September 1, 2023 • 33 mins
Most of us are quite familiar with Italian red wine varieties but of course they make excellent white wines too. Join our friends Olivia and Andrea from Italian Wine Tales as we explore the different grapes and varieties of Italian white wines found from coast to coast. Cin cin!
Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/189
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The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke - yes there are two of us!
Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/189
Support the show
Join our mailing list and get our FREE Italy trip planning checklist - subscribe here | Join us on tour: Trip schedule | Discover our Trip Planning Services | Visit our online store | Follow: Instagram • Facebook • YouTube • Italy Travel Planning Community
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke - yes there are two of us!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is the Untold Chili Travel Podcastand you're listening to episode number one hundred
and eighteen nine. Tatuti and benVenuti to One Told Italy, the travel
podcast to where you go to thetownsend, villages, mountains, the lakes,
(00:21):
hills and coast lines of Bella,Italia. Each week, your host
Katie Clark takes you on a journeyin a search of magical landscapes, history,
culture, wine, gelato, andof course a whole lot of pasta.
If you're dreaming of Italy and planningfuture adventures there, you've come to
the right place. Salute choo andjeans everyone. Today we are continuing our
(00:55):
series on Italian wine with my colleagueand friend Olivia Windsor and her partner Andrea
Miti Rua, collectively known online asItalian Wine Tales. One episode one hundred
and seventy nine, we explored theeffivescent world of Italian sparkling wine, and
today we're delving into white wines.Obviously, Italy is best known for its
(01:17):
word wines, but as you'll discover, the white varieties are worth seeking out
too. Wine making and drinking isa big part of Italian culture and has
been Since Roman times, generations offamilies have poured their hearts and souls into
preparing the veno that combines imperfect harmonywith dishes prepared with the produce farmed in
the nearby fields. It's the symbiosisof seasons, land and nourishing produce which
(01:42):
makes the Italian approach to wine makingvery special and interesting, even if you're
not a wine drinker. So let'sget started and hear all about Italian white
wines and where you can try themwhen you're in Italy. Bentonati, Welcome
back to the Untold Italy podcast livevia and Andrea choo O, Katie,
Hi, everyone, thanks for havingus, Thank you for having us back.
(02:05):
You can come back anytime. Youknow that we had so much wonderful
feedback about our episode on sparkling Wine, so it's going to be fun to
continue our adventures in Italian white winetoo. But before we dive into all
of that, let's refresh our listenersmemories about who you are and how you
started sharing your passion for Italian wine. I'm Olivia. So I'm an Australian
(02:27):
woman. I've been living in Italyfor the last four years and I'm the
host of many of the untold ItalyChewers, which are really focused on food
and wine all around the country.Andrea, I'm originally from Torino in the
Piedmont region. I'm now living inRome with Olivia, and I'm the co
founder of Italian Wine Tales. ItalianWine Tales but was born from our passion
(02:50):
for wine and because we started ourItalian Somalia course, and really we wanted
to create a resource that's like you'rea one on one guide to Italian wine.
So if you want to know whatto drink when you're in Italy,
where to go on a wine shore, some great recommendations of wineries that we
love or brands look out for,then you can jump onto Italian Wine Tales.
(03:10):
I just love it when people focuson their passions, and I do
personally like being a major beneficiary ofyour wine studies and selections. But we
really wanted to share all of thisknowledge with our listeners, which is why
we're recording this podcast. So let'sfind out about Italian white wine, because
I guess people listening might not betoo aware of many Italian white varieties except
(03:37):
maybe pinot grigio. So what aresome of the popular ones and where can
we find them? Well, thegood news is that no matter where you
are in Italy, you can alwaysfind good lives of Pinot grigio, chardonnet
or other more famous brand lakes havingyou on blanc as well. The chardonnet,
for example, are best found inthe No Than part of Italy,
(04:00):
more specifically in the northeast, frentinooAja, Lombardy and Friuli. And also
an interesting pick could be in thenorthwest in the Palladusta region from le Crete,
which is very fresh and mineral.So if you like the French style
chardonnay as well as dan staintless steel, that's your goal to wine. Yeah,
(04:21):
So I think the great thing isyou can find international grape varieties.
So if you're from Australia or theUS and you're used to drinking Chardonnay,
Savinon blanc or Pino brigio, youwill find in Italy. However, there's
a lot of other white grape varietiesthat are not well known outside of Italy
that we are really passionate about thatwe really like you. I mean,
(04:43):
before I moved to Italy, Iwas a bit snobbish about white wine.
And I thought Italian is really youknow, Italian bread wines are amazing,
but France. For me, Ireally like French white wines. That was
before I moved to Italy. NowI'm happy say that Italian white wines are
amazing. You can find really greatones, but you just need to know
(05:04):
what those grape varieties are. Andyou know the best thing that is you
have to try a lot and thenyou find what you like as well.
So yeah, as we were saying, there's lots of international grape varieties which
we can chat a little bit about, and then some more interesting ones later
in the episode. Yeah, Ijust was like, I don't think I've
noticed actually in Italy the chardonnay,but I've got to admit I'm not really
(05:29):
looking for it either, you know. So it's interesting to me that they
do make the chardona wine and it'snot oak those is that what you're generally
not oake? But you can findoak as well, So obviously, like
if you're Australian or American you probablylike an oak chardonad being full bodied can
say you can find the non oakedand the oaked. But yeah, I
(05:50):
guess maybe you wouldn't have seen itbecause it's generally up north, like in
a or Stunting or so if you'renot traveling the air then you might not
have seen it. But even ifyou're in Rome, you should find it.
Always on a restaurant menu, they'llhave something kind of international or familiar
in most of the restaurants. Goodto know, all right, let's continue
(06:13):
peanut green maybe, yeaho in Italianpinot grigio exactly, it's as well found
in the north, even if youhave to be a bit careful when you're
ordering because it is mass produced,so sometimes the quality might be a bit
lucky. However, if you goto Friuli in the northeast order something from
(06:34):
there. We suggests you order somethingfrom the Collier region. Especially the peanut
grigio from Nicholas could be a goodpick for you if you are into peanut
green or pinot grigio. Yeah.So this is again like another wine that
if you go to a wine butpretty much anywhere in Italy there'll always be
a peanut grigio on the list,So have a look. If it's from
(06:55):
the Collio region, go for it. If not, maybe move on and
try something a little bit more interesting, which we'll talk about exactly. Sorry
for US Australians, we're very familiarwith a peanut griggio and I'm not quite
sure how spread it is in America. What what's the style of the wine
peanut griggio. Well, peanut grigiois quite mineral and has also fruity taste,
(07:20):
especially of tropical fruits. It's ofcourse a wine that it's not meant
to be aged. It's best whenit's drunk. Fresh, it's easy going
wine. I would suggest it goodfor your appetitio or for dinner based probably
fish, yes, or white meats. So it's so easy drinking. It's
(07:43):
not too complicated, not a complexwine. No, I like it.
It's fresh, it's good for summer, yes, exactly exactly. Yeah,
or which especially Americans and Australians andNew Zealanders will know. There's savinon blanc
also in Italy. Obviously in NewZealand it is amazing and very famous.
