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Rich Cook
Mar 22, 2023
March 22, 2023: When you think of Sauvignon Blanc, a few regions probably spring to mind: New Zealand's Marlborough region, Bordeaux, Sancerre, and even California. All of these are likely to have taken root more deeply in your mind than Chile. In the past you may occasionally encountered a bottle or two of Sauvignon from this long, narrow country and been underwhelmed by the characteristics in the wines, as I have been. However, I benefited not long agofrom an opportunity to reorient myself to Chile's Sauvignon Blancs by way of a tasting of releases from 2020 and 2021, and I'm glad to report that this category now includes wines that should entice you with fresh and alluring profiles, a range of interesting styles, and excellent value.
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Rich Cook
Feb 22, 2023
Feb. 22, 2023: This past Sunday I took a little cruise with some folks to bid a final farewell to a long-time friend and colleague in the world of wine. I was alerted to this event by another wine friend. The last time that I saw him, I'm not sure he recognized me, and though we talked a while about baseball, and music. Then COVID-19 happened. Of course, these things happen. However, when I got the word that he had passed, it got me thinking about what a mentor is and does, and just how effective a great mentor can be without seemingly even trying. When it comes to wine, it's occasions like this that remind me what wine is for, what it does best, and what we who think of ourselves as aficionados can do to carry on in the same spirit as those who have pointed us in the right direction.
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Rich Cook
Jan 18, 2023
Jan. 18, 2023: Ask a roomful of American citizens where Uruguay is and you'll likely get more than a few blank stares and wild guesses. As I've had the good fortune to be introduced to new things from new places, particularly when it comes to food and drink, I could at least place it on a map of the world. I'm sure you'd also find plenty of the folks in that room that prefer to stick with what they might call the tried and true, whether it's a favorite dish at a favorite restaurant that they've eaten dozens of times, or that 'go-to' bottle of wine that they buy by the case. While there's certainly nothing wrong with that, I'd rather experience all that is on offer from as wide a spectrum as possible. So, when a chance comes along to make a virtual visit to a faraway place like Uruguay for an introduction to what's happening in their corner of the wine world, I'm all in. If you share that inclination, read on.
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Rich Cook
Dec 14, 2022
Dec. 14, 2022: Another year has flown by, and thankfully some actual flying was involved in 2022, which allowed the never-ending quest for great bubbly to enter a few new territories. As I said in December 2021's Volume 1, I have nothing against Champagne, Cremant de Bourgogne, or other fizz from France - I just like to reach further to find something new, unique, and worth sharing. This year's list reaches from my home state of California's offerings to Germany to New York to South Africa to Sardinia to Virginia to Chile (whew!) and includes a wide range of pricing, varietal composition, and style. I'll list some favorites alphabetically by macro region here. Let's jump in….
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Rich Cook
Nov 16, 2022
Nov. 16, 2022: As we slowly come out of the pandemic and travel restrictions ease, it's good to get back out on the road to make new discoveries in the world of wine. In the writing game, this often entails visiting an area for an overview of a particular appellation or a specific variety of wine, getting the lay of the land and sampling the wares of different producers to get at the heart of what makes the region unique and worthy of attention. It's much rarer to get a chance to look deeply into producers from different locales that fall under the same umbrella of ownership, so even though it involved several hours in the air on a very short turnaround, I jumped at the chance to meet with two producers in the portfolio of the Moretti family - one in Tuscany's Suvereto area of the Maremma, and one in Alghero on the northwest corner of the island of Sardinia.
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Rich Cook
Sep 28, 2022
Sept. 28, 2022: The Challenge Series of wine competitions was conceived over time by Wine Review Online publisher Robert Whitley as a way to offer different perspectives on wines in blind tasting formats. The Critics Challenge came first, where critics from around the country got a chance to weigh in on wines from around the world with the thought that a particular writer's 'beat' would broaden the perspective on a given wine by putting differently tuned palates together. This would ensure that regional characteristics were accounted for and allowed wines that might be outside of one judge's experience would still get their due reward. This was followed by the Sommelier Challenge a few years later - another blind judging event where credentialed sommeliers from around the country would similarly weigh in and teach each other while celebrating excellence from wherever it might have come. This 15th Annual Sommelier Challenge judges propose the wines listed below as being worthy of a Platinum Award, the series' highest honor. Below the each wine are my personal tasting notes on what they pushed forward. The scores assigned are mine, and I hope that your reading inspires you in the way that a sommelier might inspire your choice of wine at your favorite restaurant.
