The Italian abroad wine blog is my wine blog and diary. I founded Italyabroad.com in 2003 and have been living abroad for almost 20 years and this blog is a collection of my thoughts mainly about Italian wine and food, but also wine and food in general. I come from an Italian wine making family and got acquainted with wine at a very early age, but I don't just love Italian wine, I love any good wine and enjoy plenty of it, as well as good food and travelling, and often my posts include a bit of everything.
To help you understand Italian wines, we have designed a series of Italian wine regions maps featuring DOC and DOCG wines showing the origins and the grapes making your favourite Italian wines. I also wrote a post on the Italian wine appellation system explaining and demystifying the Italian wine classification system and what it really means for Italian wine lovers and wine drinkers in general.
Lastly, we have a Youtube channel where you can watch me tasting some of our wines and answer your questions about Italian wines and grapes, from the real meaning of DOC to what is an orange wine.
Hope you enjoy reading this wine blog and please get in touch if you have any question.
Andrea
The problem with bland Italian, or any country for that matter, wines and their bad reputation is due to supermarkets. Supermarkets buying are based on prices, they may pick the best of the bunch, but still within their budget which is not at lot, and in difficult or bad vintages the “not a lot” is even less, so it doesn’t really matter the vintage, because wines will always be average at their best
Does vintage matter? Yes, vintage does affect, for all reasons above and in different ways, the quality and the value of wine and in great vintages, the best and most famous wine makers will have prohibitive prices for the majority, but there will be plenty of less known wineries with more approachable prices
What is the difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico? Is Chianti Classico better than the “normal” Chianti? Which is the Chianti with the black rooster on the label? These are only some of the questions that I get asked when tasting Chiantis. Lets start answering them
It is no secret that Italian wine is very confusing and it is often a matter for wine experts. Plenty of wines have names that have nothing to do with the grapes they are made of, Chianti and Amarone or Barolo only to mention a few, some have the name of the town or the area where they are produced without any other indication
Italian craft beer in the UK is not yet widely known and appreciated, there is very little available in terms of styles. Italian craft beer is exciting, yes, it is slightly more expensive than the other craft beers, but it is certainly the most exciting at the moment, in Italy craft beer is still driven by passion and love for the beer
Italian DOC wines have reached the astonishing number of 330, they were 329 before the latest addition, and consumers probably know only a handful of them, and I don’t think they really care or are even aware of whether a wine is DOC or not when purchasing a bottle
Dry January has not been dry at all. Despite all advertising and effort, according to newspapers, the month of January has seen an increase in alcohol consumption, and considering that I have never seen wine so cheap, it is not difficult to believe.
I just read that EU and Australia have almost reached a compromise on the Prosecco dispute, Australian producers will, still to be confirmed, be able to keep producing and selling Prosecco, amongst many other European protected food, by adding “Australian” on the label
Christmas is upon us and plenty of special bottles of wine will be open over the coming days to celebrate, here is our 4 tips on how to enjoy them at their best. Simple measures that can literally transform your wine drinking experience
Natural wines are made without any human intervention, only natural yeast, no additions or corrections, the juice becomes wines following its own rhythm. Organic and biodynamic wines are wines certified by a third party, confirming that they have been made according their respective regulations, for natural wines there isn’t yet a third party that can certify their being “natural” and currently it is up to the interpretation given to the word by the wine maker and it is possible, to find “natural wines” made following different approaches with different results
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