Italian wine

My first approach with Italian wine was tasting my father-in-law wine.I admit that I didn't even know since then that people used to produce wine "at home". But it is a very common thing in small villages. People use to have a small piece of land where plant their vineyards.

This "home-made" wine is often good. It doesn't last for long, as it has no preservatives or industrial methods applied. But it remains a very interesting typical product.

If you visit (and have lunch!) an agritourism (rural sites that produce most of what they offer for lunch/dinner; sometimes offering also rooms), you'll probably have this "home" wine served for lunch.

Pay attention: this wine "swallows" very easily, and you may find yourself very happy and singing without understanding why!

The bottled Italian wine is growing in quality, winning international prizes and putting Italy as the 1st wine exporter in the world.

So...it worths the try!

There are so many good wines... and I am not (yet!) a sommelier to suggest you the best under standard rules.

But... I like wine so much and as a gourmet, I have my favourite ones!

Let's begin with a classical one: Chianti! This wine comes from a Tuscany region. About 3 years ago we spent a long weekend in a small city called Greve in Chianti, located in Chianti valley.

As we arrived in our hotel... that was very cute as it was an old pasta factory that turned into a small familiar hotel; the host gave us a bottle of Chianti.

We then visited the main square, in which there were a kind of live market, and we bought the famous finocchiona (a wonderful Tuscany salami) and good bread.

Guess what? We opened the Chianti bottle with all these delicacies and...I fall in love with it!

It's a wine that will never disappoint you. If you're not a connoisseur and don't know other wines from the wine menu, choose a Chianti and you won't fail.

But, my number 1 is a Sardinian wine called Terre Brune. It is a Carignano wine and it stays above any other wine. It's just unique!

But there are other excellent ones too, as Turriga, that won prizes, other than Korem and Luzzana.

I began talking about red wines because they are my favourite ones, but there are many white wines that deserve attention.

As I live in Sardinia, that is an island, talk about white wine reminds me of summertime, when we usually eat more seafood accompanied by a fresh glass of white wine.

I'll be back soon to talk more about white and sparkling wines.