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Rich Cook
Jul 20, 2022
July 20, 2022: Today's wine business is an amazingly varied hodgepodge of business models, from tiny, single variety producers to worldwide conglomerates and brand inhaling behemoths whose bottling lines never stop. Somewhere between these two extremes there exist some noteworthy producers seeking to create lasting impressions on consumers while building a genuine legacy in the world of wine. In California, out on Highway 46 West just southwest of the town of Paso Robles, Niner Wine Estates has been quietly engaged in pursuing a vision for top quality wine in an estate setting.
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Rich Cook
Jun 15, 2022
June 15, 2022: At the recent Barolo & Barbaresco World Opening event in Los Angeles, the first order of business was to attend a meet-and-greet with other journalists and the principal players in town to get acquainted with each other a bit before diving headlong into tasting and learning more about the regions. Upon meeting a fellow writer for the first time, I asked a question: 'So - what's your relationship with Barolo and Barbaresco?' Her answer was something to the effect of, 'We've been introduced, maybe we're even good friends, but I'm looking to go a little deeper.' It occurred to me that I would have answered in just the same way. While I've tasted wines from the region sporadically over the years, I'm certainly no expert. This is a great mindset from which to grow any relationship - do a lot of listening and experiencing (and get a translation if necessary) and give yourself a chance to find out if you're made for each other.
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Rich Cook
Apr 13, 2022
Apr 13, 2022: As the director of several major wine competitions, I find it endlessly interesting to taste and review the variety of wines that rise to the top among judges who are tasting blind - particularly when the judging panels come from a particular segment within the industry. This event is unique in that the products involved were tasted by creators of wine across a swath of time, from young up-and-comers like Emily Bloom and Faith Lawson to legendary winemakers like Gary Eberle and Ed Sbragia. When consensus on quality is arrived at by such a group, you can count on those wines being worthy of your attention. Here are my impressions of the wines that the judges felt were worthy of Platinum designation, with the hope that my descriptions might further pique your interest to the point of tasting for yourself.
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Rich Cook
Feb 23, 2022
Feb 23, 2022: If I were to mention a state to you and ask what wine you associate with that region, your answer would likely contain two or three different types. For California, you might say Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, and for Washington you might say Merlot and Riesling. When it comes to Oregon, though, I'd hazard a guess that most folks would say Pinot Noir, and then scratch their heads for a moment. But the fact is, Oregon has plenty of other wines that are worth seeking out, and a recent trip to both the Umpqua Valley and the Willamette Valley gave me a good look at plenty of things beyond Pinot Noir that are worth seeking out.
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Rich Cook
Jan 18, 2022
At last, we're back to the Garden Isle of the Mediterranean after a brief foray into bubbles to put a nice bow on 2021. As we were discussing, Sicilia DOC is a relatively new appellation with a focus on Nero D'Avola and Grillo and their propensity to maintain varietal characteristics while at the same time expressing subregional terroir, all the while providing great value. Our tour took us to two small producers that give a good view into what's going on with the DOC and what the future might hold, and there were several other producers that we got to taste. Let's get started.
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Rich Cook
Dec 21, 2021
Let's put something to rest right out of the gate. I love Champagne. The 'real' stuff, as they say, that comes from France is certainly worthy of the praise lauded upon it. I love almost everything from the best of the non-vintage releases from the best of the big houses to the hard-to-find, single vineyard expressions produced by the récoltant manipulants whose handwork produces them. I love the Tete de Cuvée wines from the likes of Pol Roger, Louis Roederer, Krug, and Möet & Chandon, and I love discovering rarities like a new, Pinot Meunier-based example courtesy of other intrepid fans of that particular grape. But there's more to the world's bubbly story, and there are plenty of great bottles from the American West that are worth of your consideration. Over the past few weeks, I've visited a number of top producers and conducted some stay-at-home blind tastings in search of the best of these, and I'm pleased to share the results here.
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Rich Cook
Nov 30, 2021
After almost two years of having my travel opportunities limited to my home state of California, I jumped at the chance to slide through what-as of this date-appears likely to have been a very narrow opening to get away to the enchanted isle of Sicily for a deep dive into the relatively new Sicilia ('Si-CHEE-lee-ah') DOC. I'm pleased to report that what I found is a treasure trove of delicious wines of all colors and styles that deliver extreme quality for their modest pricing. I'll divide my coverage into a couple of columns - this one focused on the particulars of the DOC itself, and the next getting into specific wines and producers worth seeking out.