(08:03):
But the good news is that Italyalso produce really great savinyon blanc, especially
in Friuli. Once again, soyou can see all the white wines are
talking about are really concentrated up inthe north because they're a cooler climate,
so they make really great white winesup in the north in Friuli. It's
a somewhat similar styles to New Zealandsavignon blanc in terms of the full bodiedness.
(08:28):
They do tend to blend it withanother local grape and Frioli, which
gives a little bit more floral characteristics, but it's the same kind of lime,
passion, fruit, lemon zest thatyou'll be used to with a New
Zealand savinon blanc. However, ifyou like the savignon's coming from the Napa
Valley, we would suggest you trythe savignon blanc coming from tusk And because
(08:50):
the terroa and the climate there aremore similar to the savignon that you may
know from the Napa Vali. Yeah, so if you want to stay comfortable
with your white wine when you getto Italy, these might be some good
ones that you can try when you'restarting your white wine discovery. I'm not
looking for it, but I haven'tnoticed saving your blanc in Tuscany. But
(09:13):
yeah, it's so interesting. Ijust think, you know, in Italy,
wine production is so much part ofevery region, and I love how
they've aducted different varieties for the tarthat's around there. It's very very interesting
and I know we'll talk another timeabout red ones, but I was really
(09:33):
surprised to hear that there was somebordo being produced in Tuscany and I was
like, this is really my mind'sactually blown here, Like what's going on?
Yeah? So it's The point isis it's very creative and we're not
sort of putting ourselves in a box. We're taking the indigenous grapes, we're
mixing it with international and we're creatingsomething that's quite delicious, which no one
(09:58):
can argue with that. And theother thing is it always goes perfectly with
the food as well, So it'salways about in Italy, you never order
a glass of wine without something toeat with that. Yes, okay,
so tell us more about these whitewines what we were thinking about, because
there's obviously so many great varieties inItaly, so we can't talk about all
of them, but we wanted tochat about ones where you're likely to be
(10:22):
traveling. So obviously one of themost traveled places or most you know,
one to last places, is theAmalfi Coast. Everyone wants to go to
the Amalfi Coast, and rightly so, it's beautiful, of course, So
we were thinking about white wines fromthat region, and Piano is a wine
produced in Campania which is really deliciousand if you're in the Amalfi Coast,
(10:46):
this is one that you should lookout for on your menus. So while
it's not produced in the Amalfi Coastitself, it's in that region Compania,
which is where you'll find Amalfi fianoif you haven't tried. It is light
notes to hair, hazelnuts, almonds. It's quite floral, even a little
bit horrible. You can think ofit little bit like an unowned sharpening,
(11:09):
a little similar to that. Wewould just to try if you want her
wine to either Francesco in the regionor are wine tasting Impositan or at it's
a beautiful wine room. That's agreat suggestion. I love that because you
know most people are going to thesewine I mean, I know if you
(11:30):
do make the effort to go inlandand go exploring, I know that you're
going to find some incredible experiences.Danielle or Terry mentioned some of them in
a recent episode of this podcast.She'd been in you know there's some amazing
architecture in the wineries and just likea full experience, not just tasting wine,
(11:52):
but you know the whole, youknow everything, all the senses enliven.
So I love Fianna. I hastesome last night. Actually I'm down.
I'm down with that. But evenwithin a Malfie itself, the wine
making there is really interesting and theycall it heroic wine making because if you
can imagine, if you've seen photosof Amalfie, the steep clips. So
(12:13):
the wine making there is really hardwork because it all needs to be done
without machinery. You can't take atractor down those those steep clips, you
just can't. So everything is handpicked and harvested, and that means that
the production is normally quite small orcompared to big commercial wineries, which generally
also means that the quality is goingto be quite good. So if you're
(12:35):
in a Malfine you want to trysomething from a Malfie. Specifically, the
great to look out for is qualand Gina. You can have hints of
white flowers, exotic fruits, andagain drinking when it's young. It's best
around wins. Yeah, so don'tput it on the cellar it's not that
that's not happening into the glass andchitgen And would you say, as a
(12:56):
general rule, the Italian whites shouldbe sell it. It's a good question.
Yes, generally speaking that is correct. However, some wine, for
example, the one we're going totalk about next, Pecorino, can also
be aged. It's one of Katie'sfavorites, of course, but yes,
it's correct. Generally speaking, it'sbetter not to age them because red wines
(13:20):
that can be aged have more tannins, which are fine on the skins of
the grapes, and since whites don'thave tanants, it's harder to asian them.
Yeah, talents are what give winesaging capacity basically. So yeah,
generally speaking, you want to drinkit younger? Yeah, excellent. All
right, talk to me about Pecorinobecause this was my like lights on moment
(13:41):
about Italian white wine. And I'mlike, I tell everyone and I make
everyone drink it now. So ifyou're coming with me, you're drinking Pecorino.
We love Pecorina too. So Pecorinois from Abruzzo, which is quite
close to the Lazio regions, sowhere Rome is, So if you're in
Rome, doesn't you know. Youmight not be going to a Bruzzo,
but you will find pecorino quite easilyon the room wine lists in restaurants,
(14:05):
which is great. So you cantry too. We're obviously not talking about
the cheese. We're talking about thewine, but try also the cheese because
it's very good. And there's aninteresting reason why the wine is called pecorino.
Two. Well, there are differentorigins from for the story, but
one of them is that the grapesare shaped in like the head of a
(14:28):
sheep, or another reason. Whenthe shepherds were moving the sheep up and
down the valley, there were sometimespaid back in grapes or with this wine,
which then took the name of Pequorinoitself. Yeah, they say that
the sheeps when they were traveling froma Brozo Topulia, were munching on the
grapes, and so the name pecorinosuck because in Italian pecora means sheep.
(14:48):
Yes, So that's just a littlebit of background about the name. But
the wine itself is really delicious,a really nice acidity, full of a
groom so like citrus notes even somevegetable its exotic fruits. It's really delicious,
and the great thing about pecorino isit's the variety, so you can
have a young pecorinos so not age, but you can also age it so
(15:09):
you can put it in your cellarand enjoy it in a few years time.
You can find it at different pricepoints as well, so that's really
great as well. You can havea cheaper version or if you want to
go high end. The absolute bestpeccorina where you think, is from a
Medior peck Bet. That's a reallydelicious pecordinos. But it's a famous one
that I found on a menu herein Australia. But I still think it
(15:31):
was a little bit expensive what theywere charging. Like we were just looking
at the prices before, just toconfirm, and the twenty twenty pecorino from
a Medior is sixty euros and that'snot at a restaurant, so obviously you
go to a restaurant, there'll beanother markup. You know, it's a
higher price point. But you canalso find cheaper pecorinos as well. I
(15:52):
mean that's a really good point.So the pinot grigio, because like you
said, there's a lot of massproduced winds out there, so that you
can find some very very cheap,you know, Guggio if you go to
cut A four or you just goto the supermarket in Italy and you can
just like oh five euro yes,but maybe not go for that one.
