April 30, 2025 • 48 mins
Looking for crisp, dry white wines for warmer weather and year-round pleasure? Italy, a world leader in wine, produces a range of white wines, each with unique characteristics and personalities based on grape variety and region. Certified Specialist of Wine & FFY Host Melanie Young, visits Italy often to immerse in different wine regions. She highlights white wines to try by region, North to South, including the Veneto, Lombardy, Piemonte, Friuli, Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Campania and Sicilia.
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Fearless Fabulous You is broadcast live Wednesdays at 12 Noon ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Fearless Fabulous You Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:21):
WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hello, welcome to Fearless Fabrilous You with its new music.
I'm Melanie Young, your host. I'm still the same and
the operas of the show is still the same, but
we're going a little different as well. When I started
the show in twenty fourteen, I had a book out
called Fearless Fabulous You Lessons on living life on your Terms,
(01:06):
and I really focused on helping women who had gone
through traumatic periods and their life, whether it was illness, disease, death, divorce,
or other challenges, to get back on their feet and
create new stepping stones to a future. I also dug
deep into health and wellness because I got sick, I
(01:27):
got will I didn't want to get sick again, and
I didn't want you to get sick again. But I
realized a lot of women don't put their health and
well being first. They put their family first, they put
their careers first, they put their church first, they put
everything else first, and they were not taking care of themselves.
I want you and all the women in the world
to put their self health first because we need more.
(01:49):
We need more women, and we need better women to
guide this world into the future, because Lord knows we
need it. So I started interviewing medical experts and wellness
experts and became one myself. I have a treasure trove
of information. I continue to look for stories like that.
But I also decided to spread my own wings, because
(02:09):
after twelve years, you got to and you've got to
do things that really sing to your soul. And one
of the things that has sung to my soul all
my life is travel. Travel I consider to be my
higher education, and along with that is the pleasures of
the palate. I made a career in marketing and promotion
(02:29):
for fine wines and foods. I built my name and
reputation on it before I got cancer, and I still
work in it and have a show called The Connected Table,
which I host with my cousin with my partner and husband,
David Ransom. You can hear it at two pm Eastern
on W four CY Radio and of course on your
favorite podcast channel. But it is such an important part
(02:51):
of my life because I do believe that you need
to live life to the fullest because you don't know
when that life could end. And I don't believe in
denying yourself the pleasures of the palate or being with
people or traveling because you don't have enough money. You
don't have this. You know this. I don't have enough
money either, but I make it work. I find ways
(03:13):
I do this show. I travel with organizations that are
generously hosts me to teach me about their regions and
their food, and I love bringing that information back to
you so you can figure it out. If you love
something deeply, embrace it, study it, research it, write about it,
post about it, and that can make it come to you.
(03:35):
And with that mind, we're going to focus on something
that is coming to me in wonderful waves. I feel
so blessed. I've been traveling with my husband David to
Italy quite frequently to explore some of the great wine regions.
I'm so lucky. I just count my blessings every day
because this could stop any day. But right now we
(03:57):
have been traveling to and from Italy quite a bit.
We also travel just so you know, to other regions.
Were equal opportunity when it comes to traveling the world
and bring you the best. But today I thought what
I would do is launch with summer coming, and this
show is airing in starting May twenty twenty five. It's evergreen,
so this topic will be evergreen. I decided to take
(04:20):
you to Italy because I'm going to do a little
series on wine. I'm a Certified Specialist of Wine. I
earned that certification in twenty twenty three because I believe
it or not, as long as I have been working
in wine, writing about wine, promoting wine, nobody thought I
knew anything about wine, and they always referred to my
(04:40):
husband as the wine expert. And I said, wait a minute.
So I did the extra work. I enrolled in the
Society of Wine Educators certified Wine's Bestials of Wine. Course,
I did the work. I took a year of studies.
I tasted, I explored, I can do travel, I read,
(05:01):
I interviewed people, and then I passed one hundred question tests.
It was a multiple question test. I passed it. I
became certified, and I did the extra work to prove
that I knew my stuff. I don't know why I
had to do it. My husband didn't, but that's a
whole nother story. Anyway, this is going to be a
fun show. Here's the fun part. Summer's coming. Summer is
(05:22):
traditionally rose in white wine season. But I like white jeans,
believe white wines are important all year round, and apparently
a lot of people do, because white wines sales in
the United States are just on the rise. I have
a theory on that. I have three theories on that.
One women women drive wine sales. Okay, women drive wine sales.
(05:43):
Over sixty percent of sales are driven by women who
buy the wine for their families, theirselves, and they like
to They like to drink a lot of white wine.
White wine is refreshing on the palette. It can be
paired with many things. Of course, it's great chill and
refreshing for the summer. But I love it year round.
I love it for my first course, I love it
(06:05):
for my appartive. Sometimes I'll drink white wine throughout my meal,
and I have a lot of friends who love white wine.
So this show is dedicated to all of you that
want to expand your knowledge about white wine. But we're
going to do it in a series. Why because there's
a lot of white wine out there, and I want
to make it easier for you to think through the
(06:25):
process like I had to do when I studied wine.
So we're going to focus on white wines of Italy
because I've been traveling there and I'm about to travel
there again for a fairly extensive period of time, so
I can update this and share tips with you, which
I will be doing on my substack, Melanie Young substack.
(06:47):
So I'm going to give you a little one on
one about the white wines of Italy. First of all,
I didn't drink white wines Italy for a long time.
I felt that red wines were better. That was a
long time ago. But then as I started traveling to
Italy and exploring the different regions and learning and tasting,
which is what you got to do, and meeting the
producers and opening your palate, I fell madly in love
(07:11):
with Italian white wines and I highly recommend them now,
Like I said, there are other wines in the world
that are white, and I will focus on France and
Spain and what I call the international varieties at another time.
But today we're going to talk about Italian whites, and
I'm gonna take it through the boot. Now. I'm going
to not talk about all of them, because Italy has
(07:31):
so many whites and grapes it's prolific. I'm going to
talk about the ones that I know and I have tasted,
because I recently attended the Italy Viona Feriti, which is
the world's largest Italian wine fair, and I tasted and
spent days visiting with producers, going region by region, tasting
(07:53):
and learning and experiencing and it was wonderful. And around
that I traveled in Tuscany and I was in the
and I'm about to go to Campangna in Sicily and
back to Tuscany. And Michael should bring that knowledge to
you so that when you think about white wine, you
think beyond the usual. What is the usual? Well, chardonnay
(08:14):
is the most widely planted and consumed grape in the world,
and then there's sauvignon blanc. These are international varieties. That
means they're grown everywhere, including Italy. I have a friend
lover her to death. When we go out, she just says,
I'll have a Shordonay. Well, chardonnay has a different personality
to pay somewhere. It's grown, how it's vinified, oh, versus steel.
(08:39):
So if you didn't like a Shordonay maybe from California,
maybe you want to try one from Shabille. Right, if
you don't like the grassy sauvignon blancs from New Zealand,
try them from the Laire Valley. So just remember, like people,
grapes may have a DNA, but it's all different and
(09:00):
it all expresses themselves in different ways, much like people.
They have personalities. We'll talk about that on another show though,
because that's a big topic. Well we're going to talk
about here again are Italian whites. Some first things you
want to think about when you're enjoying any white wine
and learning what you like, because it's what you like
and not what critics tell you. Okay, you've got to
(09:23):
determine what you would like and enjoy, think about the
grape and the origin. And as I said, just because
it's a short enay doesn't mean it has a specific style.
It's all about origin. Where is the grape grown, what
is the soil like, what is the temperature like, what
is the elevation like from mountain to sea. All those
(09:43):
geographical and climatic elements which are rolled in the term terreois,
a French term which means the geographical climatic sense of
place where that grape is made. That really determines what
the personality of the grape and eventually the wine will be.
Other elements to think about is a Roman flavors, because
(10:06):
white wines can be fruity, they can be crisp, they
can dry, they can have herbal flavors, stony, characteristic, sweet, savory, floral.
There's a lot of elements in there. Think about white
wines you've tasted. They can be light, they can be
metium bodied, they could be full bodied. And that said,
there's also sweeter wines like moscato. Some terms you should
(10:28):
think about besides the Roman flavors are acidity. Why acidity
because if you want to crisp, zesty, zip your lip,
pow wow, this makes you feel so lively wine, you're
gonna want one with high acidity. It doesn't mean sour.
It means freshness, freshness in the way that it bursts
(10:50):
on your mouth. It's a burst you've had it. It's
I call it zippy and zesty. You also want to
think about minerality. That's savory character in wine that reflects
the wine's origin, and it's terroir, which is the elements
from sand, from ground to earth, the wind, all the
(11:11):
elements it could be. You know, a minerality could be
defined as herbal, vegetable, vegetable, stony, chalky. It's a censorial
element that adds that savory character to the wine. And
then there's the fruity characteristics, the floral characteristics and sweet
(11:33):
to dry to sweet. Okay, So all that goes into
that glass of wine. So it's much more complex than
you think about when you sip that wine. Every wine
has a story from where it's grown to how the
grape is cultivated and cared for the harvest, was it
too wet to dry, how challenging climate change is infecting everything,
(11:57):
and then after that what the wine may does with
the wine. Do you know what we call the vinification
of the wine? Do the agent and stainless still, which
we'll give it a steely character and fresh character or
is it oak aged which gives it that oak character
that many people love, particularly with a lot of California chordennaise.
