The Chronicle
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60 results across all types
- news
Why Barolo Can’t Be Sold for 38 Months
Most wine gets picked, fermented, bottled, and shipped inside a year. Nobody’s money sits around waiting. Barolo doesn’t get that luxury. And it’s not because the producer is being precious about it. It’s the law. Italian regulation requires every bottle labeled Barolo to age a minimum of 38 months before... The post Why Barolo Can’t Be Sold for 38 Months appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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How to Choose Italian Wine in a Supermarket
Supermarket wine aisles are designed to make you feel stupid. I’m fairly convinced of it. Fifty bottles you can’t pronounce. DOC, DOCG, and IGT stamped everywhere like the wine sat an exam. Gold medal stickers stacked three deep, as if the bottle just came home from the Olympics. Prices ranging... The post How to Choose Italian Wine in a Supermarket appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Meet the Christian Brother Who Made Wine
Millions of Americans knew his face. Almost nobody today knows his name. For decades, one man’s warm, easy grin was the face of one of the biggest wine and brandy brands in the country, splashed across advertisements from coast to coast, in full black robe and white collar, looking every... The post Meet the Christian Brother Who Made Wine appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Celebrities Who Own Wineries: Yao Ming’s Unexpectedly Serious Wine Empire
Picture a Napa tasting room. Low light, hushed voices, someone murmuring about tannin structure. Now picture a 7’6″ former NBA All-Star ducking through the doorway to join them, and try not to smile. That’s the first reaction most people have walking into Yao Family Wines in St Helena. It looks,... The post Celebrities Who Own Wineries: Yao Ming’s Unexpectedly Serious Wine Empire appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Why Are Champagne Bottles So Heavy? The Real Reason Behind the Weight
Ever picked up a bottle of Champagne and wondered, “Why is this so heavy?”It’s not just a luxury gimmick. There’s real engineering and serious pressure hiding behind that thick glass. Champagne is dramatic.It shows up at weddings, championship wins, and Formula 1 podiums. Open it carelessly and it might hit... The post Why Are Champagne Bottles So Heavy? The Real Reason Behind the Weight appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Why Do Wine Bottles Have a Dent in the Bottom? Here’s the Real Reason
Here’s an experiment for your next trip to the wine shop. Pick up two bottles that look roughly the same size and shape. Turn them both upside down. If one has a deeper dent in the bottom than the other, you are, in a very literal sense, holding less wine.... The post Why Do Wine Bottles Have a Dent in the Bottom? Here’s the Real Reason appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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What Your Wine’s Legs Are Actually Hiding
Try this the next time you’re at a wine bar. Order two glasses — one big, boozy red, one light, crisp white — and swirl them side by side. Watch closely. One will throw slow, heavy streaks down the glass like it’s confessing something. The other barely leaves a mark.... The post What Your Wine’s Legs Are Actually Hiding appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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🍷 Wine Jokes #6: I Asked Wine Bottles to Review Humans. They Were Brutal
We’ve spent centuries reviewing wine. It’s only fair the wine gets a turn. ⭐☆☆☆☆ Dave Who Said, “Let’s Save It for a Special Occasion” Bought me in 2019. Walks past me every weekend and says, “One day…” I’ve survived two birthdays. Three Christmases. A kitchen renovation. His daughter’s graduation. And... The post 🍷 Wine Jokes #6: I Asked Wine Bottles to Review Humans. They Were Brutal appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Why Screw Caps Are Better Than Corks (And Why We Still Feel Weird About It)
You know the moment. You’re two turns into the corkscrew, everyone’s watching, and the cork snaps in half. Now you’re not opening a bottle of wine. You’re performing minor surgery on a bottle of wine, fishing bits of cork out with the end of the screw while trying to look... The post Why Screw Caps Are Better Than Corks (And Why We Still Feel Weird About It) appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Why Every Wine Bottle Holds Exactly 750ml (And It Has Nothing to Do With Wine)
Pick up a bottle of wine from Italy, then one from Argentina, then one from South Africa. Different grapes, different climates, different languages on the label. And yet every single one holds exactly 750ml. Not 700. Not a clean, sensible litre. Just 750, over and over, no matter which side... The post Why Every Wine Bottle Holds Exactly 750ml (And It Has Nothing to Do With Wine) appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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A Murdered Wife, a Wandering Ghost, and the Best Vineyard Stay on Lake Garda
There’s a castle at the southern tip of Lake Garda that you can only reach on foot, across a drawbridge, over water on every side. Cars stop outside the gate. You walk in like everyone has for the last seven hundred years. The Scaligero Castle in Sirmione has stood since... The post A Murdered Wife, a Wandering Ghost, and the Best Vineyard Stay on Lake Garda appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Funny Jokes – #5
Sometimes the best pairing with a glass of wine is a good laugh. Here are five jokes for anyone who’s ever “accidentally” left a wine shop with more bottles than they planned. #1 I bought a wine rack to organize my collection. Now I have an organized excuse to buy... The post Funny Jokes – #5 appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Does Champagne Really Have More Bubbles Than Other Sparkling Wines?
