Marsala: history of falls and rises [ September 8th, 2010 ] Posted in » wine history
“Domenico Buff uncorked a bottle of his original” Vergine “ten extracts, prepared exclusively from grapes Grillo, and generously filled glass-sized aquarium for goldfish. In the dim light was visible shimmering color drink - as yellow as a buttercup, dense and rich. I sniffed the wine and felt a mixture of delicious shades of sweet peas, broom, peach and butterscotch with traces of the tubular tobacco. - Great. Brave bunch - I said and did a little sip. Marsala enveloped my tongue gently and tenderly, like a silk scarf, leaving a poignant mix of tastes, including a slight sweetness. And I immediately remembered his first trip to Sicily … “Matthew Fort
Read More …
Think of the world’s greatest wine regions and Champagne, Burgundy, Napa and perhaps Chile come to mind. But hidden in the Mid-West is a lesser known, but equally fruitful gem: Missouri. Yes, Missouri. Replete with over 30 wineries, many of them award winning, Missouri is producing some world-class vintages. But whether from lack of marketing or elegant-sounding names, Missouri wines remain virtually unknown to “outsiders”. This was not always the case, however. Prior to prohibition, Missouri was second only to New York in wine production. Settled by German immigrants, the Missouri River Valley with its lush, rolling hills reminded them of their homeland. Therefore, it was there that they put down roots…of the viney kind.
Celebrated British wine journalist Oz Clarke, famed for his complicated wine descriptions, has turned over a new leaf, in fact 416 of them, in his helpful and straightforward new hardback OZ CLARKE’S NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WINE, published by Harcourt Brace at $40 ($60 Canada).
If you want to see the wine regions of the world in a super-detailed mapped form, then this is the best 352-page book you can ever think of laying down in front of you. As you might have thought by the word Atlas in the title this powerhouse wine reference book is all about wine regions and detailed maps that cartographers will drool over. 178 maps to be exact, and they are detailed like no other.