Tag Archives: native grapes

Exploring the White Wines of Sicily

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5259057A-6334-447B-9BE0-16165235166DLong the breadbasket for every empire that passed through the Mediterranean, Sicily’s still wine was once considered nothing more than bulk juice to be shipped to backfill poorer vintages in more northerly regions, or cheap wine mostly intended for immediate consumption, often tending toward oxidation and lacking complexity. Today, however, things are changing. Attention has been drawn to regions like Vittoria and Etna for years, but as growers move ever more toward a focus on indigenous varieties and the unique differences in growing conditions throughout the island, Sicily is increasingly becoming a treasure trove of selection and price-quality opportunities for drinkers and buyers of wine. And for all of the great red wines of Nerello Mascalese—and, yes, site-specific Nero d’Avola—being produced, the white wines of the island are as complex, varied, and interesting as their red-skinned counterparts.

Full article at GuildSomm.

 

Drinking the Wines of Lebanon

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To be honest, for a long time I never really thought about Lebanese wines. In the shop where I used to work, we carried a few nominal bottles, but they’d never piqued my interest, and generally when I thought of great wines with deep heritages, my mind didn’t jump to Lebanon. But as it turns out, the country’s vineyards and winemaking have one of the longest-stretching viticultural histories on the planet, through Biblical times, the Roman Empire, and even into the Middle Ages — which is about when historical records began chronicling the practice of winemaking in Burgundy.

The wines of Lebanon are often compared to those of Bordeaux and the Rhône, perhaps due to the country’s political and cultural relations with the French over the past century, but they are something uniquely their own. These so-called “Ancient World” wines are on the rise, and today, about 35 wineries are currently producing wine in and around Lebanon’s fertile Bekaa Valley, whose winter rain and hot, summer sunshine help the grapes ripen easily. Continue reading →