(16:15):
Just nudge it up a little fewnotches and you'll get a very delicious wine
I think. But so what youknow, like for the pecorino, like
a decent one, what would youexpect to pay do you think you can
get anything good from I would saytwenty twenty five euros? Yeah, yeah,
and obviously the younger version as wellwon't be the aged version. Yeah,
(16:38):
I think. I mean the pecorinois really nice, it's really fresh,
and it's just yeah, it justfeels like you're drinking summer. I
love that. Yeah, it's agood one when you're in rowing to look
out for if you travel to Liguriainstead, which is an often overlooked region,
but we definitely suggest you should tryBettermano, which is cultivated a bit
(17:02):
over Italy but is typically associated withthe region. It's so popular, in
fact, that if there are fourdioces so special areas where you can cultivated
just within the region. It's veryfresh, fruity, very mineral so again
very enjoyable in summer, and wewill suggest you to try Il Torquio Vermentino,
which is a normal twist on thenormal variety and it's slightly mucerated as
(17:27):
well. Yes, I mean,Liguria so much to offer than the Chinquitata.
So much happening there, like actuallyone of the very first episodes of
the podcast was about some of thewines that are produced in the region near
the Chinquiteta and just the incredible winemaking techniques that they have, again with
the very rocky cliffs and yeah,trying to preserve the traditions of that and
(17:52):
the one there is really again reallyfresh and delicious and it goes so well
with the cuisine there. So leavewe are very excited to take people there
to Liguria because it's quite quite differentto other parts of Italy, not just
from a landscape perspective, but alsothe food and the wine is absolutely incredible.
(18:15):
And it always impresses me about Laguriawhen it comes to the production of
food and wine that it's such atiny, narrow strip of land, so
that's just it's really amazing what they'reable to grow there, even though it's
not in huge quantities. The productsthat they do produce are really high quality
and influenced by the obviously the proximityto the seas. You've got the mineral
(18:37):
notes and the sun. Everything justtastes great there, the pesto, the
basil, the wine, everything,well, I think you might have hit
on something there actually, because it'sthe small quantities. I think it's when
you're producing something and you just havethis small amount and you want to make
it really good, like instead oftrying to mass produce everything, you've got
no choice but to focus on thesmaller productions. So maybe that's the trick
(19:02):
to it all. I agree absolutely. And then to top it off with
the Italian varieties, I would saythat the one we can talk about next
is it's found in Veneto and it'svery popular there. You will find rolling
egels covered in so abe. It'sone of the most exported ones of Italy.
Also, by the way, hencewhy it's so well known about as
(19:26):
well, so you've probably tried itif you're in the States or in Australia.
It's based on a grape called garaganegaas well as trebiano, and trebiano
is a very popular grape that's growingjust about everywhere in Italy. But suave
is a yeah, if you're goingto Venice, that's one that you can
look out for on your wine list. And there's two different versions really,
(19:48):
there's the classic ord, the OCGor the superio order, which we cliently
explained about classical superio order, thisframework of terminology in the last episode,
but it's basically about how long it'saged for. So the Security order is
aged for longer, so you're goingto expect a fuller bodied style of wine,
whereas the classical aged for less timeand a bit more easy drinking.
(20:11):
So you can choose which one's rightfor you and whatever you're eating. I
just love it all and I thinkif people are going to, you know,
different parts of Italy, it's alwaysreally good just to say, what's
this local specialty and if you andthat will give you what suits whatever you're
eating, that's local the best.That's that's the magic trick. It's not
(20:32):
that tricky actually, but it's like, yeah, go for the local.
But it's good to know all ofthese different varieties. So if someone says,
oh, this shot it is local, you'll be like what now,
no, I mean better so itshould be drinking so of it. But
yeah, I think it's Yeah,it pays to kind of go into traveling
around Italy. It's an open mindobviously when it comes to the food and
wine. Obviously everyone's got their preferences. You want to drink and eat things
(20:55):
that you're used to and you like. But yeah, it can be great
to just chat to themalia at therestaurants because they receive such good training to
get the Somalia license. They canreally suggest what's going to be best for
whatever you're eating, and it mightbe something that you would never pick yourself.
We're seeing it now. It's aggressive. How much you need to know
to actually become a full fledged summeryand especially to work in restaurants. It's
(21:18):
probably an intensive cause the last formany years. Yeah, yeah, like
another degree almost yeah, absolutely,yeah, yeah, I mean so everyone,
to guess, have the absolute benefitof having Olivia on board, who's
doing all this training and having travelwe live several times. It's an absolute
(21:40):
delight to just sit back and relaxand have something chosen for you that you're
just going to enjoy. Like shelistens to what you like and she'll pick
something delicious and it's a treat Iwould say, it's a very welcome one.
And if you find yourself invests aswe were saying, and you want
to ray so up, you mightwander right, where do I go on
(22:02):
to try this? Save? Youshould go, in our opinion, to
the Verto Wine Bar, which youmentioned last exactly. Yeah, it's a
really great place. You'll be ableto try the Suave or again other local
wines from the Veneto region. Forexample, our wine producer that we know
and will enjoy it's called Caloriera,which is on the border with Nobody on
(22:26):
the Lake Garda, and they havewith that as well, and that wine
bar so definitely tried if you gothere, and that's in the count of
Rigio district Dribe. Yes, itis exactly yeah, yeah, and they
famously have on their menus we don'tserve sprits here, many other places that
you can get your sprits and thenwhen you're ready for a wine fix,
(22:47):
it's off to Vero Wine Bar.But yeah, I mean another one that
I might mention. I'm sure Katy, you've spoken about this before in Venice
episodes. If you're in Venice,you should and you're interested in wine and
trying something different, you should goout to Vanissa, which is on the
island of Matsorbo, because they makereally interesting wines based on indigenous scrapes that
(23:11):
you know, it's a special projectwhere they're trying to regenerate this native grape
that was grown there. It's calledthe doronad Venezia, and that's just something
really interesting. You won't find thatanywhere else. So it's a really kind
of once in a lifetime tasting ifyou're there in Venice. Yeah, and
we'll put a link to the shownotes of the episode that we talked about
that with Valeria Nekio, who isactually working at Vanissa and has got a
(23:36):
lot to say. I mean,it's a beautiful story about how they're trying
to repopulate these indigenous grapes and it'snot just about the wine. It's more
of a cultural project and it's veryinteresting. Absolutely. And that's another thing
as well. I guess when you'retasting any of these wines, it is
really linked to the culture and thefood and the people and the stories.
(23:59):
So you just drinking, you know, a glass of commercial pinogras or you're
drinking more than that, and Ithink that's why we're so interested in Italian
wines as well, exactly, andlike how different it is, you know,
from even one hundred kilometers away,can be quite different. The approach
to the wine making, if youthink about in Friuli to like Gata and
(24:21):
on as well, very different,Yeah, exactly, even the way the
grapes are grown, and part ofour course we've been learning about the difference.
Very interesting. Yeah, they havedifferent styles. For example, if
you go there down south to theisland or Fantelleria, which is between Sicily
and Tunisia, they have this styleof growing their grapes, digging little holes
in the ground and growing grapes asa single tree instead of like long vineyards
(24:47):
as you can usually see. It'svery peculiar. How interesting? All right,
is there anything else we need totry? Maybe we'll end with a
trip back to Sicily, because welove Sicily and Celian wines and where you
know, we'd run tours in Sicilythat include many winery visits with Untold Italy.
