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   Share this article     Summary of Editorial column ABC Wine 
  Editorial Issue 9, June 2003   
Touring and Looking for BacchusTouring and Looking for Bacchus MailBoxMailBox  Contents 
Issue 8, May 2003 Follow DiWineTaste on Follow DiWineTaste on TwitterIssue 10, Summer 2003

Touring and Looking for Bacchus


 One of the many positive effects of the renewed interests for wine is the increasing curiosity of people about this subject and, with that, to the other subjects which are related to it, such as food and wine traditions and folklore, paying much attention, or, at least, trying to pay more attention, on what it is being eaten and on its quality. The ones who love nice wine and quality wines, also love nice cooking and eating quality foods; the ones who are aware of “wise drinking”, little but good, seem not to be affected by the “temptations” of fast foods, quick and less attentive, and certainly less healthy.

 This trend, both to wise drinking and to wise eating, has contributed to give tourism a real and proper boost, in particular to those peripheral areas near artistic cities, incredibly rich in traditional, enological and gastronomical patrimonies. It is more and more happening that in the plans and the journeys of people, they take some time in visiting historical and artistic cities, as well as taking some time in visiting traditional places near to them, in order to know and discover gastronomical and enological cultures and traditions of those places. This trend allowed many receptive structures to specifically organize things in order to offer the possibility of appreciating the nice food of their lands.


 

 Even wineries worked towards getting the advantages of these opportunities: since many years there is a real and proper increasing number of consumers who visit production sites of their preferred wines, wineries happily keep their doors open to people, something that, it must be observed, has always been part of the welcoming traditions of wineries, people can realize themselves how wineries work and produce their wines, breathing the air of those places, and, at the end of the visit, getting back to their houses with an enriched cultural knowledge. Moreover, wineries of the many countries of the world got organized and set a specific day of the year, mostly in holidays, where they open their doors to people, offering them their wines matched to local foods, as well as organizing guided tours to wineries' production structures. These events, it is now a concrete fact, are getting more and more successful each passing year.

 The revaluation of the least renowned wines and, often, produced in pretty small and unknown areas, away from important cities and therefore scarcely visited by people, are having an unexpected moment of glory thanks to the wines which are being produced in those places since ever. Thanks to wine and to the interest people have in getting to know them better, even the so called “lesser areas”, rural and unknown areas, had the chance to be properly revaluated; new structures have been built with this explicit goal and helping, as a consequence, the local economies as well. Along with the wines of these places, and if one goes there for drinking, it always and inevitably ends up eating something, had the same opportunity typical gastronomical products as well, some of them were even disappeared, they have been revaluated and offered to visitors. All that is, of course, an extraordinary and important event, positive and noble, in a world which is going more and more towards the sad homologation of things and habits, with that, unfortunately, gastronomical traditions as well, it is amazing to know all that is useful to the revaluation of the precious and fundamental local cultures and traditions, to be certainly considered as real and proper monuments of our societies.

 Reevaluating traditions and products of places also means having the availability of a broader choice of products and opportunities, in every aspect, a good way to escape from routine and to be free, at last, of choosing, a choice inspired by consciousness and not imposed. The so called “wine tours” are certainly welcome, as well as welcome are the opportunities which allow consumers to know new places and new products, which allow them to enrich their culture and their freedom of choice. Moreover, what way would be better, in getting to know anything, than going to meet and to appreciate it in the places where it originated, developed and valued? Lastly, by visiting places which are interesting, hopefully, in an enological point of view and therefore the main reason for the visit, will allow to discover other and interesting aspects one could not even imagine.

 As summertime is about to come, it is probable that anyone is thinking on how to spend their vacations, people will already have planned what places and what areas are going to be visited in their journeys; by carefully considering the routes, they will certainly realize they will happen to travel in many places and areas which are certainly interesting according to an enological point of view, a good reason to stop by, contemplating the view of those places, hopefully in company of a good glass of local wine.

