From a red wine in the north to red wine in Sicily

The red wines of the Veneto region is something I will try to discover more of in the future. One small step is the wine I had in the weekend. It is called Mattarana Valpolicella Ripasso from 2012. Where Mattarana is the producer. Valpolicella is an area in the Venoto region and Ripasso is the production method. In Ripasso the grape juice is fermented together with the pressings from the Amarone production to give the Ripasso wine  stronger touch.
This wine has an alcohol level of 14% and the wines colour is deep red. The taste is very good, almost red fruits such as cherries and with some herbs. Not as much tannins as one would expect.

Firriato is a producer in Italy. They have estates all over Sicily such as near Trapani for example. Altavilla delle Corte is a wine made out of Nero D'Avola and Caberet Sauvignon grapes. And the grapes comes from the Borgo Guarini estate outside of Trapani. It is of vintage 2010 and later vintages of this product has only Cabernet Sauvignon. It smells good and the colour is very dark. The taste is good. Strong red cherries with some herbs and tannins in the back. Very nice wine.
Altavilla were one of the first Norman families to settle in Sicily and from this family comes the name of this wine.

 Trapani is a very nice town and is highly recommended to visit the town. The old town in Trapani is very beautiful and lovely situated along the water. This is how Trapani looks from the old town of Erice.

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From the capital of Italy to Alsace in France

I have never tried much wine from the Lazio region in Italy where Rome is situated. I did drink some local wine when I visited Rome but that was a few years ago and the wines from Lazio don't have such great reputation. Now I have tried the wine Ville Simone from the Frascati DOC. Fracsati is a wine region about 25 km from Rome. For me it is an easy drinking wine with no special characteristics. Easily forgotten after drinking it. Maybe they have good wines in Lazio but this is not one of them.

One grape that I like is the Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris as it is called in France. In Aslace they make many good white wines and the white wine Pinot Gris from producer Cave de Turckheim is nice to drink after tasting the Villa Simone wine. It has a very fresh taste. Very much fruits such as apples and pears with acidity. Nice wine and would go well with fish and probably asian food.

Vermentino, a grape that has promise

I have tried the grape Vermentino once earlier and now I have the chance again with the wine Papiri from Sardinia of vintage 2011. It is a wine from producer Cantina Santa Maria La Palma and the DOC is Vermentino Di Sardegna. It is a flavourful wine with citrus and grapefruit. Almost some minerality and tastes very good.  I must now try more wines by Vermentino to see if I have found another favourite grape.

A Soave wine which goes well with food is Esperia made from the grape Garganega from 2010. It has a taste of fruit, grapefuit and some minerality. A bit one dimensional if drank without food but very good with food.