Some wines

Italy is always thought of has a great wine country, in fact it is not or I should say it was not until about 25 yrs ago. When we first arrived in Rome we took some wine appreciation courses at the Wine Academy of Rome on the Spanish Steps. The sommelier of the Academy gave us a history of wines and their evolution in Italy. Romans in antiquity drank a lot of red wine, it was heavy and high in alcohol more than 16% in volume and was fermented in clay amphoras which gave the wine a very distinct earthy taste. People then would dilute their wine with water so it could become drinkable. For today's wine drinkers it would probably be undrinkable, too heavy and too pungent as a red wine, there was no white wines and no rosé back then.

Then wine continues to evolve but the technique to making wine did not change much for centuries in Italy, amphoras were used for a long time but with time oak casks started to appear has taste changed. But red wines dominated the scene because everyone could make it at home in the countryside, it was cheap and available to all. The Nobles of course wanted better for their table and this is what moved things along. The great wines though start to appear only in the 1970's when producers started to compete in Europe with other producers and also started to improve on the making of white wines. It was a process of refining and improving the wine making techniques. Italy now has great red wines and white wines and it is not the old cheap Chianti in the funny glass bottle you could stick a candle into once you had drank the contents.

So while we were in Pesaro, we visited an Enoteca called Pane al Pane, Vino al Vino in the old town in Palazzo Gradari, it is located in the cellars of the old Palace on Via Rossini near the Cathedral, they also occupy the courtyard of the palace and you can have a glass of wine with some olives and charcuterie. The owner showed us around and we bought a selection of white wines from Le Marche region, very nice wines produced locally, you cannot always find wines from all the regions in Rome's Enotecas unless you go to Tremani or to some large wine dealer and even then there is no guarantees.

Here is what we bought, Le Vele 2008 a Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, Colle Paradiso, Ekeos 2007, and San Sisto 2004 by Fazi Battaglia,all Verdicchio which I find to be a delightful wine with fish or any white meat, we also bought a Tenuta Campioli, Bianchello del Metauro.