If you want to try a truly different wine from your average sparkling wines experience, SOTTOSOPRA -Tenute del Garda is unlikely to unnoticed. The differences start from the bottle label, which is upside down (Sottosopra), and the crown stopper, ideal choices in order to sustain the philosophy behind this Garda Lake wine. That is to say a classic method with 18-24 months of refinement, that continues in the bottle as the second fermentation yeasts are maintained, allowing a continuous evolution. Tenute del Garda in this case wants to highlight the energetic, joyous part of the territory and wine making in general. The result is a persistent perlage, with a stable and full bodied presence, a colour that certainly doesn’t aspire to perfect clearness, but to a vivacity that it reaches in the bright yellow tone. The main aromas are bread crust and citrus, the citrus note then comes back at the palate accompanied by a great acidity giving a fresh, pleasant and uncommon result.

Colterenzio is a very particular casa in the Italian enology panorama, indeed it wasn’t created from a single family project, but from the will of 300, for most of them wine production is the main passion and not the effective job. The wines produced in turn are someway infected by this uniqueness, the same changes itself through the years, because wine, as the wine cellar dynamism represents well, is constantly evolving. Colterenzio (Schreckbichl) Pfefferer is a very direct Trentino wine, that certainly doesn’t go unnoticed, one of the characteristic it owes its success in the public to. From moscato grapes, it is straw yellow colored, the aromatic side is very intense with flowers, fruity and lightly spiced aromas. At the palate it is fresh, with the right acidity level, with tropical fruit and citrus notes, characteristics that make them ideal as an aperitif, mainly in the summer period.

The Valdobbiadene is the mother land of the Prosecco par excellence, a hill area dedicated to the viticulture for more than a thousand years as some ancient scripts dating to the middle age testify. It is in the heart of the DOCG Conegliano Valdobbiadene area that in 1968 nine small wine cellars united their resources to create the highest quality possible wines, it’s here that the Prosecco Valdobbiadene DOCG - La Marca is born. A wine that has been rewarded with many prizes as the 90/100 score by Wine Spectator, and represents the most sincere expression of the Prosecco DOCG and its territory. The color is straw yellow with some golden shades, aromas are mainly floral and a little fruity, at the palate it prove to be very balanced, soft, with some interesting citrus notes and a pleasant mineral finale. Certainly the ideal as an aperitif, great paired with fish or appetizers too.

In Pozzolengo, a little hamlet in the Middle of the Lugana production area, Cobue wine cellar, funded in 1971. The vinification is mainly oriented towards wines which are typically linked to the territory as Lugana DOC, San Martino della Battaglia, Garda Classico Rosso Doc, but with some sparks towards a research of new flavours compared to the habits of the local production, as the Brut ZERO Chardonnay metodo classico - Cobue, and the Passito di San Martino. The wine tasting of the Lugana Monte Lupo 2017 - Cobue was a real surprise, that made us consider it among the best of its denomination. Made up of 100% Trebbiano di Lugana grapes, its color is light yellow with some green shades, while the aromas are floral, fruity (peach above all) with a light citrus note. A the palate the acidity gives it freshness and match with a pleasant sweetness (and not filling as it often happens), softness and full body make it enjoyable and persistent sustaining a powerful alcoholic structure (14%) which isn’t invasive at all.

It’s never the wrong moment for a new wine tasting, yesterday it was Mandrarossa turn. A Sicilian wine cellar with vineyards sprinkled in the southern area of Sicily, precisely in Menfi, in the province of Agrigento. It is an area endowed with a constant sun exposure and particular environmental conditions: the vineyards directly overlook the sea, absorbing both its air and ground properties, from the moment that the soil is partly sandy. We tried a local monovarietal, the COSTADUNE GRECANICO - Mandrarossa, a typical Sicilian wine. The color is straw yellow with greenish glares, it immediately stands out flower perfumes, reached by citrus aromas and a light apricot fragrance. The proximity to the sea gives a pleasant minerality , accompanied by citrus notes and an almond finale confirming its freshness and quaffable.

The strictly personal peculiarities have curbed the possibilities and pairings of the Lambrusco. It is often considered a wine to pair only with Emilia specialities as tigelle or gnocco fritto with cold cuts, the Lambrusco di Sorbara is a vine variety that can be developed in many different ways with many different shades according to the methods used in the vineyard and in the wine cellar. Cantina Paltrinieri was one of the first entity to sustain the versatility of this Italian wine, introducing different processes for the same vine variety obtaining excellent results. As it is for the GROSSO Lambrusco di sorbara metodo cl.2013 - Cantina Paltrinieri, where the choice of a metodo classico, with 24 months of initial refinement and 6 months of refinement in the bottle, has been able to reconsider a wine diversifying it from its stereotype. Indeed the result is particular starting from the color, in this case a copper ancient rosè, the perfumes are floral, fruity but accompanied by a light citrus note, which anticipate a freshness that we find again at the palate, where a good acidity make the wine pleasantly fresh paired with sapidity, sensations that combine at their best with the typical red fruit aromas. Great as aperitif, paired with fish, fried food and naturally Emilia specialities.

Today is wine tasting day, and we’re trying a Garda Lake wine: the VIGNETO CAMILLA LUGANA DOC 2016 - MALAVASI. A Lugana Produced by the wine cellar Malavasi, in Sirmione, it is 100% made up of trebbiano grapes, which give it an intense straw yellow color with some green shades. The nose brings mainly melon and citrus notes, with a little floral perception, while at the palate freshness and sapidity paired with a fruity aroma and great persistency. Food pairing: first courses, fish and white meats.

Sicily is historically a territory particularly suitable for the wine production, thanks to the great climatic and geological conditions. Moreover the marked biodiversity has favored the development of many different local vine varieties, among which the Zibibbo is one of the most well known. We've found in LIGHEA BIANCO DONNAFUGATA 2014 a very good Sicilian wine, lively golden yellow coloured, on the olfactory side the Mediterranean notes as almond, floral and apricot are well exalted, while at the palate a balanced saltiness stands out with a delicate citrus note, leaving a final really good taste in your mouth. Ideal pairing with all the fish based dishes, from the cruditè, to first courses and fry fish.