silly queston: Italian wines?

Chianti would be the best known (for all the wrong reasons). After that, it would most likely be Pinot Grigio and Asti Spumante, again for all the wrong reasons ;-)

Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello are all well known among wine lovers in the US, along with the big name "Super Tuscans."

Good luck! Mark Lipton

That sums it up perfectly.

Mark, why the infatuation in the US with Pinot Grigio? Italian PG is about as light a white as you can get, is that what makes it appealing, that is it so un-winelike? :-)

Hi Mike - I could not agree more - I just don't get Italian PiGrig!!!

Give me Alsace - or (with my antipodean bias showing) a decent NZ PG - with body and earth and pears!

Life is too short to drink lolly water masquerading as wine!

AB

Rated PG. Even Grauburgunder from the german SW is a far better bet than Friuli toPinoGrigio.

Well, I knew that would get you back onto AFW !!! How's springtime in NZ m-lawd?

"Mike Tommasi" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Ah, but I fondly remember Tocai from Friuli - simple but real nice - how is it faring now as the Hungarians deny it the name?

Anders

Not sure. In neighbouring Slovenia I believe they still call it Tocaj, pronouncing it toh-chai with a soft c, apparently it means "local", much as "vernaccia" 's etymology (vernacular...). Not sure how they get away with it. Someone told me that they are supposed to use Sauvignonasse as a name.

Terlato spends a ton of money marketing their Santa Margherita brand of pinot grigio. It's easy for people to pronounce and it sounds Italian and sophisticated. It has no flavors that need any specialized thought process to understand, fruity, slightly sweet and floral. One of the women on one of the American TV "Houswives" franchise drinks it constantly and now has her own brand. It's cheap to make, cheap to market and people will pay far past it's actual price value for it to drink as a cocktail and proclaim..."see, I told you that I like good wine." Bottom line for me is...perhaps it's a gateway wine for folks and someday they may try something a bit more interesting like White Zin used to be.

Mike, In part, I see it as a natural reaction to the infatuation with Chardonnay in the US. Since CalChards are usually big, blowsy, oaky and buttery, PG qualifies for the ABC crowd (anything but Chardonnay). The examples from Friuli and Venezia are lean, tart and vaguely fruity and go much better with food than many of the big Chardonnays do. New Zealand SB also fills that bill, but PG has the additional appeal of being Italian.

Mark Lipton

Thank you everybody! I finally got a Chianti and a Refosco (do you know it?). I don't agree with the majority here, I think that Pinot Grigio can be a very good wine, depending on what you eat with it!

M.

Well, here we would say that food can be pretty good, depending on the wine that you drink with it.... :-)

That's absolutely truth, my friend!

Ciao

"Mike Tommasi" wrote ...........

I have had quite a few "memorable" wines made from this variety - from a selection of names - Ruländer; Tokay d'Alsace; Pinot Gris etc. from several countries.

However, I have yet to encounter one Italian Pinot Grigio which registered even a flutter in my memory scale.

Now, I am willing to admit that, as a larger than life, non-subtle type of character, a wine needs to kick me in the nether regions and head butt me into submission!!!!

I don't do delicate very well - not with food nor wine (nor women ;-))) - so, perhaps my opinion may not be mainstream.

As to springtime in the antipodes, all is well!

Earthquakes aside, mid-spring is everything this country boy could want - fine days maxing about 22-25degrC; enough wind to push our 40 foot yacht (or - is that a sailboat?) around the track at 10-12 knots - and glorious evenings where the fare is scotch fillet steak (cooked rare over charcoal) with garden fresh salad - usually accompanied by something liquid - red or white; pink or amber; maybe flat or fizzy.

After paradigm shifts in many areas of my life, over the past couple years, life is good!

Won't get back to Europe this year - or next spring - perhaps next autumn (or fall - or whatever they call the season where the currency is a Euro or Pound).

-- st.helier

Anders Tørneskog beliebte zu schreiben :

Actually, it was always called "Tocai friulano". They simply dropped the Tocai and call it "Friulano" and lo -- it's as nice a wine as it ever was.

Helmut