(12:20):
And then the type of oak matters Old versus New
American versus French. We won't get into the complex, but
just know that it all creates the personality of the
wine that you love. Much like your hair color, your
eye color, your freckles, the color of your skin, the
shape of your body. It is all what creates you.
(12:43):
Wine has all those elements as well, So think about that,
think about your wine style and what you like. But
today I'm focusing on wines that I guess it are
wines for summer and every day that pop zips, splash
on your palette with pleasure. So wines I like to
drink all the time. And we're not going to be
(13:03):
talking about shortened a. We're not gonna be talking about
sauvigna blanc. We're not going to be talking about riesling
or any of the international varieties, because we're gonna talk
about that another time. What we're gonna talk about is
what makes Italian wines to me uniquely Italian and why
I love them. You know, they call Italy the boot
north of South. I never could figure out the boot,
(13:23):
and one day somebody explained to me what the boot was,
and I feel like it's an idiot, you know, But
it is shaped like a boot with a giant spying
called the Apennine Mountains in the middle. On those mountains
are very influential because on one side of the mountain
to the west is the Terrannian Sea, and on the
other side is the Adriatic Sea. And at the toe
(13:44):
of the boot is you know, the Mediterranean. And then
there's Sicily, which is its own island. The Sicilians actually
call it a continent, and it's deeply affected by Greece
and Africa, almost like an unto itself. And I've been
there several times. I'm about to go again, and it's amazing.
So we're going to talk from north to south. But
(14:07):
some of these grapes are grown in a lot of
places of Italy. Probably one of the most famous grapes
in Italy is Pino Gregio. Now Pino Gregio, like Charney,
Sauvigno blanc and Reasling, has grown around the world, all right,
but Italy probably makes some of the most is one
of the most prolific producers of pino gresio all up
and down the boot, but some of the most widely
(14:29):
well known are from the trey Vanitici area of the Veneto.
The Veneto is a big, large area in northern Italy.
If you go there, you're going to see the rolling
hills of al Polaceelda, You'll see Lake Garda, You'll see
the Venice, You'll see a huge area. It's also known
as a major manufacturing area. I think the world's sneakers
are made there. Lots of different styles of wines made here.
(14:52):
Pino gregio is made in Friuli, Venicia and Julia. It's
a tree Venitzi area. Friuli is actually a whole nother
little to the far east, very unique wines. I've traveled
all of this area. What mixed and so pino gresio
pino grezio. Grecio means red gray. Excuse me. It is
(15:14):
a white grape. White grapes have white juice. Guess what
red grapes have white juice? Also, yeah, it all depends
on skin contact to make the red grapes the white juice,
the red grapes red. There are a few grapes red
grapes that are red juice are called tinturiers, but that's
another topic. So pinagresio is a is a grape that,
(15:35):
even though it says gray, is a white grape. Okay,
it's got gray skin. It's also called other things in Oregon.
In California it's called pino gree In Germany and Austria
it's called claud Burgunde, it's all pino grey, Pino gresio
cloud burgunder It is a crisp, dry white wine. I
(15:57):
think grapefruit is the dominant character to it. Also some lemons,
some herbs. Depending on where it's grown, you may get
hints of pear, almond and ginger. Again, it all depends
on sense of place. The Veneto and the tray Venitsi
area produces probably some of the most wonderful wines of
this area and the largest producer in Italy and I
(16:20):
think the world. So you will see a lot of
pino gresio. I do know that there's some less desirable
pinogresios made. Like I said, it's made around the world.
I think you need to stick to place of origin,
which is why I recommend the Della venat Sea. You'll
see it on The label on the bottle, Pino Grisio
(16:42):
de lea venit Si is a designation of quality. It
says della from Venezia, the Venezia producing region, the tray
Venitsi region. Okay, that's what you want to think about.
These are very versatile wines, even if you get the
pino gree from Oregon in California, which are terrific. Germany, Germany, Austria.
(17:05):
I have not been to Germany Austria. I can't talk
too much. I had a few from there, grauber Gunder,
but most of my peanut grizios come from Italy or Oregon.
Pear with sushi, salad, like chicken served chill. This is
a great wine to start a meal. It's it's a
good sipping wine, very versatile. Like I said, find when
you love and stick to the producer. I always look
(17:27):
in the back of a label also and look at
the importer, because if you'd like certain wines and you
notice it from the same importer, you'll probably like all
the wines from that importer. Tip. So that's northern Italy.
Pino grisio very well known, widely known. Like I said,
I call it the grapefruit wine. I like grapefruit, but
it's not just grapefruit. It is maybe a little apple, pear, melon,
(17:50):
and peach. I guess it's grown around the world, but
Italy probably is one of the great places where it's grown.
Now we're going to get into some more only in
Italy wines. Okay, one of them that I taste a
lot of when I was at in Italy is called
swavee s so a ve Suavee is a very high acid,
dry aromatic wine. Remember we talked about that at the
(18:12):
beginning of the show. Characters and elements of a wine
that create the personality. It's also in northern Italy, in
the Veneto area, closer to like kind of like between
Verona and Lake Garda. It is made from an indigenous
Indigenous Means local grape called gargon garganega garganega, which is
(18:34):
the dominant grape in this It can be bladed with
other white grapes, usually something called trebiano di suabe or chardonnay.
It is a pale lemonie yellow. It has flavors of
fresh canalo, pineapple, peaches, apples, herbs, almonds. So if you
like something with a little more stone fruit, and tropical
(18:54):
fruit and melon character. You're gonna love Suave. I love
the swine I really to. My favorite producer is Piero Pan.
I saw them in then Italy, great producer Piero Pin
also Cantina to Swabe, which I have personally visited as
a very big producer there. Because this wine is made
(19:15):
close to Lake Garda, it appears really great with lake fish,
but all fish, all seafood and light cheeses love it.
So Suave another grape in this area toward Lake Garda
where I have traveled extensively. Lake Garda is a huge
lake in the northern Venity. It's actually in the Veneto
and in Lombardia. One side is in the Veneto and
(19:38):
the other side is in Lombardia. Another region the wine
is called Lugana lug A NA. That's the region that
produces the wine. Is a DOC denomination origin GUARANTEITA is
a designation of quality DOC I'm sorry, denomination organizing contro lata.
If it has the word guaranteeda that means it has
(19:59):
a guaranteed extra label of quality and guidelines for production.
So DOC is denoma nacioni or a gene controllera, which
lugana is. Though grape is called turbiano, very local grape. Again,
we're talking about regions with their own local grapes. This
is a very floral wine. So if you like a
(20:20):
little more flour versus grapefruit and fruit, you're gonna love
this wine. Almond notes a beautiful wine. I think really
one of the great summer wines. I've had a lot
of Lugana wines in my life. I've been to Lugana tastings.
I think this is a great wine and where people
should be drinking Lugana wines. And they're reasonably priced. So
(20:41):
if you go to a retailer or you see it
on a menu, say can I try the Lugana? And
like I said, the grape is called turbiana. It also
pairs well with seafood, vegetables, don topost so just a
little tip. I only eat seafood and vegetables and white
meat chicken. So we're talking about wines that appeal to
everything I eat. But don't be afraid to have it
(21:01):
with white meat pork also you'll enjoy it. And of
course Asian food or Mexican spicy food or here in
New Orleans at great Cajun Creole. You'll also find a
wine a grape in Italy. It's grown all over Italy.
It's called trebiano. It takes some it's personnel, a trebiano
tre bbi an o, it takes all its personality wherever
(21:22):
it's grown. I've had some wonderful trebiano du Suave. I've
had trebiana Spoilatino in Umbria. I've had trebiana Tuscana and Tuscany.
It is a prolific white grape in Italy, and I
like some better than others. But it's often usually blended
(21:44):
as well. But just be aware of it and give
it a try wherever you go. We're still in northern Italy.
I'm taking one of the place. Remember I mentioned Lombardia.
I was just there in front of Corta, tasting sparkling
wines a front of Corda, which are wonderful method Chimpennois
wines made in Italy. Nearby is the region of gove
(22:06):
Ga v I. The wine is Govi de Govi. The
grape is the cortesy Co r t E s E.
This is a white wine made in the Piamonte and Lombardia,
also dry and crisp with floral elements. That is a
wonderful wine to try. These are really good wines to
have with food. These are not sit by the pool wines.
(22:28):
These are wines to have with food and your meal. GOVI.
Now there's other wines. I can't get into it. There's
muscato to Austi. Muscata to osti is from Piamonte. These
are amazing light, slightly sweet, slightly frizanti, white wines, but
not always sweet. I've had moscato to Austi that's semi dry,
(22:51):
somewhat dry, sweeter, and I love these wines if you
do like a little white wine that has a little
frisante in it, a burst of a little sweetness. Really
great with Asian foods and Sushi's muscato mescato do Asti,
specifically mescato to ossi. Ossi is a region in the Piamonte.
(23:13):
There is mescato all over the world too, Some I
don't really like because it's too sweet. But moscato do
Asti is the bench mark. And it's in the Piamonte area.
