune" and then we opted to have an experience that any wine lover should have at least one time per year, we asked for a King. I enjoyed introducing this masterpiece wine to my friends because they had never tasted it before.

Ladies & Gentleman, it's with great plesaure, wearing a glossy pair of tap shoes that I introduce you to 'The Wine':

Ornellaia 2007 by Tenute dell' Ornellaia

A lot of you know this wine for sure, we're in the Bolgheri area (again!!!) here we have a remarkable selection of grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. A perfectly balanced expression of the relationship between soil, nature, man and poetry. This wine at the nose is opulent, full of notes as dark chocholate, black cherry and a lot of leather, yes leather, like horse saddle you know? Its wonderful! Tasting Ornellaia you'll have one of the best wine experiences of your life, in the mouth its elegant, silky and so so sexy. On your palate you will have a long finish, mature cherry notes, chocolate, roasted coffee, vanilla, violet and "oak memories" for hours, till you brush your teeth (so... that night don't brush them).

Ornellaia is the kind of wine that you cannot have every week or every month, this is a wine that you should sip just one or two times per year, you cannot go to the "Louvre" every day, right?

Christmas is coming... so, if you love wines, you could think of treating yourself to a gift like a bottle of Ornellaia.

We have to celebrate life... and the life will celebrate back ourselves!

Have a nice day and thanks for being here.

Angelo D'Alessandro

thedeliciousworld@gmail.com

Montesodi Riserva 2007 by Frescobaldi - That's life!

Dear Wine Lovers,

Autumn is our season and I'm just reminiscing over of my favourite wine ever.

Today I'm coming back on well-known territory and I'm going to write about a Wine that I had presented to you two years ago.

If you really love wines and if you really want to live a magical experience without spending a fortune, pls listen to me and go online to buy this miracle in a bottle.

Last saturday one of my best friends visited me with a surprise, a basket of wonderful fresh porcini mushrooms (see pic), here in Italy in this period it hasn't rained enough and mushrooms are unavailable; but my friend Claudio is a super-hero and he found some of nature's marvellous gift.

Non-scheduled lunch, with a special friend, I have to invent something.

In this 1 hour we sat down tasting an appetizing lunch and first of all "smelling" a unbelievable wine named...

Ladies & Gentleman and the Oscar goes to (suspence, music growing up with strings, horns, timpani):

Montesodi Riserva 2007 by Marchese Frscobaldi

Five minutes of standing ovation, as for the Big Luciano Pavarotti at Madison after "Nessun dorma... Vincerooo".

Ok, I know that a wine like this isn't the best match for a dish of "Paccheri with Porcini mushrooms" but I wanted to taste that wine and share it with my friend so, I dared and I won!

Here we have "the Wine" in my opinion; a Sangiovese cru selection of Montesodi Vineyards, in the Chianti Rufina area, near Florence.

400 meters above sea level, here there is the best environment to produce one of the best wines in the world.

Montesodi is a King, a really opulent wine, with a dark-inky ruby red impenetrable colour, leave it rest 10 mins in the glass and then smell "the dream", you'll find all the aromas unique and rare, you'll fall in love just smelling it (no tasting notes today - you have to try it and write me).

Tasting Montesodi you'll live a thrilling experience, rich, powerful, dense, exciting. The finish is very very long and unforgettable.

For my palate, this is one of the best wine in the world, a wine to celebrate life... and every day should be good to do it.

If you need some suggestion on how to buy this gem, write me in private and I'll give you some good web-addresses.

I hope to see you here for my next review, I really appreciate your interest in wine and your friendship.

Live your life deeply and do it with style.

Angelo D'Alessandro

thedeliciousworld@gmail.com

Rosso di Montefalco by Arnaldo Caprai - Regular but talented wine for all budget!

Dear Wine Lovers,

After a lot of requests, I decided to cite at least one regular wine per month, with "regular" I mean all those kind of wines that are found on the supermarket shelves.

There is a rule in my mind, also shared with a lot of wine lovers, that there is no decent wine above 7-8 euros per bottle. So I'd like to share my personal opinion with a fast recap.