 



   Share this article     Summary of Editorial column ABC Wine 
  Editorial Issue 9, June 2003   
Touring and Looking for BacchusTouring and Looking for Bacchus MailBoxMailBox  Contents 
Issue 8, May 2003 Follow DiWineTaste on Follow DiWineTaste on TwitterIssue 10, Summer 2003

MailBox


 In this column are published our reader's mail. If you have any comment or any question or just want to express your opinion about wine, send your letters to our editorial.

 

In the editorial “Bubbles War” published in the issue 7, April 2003, there is a mention about Franciacorta wines and the fact that they are good. Unfortunately I do not have much information about Franciacortas. Are these wines defined as “spumante”? What are the most typical Franciacortas?
Sang-Hun Chi -- Busan (South Korea)
Franciacorta wines, produced in the area having the same name in Lombardy, near Brescia (Italy), are certainly to be considered among the best wines of Italy, because of their quality which is now, in general terms, universally considered as high. According to the Italian law, every wine having carbon dioxide and a minimal pressure of 3 atmospheres at a temperature of 20°C, is defined as “spumante”. No matter how Franciacortas, according to a simple point of view, have these characteristics, they cannot be defined, according to a specific Italian law, as spumante, as this definition is generic and reductive, but exclusively and uniquely “Franciacorta”. These wines are produced with the method of refermentation in bottle, in the Franciacorta area defined as Metodo Franciacorta, with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc grapes, with the exception of the Satèn style which is produced only with white berried grapes (Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc). Production times for the non vintage styles requires a period of at least 25 months, at least 18 of refermentation in bottle and in contact with lees, whereas vintage Franciacortas require a minimum of 37 months, at least 30 of refermentation in bottle. The styles of Franciacorta being produced are: Non Dosato (or Pas Dosè, Dosage Zéro, Nature) which does not have any dosage and therefore it is very dry; Extra Brut (up to 6 grams of residual sugar per liter); Brut (sugar less than 15 grams/liter); Extra Dry (sugar from 12 and 20 grams/liter); Sec or Dry (sugar from 17 to 35 grams/liter); Demi-sec (sugar from 33 to 50 grams/liter). It should be observed that Franciacortas are also produced as Rosé and every style can be, in the best years, vintage.



I love white wines and in particular Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. I like to try these wines from every country of the world and from any winery as well. I noticed Chardonnays are usually aged in barrique whereas this is rare for Sauvignon Blanc. Why? Is there any specific reason for that?
Dennis Rice -- Modesto, California (USA)
Chardonnay, besides being the most cultivated grape in the world, is also extremely versatile and workable; this characteristic has practically made it famous in every country of the world because allowed wine makers to create wines in may ways. The same cannot be said for Sauvignon Blanc, a grape having completely different characteristics from Chardonnay, and thanks to its peculiarities, in particular in its aroma, it does not allow the same production “freedom”. The enchanting aromas of Sauvignon Blanc are rich, charming and pleasing, they recall flower, fruit, in particular tropical fruit, and the aging in oak would drastically change these aromas. Moreover Sauvignon Blanc is more acid than Chardonnay, therefore an aging in oak would make the wine not much balanced, provided it is not being produced with pretty ripe grapes in order to produce an adequate quantity of alcohol. Chardonnay cannot certainly have the same aromatic strength of Sauvignon Blanc and therefore added aromas of wood are usually a good support and, when used in a balanced way, they do not disturb the aromas of the grape, however and certainly present. It should be noticed and remembered there are many producers in the world that decide, in the aim of producing particular styles of wine, to age Sauvignon Blanc in oak, as well as producers that prefer to avoid the aging in wood for Chardonnay. As always, it is however a matter of personal tastes.



   Share this article     Summary of Editorial column ABC Wine 
  Editorial Issue 9, June 2003   
Touring and Looking for BacchusTouring and Looking for Bacchus MailBoxMailBox  Contents 
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