And where's the Piamonte area. It is in northern Italy.
These are northern Italy, cooler temperatures, there's higher elevations, there's
(23:35):
the influence of the Lake Garda, there's influence of the sea,
because Italy is always close to the sea. These are
terrific wines. Now we are in the more western and
central put in near Italy. If you go east, because
it's big, you will go to an area where I
(23:55):
love these wines. It's called free Uli. It's there, it's
near closer to the foothills of the you go north
of Freely, you're in the Dola Metes. You're east of
Venizzia Venice and the white wine that I love there,
and there's several, but the one that I'm going to
tell you is Friuliano. It is a fruitier wine. It
(24:20):
is round and it schools you with the bursts of fruit.
I love this wine. There are other white wines in Freely.
In fact, the white wines are Freely are probably some
of my favorite in northern Italy. But Freuliana wines are
just fabulous And if you want to learn more, I
(24:41):
do recommend the Italian Wine podcast by my friend Cynthia Chaplin.
She's an American living in Italy. It's a great podcast.
I do recommend Italian Wine Central, another terrific resource on
line to learn about Italian wines. I do recommend the
(25:04):
book in Front of Me by Jeff Jensen and Mike
Mike de Simone called White Wine The Comprehensive Guide to
Fifty Essential Varieties and Styles. It doesn't have everything, because
there's a lot, but it can get you. It's kind
of like the cliff Notes per se, but not really
(25:24):
the cliff Notes because it's very detailed about white wines.
So we're in Friuli right now, a very hilly, beautiful area,
kind of close to Sylvenia, probably less touristy than some
of the others. It's it's it's part of the tray Venitzzi.
(25:44):
So as I said, the Trayvanizi is very famous for
pino grigio, so there's great uh pino grigio and frui.
That Trayvaniitzi is freely Venizia and Julia. The wines of
the tray Venitzi so very famous. You will also have
it can also be called Tokai Freeliano, and these are
(26:06):
just terrific wines. Another one is called the Ribola Gialla
grape very hard to find. But if you can fuller body,
if you like more fuller body white, you're gonna love
these wines. So I'm going to put on my site
the Connected Table in the upcoming weeks. Well, let's say,
(26:28):
by June, recommendations of producers, because I have interviewed many
of them. These are the areas I have visited. I've
not been to Govi, but I've been every and I
haven't been to Masconta to Ousti yet, but I've tasted
a lot of those wines. But I have been to
freely love the wines. I can recommend some producers, and
I will, and you will find that on my substack.
(26:50):
Melanie Young Gifts, give me some time because I'm about
to go to Italy again. Eh So I got to
be traveling, and when I travel, I am in the
element do other work. Okay, we're gonna take a little
further south. I think of loaded you with northern Italy. Right,
we are going to Tuscana, Tuscany. Now I go to
(27:13):
Tuscany a lot Tuscany. You may conjure up beautiful hills.
You may think about Francis May's under the Tuscan sun.
Numerous movies been made about Tuscany. Tuscany stretches from the
mountains to the coast north of south It's a very
large area. And while it is predominantly a red wine area,
(27:34):
known for its San Giovese wines like Brunello de Montalcino, Keyonti, Classico,
Keyonti wines nobly to Montepulcillo. These are red wines, I
gotta tell you. And they also make really good sarrahs.
By the way, I just went to a place called
Valdonu Valdono, which has makes amazing sirahs. However, and I
(27:54):
always go. However, you can have a great white wine.
There's two I wreck ament There is Trebiano Tuscana, which
is fine. It's not my favorite. It's probably better for blending. However,
the wine that I love and I think is I
think more people should be drinking is Vermentino. Vermentino a
(28:18):
take on the word fermented. It is a high acid,
so very crisp, refreshing white grape that flourishes in sun
drenched wine gery Asians region. So you'll see it all
along the coast, the Tuscan coast. You'll also see it
in Liguria. You also find it in Sardinia because it
came over. Many think this wine came over from Spain.
(28:39):
It has also grown in the southern France area, where
it's known as role r O l l E. I
think it's I can't remember what the equivalent is in Spain.
Maybe one of these there, the Aura or Verdejo, probably Verdeo,
but I'm not one hundred percent, sir, so don't quote
me on that. But Vermentino, we'll talk about it when
(29:02):
I get to the Spain area of this series. Vermonino
is just fabulous. It is Drink it with everything. The
flavor profile is citrus, almonds, apples. You usually serve at
young afresh, but I've had some that have been lightly
aged and oak age that are terrific. These wines tend
to take on the herbal and personality characters of what
is grown in the area. So often I have tasted
(29:23):
wines that have this Mediterranean scrubby brush tastes that reminds
me of some of the fresh herbs and flowers that
grow along the copes. Genestra is what it's called. Every
time I taste these, I think a genestra. I also
think about it with some of the wines in France.
Love these wines. Love these wines. You can find them
(29:45):
in the Maremma. I tasted several when I was at
Vini da Costa, the wines of the Tuscan Coast program.
You will taste them. I'm going to Livorno soon. I
can't wait have them there. Liguria Sardinia probably makes some
of my favorites. Vermentino de Glora is actually a DOCG
(30:06):
an elevated denomination Origin controlata guarantee to wine, whereas some
of the others are doc that both means designated quality.
Highly recommended. Vermontino and I think probably one of the
most versatile in terms of pairing with food. All fish, curries,
vegetarian dishes, white meat, chicken, white meat, pork, lots of cheeses,
(30:30):
really refreshing. Now, Tuscany also has what they call the
White Queen. It's a DOCG, remember denomination, Origin and cultural
alata guarantee to wine. It's the only white wine with
that designation, and it is called Vernaca di San Jimiano.
And I'm about to go there to dig deep into
these wines. It is a very golden white wine. It's dry,
(30:55):
it's got a lot of layers of stone fruit and
herbs and cit TRSs. It is only grown and produced
in the area around the vineyard area around San Jeminiano,
which is a very historic region south of Florence. It
is known for its towers. It's like that. I read
(31:18):
an article where they called it the mini Manhattan of Italy.
Well it's not, because it's not Manhattan. This is a
very ancient, hilly city with these giant I think it's
like half a dozen bell towers. I'm about to go there,
so i'll be reporting more on it. But it's a
terrific white wine. If you can find it, and it's
fairly widely available, you will love it. Now Tuscany is
(31:42):
central and to the west to the Turrannian state, the
large area. I've traveled a lot of it, and I
still have more to go. But another area just to
the east of Tuscany, and it's the only landlocked region
in Italy. They call it Green Italy. It's incredibly hilly
and green and mountainous and gorgeous. It's called Umbria. I'm
(32:03):
about to go there too, Lucky me, as I said,
I'm really blessed. I'm about to go to Umbria. And
to an area I haven't been yet. Umbria is mainly
a red wine area as well. They do Montefalco di
Sagranino beautiful red wine. They do Sangiovese from Georgiano and
other region of Umbria, because every little region has appellations
(32:25):
where they specialize in certain wines. I've had Trebiano Dispolatina.
It's a very specific type of trebiano grown in Umbria,
and I had it in the Montefalco area. It's very fruity,
very very fruity, meanium bodied, less acid wine. If you
like that kind of style, you'll love it. But the
(32:46):
wine i'm excited to be tracing as called Orvieto. That's
the area where it is being produced. It is the
region the grapes are called Greceeto. Note a lot of
these wines have Greek terms Greco, Gregeto, and trebiano. These
are gonna be floral and fruity and aromatic and dry
(33:07):
and crisp, and I am so excited to be going
there and coming back to tell you about my discoveries
in Umbria and Orvieto. But they're also fairly affordable. The
Orvietos that I have seen from Umbria. So if you're
looking for a crisp, dry, fruity dry slash fruity white wine,
(33:30):
you will with some aromatics versus you know, stony character,
you're gonna love Umbria's Orvieto. More to come on that now.
As I said, there's a lot of white wines. I'm
skipping some of the regions I have not visited. I
can't do it all, but I'm doing the best I can,
and that's all I ask, and I just want you
to open your mind up. I've been to an area
(33:52):
on the Adriatic side of Italy, to Marque m a
Rche and the Marquee. I had a wine called Verdicio.
It's a dry white, really terrific. They also had a
wine there called Pecorino, kind of like the cheese, but
it's not wonderful. Dry white wines crisp probably harder to
(34:15):
find here, but maybe not loved them. And like I said,
when you're on that beach coast and you want to
sip a glass of wine, I personally just want white.
I don't know about you. I like to have my
reds more with food and dinner, but that's me personally. Anyway,
(34:37):
moving quite along, Moving quite along, I'm going to take
you to Companya, Campania. What can I say about Campanya?
I fund love the Capana. Many many years ago, I
had the great pleasure of working with a restaurant tour
(34:58):
named Tony May, who owned a New York called Santa Menico,
and he was from the area Campanya. The capital of
the main city and Campania is Naples. It is southern Italy.
It's on the coast, but it's also near the mountains.
It's home to Mount Vesuvia Pompeii. Incredible history, very influenced
by the Greeks, very influenced by invasions over the years.
