The Bonarda Oltrepo Pavese DOC – A red prosecco for happy occasions

Stef Smulders — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 19:48:08 +0000

The unknown Oltrepò Pavese wine region south of Milan produces a range of DOC wines and a spumante DOCG. Some of the wines are typical of the area like the sparkling, young and fruity Bonarda. This wine, made of the croatina grape, is hardly known abroad as the wineries mainly produced it for local consumption. People of region or even Milan passed by to have the winemaker fill their damigiane, casks.

Bonarda, fresh, fruity, frizzante

It is a fresh wine, to be served cooled, easy drinkable on a late summer afternoon or with most types of food. A typical table or farmers’ wine. But the last 10 – 15 years the quality of this and other wines of the region has increased significantly. A proof of this has been the Tre Bicchieri that Il Gambero Rosso (the Italian Michelin) in 2017 awarded the bonarda Campo del Monte of the Fratelli Agnes winery. The first time a bonarda received the highest recognition possible. One might consider the bonarda as a red alternative of the ever present white prosecco. Ideal for a barbecue outside in the warm evening!

Reasons enough to try this happy wine in case you manage to lay hands on a bottle! And if you still prefer white (or rosé), forget the prosecco and try the DOCG Metodo Classico spumante of the Oltrepo. The Nature of winehouse Monsupello was chosen by, again, the Gambero Rosso as the best spumante of the whole of Italy in 2015.

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No more Prosecco’s

Stef Smulders — Sun, 12 Nov 2017 18:07:59 +0000

Now the bubbling Italian prosecco may be famous all over the world, but we prefer to drink our local sparkling wine. The wine region where we live, the Oltrepò Pavese, is Italy’s largest pinot nero, pino noir, growing area. And this grape, blue peel, white pulp, is ideal for making the spumante wine. Either the cheap, prosecco way with fermentation in large stainless steel barrels, or the expensive, champagne way, fermentation in the bottle. And where most prosecco wines are light and slightly acid, the spumantes of the Oltrepò really taste of … wine! Delicious. No more cheap champagnoise wines from the supermarket for me. They are so good that the Italian Michelin, the Gambero Rosso, chose one of the Oltrepo spumantes as the best one of the whole of Italy in 2014! Not the prosecco and the Franciacorta spumantes but the Pinot Nero Metodo Classico ’Nature’ of wine house Monsupello in Codevilla.

More than prosecco

For those who do not (only) like sparkling wines, there are reds and whites of high quality as well. The red pinot nero or burgundy or Blauburgunder of Tenuta Mazzolino is awarded the highest rewards year after year. The white riesling (italico as well as renano) is another favorite of the region. As is the sweet moscato dessert wine. Typical of the region are the young and fruity red frizzante Bonarda, the strong Buttafuoco and the sweet red Sangue di Giuda. As these are only sparsely available abroad (or even elsewhere in Italy) you have to come to the Oltrepo Pavese yourself to taste them. Hundreds of small wine producers’ cantine await you!

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