Team Green or Team Blue?

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Piemontegirl

How do you cut the foil?

Does it matter? Is there a right way? Apparently, people have a lot of opinions on the subject. Here are a few of the preferences:
Green
Blue
In between green and blue
Take the whole foil off
Use a foil cutter (and then the type of cutter decides)
Used to be green, now blue (or vice versa)
Don’t care

Does it matter?

Apart from peoples preferences, is there a reason to do it one way or the other? Does one way affect the wine or the pouring of the wine? Some people say that cutting by the blue line will interfere with the wine, because the wine can come in contact with the foil on the way into the glass or the decanter. Others say cutting by the blue line will increase chances of spilling the wine while pouring.

What do the winemakers say?

Without “outing” any winemakers, it was interesting so see to which team they pledged allegiance. And just like my instagram story, they favor green. Here are some of the winemakers that participated in the survey:
Carlotta Rinaldi
Nadia Curto
Giovanni Corino
Alberto Viberti
Alessandro Veglio
Lorenzo Scavino from Azelia

What do the the experts say?

Most of the experts are Team Green. However, they dispute the fact that the foil affects the wine if it comes in contact. It’s more about the look, the ease of removing the foil and the ease of pouring without spilling

Jancis Robinson: Team Green
Wine Folly: Team Green
Dr. Vinny (Wine Spectator): Foil Cutter

Conclusion?

It doesn’t really matter. Most people are Team Green. And some are neither. In the end, do whatever you prefer. And what team am I?

Piemontegirl Tasting

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Piemontegirl

As you probably already know, I’ve started to host some wine tastings! Mostly basic tastings, differentiating between 3 grapes: dolcetto, barbera and nebbiolo. I think it is a good way to learn the difference between the 3 main grapes in Piemonte.

The dolcetto from Andrea Oberto had the typical purple color of dolcetto. On the nose it had kind of a strange smell. I think there might have been something strange with this bottle, maybe some reduction, because I’ve had this wine many times before and it did not smell like that. In the mouth it was as it should be – fresh, fruity, light.

Alessandro Veglio’s barbera had a ruby red color, slightly opaque. The nose was a little closed at the beginning, but came to after a while in the glass. It was fresh, fruity and had a good amount of acidity.

Lastly, the Perbacco. Color was brownish red, typical of the nebbiolo grape. On the nose there was roses, violets and earth tones. As Vietti makes their nebbiolo quite similar to their barolo, there were tannins present, as there should be with nebbiolo.

Sandefjord Vinfestival

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Piemontegirl

This weekend I attended Sandefjord Vinfestival. This year the overarching theme was South-Africa, but my good friend Alessandro Veglio was there as well. And a bottle of Vietti Moscato. The festival takes place every year in Sandefjord, and many cool wineries and wines are represented. Even though I normally stick to Piemonte, I tried a few South-African wines. Jamie Goode was also in attendance, and he held a presentation during the festival.

Here you can see the corner I spent most of my time in. Forgot to get a good picture of Alessandro, but I’ll just try again next year. I also met many familiar faces at the festival – many I met for the first time face to face. Looking forward to next year already!

Dolcetto @ Vinmonopolet

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Piemontegirl

Vinmonopolet: Here are a few Dolcetto that I recommend. Note: you may have to order them online and they may be sold out.

Alessandro Veglio

Andrea Oberto Dolcetto 149,-

Alessandro Veglio Dolcetto 194,-

Aurelio Settimo Dolcetto 169,-

Elvio Cogno Dolcetto 170,-

Nebbiolo @ Vinmonopolet

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Piemontegirl

Cavallotto at Vinmonopolet

Trediberri Nebbiolo 190,-

Azelia Nebbiolo 199,-

Alessandro Veglio Nebbiolo 250,-

Vietti Perbacco Nebbiolo 250,-

Cavallotto Nebbiolo 260,-

Burlotto Nebbiolo 265,-

Altare Nebbiolo 285,-

Wines under 200kr at Vinmonopolet

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Piemontegirl

Wines at Vinmonopolet under 200kr

Wines don’t have to be super expensive to be good quality or taste good. These wines are some of my favorites. If you try them feel free to tell me about your experience! Enjoy!