(35:21):
And I discovered when I went there some of my
most favorite Italian white wines. I truly mean it. And
you know now I've discovered more because I've been waxing
poetic about for Julia more recently, but Campanya still sings
to my soul, and going there, I'm so excited because
(35:42):
I love the terranean sea and the Malfi coast. I
love going to Vesuvius and seeing those beautiful volcanic sandy soils.
I love the mountains, and I love the people, and
I love the food because it is really a seafood
loving region. And there are three white wines that I
absolutely love. The first is very light in Chris like lemony,
(36:05):
high acid, lemon, gooseberry, herbal, lovely white flowers. It's called
fallen Guina f A l A n g h I
n A. I love this wine. I love the way
I say it falan Gina. It is a beautiful wine.
I think a lot of the wines why do I
love them so much? And Capanya is they have a
(36:28):
very volcanic you know, they were influenced by a volcano.
The volcano erupts and the eruptions form different mineral elements
in the soil on that minerally character, minerality, the savor
character is in these wines in such a pleasant way.
The second white wine that I love, love, love in
(36:50):
Capana is called Greco Greek like grecheto remember in Umbria Greco,
there's a specific area called Greco Twufoureco to Tufo and Capana.
This is a more floral wine with medium acidity and
aromas of citrus, apple, peach, melon and herbs. Really great
(37:10):
with seafood and vegetables. Another just incredible white wine that
I would highly recommend trying and widely available here. Again,
I will do my best. When I come back from
all these trips which are taking place in May twenty
twenty five, I will give you a list which I
will listen on Melanie Substack and also at the Connected Table,
(37:32):
which is where my blog on wine and food also rests,
besides my travel blog at Melanie Fabulous and Melanie at Substack.
Third wine from Campana that I absolutely love is called
Fiano di Avelino. Avellino is a specific region in Campana.
(37:55):
It is elegant. The grape is called Fiano di Avellino me.
It is produced specifically in the Avelino area, and it
is extremely well structured and elegant and crisp, with stone characters,
(38:15):
fruit characters of peach, apple, citrus, a lot of stoniness
because of the minerality that creates is created from the
volcanic character of the wines in this area. Great acid,
a beautiful wine, well structured. It's got a lot of
complexity to a complexity. Just to bring you up to
(38:38):
some complexity and structure or the building blocks of a wine.
Think of a like makeup. You have a bare face,
you add a base, then you add shading, then you
add blush, then you add highlighter, then you add eyelinder.
That's kind of like what complexity is in wine. You
build complexity to create the ore. Uh, it's okay to
(39:02):
be bare face, It's go. Okay is to have minimal complexity.
But the more complex and structure the wines, the more
elegant they become kind of like your face when you
put makeup on. Right. So companya, go if you go Highlights, Naples, beautiful,
known for the Neapolisan Pizza. You gotta have pizza Naples,
(39:23):
the Maulfi Coast, incredible, incredible, go if you can't have
somebody else drive you so you can just gawk at
the incredible blue sea. It's blue green and gaukable vesuvias,
and the volcanic area Pompeii, amazing history. And then you
go further south and you go into Silento and the
(39:45):
beautiful southern Greek inspired area with Greek ruins, Chilento, Chilento's Chilinda.
It's beautiful, just beautiful. Love that area. But we're still
traveling south and I recently helped a very dear friend
who's going to Sicily to help her. Understand the wines
(40:06):
and I have. Sicily is unlike anything else. I mean,
just as you fell madly lived with Campagna. Then you
take a flight and you go to Sicily. It is
a large island with many personalities. To the west has
more Arabic influence. To the east it's more Greek influence.
(40:28):
To the northeast, there's Mount Etna, which is a still
active volcano, and you can see the smoke. There's so
much history, there's so much variety, there's so much culture,
and the wines are very unique. But Sicily itself, they're
(40:49):
great red wines and white wines. But again, the show
is about white wine. And I'm going to tell you
three wines you should know when you visit Sicily. I'm
trying to make it easy. Three three Sicily, Three white
wines you should know. The first is Grillo g r
I L l O like grill. Oh, but it's Grillo.
(41:10):
It's gonna be Italian go. Grillo is a dry white,
medium high acid medium too high acid white, grown in
many areas of Sicily and some areas of other Coasta Italy,
but not Etna. Okay, we're gonna get to Aten in
a minute. But everywhere else in Sicily you'll find greal
(41:30):
It's a lot of lemon, apple hair, white flowers. There's
a lot of body, more body in this wine. Really
great with What do they eat in Sicily seafood, cheeses,
add on chini, a lot of fresh vegetables, a lot
of tomato dishes, a lot of lemon dishes. Because you
go and what grows together goes together. So when you
(41:53):
go and taste these wines, you're usually gonna eat the
food with them. So when you're Naples, you're gonna have
pizza with that, following Gaina and seafood with that. Greco
de Tufo and Sicily you're going to do the same.
But they also have game and pork. It's a very
agricultural rural area. People were poor, they ate off the land.
(42:17):
You're gonna have amazing beans, incredible beans, bean dishes and
you will love it with your grilla. Are you now?
If you go to Mount Nana and if you go
to Sicily, you should go to Mount Eda. How do
you get there? Well, I would suggest flying into Catanya.
There's two main airports, Palermo, which is a wonderful place
filled with history to the north and the west of
(42:39):
Sicily to the east enclosure to the east coast is Patanya.
That's where we'll be flying into. I was in Mount Attina.
I've been a couple of times, most recently in September
twenty twenty four. I've done a lot of articles and
shows on the connected Table about mounta and its producers.
Two white wines and grapes to know. The first is
(43:03):
its signature Caracanti cr r I c A nte. It
is a white grape literally cultivated on the slopes of
Mount Atina, which is an active volcano with lava flows.
So what does that mean. It means there's a lot
of minerality in the wine. You're a lot of high
acid because of the high altitude, and the volcanic souls
(43:25):
create that minerality and complexity and structure that you're gonna love.
The flavor profiles obviously lemons, because Facilia Sicily is known
for lemons, grapefruit, sometimes bitter orange, mint, almond, maybe a
little bit of pistachio. Pistachios are grown on the slopes
of Mount Atina. You're gonna find again, what grows together
(43:46):
goes together, and you're gonna find those floral and shrub
elements in the wine. I love keracanti. It's just a
wonderful wine and often it is sometimes mixed with maybe
ten percent of another white grape called katato, also grown.
It's grown in several regions of Sicily. It's a fruitier
(44:07):
style wine, usually blended with kirakanti and etna. Sometimes sipped
on its own if you want something really light with
medium acidity. Lots of lemons, lemon peel and apples in
that wine. Really great with Asian foods, seafoods and salad.
Katerrato c at t a r at o. My favorite
way to enjoy caterato is blended with kirakanti and usually
(44:31):
it's only ten percent. Again, these are DOC wines, which
means there are certain guidelines. As I said, the DOC
and the DOCG designations are created by consortshi consortiums or
the trade organizations. Of guidelines are created to ensure that
the standards and production methods and the great percentages are
(44:56):
consistent in these wines, to create the specific character that
makes these wines so uniquely Italian. In other regions of
France Spain there were docs or dops. It is how
Europe defines its wines. It's also done in the United
States with avas American viticultural areas, but it's very very
(45:22):
structured in Europe and under the European Union, which has
guidelines that are mirror those in the respective countries. P
DOO Protected Designation of Origin DOP denomination Origin Protected same thing.
It means these wines are protected and must follow certain
(45:45):
guidelines of production, which means they ensure quality, character, personality
and uniqueness that reflects the terrowa of these specific areas.
And it doesn't mean all the wines are like that.
Something called IGT, which means the wines can be made
more freestyle, as we say, with different types of grapes
(46:06):
and blends. And some of the most famous IGT wines
are what they call the super Tuscans, where they use Cabernet,
Savignjang and petits ran and Verdeaux and sirah and maybe
blend it with some Italian grapes. So the quality standard
is also great and high. It's just a different style
of making wine. Now I could go on, and I
(46:29):
wish it did, but didn't have time. I've just given
you the highlights of the White wines of Italy. I
urge you to go out and try them, ask for them,
get out of your rut of I'll have a chordenna
or Sauvignon blanc. There's nothing wrong with it, but get
out of it and expand your palette and more importantly,
go visit these regions. Travel because the best education I've
(46:52):
ever had is when I pack my suitcase and hit
the road and open my eyes, open my mind, and
open my off and taste. And I encourage you to
do the same. And if you follow along with me
at Melanie Fabulous at Instagram and The Connected Table on Instagram,
follow my blog on Theconnected Table dot com, and my
(47:13):
show The Connected Table Live, you'll learn more because we
dig deeper in those shows about the wines and the
producers and the food and the regions. I started a
substack called Melanie Young Melanie Fabulous I've just started that's
more of my personality, like this show, with a lot
of travel elements. I'm going to try to do more
of this for you here because I know this is
(47:34):
what you love. It won't mean I'm neglecting my other
important topics I taking care of yourself and meaning wonderful entrepreneurs.
