The Italian Abroad Wine Blog is a wine blog and diary where I share my thoughts, primarily about Italian wine and food, but also on wine, food, and travel in general. I founded Italyabroad.com in 2003 and have been living abroad for over 20 years. Coming from an Italian winemaking family, I was introduced to wine at a very early age. While my roots are in Italian wine, I appreciate and enjoy good wine from all over the world, alongside great food and the joys of travel. My posts often weave these passions together.
To help you better understand Italian wines, we've created a series of Italian wine regions maps that show DOC and DOCG wines, their origins and the grapes they are made of, including your favorite Italian wines. I’ve also written a post on the Italian wine appellation system explaining and demystifying the Italian wine classification system and what it really means for wine lovers and enthusiasts.
Additionally, I host a YouTube channel , where you can watch me taste some of our wines and answer your questions about Italian wines and grapes. From the meaning of DOC to what makes an orange wine, we cover it all.
I hope you enjoy reading this wine blog! Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Salute
Andrea
However, I also tasted wines I did not like. Some were the result of winemaking decisions I disagreed with, but there was one winery in particular whose wines I found particularly poor. They were marketed as "natural," which confirmed that people still drink bad wine simply because it's labelled as such. I have previously written on my blog about poorly made natural wines at the start of the “natural wine” trend and the difficulty of finding good ones. I believe that ultimately, a wine should be a pleasure to drink, not a medicinal chore, independently on how they are obtained, but these wines were different, they would not fit the definition of “natural wine” as it is intended.
Is natural wine a distinct category of wine, superior, over conventional wines? Is natural wine, by definition, a better wine, independently of how it tastes? Should we choose natural wine over conventional wine? These were only some of the questions that loomed in my mind after attending a natural wine fair in Italy, an event unlike any other I had attended before.
If you follow my blog, you read more than once of my frustration in not being able to find natural wines. I believe that a wine is first and foremost a wine, and whether natural or not, becomes irrelevant if the wine is not drinkable. Until recently, all natural wines I had tasted were either undrinkable or with an unjustified price, so we decided to wait despite the trend. Making natural wines is certainly more expensive compared to conventional wines, but also more difficult, since it follows the natural process and the wine maker can do very little to control and guarantee the outcome
But whether you believe in natural wines or not, the wine industry is moving toward a more sustainable and natural approach and if natural wine is the current trend, once the trend fades out and it will, the right wine making process will be something in between that will take into account its impact on the environment whilst ensuring that wine drinkers do not experience “mousiness”. Until then…
I have tasted plenty of orange wines and it is hard to find good ones, it is now a worldwide trend and everyone is trying to jump on the wagon, exactly like sparkling wines, properly made orange wines are difficult to find because are more difficult to make, finding the balance between tannins and freshness is an art, but just like any other great wine, when properly made, are amazing wines
Natural wines are made without any human intervention, only natural yeast, no additions or corrections, the juice becomes wines following its own rhythm. Organic and biodynamic wines are wines certified by a third party, confirming that they have been made according their respective regulations, for natural wines there isn’t yet a third party that can certify their being “natural” and currently it is up to the interpretation given to the word by the wine maker and it is possible, to find “natural wines” made following different approaches with different results
Natural wines were the wines made long time ago, when we did not know all we now know about wine and wine making process and today technology wasn’t available, wineries were still pretty much building with barrels and everything was done manually, from pressing the grapes to bottling. I started my wine journey drinking natural wines, wine made by my grandparents
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