But perhaps the most interesting, atleast for us, is the Etna
(25:11):
Bianco. I just love the winesthat are grown on Mount Etna. It's
volcanic soil. They're so interesting andyeah, I just I find it really
cool to drink wines that are grownliterally on an active volcano. When else
do you get to do that?Really? Yeah, exactly, And so
normally on Mount Etna, the whitegrapes, it's a mix of catrato and
(25:33):
cadicantre, so they're native grapes toSicily. You're not going to find them
anywhere else in Italy. There isnormally a bit of Trebiano two, which
we touched on before. That's likea grape that's grown just about everywhere in
Italy and it's really delicious. Sothink of apples, pears, citrus,
white flowers. They're really lovely.And some of our favorite wineries to go
(25:56):
to there are one called Bananti orhad at Costantino, and they offer a
really lovely tasting experience if you're visitingNanna. It's such a fascinating area,
isn't it. Like we just hadan episode recently on Catania, which is
so close to the volcanoy so youcan actually do these trips to these wineries
(26:17):
from Catania or Tamina if you're closeby. But it's so amazing because I
think, you know, even froma child's perspective, we learned that volcano
produces a lot of nutrients and likeit's the land is very fertile, but
it's not often that you get toactually experience that firsthand. Amazing. Absolutely.
(26:37):
Yeah. We were in Sicily recentlyas well, and the wines that
they produce, they are so interesting. Even up on the Aeolian Islands.
We were in Salina and they're famousfor malvasia, which is another white grape
that is really delicious and interesting totry. Probably more known for the sweet
versions, but they do a dryversion too, and then on the west
(26:59):
coast there's heaps of delicious white winevarieties. We were drinking a lot of
gorilla when we were there, andso definitely on our western Sicily tour will
be trying some gorilla. It's reallymineral again, you know, the island
wines, you've got the sea breeze, influence, the sun. They're very
easy drinking. A final consideration wecan have since we've talked about Italy north
(27:22):
to south is the Generally speaking,in the north you'll have wines with a
lower arcal percentage because of the climate. The weather is a bit cooler.
Well in the south, because ofthe sun and the warmer climate, you'll
have wines that are more foot boardedand with an i arco percent. I
think that's one of the things thatI've learned this year is about the sun
(27:44):
and with climate change, it's actuallyreally impacting. That's one of the major
impacts on the wines, especially thenorthern ones, because they're not used to
having such a high alcohol content.So it's really interesting. Did you have
anything else you wanted to share aboutthe Italian White Wise, I've learned so
much already. I mean, there'sso many other ones that we love.
(28:04):
We could go on and on aboutdifferent grapes. In Piermont, there a
grape that we love is to calltimotas saw and so when we do our
Pieredmont to we'll definitely get to tryTimodas. So that was a recent discovery
when I was working on a vineyardin Piedmont that the owners introduced me too,
And that is really unknown outside ofPiedmont. Even within Piedmont, you
(28:26):
know, you might and various fromPiedmont, Yeah, but I wasn't really
aware of its existence. So Ithink that just shows you that, like,
really the number of grapes in Italyis outrageous and it's exciting because it
means that there's always something new totry, always something new to drink.
So I think when you're visiting,maybe you can start with international varieties that
(28:49):
you're more familiar with and then slowlyexpand and try something new each time.
Throw something local, yes, andyou can always just ask for a little
taste and they'll be happy to obligeyou. You don't like it, you
can you know, just be friendlyand say, well, can I have
a little taste and they'll be justreally happy that you're interested in what they're
doing that And that's what we find, isn't it when we go and visit
(29:10):
these wineries. Mean they're so passionateabout what they're doing and they've got such
a you know, like a strongsense of what their processes and why they're
doing it, and they're really happyto share it with you. It is
very, very passionate people that haveput their lives work into making you know,
the ultimate wine that matches the food. It's really a beautiful thing to
(29:33):
experience because we just don't often inour Western lives have that attention to detail
and that commitment to quality that youwill find, you know, in these
smaller wineries. It's just it's reallyquite astounding. Absolutely, Okay, I
mean this has been so interesting andI feel like most people, myself included,
(29:53):
no much more about Italian red wines. But you know, I do
love a white wine, especially thepeccarino, and I find it much easier
to drink in summer in particular,So I'm really happy to have discovered some
new ones to try live in Andreaamazing. Thank you. Now, if
our listeners are keen to extend theiradventures in Italian wine, how can they
(30:15):
follow your work? You can logon to Italian winetails dot com. Otherwise,
we're also on Instagram and we've gota Facebook page called Italian Wine Lovers,
so if you've got questions about Italianwine, yeah, you can find
us there too. You can subscribeto our newsletter, where you will receive
specific hints about where to go orto try, and we're always happy to
(30:37):
share out our knowledge with you.Yeah, you're amazing, You're just wonderful.
I love working with you. Andof course, if you like to
join us on and untold Italy tour, you'll likely have lives expertise on hand
to help you order wines to sendback home. I know, especially oh
when all our trips. Really everyone'ssending back lots of wine, aren't they.
But Live also hand picks the winerieswe visit, and she's very particular
(31:02):
about choosing smaller, family run winerieswhere you really get to understand the passion
and drive behind the wine making processes. So if you're a wine lover and
you want some of that guidance andto have a little bit of a mix
between food and culture and local experiences, then we're here for you, and
untoldedly to us, that's what wecreated them for. Leaving Andrea, thank
(31:23):
you so much for joining us andtelling us all about Italian white wines.
I look forward to our next chatabout red wines. But until then I'll
just say chow for an hour andGratzimine and everyone on your white wine series
wonderful Gratzia. I have to admit, as I get older, white wine
(31:45):
agrees with me more than red forsome reason. So I was thrilled to
discover varieties other than pinot grigio,which I do love. Also, Pecorino
was a revelation to me and Idon't mind showing off this newfound knowledge when
I'm out and about at home.Thanks to my lovely friends for indulging this
new obsession. If you want toknow these Italian wines but didn't quite catch
(32:08):
the spelling, We've got you covered. They're all detailed on our website in
the episode show notes at untold Italydot com Forward slash one eighth nine for
episode one hundred and eighty nine.And did you know that our website is
a treasure trove for those of youplanning trips to Italy. We have detailed
show notes for all of our episodesand hundreds of articles to assist with your
(32:30):
travels in Italy. Use the searchfunction to find what you're looking for,
as we add many articles a monthbased on feedback and research around what travelers
need assistance with. We'd like tothank you all for your support of Untold
Italy and your enthusiastic messages and reviews. It means the world to us that
so many people from countries around theglobe tune in each and every week to
(32:52):
listen to the show. If youdo enjoy it, it would be incredible
if you took a few moments towrite a quick review, give us a
rating on your favorite podcast app,Gratsimula. Thanks in advance, we appreciate
you. On next week's episode,we're visiting a beautiful northern Italian city that
flies under the radar of its moreglamorous neighbors, but is definitely worth making
(33:15):
some time to visit. But untilthen, it's chow for now. The
Untold Italy podcast is an independent productionpodcast editing, audio production and website development
by Mark Hatter, Production assistance andcontent writing by the other kt Clark.
