Aldo Clerico grew up in the heart of Barolo country in his family’s vineyards in Monforte d’Alba in the Langhe in northern Italy. He studied accounting in college, but in 2004 he returned to his roots to become a wine maker:
Brunello di Montalcino is Chianti’s beefier older brother. Like Chianti, Brunello is made from the Sangiovese grape, but, you guessed it, from the Montalcino region in Italy AND Brunello is not its own completely separate grape but a biotype of Sangiovese, which means it’s genetically similar but still distinct. Sangiovese piccolo is grown in Chianti; sangiovese grosso goes into Brunello di Montalcino. Continue reading →
“Verdicchio? Is that a vegetable?” My writing partner Sue Hills was asked this question twice in twenty four hours. While Verdicchio may sound like some sort of green vegetable, it’s actually a green fruit — a grape to be exact, and not surprisingly, a greenish grape. To make it even more complicated, Verdicchio is known by many other names, and combined, it’s one of the most planted grapes in the world — and likely one that you don’t know! Continue reading →
And while you might think when you look at a Ramato wine that it’s a Rosé wine — a wine made by pressing red wine grapes with brief skin contact so little color from the skins is imparted in to the wine–
Ramato is actually more like the opposite of a Rosé!
Aldo Clerico Barbera d’Alba imported into the US by Verovinogusto
Do you know Barbera?
If you do, you already know about this high acid low tannin, full bodied, intensely colored and flavored red wine that in 2000 was the third most planted grape in Italy!
And if you don’t know Barbera yet — or very well — you’re in luck because this month here at Wine Predator we’re hosting the Italian Food Wine Travel group for “It’s All About Barbera.” Read the invitation post here with a California Barbera in “5 Reasons Why We Love Barbera“ and the Preview post here with an organic Tomisa Barbera. Scroll down to see the titles and links to the ten participants as well as the prompts for the 8am May 1 twitter chat.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 