More bubbles doesn't mean better Champagne, and Prosecco was never trying to be Champagne in the first place. Here's what's actually happening in your glass. The post Does Champagne Really Have More Bubbles Than Other Sparkling Wines? appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Verona’s Best-Kept Wine Secret Is a Six-Room Hotel
Here is a sentence I did not expect to write about a hotel in the middle of a city. They make their own wine. Not “they have a good wine list.” Not “the sommelier is very knowledgeable.” The family who owns Massimago Wine Suites also owns a working winery forty... The post Verona’s Best-Kept Wine Secret Is a Six-Room Hotel appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Wine Vacation: Sleeping in Amarone Country — Villa Quaranta Tommasi, Valpolicella
There are hotel spas and then there is the Terme della Valpolicella. Most hotel spas give you eucalyptus steam rooms, a swimming pool, and a list of treatments with names like “Serenity Journey” that involve warm stones and someone playing a flute somewhere in the background. The spa at Villa... The post Wine Vacation: Sleeping in Amarone Country — Villa Quaranta Tommasi, Valpolicella appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Wine Vacation: Sleeping in a Castle in the Prosecco Hills — CastelBrando, Veneto
Let me tell you something about the Prosecco hills that most travel blogs don’t think to mention. You can sleep inside them. Not in a tent. Not in a rustic farmhouse with questionable plumbing and a charming smell. I mean inside an actual medieval castle, two thousand years old, sitting... The post Wine Vacation: Sleeping in a Castle in the Prosecco Hills — CastelBrando, Veneto appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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How Italians Really Drink Prosecco: Cicchetti, Mistakes, and the Venetian Way of Eating
There’s a moment in Veneto that doesn’t look like anything special at first. But it is. It’s early evening. Not late enough for dinner, not early enough to still be working. Someone says “just one glass,” and nobody believes them. Not because they’re lying. But because Prosecco in Italy is... The post How Italians Really Drink Prosecco: Cicchetti, Mistakes, and the Venetian Way of Eating appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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🍷 The Veneto Wine Vacation Nobody Tells You About
Most people who visit the Veneto never actually see the Veneto. They land at Venice Marco Polo airport, take a water taxi into the city, spend three days walking over bridges and eating near the Rialto, and then fly home. Which is wonderful, truly. Venice is extraordinary. But it’s also... The post 🍷 The Veneto Wine Vacation Nobody Tells You About appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Why Champagne Is So Expensive (And What You’re Really Paying For)
I once watched a man spend nearly five minutes staring at a bottle of Champagne. He picked it up. Turned it around. Read the label like it contained a secret. Nodded slowly, as if the bottle had just explained itself. Then he saw the price. €98. His expression changed immediately.... The post Why Champagne Is So Expensive (And What You’re Really Paying For) appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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Celebrities Who Own Wineries — Drew Barrymore
Of all the celebrities in this series, Drew Barrymore might be the most honest one. Sting spent years perfecting biodynamic farming before anyone was allowed near his Tuscan estate. Jay-Z turned his wine brand into a calculated, nine-figure business move. Andrea Bocelli was literally born into 200 years of winemaking... The post Celebrities Who Own Wineries — Drew Barrymore appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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🍾 Why Prosecco Keeps Losing to Champagne… Even When It Wins
The lie we all agreed to believe There’s a polite fiction in the wine world that nobody really questions out loud. Champagne is “better.”Prosecco is “easier.” That’s the story. Clean. Simple. Wrong. Because if you strip away branding, price rituals, and the way people whisper “Champagne” like it has diplomatic... The post 🍾 Why Prosecco Keeps Losing to Champagne… Even When It Wins appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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🍷 The Wine Rule I Broke in Italy… and Why I’d Break It Again
There’s a specific look people arrive in Italy with. Not the “I’m on holiday” look. The “I must not mess this up” look. It shows up at restaurants first. Before the food. Before the wine. Before anyone has even opened a menu. They sit down and suddenly become extremely careful... The post 🍷 The Wine Rule I Broke in Italy… and Why I’d Break It Again appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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The Wine Scandal That Almost Killed Italian Wine — And Why It Made It Better
I have been living in Italy for years now. I drink Italian wine regularly, I write about it obsessively, and I genuinely believe it is some of the finest wine on earth. And I had absolutely no idea this happened until I started digging. In the spring of 1986, Italy... The post The Wine Scandal That Almost Killed Italian Wine — And Why It Made It Better appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .
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The Complete Guide to Barolo — Italy’s Wine That Doesn’t Do Casual
There are wines you drink. And then there is Barolo — the kind of wine that doesn’t accept being ignored. You don’t open it on a random Tuesday. You don’t multitask with it. If you treat it like background wine, it responds accordingly: it shuts down and makes you work... The post The Complete Guide to Barolo — Italy’s Wine That Doesn’t Do Casual appeared first on The Finest Italian Wine .