Yes there are two of us.For more information about Untold Italy, please
(33:37):
visit Untold Italy dot com.
This is the Untold Chili Travel Podcastand you're listening to episode number one hundred
and eighteen nine. Tatuti and benVenuti to One Told Italy, the travel
podcast to where you go to thetownsend, villages, mountains, the lakes,
(00:21):
hills and coast lines of Bella,Italia. Each week, your host
Katie Clark takes you on a journeyin a search of magical landscapes, history,
culture, wine, gelato, andof course a whole lot of pasta.
If you're dreaming of Italy and planningfuture adventures there, you've come to
the right place. Salute choo andjeans everyone. Today we are continuing our
(00:55):
series on Italian wine with my colleagueand friend Olivia Windsor and her partner Andrea
Miti Rua, collectively known online asItalian Wine Tales. One episode one hundred
and seventy nine, we explored theeffivescent world of Italian sparkling wine, and
today we're delving into white wines.Obviously, Italy is best known for its
(01:17):
word wines, but as you'll discover, the white varieties are worth seeking out
too. Wine making and drinking isa big part of Italian culture and has
been Since Roman times, generations offamilies have poured their hearts and souls into
preparing the veno that combines imperfect harmonywith dishes prepared with the produce farmed in
the nearby fields. It's the symbiosisof seasons, land and nourishing produce which
(01:42):
makes the Italian approach to wine makingvery special and interesting, even if you're
not a wine drinker. So let'sget started and hear all about Italian white
wines and where you can try themwhen you're in Italy. Bentonati, Welcome
back to the Untold Italy podcast livevia and Andrea choo O, Katie,
Hi, everyone, thanks for havingus, Thank you for having us back.
(02:05):
You can come back anytime. Youknow that we had so much wonderful
feedback about our episode on sparkling Wine, so it's going to be fun to
continue our adventures in Italian white winetoo. But before we dive into all
of that, let's refresh our listenersmemories about who you are and how you
started sharing your passion for Italian wine. I'm Olivia. So I'm an Australian
(02:27):
woman. I've been living in Italyfor the last four years and I'm the
host of many of the untold ItalyChewers, which are really focused on food
and wine all around the country.Andrea, I'm originally from Torino in the
Piedmont region. I'm now living inRome with Olivia, and I'm the co
founder of Italian Wine Tales. ItalianWine Tales but was born from our passion
(02:50):
for wine and because we started ourItalian Somalia course, and really we wanted
to create a resource that's like you'rea one on one guide to Italian wine.
So if you want to know whatto drink when you're in Italy,
where to go on a wine shore, some great recommendations of wineries that we
love or brands look out for,then you can jump onto Italian Wine Tales.
(03:10):
I just love it when people focuson their passions, and I do
personally like being a major beneficiary ofyour wine studies and selections. But we
really wanted to share all of thisknowledge with our listeners, which is why
we're recording this podcast. So let'sfind out about Italian white wine, because
I guess people listening might not betoo aware of many Italian white varieties except
(03:37):
maybe pinot grigio. So what aresome of the popular ones and where can
we find them? Well, thegood news is that no matter where you
are in Italy, you can alwaysfind good lives of Pinot grigio, chardonnet
or other more famous brand lakes havingyou on blanc as well. The chardonnet,
for example, are best found inthe No Than part of Italy,
(04:00):
more specifically in the northeast, frentinooAja, Lombardy and Friuli. And also
an interesting pick could be in thenorthwest in the Palladusta region from le Crete,
which is very fresh and mineral.So if you like the French style
chardonnay as well as dan staintless steel, that's your goal to wine. Yeah,
(04:21):
So I think the great thing isyou can find international grape varieties.
So if you're from Australia or theUS and you're used to drinking Chardonnay,
Savinon blanc or Pino brigio, youwill find in Italy. However, there's
a lot of other white grape varietiesthat are not well known outside of Italy
that we are really passionate about thatwe really like you. I mean,
(04:43):
before I moved to Italy, Iwas a bit snobbish about white wine.
And I thought Italian is really youknow, Italian bread wines are amazing,
but France. For me, Ireally like French white wines. That was
before I moved to Italy. NowI'm happy say that Italian white wines are
amazing. You can find really greatones, but you just need to know
(05:04):
what those grape varieties are. Andyou know the best thing that is you
have to try a lot and thenyou find what you like as well.
So yeah, as we were saying, there's lots of international grape varieties which
we can chat a little bit about, and then some more interesting ones later
in the episode. Yeah, Ijust was like, I don't think I've
noticed actually in Italy the chardonnay,but I've got to admit I'm not really
(05:29):
looking for it either, you know. So it's interesting to me that they
do make the chardona wine and it'snot oak those is that what you're generally
not oake? But you can findoak as well, So obviously, like
if you're Australian or American you probablylike an oak chardonad being full bodied can
say you can find the non oakedand the oaked. But yeah, I
(05:50):
guess maybe you wouldn't have seen itbecause it's generally up north, like in
a or Stunting or so if you'renot traveling the air then you might not
have seen it. But even ifyou're in Rome, you should find it.
Always on a restaurant menu, they'llhave something kind of international or familiar
in most of the restaurants. Goodto know, all right, let's continue
(06:13):
peanut green maybe, yeaho in Italianpinot grigio exactly, it's as well found
in the north, even if youhave to be a bit careful when you're
ordering because it is mass produced,so sometimes the quality might be a bit
lucky. However, if you goto Friuli in the northeast order something from
(06:34):
there. We suggests you order somethingfrom the Collier region. Especially the peanut
grigio from Nicholas could be a goodpick for you if you are into peanut
green or pinot grigio. Yeah.So this is again like another wine that
if you go to a wine butpretty much anywhere in Italy there'll always be
a peanut grigio on the list,So have a look. If it's from
(06:55):
the Collio region, go for it. If not, maybe move on and
try something a little bit more interesting, which we'll talk about exactly. Sorry
for US Australians, we're very familiarwith a peanut griggio and I'm not quite
sure how spread it is in America. What what's the style of the wine
peanut griggio. Well, peanut grigiois quite mineral and has also fruity taste,
(07:20):
especially of tropical fruits. It's ofcourse a wine that it's not meant
to be aged. It's best whenit's drunk. Fresh, it's easy going
wine. I would suggest it goodfor your appetitio or for dinner based probably
fish, yes, or white meats. So it's so easy drinking. It's
(07:43):
not too complicated, not a complexwine. No, I like it.
It's fresh, it's good for summer, yes, exactly exactly. Yeah,
or which especially Americans and Australians andNew Zealanders will know. There's savinon blanc
also in Italy. Obviously in NewZealand it is amazing and very famous.
(08:03):
But the good news is that Italyalso produce really great savinyon blanc, especially
in Friuli. Once again, soyou can see all the white wines are
talking about are really concentrated up inthe north because they're a cooler climate,
so they make really great white winesup in the north in Friuli. It's
a somewhat similar styles to New Zealandsavignon blanc in terms of the full bodiedness.
