La Spinetta Pin 2012 The Rivetti family story begins in the 1890’s, when Giovanni Rivetti, left Piedmont for Argentina. Like many Italians then, he dreamed of returning a rich man, perhaps even one day able to make great wine in his homeland. He never did, though his son, Giuseppe “Pin” did. Pin married Lidia, bought vineyards and began to make wine. In 1977 the family took up residence at La Spinetta (top of the hill) in Castagnole Lanze, it was the heart of the Moscato d’Asti country. But the Rivettis believed that Moscato had the potential for greatness and set out to prove it by making Moscato Bricco Quaglia and…
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Pico Maccario Lavignone Barbera d’Asti 2012 The Pico Maccario Winery was founded in 1997 in Mombaruzzo, Piedmont with 70 hectares of vineyards in one piece of property in the heart of the Barbera d’Asti DOCG appellation. From the beginning, brothers Pico and Vitaliano Maccario have chosen modern methods to manage their vineyards and produce wine, due in equal parts to their personal taste and young age of their winery. The rose has always been a symbol of the winery. 4500 rose plants of the same cloned variety have the duel function of marking the start of each vineyard row, and – a traditional use – of signaling vine-threatening diseases before…
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Michele Chiarlo 2011 Barbera D’Asti Le Orme The Chiarlo style has always that of producing greatly elegant and complex wines with a tendency to excellent longevity and at the same time, featuring all the characteristics of the vineyards and soil from which they claim their origin. In the cellar, winemakers Stefano Chiarlo and Gianni Meleni pursue the goal of being faithful to the Chiarlo style: a moderate and careful use of wood for their red wines so that the varietal and the soil characteristics remain evident. Among the red wines, the winemakers attended to the importance of the Barbera d’Asti wine that they transformed, from the 1970s, by being the…
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Vietti 2011 Barbera D’Alba Tre Vigne The history and roots of the Vietti Winery dates back to the 19th Century, however the Vietti name was not used until the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1919, Mario Vietti made the first Vietti wines which were mainly distributed in Italy. Mario had a farm with other interests, however his love for wine enabled him to transform the family plantation into a grape growing and wine-producing business, and by 1952, under the guidance of Alfredo Currado (Luciana Vietti’s husband), was one of the top-level producers in Piemonte and one of the first wineries to export to the US market. The Vietti Winery…
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Priòra Barbera d’Alba 2011 Fratelli Alessandria With all this continued bad and cold weather, my wife Elaine and I decided to go to dinner at my absolute favorite restaurant, Pasta Nostra, located in historic South Norwalk, CT (or “SoNo” as it is referred to). Owned and operated by Chef Joe Bruno, Pasta Nostra, located in a cozy storefront, offers a variety of pasta, fish and meat dishes, hand crafted with the highest quality of ingredients. Chef Joe’s staff has been with him for many years, and have come to know his customers very well. Since it’s opening in 1984, I have (without exaggeration) have dined there over 500 times, and…
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2011 Barbera d’Asti Lavignone Not wanting to pound down some beers while watching the Super Bowl, I was looking for an exceptional red that could go well with a variety of homemade “Tapas”. Dishes from shrimp to beef empanadas with spicy sauce, Voilá! I came across 2011 Barbera d’Asti Lavignone from the Pico Maccario Winery, who have a real passion for Barbera. The winery is currently run by 2 Brothers, Pico & Vitaliano. Their grandfather, Carlo Maccario, created the winery and it bears the name of the first-born son, Pico, according to the traditions of the Piedmont region (area in Northwest Italy, near Mediterranean coast). The Pico Maccario Winery, located…