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I Love Italian Wine and Food - The Emilia-Romagna Region

Emilia-Romagna stretches from the Ligurian border in northeastern Italy to the Adriatic Sea. As the name indicates, historically it was composed of two regions, Emilia and Romagna. It may be the only region of Italy named for a road, one constructed by the Ancient Romans almost 2200 years ago. It is one of the most prosperous regions of Italy with strong agricultural, industrial, and tourist economic activity. Its total population is about 3.9 million.

Emilia-Romagna produces a very wide variety of pasta, fruits and vegetables, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheese, and fresh and cured meats. Two of its biggest stars are a cheese, Parmigiano Regianno, and a ham, Prosciutto di Parma. Parmesan cheese as it's known in English, was mentioned by the famous Italian author of the Fourteenth Century, Giovanni Boccaccio. We review it below. Parma ham, as it's known in English, is an uncooked ham that is dry cured for at least ten months. Usually it is served in very thin slices, often as appetizer with melon.

Bologna whose population is about 375,000 is the administrative center of Emilia-Romagna. It is the home of the first university in the Western World, founded in the 11th Century. Bologna is also considered the capital of Italian gastronomy, in spite of its unfortunate association with a low-quality sandwich meat. Another city of interest is Rimini, a resort center on the Adriatic Sea with a population of 135 thousand.

Emilia-Romagna devotes about 178,000 acres to grapevines, it ranks 5th among the 20 Italian regions. Its total annual wine production is about 125 million gallons, giving it a 4th place. About 57% of the wine production is red, leaving 43% for white. The region produces 18 DOC wines. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which may be translated as Denomination of Controlled Origin, presumably a high-quality wine and 1 DOCG white wine, Albana di Romagna. The G in DOCG stands for Garantita, but there is in fact no guarantee that such wines are truly superior. In fact, while this wine was the first white wine to be accorded the DOCG designation in Italy (1987), many feel that Albana di Romagna does not deserve such an award. (I have never tasted this wine, and from the reviews that I've read, I'm in no hurry to taste it.) About 21% of Emilia-Romagna wine carries the DOC or DOCG designation. Emilia-Romagna is home to more than four dozen major and secondary grape varieties, a few more red than white.

Widely grown international white grape varieties include Malvasia and Trebbiano. The best known strictly Italian white varieties are Albana (source of the DOCG wine) and Pignoletto.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the only widely grown international red grape variety. The best known strictly Italian red variety is Bonarda. The Italian red varieties Barbera and Sangiovese are found elsewhere, including California.

Before we reviewing the Emilia-Romagna wine and cheese that we were lucky enough to purchase at a local wine store and a local Italian food store, here are a few suggestions of what to eat with indigenous wines when touring this beautiful region.
Start with Gelato di Parmigiano, Parmigiano "Ice Cream", which includes heavy cream and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, suggested as an appetizer.
A more traditional dish is Scaloppine di Vitello alla Bolognese, Veal Scaloppine all Bolognese, which also includes Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, as well as other local specialties Prosciutto di Parma and balsamic vinegar.
For dessert (as if the ice cream wasn't a dessert) try Torta Bonissima, a Honey and Nut Pie.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY While we have communicated with well over a thousand Italian wine producers and merchants to help prepare these articles, our policy is clear. All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Donini Lamberti Trebbiano-Chardonnay IGT 2005 12% alcohol about $8 (liter)

Everybody has prejudices. I approached this bottle with several of them. It seems to me that a liter of wine is usually too big, accentuating quantity at the expense of quality. Given the economics of the wine industry, I am usually reticent to purchase a bottle for $8, which would be $6 for a regular-sized bottle. And finally while Emilia-Romagna is often known for its red wines, it is not particularly known for its white wines, with an unfortunate exception, the DOCG wine Albana di Romagna, discussed above. And now to the actual wine.

The first time that I drank this wine I found that its taste was one of green apples, dominating everything else but still light on flavor if not unpleasant. It didn't really accompany the food, a breaded chicken cutlet in sweet and sour sauce with potatoes cooked in chicken fat. As the wine aged a bit, (it takes a long time to finish a liter if you don't care to drink very much at a time) it got better instead of worse. I have read that 3.5 million bottles of this type wine are produced yearly. I understand that it is popular in fish restaurants along the Adriatic Sea. I'd love to find out for sure. Final verdict, not bad for the price.

Parmigiano-Reggiano is a cooked, unpressed semi-fat hard cheese made from raw cow's milk. It is encased in a thin, yellow rind. This cheese is finely grained and very flaky. Its taste is delicate and fragrant, and frankly wasted with a wine of this quality.

About the Author

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet, but to be honest, he would rather just drink fine Italian or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His wine website is www.theworldwidewine.com . You can reach him at ital@mail.theworldwidewine.com.

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White Wines - The Most Popular

Wine. Not what you do when you don't get your way. What you drink with a fine meal. Well, maybe not what you drink, depending on your tastes, but what a lot of people drink. Some would say that there is nothing like a fine wine. So the question we're going to try to answer in this article is just what IS a fine wine?

Well, there is basically red wine and white wine. And since it's bad etiquette to mixed them together we're going to concentrate on what are considered the finest white wines in this article.

Naturally there will be experts who will disagree when it comes to what the finest white wines are but the following list is a pretty safe bet with most people.

One of the most popular white wines today is Pinot Grigio. The wine comes from the Northeast region of Veneto and Friuli. The tastes of this wine range from melon to pear and some even offer a subtle tropical or citrus fruit, often there is a honey or smoky flavor component as well. As for color, Pinot Grigio is typically a pale, straw-like yellow with some golden hues thrown in to boot. This wine goes very well with seafood, light pastas and cheese cracker combinations. Since this wine is fairly acidic itself, avoid drinking it with foods that are high in acid concentration, like citrus fruits or tomato-based recipes.

Another very popular white wine is what they call a Chardonnay. There are many types of these wines. These are what they call "low maintenance" wines that adapt well to a variety of climates which means that quite a bit of this wine can be produced, usually in the millions of bottles per year. Because of this you can get a good Chardonnay for around $10. Some of the more popular Chardonnay wines are Jacob's Creek, which goes great with chicken, veggies or shrimp, Eola Hills which is fine with grilled salmon or smoked tuna, Carmenet, which is wonderful with cheese, Round Hill, which is a great wine to have with pork and poultry and the list goes on and on.

Another very popular white wine is champagne. Yes, champagne is a white wine, just a very fancy one. There is a light taste and fizz to champagne that is unlike any other white wine. There is no denying that nothing tastes quite like champagne. That is why you will find this wine at the fanciest parties and gatherings and of course it is the drink of choice for New Year's Eve. The best champagnes are very expensive. They are derived from a blend of grapes such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier. Champagne is considered a sparkling wine, due to the bubbles, which are formed during a second fermentation process. This second fermentation takes still wine and seals in the carbon dioxide that is formed when yeast converts sugar into alcohol, making for millions of bubbles with no place to go. The most expensive popular champagne of today is Deutz 1990 Cuvee William Brut at $215 a bottle. So if you're going to drink a lot of champagne prepare a nice budget beforehand.

The above is only the tip of the iceberg of white wines but they are the most popular. In our next article we'll see what red wines have to offer for our tastes.