Prices between:

300-7000 EUROS = wines for crazy-insane people

150-300 EUROS = wines for rich people

80-150 EUROS = wines for experts or fake experts with great self-esteem

40-80 EUROS = wines for wine lovers with an enthusiasm crisis

7-40 EUROS = wines for those of us who has understand everything

2-7 EUROS = unleaded fuel

Don't worry, there are a lot of good wines for daily use, easy to find and that you can enjoy without spend too much money.

Today I'd like to introduce you one of my favourite cheap wines, really well-done and with a price between 9 and 11 euros (depending on the distributor):

Rosso di Montefalco by Arnaldo Caprai

A lot of you know for sure that when I say "Montefalco" ( Umbria hills) that its one of the best place in the world to see marvellous landscapes and taste one of the most ancient, native and gorgeous wines of the world based on "Sagrantino" grape.

The father of this wine is the famous: "Sagrantino di Montefalco", here one of mine reviews on this gem:

http://wineloverscorner.blogspot.com/2009/11/sagrantino-di-montefalco-arnaldo-caprai.html

Here we have the little brother, "Rosso di Montefalco", that also includes the Sagrantino grape but for the minor part, because it consists of the Sangiovese grape (70%), Sagrantino (15%) and Merlot (15%). Sangiovese gives power, Sagrantino gives character and Merlot gives rotundity.

The colour is wonderful and will make you happily satisfied, its really brilliant ruby red, pls look at its colour for 30 seconds and then put all your nose in the glass (trust me) and smell; intense aromas, the wine is young, fresh, simple but also seductive. On the palate is powerful, a rich of mature red with fruit notes and with a lovable vanilla spices finish.

I always enjoy this wine and I always have some spare bottles in my cellar for some unscheduled dinners with friends.

Are there any other excuses not to begin to live & discover the delicious & magical world of wine?

...and remember stay thirsty, stay foolish :)

Angelo D'Alessandro

thedeliciousworld@gmail.com

Perlato Del Bosco by Tua Rita - Disruptive Talent

Dear Wine Lovers,

First of all thanks to all those readers that post comments or that write me in private for advice. These things keep the "social passion" live!

Have I ever told you that I love Tuscany? Oh, I'm sorry I know, I don't want to seem monotonous but wines, landscapes, good food, life... there's no best place in the world to find all these "ingredients" !

Yes Tuscany is really an amazing place and the wine culture totally rules! I've some "Chianti" bullets in my belt but today I want to talk about a traditional "new" wine from Bolgheri that a special person, named Laura, gave me for my last birthday (in June).

I've talked a lot in this blog on wines from Bolgheri, I know, but today I'm going to present a traditional Tuscan wine produced in an international Tuscan area, Bolgheri.

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Perlato Del Bosco by Tua Rita

Usually in this Tuscan area the wines are based on international grapes like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and so on and the Tuscan native Sangiovese grape is not ever a fundamental components of wines from Bolgheri, for this reason we call them "supertuscan", which are international grapes planted in Tuscan soil (just to cite some of these: Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Solaia, Guado al Tasso, Grattamacco, Sapaio etc..).

This wine, Perlato Del Bosco, is based on 60/70% of Sangiovese grape and the rest on Cabernet Sauvignon with a minimum part of Syrah (all character grapes).

The colour of this wine is powerful and full of dark violet nuances that will paint your glass; at the nose is gorgeous, overflowing and maybe excessive hints at the start but this wine has a extraordinary capacity, and changes every moment, changes in a couple of minutes, unusual and admirable.

Tasting this wine you'll have the same sensation, the first sip will confuse you, the second one will make you fall in love with it. You'll find deep inky flavours, mature cherry, alcoholic note very strong but not annoying, potent intensity and a very long finish (you won't clean your teeth).

This wine contains an old tradition but also a good modern character, it is really sure of itself, has charm and courage and I loved it.

Maybe this product is unusual and only for "trained palates" but if you're looking for something "different" from a really famous area such as Bolgheri, this could be the right product for you.

Because normality and calmness sometime frighten more than madness, no?

Relax and let yourself go... this wine could help you do to that!

Angelo D'Alessandro

thedeliciousworld@gmail.com

A great white from a tiny land!