It's just that I want to have a balance plate
of information to help you live life on your terms,
fearlessly and fabulously, which you always must do because it's
your choice. Don't let others choose your life for you. You
(47:57):
choose your life on your trooms and on your terms,
and always choose fearless and fabulous. I'm Melanie Young, a
toast to you. Raise your glass, eat, drink, sip, explore,
and always stay as I say on my other show
and say, you'll be curious and fearless and fabulous. Thank you,
Pressed on the following show are solely those of the
hosts and their guests, and not those of W four
WN Radio It's employees or affiliates. We make no recommendations
or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned
on air or on our web. No liability, explicit or
implied shall be extended to W four WN Radio It's
employees or affiliates. Any questions or common should be directed
to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W four
(00:21):
WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hello, welcome to Fearless Fabrilous You with its new music.
I'm Melanie Young, your host. I'm still the same and
the operas of the show is still the same, but
we're going a little different as well. When I started
the show in twenty fourteen, I had a book out
called Fearless Fabulous You Lessons on living life on your Terms,
(01:06):
and I really focused on helping women who had gone
through traumatic periods and their life, whether it was illness, disease, death, divorce,
or other challenges, to get back on their feet and
create new stepping stones to a future. I also dug
deep into health and wellness because I got sick, I
(01:27):
got will I didn't want to get sick again, and
I didn't want you to get sick again. But I
realized a lot of women don't put their health and
well being first. They put their family first, they put
their careers first, they put their church first, they put
everything else first, and they were not taking care of themselves.
I want you and all the women in the world
to put their self health first because we need more.
(01:49):
We need more women, and we need better women to
guide this world into the future, because Lord knows we
need it. So I started interviewing medical experts and wellness
experts and became one myself. I have a treasure trove
of information. I continue to look for stories like that.
But I also decided to spread my own wings, because
(02:09):
after twelve years, you got to and you've got to
do things that really sing to your soul. And one
of the things that has sung to my soul all
my life is travel. Travel I consider to be my
higher education, and along with that is the pleasures of
the palate. I made a career in marketing and promotion
(02:29):
for fine wines and foods. I built my name and
reputation on it before I got cancer, and I still
work in it and have a show called The Connected Table,
which I host with my cousin with my partner and husband,
David Ransom. You can hear it at two pm Eastern
on W four CY Radio and of course on your
favorite podcast channel. But it is such an important part
(02:51):
of my life because I do believe that you need
to live life to the fullest because you don't know
when that life could end. And I don't believe in
denying yourself the pleasures of the palate or being with
people or traveling because you don't have enough money. You
don't have this. You know this. I don't have enough
money either, but I make it work. I find ways
(03:13):
I do this show. I travel with organizations that are
generously hosts me to teach me about their regions and
their food, and I love bringing that information back to
you so you can figure it out. If you love
something deeply, embrace it, study it, research it, write about it,
post about it, and that can make it come to you.
(03:35):
And with that mind, we're going to focus on something
that is coming to me in wonderful waves. I feel
so blessed. I've been traveling with my husband David to
Italy quite frequently to explore some of the great wine regions.
I'm so lucky. I just count my blessings every day
because this could stop any day. But right now we
(03:57):
have been traveling to and from Italy quite a bit.
We also travel just so you know, to other regions.
Were equal opportunity when it comes to traveling the world
and bring you the best. But today I thought what
I would do is launch with summer coming, and this
show is airing in starting May twenty twenty five. It's evergreen,
so this topic will be evergreen. I decided to take
(04:20):
you to Italy because I'm going to do a little
series on wine. I'm a Certified Specialist of Wine. I
earned that certification in twenty twenty three because I believe
it or not, as long as I have been working
in wine, writing about wine, promoting wine, nobody thought I
knew anything about wine, and they always referred to my
(04:40):
husband as the wine expert. And I said, wait a minute.
So I did the extra work. I enrolled in the
Society of Wine Educators certified Wine's Bestials of Wine. Course,
I did the work. I took a year of studies.
I tasted, I explored, I can do travel, I read,
(05:01):
I interviewed people, and then I passed one hundred question tests.
It was a multiple question test. I passed it. I
became certified, and I did the extra work to prove
that I knew my stuff. I don't know why I
had to do it. My husband didn't, but that's a
whole nother story. Anyway, this is going to be a
fun show. Here's the fun part. Summer's coming. Summer is
(05:22):
traditionally rose in white wine season. But I like white jeans,
believe white wines are important all year round, and apparently
a lot of people do, because white wines sales in
the United States are just on the rise. I have
a theory on that. I have three theories on that.
One women women drive wine sales. Okay, women drive wine sales.
(05:43):
Over sixty percent of sales are driven by women who
buy the wine for their families, theirselves, and they like
to They like to drink a lot of white wine.
White wine is refreshing on the palette. It can be
paired with many things. Of course, it's great chill and
refreshing for the summer. But I love it year round.
I love it for my first course, I love it
(06:05):
for my appartive. Sometimes I'll drink white wine throughout my meal,
and I have a lot of friends who love white wine.
So this show is dedicated to all of you that
want to expand your knowledge about white wine. But we're
going to do it in a series. Why because there's
a lot of white wine out there, and I want
to make it easier for you to think through the
(06:25):
process like I had to do when I studied wine.
So we're going to focus on white wines of Italy
because I've been traveling there and I'm about to travel
there again for a fairly extensive period of time, so
I can update this and share tips with you, which
I will be doing on my substack, Melanie Young substack.
(06:47):
So I'm going to give you a little one on
one about the white wines of Italy. First of all,
I didn't drink white wines Italy for a long time.
I felt that red wines were better. That was a
long time ago. But then as I started traveling to
Italy and exploring the different regions and learning and tasting,
which is what you got to do, and meeting the
producers and opening your palate, I fell madly in love
(07:11):
with Italian white wines and I highly recommend them now,
Like I said, there are other wines in the world
that are white, and I will focus on France and
Spain and what I call the international varieties at another time.
But today we're going to talk about Italian whites, and
I'm gonna take it through the boot. Now. I'm going
to not talk about all of them, because Italy has
(07:31):
so many whites and grapes it's prolific. I'm going to
talk about the ones that I know and I have tasted,
because I recently attended the Italy Viona Feriti, which is
the world's largest Italian wine fair, and I tasted and
spent days visiting with producers, going region by region, tasting
(07:53):
and learning and experiencing and it was wonderful. And around
that I traveled in Tuscany and I was in the
and I'm about to go to Campangna in Sicily and
back to Tuscany. And Michael should bring that knowledge to
you so that when you think about white wine, you
think beyond the usual. What is the usual? Well, chardonnay
(08:14):
is the most widely planted and consumed grape in the world,
and then there's sauvignon blanc. These are international varieties. That
means they're grown everywhere, including Italy. I have a friend
lover her to death. When we go out, she just says,
I'll have a Shordonay. Well, chardonnay has a different personality
to pay somewhere. It's grown, how it's vinified, oh, versus steel.
(08:39):
So if you didn't like a Shordonay maybe from California,
maybe you want to try one from Shabille. Right, if
you don't like the grassy sauvignon blancs from New Zealand,
try them from the Laire Valley. So just remember, like people,
grapes may have a DNA, but it's all different and
(09:00):
it all expresses themselves in different ways, much like people.
They have personalities. We'll talk about that on another show though,
because that's a big topic. Well we're going to talk
about here again are Italian whites. Some first things you
want to think about when you're enjoying any white wine
and learning what you like, because it's what you like
and not what critics tell you. Okay, you've got to
(09:23):
determine what you would like and enjoy, think about the
grape and the origin. And as I said, just because
it's a short enay doesn't mean it has a specific style.
It's all about origin. Where is the grape grown, what
is the soil like, what is the temperature like, what
is the elevation like from mountain to sea. All those
(09:43):
geographical and climatic elements which are rolled in the term terreois,
a French term which means the geographical climatic sense of
place where that grape is made. That really determines what
the personality of the grape and eventually the wine will be.
Other elements to think about is a Roman flavors, because
(10:06):
white wines can be fruity, they can be crisp, they
can dry, they can have herbal flavors, stony, characteristic, sweet, savory, floral.
There's a lot of elements in there. Think about white
wines you've tasted. They can be light, they can be
metium bodied, they could be full bodied. And that said,
there's also sweeter wines like moscato. Some terms you should
(10:28):
think about besides the Roman flavors are acidity. Why acidity
because if you want to crisp, zesty, zip your lip,
pow wow, this makes you feel so lively wine, you're
gonna want one with high acidity. It doesn't mean sour.
It means freshness, freshness in the way that it bursts
(10:50):
on your mouth. It's a burst you've had it. It's
I call it zippy and zesty. You also want to
think about minerality. That's savory character in wine that reflects
the wine's origin, and it's terroir, which is the elements
from sand, from ground to earth, the wind, all the
(11:11):
elements it could be. You know, a minerality could be
defined as herbal, vegetable, vegetable, stony, chalky. It's a censorial
element that adds that savory character to the wine. And
then there's the fruity characteristics, the floral characteristics and sweet
(11:33):
to dry to sweet. Okay, So all that goes into
that glass of wine. So it's much more complex than
you think about when you sip that wine. Every wine
has a story from where it's grown to how the
grape is cultivated and cared for the harvest, was it
too wet to dry, how challenging climate change is infecting everything,
(11:57):
and then after that what the wine may does with
the wine. Do you know what we call the vinification
of the wine? Do the agent and stainless still, which
we'll give it a steely character and fresh character or
is it oak aged which gives it that oak character
that many people love, particularly with a lot of California chordennaise.