(08:28):
They do tend to blend it withanother local grape and Frioli, which
gives a little bit more floral characteristics, but it's the same kind of lime,
passion, fruit, lemon zest thatyou'll be used to with a New
Zealand savinon blanc. However, ifyou like the savignon's coming from the Napa
Valley, we would suggest you trythe savignon blanc coming from tusk And because
(08:50):
the terroa and the climate there aremore similar to the savignon that you may
know from the Napa Vali. Yeah, so if you want to stay comfortable
with your white wine when you getto Italy, these might be some good
ones that you can try when you'restarting your white wine discovery. I'm not
looking for it, but I haven'tnoticed saving your blanc in Tuscany. But
(09:13):
yeah, it's so interesting. Ijust think, you know, in Italy,
wine production is so much part ofevery region, and I love how
they've aducted different varieties for the tarthat's around there. It's very very interesting
and I know we'll talk another timeabout red ones, but I was really
(09:33):
surprised to hear that there was somebordo being produced in Tuscany and I was
like, this is really my mind'sactually blown here, Like what's going on?
Yeah? So it's The point isis it's very creative and we're not
sort of putting ourselves in a box. We're taking the indigenous grapes, we're
mixing it with international and we're creatingsomething that's quite delicious, which no one
(09:58):
can argue with that. And theother thing is it always goes perfectly with
the food as well, So it'salways about in Italy, you never order
a glass of wine without something toeat with that. Yes, okay,
so tell us more about these whitewines what we were thinking about, because
there's obviously so many great varieties inItaly, so we can't talk about all
of them, but we wanted tochat about ones where you're likely to be
(10:22):
traveling. So obviously one of themost traveled places or most you know,
one to last places, is theAmalfi Coast. Everyone wants to go to
the Amalfi Coast, and rightly so, it's beautiful, of course, So
we were thinking about white wines fromthat region, and Piano is a wine
produced in Campania which is really deliciousand if you're in the Amalfi Coast,
(10:46):
this is one that you should lookout for on your menus. So while
it's not produced in the Amalfi Coastitself, it's in that region Compania,
which is where you'll find Amalfi fianoif you haven't tried. It is light
notes to hair, hazelnuts, almonds. It's quite floral, even a little
bit horrible. You can think ofit little bit like an unowned sharpening,
(11:09):
a little similar to that. Wewould just to try if you want her
wine to either Francesco in the regionor are wine tasting Impositan or at it's
a beautiful wine room. That's agreat suggestion. I love that because you
know most people are going to thesewine I mean, I know if you
(11:30):
do make the effort to go inlandand go exploring, I know that you're
going to find some incredible experiences.Danielle or Terry mentioned some of them in
a recent episode of this podcast.She'd been in you know there's some amazing
architecture in the wineries and just likea full experience, not just tasting wine,
(11:52):
but you know the whole, youknow everything, all the senses enliven.
So I love Fianna. I hastesome last night. Actually I'm down.
I'm down with that. But evenwithin a Malfie itself, the wine
making there is really interesting and theycall it heroic wine making because if you
can imagine, if you've seen photosof Amalfie, the steep clips. So
(12:13):
the wine making there is really hardwork because it all needs to be done
without machinery. You can't take atractor down those those steep clips, you
just can't. So everything is handpicked and harvested, and that means that
the production is normally quite small orcompared to big commercial wineries, which generally
also means that the quality is goingto be quite good. So if you're
(12:35):
in a Malfine you want to trysomething from a Malfie. Specifically, the
great to look out for is qualand Gina. You can have hints of
white flowers, exotic fruits, andagain drinking when it's young. It's best
around wins. Yeah, so don'tput it on the cellar it's not that
that's not happening into the glass andchitgen And would you say, as a
(12:56):
general rule, the Italian whites shouldbe sell it. It's a good question.
Yes, generally speaking that is correct. However, some wine, for
example, the one we're going totalk about next, Pecorino, can also
be aged. It's one of Katie'sfavorites, of course, but yes,
it's correct. Generally speaking, it'sbetter not to age them because red wines
(13:20):
that can be aged have more tannins, which are fine on the skins of
the grapes, and since whites don'thave tanants, it's harder to asian them.
Yeah, talents are what give winesaging capacity basically. So yeah,
generally speaking, you want to drinkit younger? Yeah, excellent. All
right, talk to me about Pecorinobecause this was my like lights on moment
(13:41):
about Italian white wine. And I'mlike, I tell everyone and I make
everyone drink it now. So ifyou're coming with me, you're drinking Pecorino.
We love Pecorina too. So Pecorinois from Abruzzo, which is quite
close to the Lazio regions, sowhere Rome is, So if you're in
Rome, doesn't you know. Youmight not be going to a Bruzzo,
but you will find pecorino quite easilyon the room wine lists in restaurants,
(14:05):
which is great. So you cantry too. We're obviously not talking about
the cheese. We're talking about thewine, but try also the cheese because
it's very good. And there's aninteresting reason why the wine is called pecorino.
Two. Well, there are differentorigins from for the story, but
one of them is that the grapesare shaped in like the head of a
(14:28):
sheep, or another reason. Whenthe shepherds were moving the sheep up and
down the valley, there were sometimespaid back in grapes or with this wine,
which then took the name of Pequorinoitself. Yeah, they say that
the sheeps when they were traveling froma Brozo Topulia, were munching on the
grapes, and so the name pecorinosuck because in Italian pecora means sheep.
(14:48):
Yes, So that's just a littlebit of background about the name. But
the wine itself is really delicious,a really nice acidity, full of a
groom so like citrus notes even somevegetable its exotic fruits. It's really delicious,
and the great thing about pecorino isit's the variety, so you can
have a young pecorinos so not age, but you can also age it so
(15:09):
you can put it in your cellarand enjoy it in a few years time.
You can find it at different pricepoints as well, so that's really
great as well. You can havea cheaper version or if you want to
go high end. The absolute bestpeccorina where you think, is from a
Medior peck Bet. That's a reallydelicious pecordinos. But it's a famous one
that I found on a menu herein Australia. But I still think it
(15:31):
was a little bit expensive what theywere charging. Like we were just looking
at the prices before, just toconfirm, and the twenty twenty pecorino from
a Medior is sixty euros and that'snot at a restaurant, so obviously you
go to a restaurant, there'll beanother markup. You know, it's a
higher price point. But you canalso find cheaper pecorinos as well. I
(15:52):
mean that's a really good point.So the pinot grigio, because like you
said, there's a lot of massproduced winds out there, so that you
can find some very very cheap,you know, Guggio if you go to
cut A four or you just goto the supermarket in Italy and you can
just like oh five euro yes,but maybe not go for that one.