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Rich Cook
Nov 10, 2021
I recently had the pleasure of getting out of the house to do a little wine judging in Sonoma County, and I have to say it was a great pleasure not only to hit the road as pandemic restrictions ease a bit and be in the same room with other wine friendly folk, but also to extend for a couple of days and visit a producer in the area. A favorite publicist put me on the scent of Notre Vue Estates, a 710-acre spread just east of Limerick Lane on the south side of Healdsburg that straddles the Chalk Hill and Russian River Valley AVA's, and it turns out that 'scent' is what it's all about when it comes to the wines produced there.
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Rich Cook
Oct 19, 2021
Seasons. They come and they go, marking the time of the existence of the earth, bringing us a steady current of change and at the same time bringing a consistent rhythm of life. Since ancient times, we have harnessed the physical seasons, planting in the spring and harvesting what each trip around the sun rewards our efforts with - sometimes defying expectations in spite of those efforts, sometimes to the good, sometimes to the tragic, and everything in between. This time of year, it's good to be reminded, especially during what seem to be unending seasons of pandemic and political turmoil, that the physical seasons march on, and those that farm the fruit that becomes the beverage that we love are on the watch, monitoring what comes so that they can deliver the best of what the vintage has to offer.
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Rich Cook
Sep 28, 2021
One of the things that I most enjoy about the world of wine is its inherent ability to keep new things coming at me. I'm the sort that gets bored easily with the same thing over and over again. Like many of you, I like a good cup of coffee in the morning, but we may differ a bit in that I like to dig into the details - I roast beans at home, and I am always on the lookout for beans from a new area of the world, or a new ranch in a particular area, or a new cultivar, or perhaps even beans processed by mammalian digestive tracts. I'd rather taste something new and share the things that I find to be good rather than get stuck tasting the same thing - no matter how great - again ad nauseum. So it is with wine, and recently I've taken a little bit deeper dive into the dry wines of Portugal, where there is so much to discover that I may be here for a while.
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Rich Cook
Aug 24, 2021
When twenty-two-year-old Stuart Smith purchased two hundred acres of abandoned vineyard land on Napa Valley's Spring Mountain in 1971, he likely had no idea what was in store for him over the next fifty years. Thanks to an innate spirit of cultivation, he would go on, along with his brother Charles, to consistently produce some of Napa's finest wines, improving and innovating along the way. I gladly jumped at the chance to sit down with Stu and his wife Julie Ann to ask a few questions, and I walked away with a deeper understanding that it's the people and the journeys that they are on that are the true heart of the fine wine industry, and that it is their commitment and artistry that make what you and I get the opportunity to enjoy. I started with a question about the most positive change in the industry over that past fifty years, and that led us down a winding road of stories and insights.
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Rich Cook
Jun 22, 2021
Back in October, in the middle of the quarantine, I ended a column with the words, 'I'm ready for 2020 to end. Looking back, I see that the old saw 'be careful what you wish for' is a timeless adage for a reason. To date in 2021, I'm marveling at the tremendous losses we've suffered collectively-and that I've suffered personally. I'll lament a few of these in the paragraphs that follow, but I also wish to focus on the positives that have come from all of this. With a direct assist from the pandemic, I had to rethink how to stage blind tastings of large amounts of product in a different way to comply with safety protocols and regulations to be able continue to give results of those events to both producers and consumers without compromising the integrity of the process. Some of what I've been able to come up with has provided better, more realistic results while slightly reducing costs to producers. Without COVID, such improvements likely would never have occurred to me as I plugged along from event to event, and some of the 'old ways' won't be returning, even as we start being able to sit more closely together at events.
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Rich Cook
Jun 15, 2021
I count myself fortunate to have the chore of tasting a lot of wine. In the thirty-five years or so that I've been tasting wine - the last fifteen quite seriously - I've seen quality improve at an absolutely amazing rate, and I've seen trends come and go. From the Sideways effect to Moscato's meteoric rise and almost equally dramatic flame-out, forces that affect the wine marketplace keep interesting products coming across my desk. Additionally, continued innovation in practice keeps widening possibilities for winemakers all over the world, perhaps nowhere more so than here in the wild west where a pioneering spirit remains intact. One particular grape seems to remain constant in the quantity that I see, though it has traveled quite a stylistic arc over the years. So, that said, I'm warning you ABC (Anything but Chardonnay) club members right up front: I'm about to talk about domestic Chardonnay and why I think it's one of the most exciting frontiers in the wine world.