(12:20):
And then the type of oak matters Old versus New
American versus French. We won't get into the complex, but
just know that it all creates the personality of the
wine that you love. Much like your hair color, your
eye color, your freckles, the color of your skin, the
shape of your body. It is all what creates you.
(12:43):
Wine has all those elements as well, So think about that,
think about your wine style and what you like. But
today I'm focusing on wines that I guess it are
wines for summer and every day that pop zips, splash
on your palette with pleasure. So wines I like to
drink all the time. And we're not going to be
(13:03):
talking about shortened a. We're not gonna be talking about
sauvigna blanc. We're not going to be talking about riesling
or any of the international varieties, because we're gonna talk
about that another time. What we're gonna talk about is
what makes Italian wines to me uniquely Italian and why
I love them. You know, they call Italy the boot
north of South. I never could figure out the boot,
(13:23):
and one day somebody explained to me what the boot was,
and I feel like it's an idiot, you know, But
it is shaped like a boot with a giant spying
called the Apennine Mountains in the middle. On those mountains
are very influential because on one side of the mountain
to the west is the Terrannian Sea, and on the
other side is the Adriatic Sea. And at the toe
(13:44):
of the boot is you know, the Mediterranean. And then
there's Sicily, which is its own island. The Sicilians actually
call it a continent, and it's deeply affected by Greece
and Africa, almost like an unto itself. And I've been
there several times. I'm about to go again, and it's amazing.
So we're going to talk from north to south. But
(14:07):
some of these grapes are grown in a lot of
places of Italy. Probably one of the most famous grapes
in Italy is Pino Gregio. Now Pino Gregio, like Charney,
Sauvigno blanc and Reasling, has grown around the world, all right,
but Italy probably makes some of the most is one
of the most prolific producers of pino gresio all up
and down the boot, but some of the most widely
(14:29):
well known are from the trey Vanitici area of the Veneto.
The Veneto is a big, large area in northern Italy.
If you go there, you're going to see the rolling
hills of al Polaceelda, You'll see Lake Garda, You'll see
the Venice, You'll see a huge area. It's also known
as a major manufacturing area. I think the world's sneakers
are made there. Lots of different styles of wines made here.
(14:52):
Pino gregio is made in Friuli, Venicia and Julia. It's
a tree Venitzi area. Friuli is actually a whole nother
little to the far east, very unique wines. I've traveled
all of this area. What mixed and so pino gresio
pino grezio. Grecio means red gray. Excuse me. It is
(15:14):
a white grape. White grapes have white juice. Guess what
red grapes have white juice? Also, yeah, it all depends
on skin contact to make the red grapes the white juice,
the red grapes red. There are a few grapes red
grapes that are red juice are called tinturiers, but that's
another topic. So pinagresio is a is a grape that,
(15:35):
even though it says gray, is a white grape. Okay,
it's got gray skin. It's also called other things in Oregon.
In California it's called pino gree In Germany and Austria
it's called claud Burgunde, it's all pino grey, Pino gresio
cloud burgunder It is a crisp, dry white wine. I
(15:57):
think grapefruit is the dominant character to it. Also some lemons,
some herbs. Depending on where it's grown, you may get
hints of pear, almond and ginger. Again, it all depends
on sense of place. The Veneto and the tray Venitsi
area produces probably some of the most wonderful wines of
this area and the largest producer in Italy and I
(16:20):
think the world. So you will see a lot of
pino gresio. I do know that there's some less desirable
pinogresios made. Like I said, it's made around the world.
I think you need to stick to place of origin,
which is why I recommend the Della venat Sea. You'll
see it on The label on the bottle, Pino Grisio
(16:42):
de lea venit Si is a designation of quality. It
says della from Venezia, the Venezia producing region, the tray
Venitsi region. Okay, that's what you want to think about.
These are very versatile wines, even if you get the
pino gree from Oregon in California, which are terrific. Germany, Germany, Austria.
(17:05):
I have not been to Germany Austria. I can't talk
too much. I had a few from there, grauber Gunder,
but most of my peanut grizios come from Italy or Oregon.
Pear with sushi, salad, like chicken served chill. This is
a great wine to start a meal. It's it's a
good sipping wine, very versatile. Like I said, find when
you love and stick to the producer. I always look
(17:27):
in the back of a label also and look at
the importer, because if you'd like certain wines and you
notice it from the same importer, you'll probably like all
the wines from that importer. Tip. So that's northern Italy.
Pino grisio very well known, widely known. Like I said,
I call it the grapefruit wine. I like grapefruit, but
it's not just grapefruit. It is maybe a little apple, pear, melon,
(17:50):
and peach. I guess it's grown around the world, but
Italy probably is one of the great places where it's grown.
Now we're going to get into some more only in
Italy wines. Okay, one of them that I taste a
lot of when I was at in Italy is called
swavee s so a ve Suavee is a very high acid,
dry aromatic wine. Remember we talked about that at the
(18:12):
beginning of the show. Characters and elements of a wine
that create the personality. It's also in northern Italy, in
the Veneto area, closer to like kind of like between
Verona and Lake Garda. It is made from an indigenous
Indigenous Means local grape called gargon garganega garganega, which is
(18:34):
the dominant grape in this It can be bladed with
other white grapes, usually something called trebiano di suabe or chardonnay.
It is a pale lemonie yellow. It has flavors of
fresh canalo, pineapple, peaches, apples, herbs, almonds. So if you
like something with a little more stone fruit, and tropical
(18:54):
fruit and melon character. You're gonna love Suave. I love
the swine I really to. My favorite producer is Piero Pan.
I saw them in then Italy, great producer Piero Pin
also Cantina to Swabe, which I have personally visited as
a very big producer there. Because this wine is made
(19:15):
close to Lake Garda, it appears really great with lake fish,
but all fish, all seafood and light cheeses love it.
So Suave another grape in this area toward Lake Garda
where I have traveled extensively. Lake Garda is a huge
lake in the northern Venity. It's actually in the Veneto
and in Lombardia. One side is in the Veneto and
(19:38):
the other side is in Lombardia. Another region the wine
is called Lugana lug A NA. That's the region that
produces the wine. Is a DOC denomination origin GUARANTEITA is
a designation of quality DOC I'm sorry, denomination organizing contro lata.
If it has the word guaranteeda that means it has
(19:59):
a guaranteed extra label of quality and guidelines for production.
So DOC is denoma nacioni or a gene controllera, which
lugana is. Though grape is called turbiano, very local grape. Again,
we're talking about regions with their own local grapes. This
is a very floral wine. So if you like a
(20:20):
little more flour versus grapefruit and fruit, you're gonna love
this wine. Almond notes a beautiful wine. I think really
one of the great summer wines. I've had a lot
of Lugana wines in my life. I've been to Lugana tastings.
I think this is a great wine and where people
should be drinking Lugana wines. And they're reasonably priced. So
(20:41):
if you go to a retailer or you see it
on a menu, say can I try the Lugana? And
like I said, the grape is called turbiana. It also
pairs well with seafood, vegetables, don topost so just a
little tip. I only eat seafood and vegetables and white
meat chicken. So we're talking about wines that appeal to
everything I eat. But don't be afraid to have it
(21:01):
with white meat pork also you'll enjoy it. And of
course Asian food or Mexican spicy food or here in
New Orleans at great Cajun Creole. You'll also find a
wine a grape in Italy. It's grown all over Italy.
It's called trebiano. It takes some it's personnel, a trebiano
tre bbi an o, it takes all its personality wherever
(21:22):
it's grown. I've had some wonderful trebiano du Suave. I've
had trebiana Spoilatino in Umbria. I've had trebiana Tuscana and Tuscany.
It is a prolific white grape in Italy, and I
like some better than others. But it's often usually blended
(21:44):
as well. But just be aware of it and give
it a try wherever you go. We're still in northern Italy.
I'm taking one of the place. Remember I mentioned Lombardia.
I was just there in front of Corta, tasting sparkling
wines a front of Corda, which are wonderful method Chimpennois
wines made in Italy. Nearby is the region of gove
(22:06):
Ga v I. The wine is Govi de Govi. The
grape is the cortesy Co r t E s E.
This is a white wine made in the Piamonte and Lombardia,
also dry and crisp with floral elements. That is a
wonderful wine to try. These are really good wines to
have with food. These are not sit by the pool wines.
(22:28):
These are wines to have with food and your meal. GOVI.
Now there's other wines. I can't get into it. There's
muscato to Austi. Muscata to osti is from Piamonte. These
are amazing light, slightly sweet, slightly frizanti, white wines, but
not always sweet. I've had moscato to Austi that's semi dry,
(22:51):
somewhat dry, sweeter, and I love these wines if you
do like a little white wine that has a little
frisante in it, a burst of a little sweetness. Really
great with Asian foods and Sushi's muscato mescato do Asti,
specifically mescato to ossi. Ossi is a region in the Piamonte.
(23:13):
There is mescato all over the world too, Some I
don't really like because it's too sweet. But moscato do
Asti is the bench mark. And it's in the Piamonte area.
And where's the Piamonte area. It is in northern Italy.