(16:15):
Just nudge it up a little fewnotches and you'll get a very delicious wine
I think. But so what youknow, like for the pecorino, like
a decent one, what would youexpect to pay do you think you can
get anything good from I would saytwenty twenty five euros? Yeah, yeah,
and obviously the younger version as wellwon't be the aged version. Yeah,
(16:38):
I think. I mean the pecorinois really nice, it's really fresh,
and it's just yeah, it justfeels like you're drinking summer. I
love that. Yeah, it's agood one when you're in rowing to look
out for if you travel to Liguriainstead, which is an often overlooked region,
but we definitely suggest you should tryBettermano, which is cultivated a bit
(17:02):
over Italy but is typically associated withthe region. It's so popular, in
fact, that if there are fourdioces so special areas where you can cultivated
just within the region. It's veryfresh, fruity, very mineral so again
very enjoyable in summer, and wewill suggest you to try Il Torquio Vermentino,
which is a normal twist on thenormal variety and it's slightly mucerated as
(17:27):
well. Yes, I mean,Liguria so much to offer than the Chinquitata.
So much happening there, like actuallyone of the very first episodes of
the podcast was about some of thewines that are produced in the region near
the Chinquiteta and just the incredible winemaking techniques that they have, again with
the very rocky cliffs and yeah,trying to preserve the traditions of that and
(17:52):
the one there is really again reallyfresh and delicious and it goes so well
with the cuisine there. So leavewe are very excited to take people there
to Liguria because it's quite quite differentto other parts of Italy, not just
from a landscape perspective, but alsothe food and the wine is absolutely incredible.
(18:15):
And it always impresses me about Laguriawhen it comes to the production of
food and wine that it's such atiny, narrow strip of land, so
that's just it's really amazing what they'reable to grow there, even though it's
not in huge quantities. The productsthat they do produce are really high quality
and influenced by the obviously the proximityto the seas. You've got the mineral
(18:37):
notes and the sun. Everything justtastes great there, the pesto, the
basil, the wine, everything,well, I think you might have hit
on something there actually, because it'sthe small quantities. I think it's when
you're producing something and you just havethis small amount and you want to make
it really good, like instead oftrying to mass produce everything, you've got
no choice but to focus on thesmaller productions. So maybe that's the trick
(19:02):
to it all. I agree absolutely. And then to top it off with
the Italian varieties, I would saythat the one we can talk about next
is it's found in Veneto and it'svery popular there. You will find rolling
egels covered in so abe. It'sone of the most exported ones of Italy.
Also, by the way, hencewhy it's so well known about as
(19:26):
well, so you've probably tried itif you're in the States or in Australia.
It's based on a grape called garaganegaas well as trebiano, and trebiano
is a very popular grape that's growingjust about everywhere in Italy. But suave
is a yeah, if you're goingto Venice, that's one that you can
look out for on your wine list. And there's two different versions really,
(19:48):
there's the classic ord, the OCGor the superio order, which we cliently
explained about classical superio order, thisframework of terminology in the last episode,
but it's basically about how long it'saged for. So the Security order is
aged for longer, so you're goingto expect a fuller bodied style of wine,
whereas the classical aged for less timeand a bit more easy drinking.
(20:11):
So you can choose which one's rightfor you and whatever you're eating. I
just love it all and I thinkif people are going to, you know,
different parts of Italy, it's alwaysreally good just to say, what's
this local specialty and if you andthat will give you what suits whatever you're
eating, that's local the best.That's that's the magic trick. It's not
(20:32):
that tricky actually, but it's like, yeah, go for the local.
But it's good to know all ofthese different varieties. So if someone says,
oh, this shot it is local, you'll be like what now,
no, I mean better so itshould be drinking so of it. But
yeah, I think it's Yeah,it pays to kind of go into traveling
around Italy. It's an open mindobviously when it comes to the food and
wine. Obviously everyone's got their preferences. You want to drink and eat things
(20:55):
that you're used to and you like. But yeah, it can be great
to just chat to themalia at therestaurants because they receive such good training to
get the Somalia license. They canreally suggest what's going to be best for
whatever you're eating, and it mightbe something that you would never pick yourself.
We're seeing it now. It's aggressive. How much you need to know
to actually become a full fledged summeryand especially to work in restaurants. It's
(21:18):
probably an intensive cause the last formany years. Yeah, yeah, like
another degree almost yeah, absolutely,yeah, yeah, I mean so everyone,
to guess, have the absolute benefitof having Olivia on board, who's
doing all this training and having travelwe live several times. It's an absolute
(21:40):
delight to just sit back and relaxand have something chosen for you that you're
just going to enjoy. Like shelistens to what you like and she'll pick
something delicious and it's a treat Iwould say, it's a very welcome one.
And if you find yourself invests aswe were saying, and you want
to ray so up, you mightwander right, where do I go on
(22:02):
to try this? Save? Youshould go, in our opinion, to
the Verto Wine Bar, which youmentioned last exactly. Yeah, it's a
really great place. You'll be ableto try the Suave or again other local
wines from the Veneto region. Forexample, our wine producer that we know
and will enjoy it's called Caloriera,which is on the border with Nobody on
(22:26):
the Lake Garda, and they havewith that as well, and that wine
bar so definitely tried if you gothere, and that's in the count of
Rigio district Dribe. Yes, itis exactly yeah, yeah, and they
famously have on their menus we don'tserve sprits here, many other places that
you can get your sprits and thenwhen you're ready for a wine fix,
(22:47):
it's off to Vero Wine Bar.But yeah, I mean another one that
I might mention. I'm sure Katy, you've spoken about this before in Venice
episodes. If you're in Venice,you should and you're interested in wine and
trying something different, you should goout to Vanissa, which is on the
island of Matsorbo, because they makereally interesting wines based on indigenous scrapes that
(23:11):
you know, it's a special projectwhere they're trying to regenerate this native grape
that was grown there. It's calledthe doronad Venezia, and that's just something
really interesting. You won't find thatanywhere else. So it's a really kind
of once in a lifetime tasting ifyou're there in Venice. Yeah, and
we'll put a link to the shownotes of the episode that we talked about
that with Valeria Nekio, who isactually working at Vanissa and has got a
(23:36):
lot to say. I mean,it's a beautiful story about how they're trying
to repopulate these indigenous grapes and it'snot just about the wine. It's more
of a cultural project and it's veryinteresting. Absolutely. And that's another thing
as well. I guess when you'retasting any of these wines, it is
really linked to the culture and thefood and the people and the stories.
(23:59):
So you just drinking, you know, a glass of commercial pinogras or you're
drinking more than that, and Ithink that's why we're so interested in Italian
wines as well, exactly, andlike how different it is, you know,
from even one hundred kilometers away,can be quite different. The approach
to the wine making, if youthink about in Friuli to like Gata and
(24:21):
on as well, very different,Yeah, exactly, even the way the
grapes are grown, and part ofour course we've been learning about the difference.
Very interesting. Yeah, they havedifferent styles. For example, if
you go there down south to theisland or Fantelleria, which is between Sicily
and Tunisia, they have this styleof growing their grapes, digging little holes
in the ground and growing grapes asa single tree instead of like long vineyards
(24:47):
as you can usually see. It'svery peculiar. How interesting? All right,
is there anything else we need totry? Maybe we'll end with a
trip back to Sicily, because welove Sicily and Celian wines and where you
know, we'd run tours in Sicilythat include many winery visits with Untold Italy.