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Rich Cook
May 11, 2021
No doubt you've been exposed to myriad opinions about what makes for the most trustworthy source for good information about a particular bottle of wine. Is it the solo critic, providing a tasting note and perhaps a score of one type or another? Is it a shelf talker perched below a bottle on a shelf, maybe written by the shop's proprietor, or sourced from a popular publication, or even the producer? Is it crowd-sourcing of opinions from purchasers of that particular bottle? Is it a social media post by a friend that extols the virtues of the evening's selection? Is it a medal from one of any number of judging events held annually around the world?
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Rich Cook
Apr 6, 2021
It seems today that we could be about to come out of the past year of quarantine isolation and all of the things that have come with it. Endless virtual meetings, fancying up the home cooking to simulate fine dining out (and the dishload byproduct), and sitting - lots of sitting - may have finally had their day. I suspect, though, that to some degree, we'll be keeping some of the positives that have come along with the things that we'd rather forget. I'm sure that for wineries that survive partly on a model that involves tourist dollars, a full, unrestricted re-opening can't come a moment too soon. The question for wineries is: If you open it, will they come? And who will 'they' be? And how long will it last?
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Rich Cook
Mar 2, 2021
t's been just about a full year since we went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that year has gotten me to feeling a little older than I think it should. Less physical activity combined with a full wine cellar does have a tendency to lead to first world problems like an expanding waistline and a general feeling that time is passing without any adventure factor to mitigate the piling up of days. After a zoom meeting focused on historic vineyards in Lodi, a small town not far south of Sacramento in California's San Joaquin Valley, I decided to journey away from my comfy San Diego cage for a closer examination of a vineyard whose wines put a spark in my step. I grabbed my wife and a couple of trusty traveling companions from my quarantine pod and headed north up the I-5 to meet up, in socially distanced fashion, with wine and food industry veteran and Lodi guru Randy Caparoso for what would turn out to be one of the most informative tasting experiences I've ever had.
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Rich Cook
Jan 19, 2021
In wine, there is truth. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that truth is a pretty hot commodity right now. After a few years of the 'Alternative Facts Era' (which is hopefully taking its final breaths on the same day that this column is published) I couldn't be hungrier for an unobstructed view of truth bolstered by actual factual evidence and the perspectives of experts whose hard-earned expertise has been severely undervalued of late. I believe that wine and the truths that lie within might just be instructive for a time such as this. One of the reasons that we treasure wine is that its inherent truths are self-evident. When we open a bottle, pour it in a glass and raise the rim to our nose, the wine begins to reveal itself, and for better or for worse, the truth begins to come out. Often our first impression of the wine is less-than-favorable, particularly when it comes to newly released wines that are structured to age into the future before their full truth can be exposed. With a little time, and awareness that certain factors can mask the underlying truth, what may have presented poorly initially can, ultimately, present beautifully. If you are paying attention, that wine will show you what it is.
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Rich Cook
Dec 15, 2020
As we look to the close of what has certainly been the most tumultuous year in recent history no matter where you might be in the world, your thoughts may be further than usual from the annual thought of selecting the perfect bottle to ring in the new year. I don't know about you, but in my household, sparkling wine isn't the only option for the event, but it certainly will be on the menu. As you look back on the things that popped out as silver linings - the good side of the unexpected consequences of pandemic restrictions, political upheavals, and so forth - take a look at these unique offerings from the world of bubbly, where silver linings and individual character abound.
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Rich Cook
Nov 10, 2020
I recently got reconnected with my wine roots, thanks to an invitation to write about some hidden vineyards in central and southern California as part of a continuing series on legendary Zinfandel vineyards. The task brought me back to things that attracted me to wine in the first place - the stories of people and places that produced deliciousness in my glass. After an early introduction to wine via finger-hooked jugs of off-dry rosé, it was Zinfandel - the red kind - that got my attention in the early 1980's and sent me down the road I've enjoyed driving on ever since. While on that road, I've noticed that the wine writing community has more than its share of 'Zinfandel Infidels' who often dismiss domestic wines that start with the letter Z for what they call more 'noble' red varieties. I'm here to argue that it's time for the outsiders to come back in and witness the ongoing renaissance that goes by the nickname 'Zin.'
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Rich Cook
Oct 6, 2020
As if 2020 hasn't been a year of enough trial and tribulation, at this time of writing a good portion of our beloved wine producing regions are again under fire threat, with huge loss of property, inventory and vineyard land already in the books for the year. When lumped together with other wine growing area fires that have occurred in California over the last 13 years, the damages total billions of dollars in property damage and firefighting costs, not to mention priceless loss of life. From a wine production standpoint, the time that fires occur can have an even larger impact than loss of structures and equipment. This year, perhaps more than anytime sine the 2008 vintage, many wineries fear that a portion of their harvest may be smoke damaged to the point of no return, meaning that entire crops may not even be harvested.