These are northern Italy, cooler temperatures, there's higher elevations, there's
(23:35):
the influence of the Lake Garda, there's influence of the sea,
because Italy is always close to the sea. These are
terrific wines. Now we are in the more western and
central put in near Italy. If you go east, because
it's big, you will go to an area where I
(23:55):
love these wines. It's called free Uli. It's there, it's
near closer to the foothills of the you go north
of Freely, you're in the Dola Metes. You're east of
Venizzia Venice and the white wine that I love there,
and there's several, but the one that I'm going to
tell you is Friuliano. It is a fruitier wine. It
(24:20):
is round and it schools you with the bursts of fruit.
I love this wine. There are other white wines in Freely.
In fact, the white wines are Freely are probably some
of my favorite in northern Italy. But Freuliana wines are
just fabulous And if you want to learn more, I
(24:41):
do recommend the Italian Wine podcast by my friend Cynthia Chaplin.
She's an American living in Italy. It's a great podcast.
I do recommend Italian Wine Central, another terrific resource on
line to learn about Italian wines. I do recommend the
(25:04):
book in Front of Me by Jeff Jensen and Mike
Mike de Simone called White Wine The Comprehensive Guide to
Fifty Essential Varieties and Styles. It doesn't have everything, because
there's a lot, but it can get you. It's kind
of like the cliff Notes per se, but not really
(25:24):
the cliff Notes because it's very detailed about white wines.
So we're in Friuli right now, a very hilly, beautiful area,
kind of close to Sylvenia, probably less touristy than some
of the others. It's it's it's part of the tray Venitzzi.
(25:44):
So as I said, the Trayvanizi is very famous for
pino grigio, so there's great uh pino grigio and frui.
That Trayvaniitzi is freely Venizia and Julia. The wines of
the tray Venitzi so very famous. You will also have
it can also be called Tokai Freeliano, and these are
(26:06):
just terrific wines. Another one is called the Ribola Gialla
grape very hard to find. But if you can fuller body,
if you like more fuller body white, you're gonna love
these wines. So I'm going to put on my site
the Connected Table in the upcoming weeks. Well, let's say,
(26:28):
by June, recommendations of producers, because I have interviewed many
of them. These are the areas I have visited. I've
not been to Govi, but I've been every and I
haven't been to Masconta to Ousti yet, but I've tasted
a lot of those wines. But I have been to
freely love the wines. I can recommend some producers, and
I will, and you will find that on my substack.
(26:50):
Melanie Young Gifts, give me some time because I'm about
to go to Italy again. Eh So I got to
be traveling, and when I travel, I am in the
element do other work. Okay, we're gonna take a little
further south. I think of loaded you with northern Italy. Right,
we are going to Tuscana, Tuscany. Now I go to
(27:13):
Tuscany a lot Tuscany. You may conjure up beautiful hills.
You may think about Francis May's under the Tuscan sun.
Numerous movies been made about Tuscany. Tuscany stretches from the
mountains to the coast north of south It's a very
large area. And while it is predominantly a red wine area,
(27:34):
known for its San Giovese wines like Brunello de Montalcino, Keyonti, Classico,
Keyonti wines nobly to Montepulcillo. These are red wines, I
gotta tell you. And they also make really good sarrahs.
By the way, I just went to a place called
Valdonu Valdono, which has makes amazing sirahs. However, and I
(27:54):
always go. However, you can have a great white wine.
There's two I wreck ament There is Trebiano Tuscana, which
is fine. It's not my favorite. It's probably better for blending. However,
the wine that I love and I think is I
think more people should be drinking is Vermentino. Vermentino a
(28:18):
take on the word fermented. It is a high acid,
so very crisp, refreshing white grape that flourishes in sun
drenched wine gery Asians region. So you'll see it all
along the coast, the Tuscan coast. You'll also see it
in Liguria. You also find it in Sardinia because it
came over. Many think this wine came over from Spain.
(28:39):
It has also grown in the southern France area, where
it's known as role r O l l E. I
think it's I can't remember what the equivalent is in Spain.
Maybe one of these there, the Aura or Verdejo, probably Verdeo,
but I'm not one hundred percent, sir, so don't quote
me on that. But Vermentino, we'll talk about it when
(29:02):
I get to the Spain area of this series. Vermonino
is just fabulous. It is Drink it with everything. The
flavor profile is citrus, almonds, apples. You usually serve at
young afresh, but I've had some that have been lightly
aged and oak age that are terrific. These wines tend
to take on the herbal and personality characters of what
is grown in the area. So often I have tasted
(29:23):
wines that have this Mediterranean scrubby brush tastes that reminds
me of some of the fresh herbs and flowers that
grow along the copes. Genestra is what it's called. Every
time I taste these, I think a genestra. I also
think about it with some of the wines in France.
Love these wines. Love these wines. You can find them
(29:45):
in the Maremma. I tasted several when I was at
Vini da Costa, the wines of the Tuscan Coast program.
You will taste them. I'm going to Livorno soon. I
can't wait have them there. Liguria Sardinia probably makes some
of my favorites. Vermentino de Glora is actually a DOCG
(30:06):
an elevated denomination Origin controlata guarantee to wine, whereas some
of the others are doc that both means designated quality.
Highly recommended. Vermontino and I think probably one of the
most versatile in terms of pairing with food. All fish, curries,
vegetarian dishes, white meat, chicken, white meat, pork, lots of cheeses,
(30:30):
really refreshing. Now, Tuscany also has what they call the
White Queen. It's a DOCG, remember denomination, Origin and cultural
alata guarantee to wine. It's the only white wine with
that designation, and it is called Vernaca di San Jimiano.
And I'm about to go there to dig deep into
these wines. It is a very golden white wine. It's dry,
(30:55):
it's got a lot of layers of stone fruit and
herbs and cit TRSs. It is only grown and produced
in the area around the vineyard area around San Jeminiano,
which is a very historic region south of Florence. It
is known for its towers. It's like that. I read
(31:18):
an article where they called it the mini Manhattan of Italy.
Well it's not, because it's not Manhattan. This is a
very ancient, hilly city with these giant I think it's
like half a dozen bell towers. I'm about to go there,
so i'll be reporting more on it. But it's a
terrific white wine. If you can find it, and it's
fairly widely available, you will love it. Now Tuscany is
(31:42):
central and to the west to the Turrannian state, the
large area. I've traveled a lot of it, and I
still have more to go. But another area just to
the east of Tuscany, and it's the only landlocked region
in Italy. They call it Green Italy. It's incredibly hilly
and green and mountainous and gorgeous. It's called Umbria. I'm
(32:03):
about to go there too, Lucky me, as I said,
I'm really blessed. I'm about to go to Umbria. And
to an area I haven't been yet. Umbria is mainly
a red wine area as well. They do Montefalco di
Sagranino beautiful red wine. They do Sangiovese from Georgiano and
other region of Umbria, because every little region has appellations
(32:25):
where they specialize in certain wines. I've had Trebiano Dispolatina.
It's a very specific type of trebiano grown in Umbria,
and I had it in the Montefalco area. It's very fruity,
very very fruity, meanium bodied, less acid wine. If you
like that kind of style, you'll love it. But the
(32:46):
wine i'm excited to be tracing as called Orvieto. That's
the area where it is being produced. It is the
region the grapes are called Greceeto. Note a lot of
these wines have Greek terms Greco, Gregeto, and trebiano. These
are gonna be floral and fruity and aromatic and dry
(33:07):
and crisp, and I am so excited to be going
there and coming back to tell you about my discoveries
in Umbria and Orvieto. But they're also fairly affordable. The
Orvietos that I have seen from Umbria. So if you're
looking for a crisp, dry, fruity dry slash fruity white wine,
(33:30):
you will with some aromatics versus you know, stony character,
you're gonna love Umbria's Orvieto. More to come on that now.
As I said, there's a lot of white wines. I'm
skipping some of the regions I have not visited. I
can't do it all, but I'm doing the best I can,
and that's all I ask, and I just want you
to open your mind up. I've been to an area
(33:52):
on the Adriatic side of Italy, to Marque m a
Rche and the Marquee. I had a wine called Verdicio.
It's a dry white, really terrific. They also had a
wine there called Pecorino, kind of like the cheese, but
it's not wonderful. Dry white wines crisp probably harder to
(34:15):
find here, but maybe not loved them. And like I said,
when you're on that beach coast and you want to
sip a glass of wine, I personally just want white.
I don't know about you. I like to have my
reds more with food and dinner, but that's me personally. Anyway,
(34:37):
moving quite along, Moving quite along, I'm going to take
you to Companya, Campania. What can I say about Campanya?
I fund love the Capana. Many many years ago, I
had the great pleasure of working with a restaurant tour
(34:58):
named Tony May, who owned a New York called Santa Menico,
and he was from the area Campanya. The capital of
the main city and Campania is Naples. It is southern Italy.
It's on the coast, but it's also near the mountains.
It's home to Mount Vesuvia Pompeii. Incredible history, very influenced
by the Greeks, very influenced by invasions over the years.
(35:21):
And I discovered when I went there some of my
most favorite Italian white wines. I truly mean it. And
you know now I've discovered more because I've been waxing
poetic about for Julia more recently, but Campanya still sings
to my soul, and going there, I'm so excited because
(35:42):
I love the terranean sea and the Malfi coast. I
love going to Vesuvius and seeing those beautiful volcanic sandy soils.