Andrea Oberto and his wines

Winery Wednesday: You may already know this one

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Piemontegirl

Winery Wednesday: Mauro Veglio

You have probably already heard of Mauro Veglio, but I thought I’d write a little about them anyways. Located in Annunziata, next to Silvia Altare, Mauro and Daniela have produced wine since 1986. And now they have joined forces with their nephew Alessandro Veglio.

Mauro Veglio, Daniela and Alessandro Veglio

I have known Mauro, Daniela and Alessandro for years and have been a huge fan of their wines for many years! The winery produces 4 cru barolos, as well as dolcetto, barber and nebbiolo. One of my favorites is their babera superiore, Cascina Nuova. I also love their Langhe Nebbiolo, Angelo, named after Mauro’s father.

Cru’s Castelletto, Gattera and Arborina

A visit with Daniela is always fun! She speaks english very well and german! Maybe if you’re lucky she will get some wine right from the tank!

If you want to visit them you can check out their website or send an email: mauroveglio@mauroveglio.com. If you visit them, say hello from me!

Alessandro Veglio in Oslo

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Piemontegirl

Alessandro Veglio Winemakers Dinner

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Alessandro Veglio’s winemakers dinner in Oslo last week. The dinner was hosted at Kulinarisk Akademi at Mathallen, a very nice location in the city of Oslo. As you can see we were seated right by the open kitchen which gave us the unique possibility to see the preparation of the food by the incredible chef Marius (also pictured below),

We were served a multitude of dishes: pasta, risotto, cod, lamb, ragu and dessert. All very good and served beautifully. And the food of course went very well with the wine. Alessandro had brought his dolcetto, barbera, lanhe nebbiolo, barolo classico (2012 and 2009) and the Gattera. I think the Gattera was the favorite of the night, although for me of course way too young. I really enjoyed his Langhe Nebbiolo (as always)!

I have to give a shout out to the wonderful team at Winning Brands, Alessandro’s importer, for organizing such a great event. And of course Kulinarisk Akademi for hosting us. I also have to mention that you can sign up for many cool classes at Kulinarisk Akademi, both wine and food courses. You can check them out here.

Barolo Weekend in Sweden

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Piemontegirl

Barolo Night in Gothenburg

6 people, 10 barolo, 1 night: does it get any better? (Yes I know one of them is technically a Barbaresco, but it’s not my fault someone cheated!) The deal was: bring one (or three) bottles of barolo and we’ll taste them blind. So, blindtasting gallore!

The bottles were a little too cold when we started, which made it even harder to taste and try to differentiate and eventually guess the wines. But we had some good conversations around all the wines, and after they warmed up and opened up they were all pretty much incredible.

The way we did it was: 3 bottles at a time, random order. To help us remember which was which I brought my Wine Glass Writer along. Genius way to assist during a blind taste. I also sometimes use them for seating arrangements at dinner parties. You just write the guests names on the glasses instead of on a card. Safe to say I use mine all the time!

Man surprises during the night. What was difficult was that some of the older bottles outshone the younger ones, even though the younger ones were also very good. Example: 2013 Alessandro Veglio is a very good wine, but for me too young and therefore the 2009 Barbaresco and 2010 Enzoboglietti came out a little stronger. I had also set my mind on the Marengo (without label) and so any wines after that were sort of put in second place.

Top 3 wines of the night: Aurelio Settimo Rocche dell’Annunziata 2009, Marengo Unknown Barolo and 2005 Renato Corino Vecchie Vigne. Outstanding. Looking forward to the next Barolo Night!

The Veglio family coming together

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Piemontegirl

Veglio has some exciting news

Mauro Veglio and Alessandro Veglio have joined their wineries! Two great producers have now become one! Mauro is Alessandro’s uncle, so they are keeping it in the family 😉 Their wines are similar in styles and they share the same philosophy, so this should be a wonderful adventure! I am very excited to see what the future has in store. Congratulations!