A Tour of Italy with Batasiolo Wines

This week we welcomed "Batasiolo" wines from Italy! Italy is one of the most famous winemaking regions in the entire world. Additionally, Italy is known for growing more varietals than any other country- you could actually have a completely different wine each day of the year! With so much to explore, Friends of Wine was lucky to experience some delicious tastes of a few of the great wines that Italy has to offer.


Ricardo March, US Director for Batasiolo and FIU Alumnist, (that's right, go Panthers!), lead our seminar this week and gave us insight into Italy's beautiful world of wines. His passion was as infectious as his knowledge for Italian wines was extensive.

He began the tasting of Batasiolo wines with "Gavi" which is often referred to as Cortese di Gavi, that is located in the southeast part of Italy's Piemonte region. Gavi's dry white wine is made from the cortese grape, and is regarded as one of Italy's best. This straw-yellow wine with greenish highlights and fresh, elegant taste would pair perfectly with oysters, as we agreed at the seminar.

Next, students were lead into the southwest section of Piemonte with a Dolcetto D'alba. Dolcetto is a red wine grape whose name translates to "little sweet one." These wines should be drunk young as they do not undergo any aging process. Its nice level of tannin and acid content makes it ready for drinking in the spring following the harvest. This is a perfect everyday red wine, as it is very silky over the tongue and easy to drink.

Lastly, Ricardo was kind enough to share with us two Barolos, the "King" of Italian wines! The grape used to produce these wines is Nebbiolo. The DOCG (which means "Controlled Denomination of Origin") require Barolo wines to age for a minimum of 3 years, two of which must be in wooden barrels. These beautiful wines are meant to last around 20 years. As they age, their tannins will soften. Barolo wines often acquire an earthy, truffly, and chocolate-like characteristics.

As if tasting these wines wasn't enough of a gift, Ricardo generously distributed several bottles of these prized Batasiolo wines to the students in attendance. Hopefully they will pop the cork to commemerate a special day, as these wines are definitely something to celebrate!

CHEERS!

 

 

 

If you had to miss out on this wonderful journey through Italy, please join us next time as

 Friends of Wine

explores Argentina!