But perhaps the most interesting, atleast for us, is the Etna
(25:11):
Bianco. I just love the winesthat are grown on Mount Etna. It's
volcanic soil. They're so interesting andyeah, I just I find it really
cool to drink wines that are grownliterally on an active volcano. When else
do you get to do that?Really? Yeah, exactly, And so
normally on Mount Etna, the whitegrapes, it's a mix of catrato and
(25:33):
cadicantre, so they're native grapes toSicily. You're not going to find them
anywhere else in Italy. There isnormally a bit of Trebiano two, which
we touched on before. That's likea grape that's grown just about everywhere in
Italy and it's really delicious. Sothink of apples, pears, citrus,
white flowers. They're really lovely.And some of our favorite wineries to go
(25:56):
to there are one called Bananti orhad at Costantino, and they offer a
really lovely tasting experience if you're visitingNanna. It's such a fascinating area,
isn't it. Like we just hadan episode recently on Catania, which is
so close to the volcanoy so youcan actually do these trips to these wineries
(26:17):
from Catania or Tamina if you're closeby. But it's so amazing because I
think, you know, even froma child's perspective, we learned that volcano
produces a lot of nutrients and likeit's the land is very fertile, but
it's not often that you get toactually experience that firsthand. Amazing. Absolutely.
(26:37):
Yeah. We were in Sicily recentlyas well, and the wines that
they produce, they are so interesting. Even up on the Aeolian Islands.
We were in Salina and they're famousfor malvasia, which is another white grape
that is really delicious and interesting totry. Probably more known for the sweet
versions, but they do a dryversion too, and then on the west
(26:59):
coast there's heaps of delicious white winevarieties. We were drinking a lot of
gorilla when we were there, andso definitely on our western Sicily tour will
be trying some gorilla. It's reallymineral again, you know, the island
wines, you've got the sea breeze, influence, the sun. They're very
easy drinking. A final consideration wecan have since we've talked about Italy north
(27:22):
to south is the Generally speaking,in the north you'll have wines with a
lower arcal percentage because of the climate. The weather is a bit cooler.
Well in the south, because ofthe sun and the warmer climate, you'll
have wines that are more foot boardedand with an i arco percent. I
think that's one of the things thatI've learned this year is about the sun
(27:44):
and with climate change, it's actuallyreally impacting. That's one of the major
impacts on the wines, especially thenorthern ones, because they're not used to
having such a high alcohol content.So it's really interesting. Did you have
anything else you wanted to share aboutthe Italian White Wise, I've learned so
much already. I mean, there'sso many other ones that we love.
(28:04):
We could go on and on aboutdifferent grapes. In Piermont, there a
grape that we love is to calltimotas saw and so when we do our
Pieredmont to we'll definitely get to tryTimodas. So that was a recent discovery
when I was working on a vineyardin Piedmont that the owners introduced me too,
And that is really unknown outside ofPiedmont. Even within Piedmont, you
(28:26):
know, you might and various fromPiedmont, Yeah, but I wasn't really
aware of its existence. So Ithink that just shows you that, like,
really the number of grapes in Italyis outrageous and it's exciting because it
means that there's always something new totry, always something new to drink.
So I think when you're visiting,maybe you can start with international varieties that
(28:49):
you're more familiar with and then slowlyexpand and try something new each time.
Throw something local, yes, andyou can always just ask for a little
taste and they'll be happy to obligeyou. You don't like it, you
can you know, just be friendlyand say, well, can I have
a little taste and they'll be justreally happy that you're interested in what they're
doing that And that's what we find, isn't it when we go and visit
(29:10):
these wineries. Mean they're so passionateabout what they're doing and they've got such
a you know, like a strongsense of what their processes and why they're
doing it, and they're really happyto share it with you. It is
very, very passionate people that haveput their lives work into making you know,
the ultimate wine that matches the food. It's really a beautiful thing to
(29:33):
experience because we just don't often inour Western lives have that attention to detail
and that commitment to quality that youwill find, you know, in these
smaller wineries. It's just it's reallyquite astounding. Absolutely, Okay, I
mean this has been so interesting andI feel like most people, myself included,
(29:53):
no much more about Italian red wines. But you know, I do
love a white wine, especially thepeccarino, and I find it much easier
to drink in summer in particular,So I'm really happy to have discovered some
new ones to try live in Andreaamazing. Thank you. Now, if
our listeners are keen to extend theiradventures in Italian wine, how can they
(30:15):
follow your work? You can logon to Italian winetails dot com. Otherwise,
we're also on Instagram and we've gota Facebook page called Italian Wine Lovers,
so if you've got questions about Italianwine, yeah, you can find
us there too. You can subscribeto our newsletter, where you will receive
specific hints about where to go orto try, and we're always happy to
(30:37):
share out our knowledge with you.Yeah, you're amazing, You're just wonderful.
I love working with you. Andof course, if you like to
join us on and untold Italy tour, you'll likely have lives expertise on hand
to help you order wines to sendback home. I know, especially oh
when all our trips. Really everyone'ssending back lots of wine, aren't they.
But Live also hand picks the winerieswe visit, and she's very particular
(31:02):
about choosing smaller, family run winerieswhere you really get to understand the passion
and drive behind the wine making processes. So if you're a wine lover and
you want some of that guidance andto have a little bit of a mix
between food and culture and local experiences, then we're here for you, and
untoldedly to us, that's what wecreated them for. Leaving Andrea, thank
(31:23):
you so much for joining us andtelling us all about Italian white wines.
I look forward to our next chatabout red wines. But until then I'll
just say chow for an hour andGratzimine and everyone on your white wine series
wonderful Gratzia. I have to admit, as I get older, white wine
(31:45):
agrees with me more than red forsome reason. So I was thrilled to
discover varieties other than pinot grigio,which I do love. Also, Pecorino
was a revelation to me and Idon't mind showing off this newfound knowledge when
I'm out and about at home.Thanks to my lovely friends for indulging this
new obsession. If you want toknow these Italian wines but didn't quite catch
(32:08):
the spelling, We've got you covered. They're all detailed on our website in
the episode show notes at untold Italydot com Forward slash one eighth nine for
episode one hundred and eighty nine.And did you know that our website is
a treasure trove for those of youplanning trips to Italy. We have detailed
show notes for all of our episodesand hundreds of articles to assist with your
(32:30):
travels in Italy. Use the searchfunction to find what you're looking for,
as we add many articles a monthbased on feedback and research around what travelers
need assistance with. We'd like tothank you all for your support of Untold
Italy and your enthusiastic messages and reviews. It means the world to us that
so many people from countries around theglobe tune in each and every week to
(32:52):
listen to the show. If youdo enjoy it, it would be incredible
if you took a few moments towrite a quick review, give us a
rating on your favorite podcast app,Gratsimula. Thanks in advance, we appreciate
you. On next week's episode,we're visiting a beautiful northern Italian city that
flies under the radar of its moreglamorous neighbors, but is definitely worth making
(33:15):
some time to visit. But untilthen, it's chow for now. The
Untold Italy podcast is an independent productionpodcast editing, audio production and website development
by Mark Hatter, Production assistance andcontent writing by the other kt Clark.
Yes there are two of us.For more information about Untold Italy, please
(33:37):
visit Untold Italy dot com.
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