The charm of Piemonte’s outlier wine Tucked into the southeastern crevice of Piemonte, Gavi denotes the area that surrounds and is named for the town of Gavi. Wines carrying the Gavi label are made from 100 percent cortese, a white varietal whose name in Italian means polite, courteous. It’s a fitting moniker for a grape…
Author: chasingwine
Heart and Soil
Finding what makes Barolo’s vineyards tick with Cavallotto Within wine circles, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that great wine is made in the vineyard. It’s a nod to the fact that trends cycle, and technologies evolve, but the work of the cellar can never outstep or outshine the gifts of nature. One area where this…
Barolo and Barbaresco Restored
Gaja and the road to the booming eighties Among the first families of winemaking, the Gajas of Barbaresco hold special rank. Angelo Gaja, whose indefatigable charm and unflagging energy in promoting Barbaresco as keeping court with the world’s highest prestige wines is well chronicled, represents the fourth generation to steward the vineyard. Far more than…
Changing of the Guard
Renato Ratti and Barolo’s new pack of winemakers When Renato Ratti entered the Piemonte wine scene, by his own characterization, he did so as something of an outsider. Ratti was born in 1934 in the flatlands near Cuneo. His father was a veterinarian of large animals. Rather than follow the family line, Ratti went on…
Three Weeks, 21 Distilleries
Confessions of a Somm from the Whisky Trail So, how are you going to make Scotch work for Chasing Wine? It was a fair question. The rolling glens and dales of the Scottish Highlands and peat bogs of Islay represented a different sort of assignment from my usual vineyard tromping. Officially, I could say that…
Chasing Wine 