Dear Wine Lovers,

today I'd like to talk about something really new for me. The wine that I'm going to introduce you was given to me by a special colleague named Julius and I want to dedicate this review to him and thank him for his wonderful thoughts.

I was born in Milan and when people from Milan want to go to the sea, they go to the Liguria region, a really small patch of land about 150kms from downtown Milan. The only problem is that during summer months, all "the city folk" move there so you could probably reach New York (swimming) in the same amount of time that people from Milan reach the Ligurian sea.

By the way, the Liguria region offer a lot of wonderful landscapes and "the south" of this region is really amazing.

I think that this wine comes from one of the most romantic place in the world, the "Cinque Terre" area (Five Lands), five little villages located in the middle of Cinque Terre National Park, a World Heritage Site protected by UNESCO.

Near the "Cinque Terre", in the wonderful picturesque town of "Portovenere" there is one of my favourite restaurants named "Le Bocche" (one of best sea view restaurants in the world) but today I have to focus on this "surprise" so, relax yourself, take off your shoes and enjoy this sensual experience:

Cinque Terre DOC by Luciano Capellini

As you know I'm not a big fan of the white wines but sometimes, when I meet a "white" like this, I can get really enthusiatic.

This wine reminds me of "spring time" and is composed of "Bosco", "Arbarola" and the famous "Vermentino" grape planted in a gorgeous and scenic terraced vineyards. Intense yellow colour with golden nuances, amazing at the nose, springtime flavours, lemon, green apple and with a good minerality. The palate is the same but more "fun", crispy, really well balanced, with nice body and with a enjoyable finish.

This wine could be a match for some aromatic wines of the Dolomites region (my favourite whites) and it has been a really welcome gift.

Since the autum is coming and the "BIG REDS SEASON" is starting, we have little time to say goodbye to the summer and what better way to do it than with a fresh wine like this.

This new wine experience taught me a lot, I had no expectations of this region but I've been very impressed by the quality of this wine and talent of the winemaker.

It is the journey of life that enriches our lives, let's enjoy it!

Angelo

Enchanting mountain poetry

Dear Wine Lovers,

Welcome back, I really hope that you've had a nice summer.

This year I've been to lovely United States a few times, for work reasons, so this summer I've choosen to spend all my holidays in Umbria. That place that I love and that I often compare to paradise named "La Palazzetta Del Vescovo" (see my last review).

When I travel, I try to make my choices of local wines, in Umbria you have a lot of choices, from the classical and inimitable Sagrantino di Montefalco to a lot of amazing blend wines produced in that area.

One night, a special friend of mine as well as a master sommelier, Stefano from "La Palazzetta Del Vescovo" invited me to try something new. He's really talented and I usually trust him but this time... well you guessed it, this time he hit the target again (as usual).

I was in Umbria but on my table had "landed" a wine from the marvellous Dolomiti mountains, but we're not talking about Lagrein or Pinot Noir grapes, here we have something new, something really special... ladies and gentleman:

Rosso Faye by Pojer e Sandri

I can't wait to go to visit this wine producer beacuse their wine has driven me totally crazy!

The "big guy" is composed by Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc (which has an incredible colour), Merlot and Lagrein (dolomiti's character). Just for that "grapes team" you should imagine what I'm talking about on.

Rosso Faye is fermented in wood tanks, and then 1 year in French barrells, almost all new and the last year in the bottle.

Wine Lovers, really, I've been surprised by this wine. I love it. The colour is deep, brilliant with tinges of dark violet (OMG). At the nose you can smell all the fruits of Dolomiti mountains underwood. When you taste Rosso Faye you find all the power, the elegance and the long finish of a masterpiece wine.

I can compare this wine to something really special because we have all the "phisique" of Bordeaux wines, mixed with Italian talent, the muscle of a Super-Tuscan and with the velvety touch of the Dolomiti mountains thanks to the gorgeous Lagrein grape.

I suggest you go visit this producer because, in my opinion, Pojer e Sandri is a really innovative company and they've give us a really innovative and fabolous wine.

Keep your dreams alive,

Angelo D'Alessandro

thedeliciousworld@gmail.com