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Rich Cook
Sep 1, 2020
It seems like I've been hearing about a wine glut for several years now. Each year more and more land has come to be under vine worldwide thanks to increased demand, and experts have been quick to celebrate the 'coming discount prices.' I don't know about you, but in my world the celebration seems to have preceded the 'coming discounting' for about the same number of years that the coming has been promised. Yet, here in the chaos of a pandemic that has closed winery tasting rooms-even as demand for wine is slackening as spirits become more popular, the 'coming' may finally have arrived. If, that is, you know where to look….
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Rich Cook
Jul 28, 2020
Greetings from Critics Quarantine, where intrepid wine writers' passports and global entry cards are rendered useless, collecting dust until the day a boarding pass to a remote wine region pops up on our phone screens and we can head to the airport. In the meantime, I'm pleased to report that all is not lost, thanks to Zoom and creative thinking on the part of producers and marketers to get messages to us so that we can get them to you in turn. Here are highlights from a couple of Zoom tastings in which I've participated during the past month….
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Rich Cook
May 19, 2020
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get a little stir crazy. Doing nothing but working from home, taking occasional trips out for food, the rare trips to the office and the complete reimagining of other jobs has me dreaming of what I'll do once restrictions are lifted. Mrs. Wine Critic and I were scheduled to be in Great Britain two weeks ago, taking in the new sparkling wine region southeast of London (and the new staging of Les Miserables at the Sondheim) but it was not to be, and I suspect it won't be for some time to come. Since the easing of restrictions will likely go out in small doses and keep travel fairly local, let's pay an introductory visit to some of my favorite local producers here in San Diego County - California's original wine region - and see a renaissance in progress. Maybe I'll entice you to travel this direction when the world opens up again.
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Rich Cook
Apr 14, 2020
The times we're currently living in have required some altering of our day to day lives. Thankfully, wine continues to be enjoyed around the world, yet even that is looking and feeling different than usual. You may find yourself consuming more of it than what's normal for you, or perhaps you're going through your stock slower than you might - I'm sure there are as many variables as there are wine drinkers. As we stare down the possibility that we might be somewhat isolated for some time to come, I offer a few suggestions here that might lessen the disruption while keeping you sane and drinking well in the process.
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Rich Cook
Mar 10, 2020
Where did the idea for "blind" wine competitions come from, and why did it take off? I suspect it has largely to do with a tasting that came to be known as The Judgement of Paris, where in 1976 Stephen Spurrier assembled the best of France and the best of California for a blind tasting. The results put California wine on the international stage, and it's impossible to overstate the importance that single event had on the California wine industry. In addition, it had the effect of emphasizing the idea that tasting wines blind, side by side, is a way to minimize any prejudice that might play in to rating a wine. In the wine world, or more accurately the wine business, this idea can be of great benefit to both producers and consumers.
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Rich Cook
Feb 4, 2020
I was struck recently that over my twelve plus years writing about wines that I've only given out four perfect scores to wines, and perhaps more strikingly, that I've given two such scores in the past two months. This got me wondering: What is it that gives me the inclination -- or even the right -- to drop such an 'honor' on a bottle, and why does it happen so infrequently? And beyond that, why should anyone care?
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Rich Cook
Dec 10, 2019
As wine lovers, we have a desire to know more than simple matters of taste. We seek a deeper understanding of exactly how what is in our glass came into being to enhance the experience, to contextualize the aromas and flavors that we sense, and gain some insight as to why we are receiving such pleasure. Aficionados can, to a person, point to a specific bottle that somehow awakened a passion for learning all that can be learned about how THAT got from the ground to the glass - THAT scent, THAT taste, THAT joy. For some, the quest focuses on the 'where' of the equation. Where in the world did this come from, and what about 'the where' helps to explain the why, the how and the who of the glass in question?
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Rich Cook
Oct 8, 2019
Although TrentoDOC (short for Trento Denomiazione di Origine Controllata - thanks for that, marketeers!) has been around since 1993, its declaration was made possible much further back, when Giulio Ferrari sourced fruit in the Dolomite foothills around Trento back in 1902, with the intent of making a sparkling wine that would rival those he found in Epernay. Today that hope is a reality, with the DOC counting 53 producers among its ranks and soon to add two more. TrentoDOC is a sub appellation in the northwest portion of the larger Trentino region, focused specifically on 'Metodo Classico' sparkling wine made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier, with most producers focusing on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
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Chile's Coastal Region Sauvignon Blancs: A Wide Latitude of Flavor Diversity