I love the mountains, and I love the people, and
I love the food because it is really a seafood
loving region. And there are three white wines that I
absolutely love. The first is very light in Chris like lemony,
(36:05):
high acid, lemon, gooseberry, herbal, lovely white flowers. It's called
fallen Guina f A l A n g h I
n A. I love this wine. I love the way
I say it falan Gina. It is a beautiful wine.
I think a lot of the wines why do I
love them so much? And Capanya is they have a
(36:28):
very volcanic you know, they were influenced by a volcano.
The volcano erupts and the eruptions form different mineral elements
in the soil on that minerally character, minerality, the savor
character is in these wines in such a pleasant way.
The second white wine that I love, love, love in
(36:50):
Capana is called Greco Greek like grecheto remember in Umbria Greco,
there's a specific area called Greco Twufoureco to Tufo and Capana.
This is a more floral wine with medium acidity and
aromas of citrus, apple, peach, melon and herbs. Really great
(37:10):
with seafood and vegetables. Another just incredible white wine that
I would highly recommend trying and widely available here. Again,
I will do my best. When I come back from
all these trips which are taking place in May twenty
twenty five, I will give you a list which I
will listen on Melanie Substack and also at the Connected Table,
(37:32):
which is where my blog on wine and food also rests,
besides my travel blog at Melanie Fabulous and Melanie at Substack.
Third wine from Campana that I absolutely love is called
Fiano di Avelino. Avellino is a specific region in Campana.
(37:55):
It is elegant. The grape is called Fiano di Avellino me.
It is produced specifically in the Avelino area, and it
is extremely well structured and elegant and crisp, with stone characters,
(38:15):
fruit characters of peach, apple, citrus, a lot of stoniness
because of the minerality that creates is created from the
volcanic character of the wines in this area. Great acid,
a beautiful wine, well structured. It's got a lot of
complexity to a complexity. Just to bring you up to
(38:38):
some complexity and structure or the building blocks of a wine.
Think of a like makeup. You have a bare face,
you add a base, then you add shading, then you
add blush, then you add highlighter, then you add eyelinder.
That's kind of like what complexity is in wine. You
build complexity to create the ore. Uh, it's okay to
(39:02):
be bare face, It's go. Okay is to have minimal complexity.
But the more complex and structure the wines, the more
elegant they become kind of like your face when you
put makeup on. Right. So companya, go if you go Highlights, Naples, beautiful,
known for the Neapolisan Pizza. You gotta have pizza Naples,
(39:23):
the Maulfi Coast, incredible, incredible, go if you can't have
somebody else drive you so you can just gawk at
the incredible blue sea. It's blue green and gaukable vesuvias,
and the volcanic area Pompeii, amazing history. And then you
go further south and you go into Silento and the
(39:45):
beautiful southern Greek inspired area with Greek ruins, Chilento, Chilento's Chilinda.
It's beautiful, just beautiful. Love that area. But we're still
traveling south and I recently helped a very dear friend
who's going to Sicily to help her. Understand the wines
(40:06):
and I have. Sicily is unlike anything else. I mean,
just as you fell madly lived with Campagna. Then you
take a flight and you go to Sicily. It is
a large island with many personalities. To the west has
more Arabic influence. To the east it's more Greek influence.
(40:28):
To the northeast, there's Mount Etna, which is a still
active volcano, and you can see the smoke. There's so
much history, there's so much variety, there's so much culture,
and the wines are very unique. But Sicily itself, they're
(40:49):
great red wines and white wines. But again, the show
is about white wine. And I'm going to tell you
three wines you should know when you visit Sicily. I'm
trying to make it easy. Three three Sicily, Three white
wines you should know. The first is Grillo g r
I L l O like grill. Oh, but it's Grillo.
(41:10):
It's gonna be Italian go. Grillo is a dry white,
medium high acid medium too high acid white, grown in
many areas of Sicily and some areas of other Coasta Italy,
but not Etna. Okay, we're gonna get to Aten in
a minute. But everywhere else in Sicily you'll find greal
(41:30):
It's a lot of lemon, apple hair, white flowers. There's
a lot of body, more body in this wine. Really
great with What do they eat in Sicily seafood, cheeses,
add on chini, a lot of fresh vegetables, a lot
of tomato dishes, a lot of lemon dishes. Because you
go and what grows together goes together. So when you
(41:53):
go and taste these wines, you're usually gonna eat the
food with them. So when you're Naples, you're gonna have
pizza with that, following Gaina and seafood with that. Greco
de Tufo and Sicily you're going to do the same.
But they also have game and pork. It's a very
agricultural rural area. People were poor, they ate off the land.
(42:17):
You're gonna have amazing beans, incredible beans, bean dishes and
you will love it with your grilla. Are you now?
If you go to Mount Nana and if you go
to Sicily, you should go to Mount Eda. How do
you get there? Well, I would suggest flying into Catanya.
There's two main airports, Palermo, which is a wonderful place
filled with history to the north and the west of
(42:39):
Sicily to the east enclosure to the east coast is Patanya.
That's where we'll be flying into. I was in Mount Attina.
I've been a couple of times, most recently in September
twenty twenty four. I've done a lot of articles and
shows on the connected Table about mounta and its producers.
Two white wines and grapes to know. The first is
(43:03):
its signature Caracanti cr r I c A nte. It
is a white grape literally cultivated on the slopes of
Mount Atina, which is an active volcano with lava flows.
So what does that mean. It means there's a lot
of minerality in the wine. You're a lot of high
acid because of the high altitude, and the volcanic souls
(43:25):
create that minerality and complexity and structure that you're gonna love.
The flavor profiles obviously lemons, because Facilia Sicily is known
for lemons, grapefruit, sometimes bitter orange, mint, almond, maybe a
little bit of pistachio. Pistachios are grown on the slopes
of Mount Atina. You're gonna find again, what grows together
(43:46):
goes together, and you're gonna find those floral and shrub
elements in the wine. I love keracanti. It's just a
wonderful wine and often it is sometimes mixed with maybe
ten percent of another white grape called katato, also grown.
It's grown in several regions of Sicily. It's a fruitier
(44:07):
style wine, usually blended with kirakanti and etna. Sometimes sipped
on its own if you want something really light with
medium acidity. Lots of lemons, lemon peel and apples in
that wine. Really great with Asian foods, seafoods and salad.
Katerrato c at t a r at o. My favorite
way to enjoy caterato is blended with kirakanti and usually
(44:31):
it's only ten percent. Again, these are DOC wines, which
means there are certain guidelines. As I said, the DOC
and the DOCG designations are created by consortshi consortiums or
the trade organizations. Of guidelines are created to ensure that
the standards and production methods and the great percentages are
(44:56):
consistent in these wines, to create the specific character that
makes these wines so uniquely Italian. In other regions of
France Spain there were docs or dops. It is how
Europe defines its wines. It's also done in the United
States with avas American viticultural areas, but it's very very
(45:22):
structured in Europe and under the European Union, which has
guidelines that are mirror those in the respective countries. P
DOO Protected Designation of Origin DOP denomination Origin Protected same thing.
It means these wines are protected and must follow certain
(45:45):
guidelines of production, which means they ensure quality, character, personality
and uniqueness that reflects the terrowa of these specific areas.
And it doesn't mean all the wines are like that.
Something called IGT, which means the wines can be made
more freestyle, as we say, with different types of grapes
(46:06):
and blends. And some of the most famous IGT wines
are what they call the super Tuscans, where they use Cabernet,
Savignjang and petits ran and Verdeaux and sirah and maybe
blend it with some Italian grapes. So the quality standard
is also great and high. It's just a different style
of making wine. Now I could go on, and I
(46:29):
wish it did, but didn't have time. I've just given
you the highlights of the White wines of Italy. I
urge you to go out and try them, ask for them,
get out of your rut of I'll have a chordenna
or Sauvignon blanc. There's nothing wrong with it, but get
out of it and expand your palette and more importantly,
go visit these regions. Travel because the best education I've
(46:52):
ever had is when I pack my suitcase and hit
the road and open my eyes, open my mind, and
open my off and taste. And I encourage you to
do the same. And if you follow along with me
at Melanie Fabulous at Instagram and The Connected Table on Instagram,
follow my blog on Theconnected Table dot com, and my
(47:13):
show The Connected Table Live, you'll learn more because we
dig deeper in those shows about the wines and the
producers and the food and the regions. I started a
substack called Melanie Young Melanie Fabulous I've just started that's
more of my personality, like this show, with a lot
of travel elements. I'm going to try to do more
of this for you here because I know this is
(47:34):
what you love. It won't mean I'm neglecting my other
important topics I taking care of yourself and meaning wonderful entrepreneurs.
It's just that I want to have a balance plate
of information to help you live life on your terms,
fearlessly and fabulously, which you always must do because it's
your choice. Don't let others choose your life for you. You
(47:57):
choose your life on your trooms and on your terms,
and always choose fearless and fabulous. I'm Melanie Young, a
toast to you. Raise your glass, eat, drink, sip, explore,
and always stay as I say on my other show
and say, you'll be curious and fearless and fabulous. Thank you,
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