by Sandra Crittenden

  This month, in  the April issue of  Galveston Monthly   magazine  I recommend some Italian wines with a religious spin in their stories for Easter enjoyment. 

As originally seen in the March 2018 issue of Galveston Monthly magazine

With tours, tastings, a coffee shop, full restaurant, and a store, Mazzetti d’Altavilla is the most tourist friendly Grappa distillery that we visited. This family business has everything that a Grappa lover could want.   Elisa Belvedere Mazzetti met our group and offered us coffee in the coffee shop before we started our tour. She then led our group outside to what they refer to as Pomace Square where the deliveries of marc or pomace arrive from the wineries and are conserved in tubular containers that look like well fed giant white snakes. Inside of these tubes, the pomace is temporarily preserved in a vacuum to protect the freshness. Next, we went into the distillery where the wine grape pomace begins its journey to become Grappa. Mazzetti d’Altavilla Distillery uses the discontinuous method which involves distilling in pot stills. They operate from September to January and are sustainable using solar energy for fuel. Grappa meant to remain c...

Next stop on the Grappa tour was in Parma at Faled Distilleries. Faled has been distilling spirits from local grapes Malvasia, Lambrusco, Fortana, Barbera, and Bonarda since 1945. Success in the region led the company to invest both in improving the plant, purchasing wooden barrels, and buying a 15th century castle to age their Grappa.  They spent several decades expanding their market and their portfolio of products. In addition to Grappa, Faled makes brandy and liquor infusions including Nocino a nut flavored liqueur, Bargnolino which is berry flavored and Limoncino, a lemon flavored spirit. In the new millennium, they started a new brand of premium Grappa called Spirito Verdiano. The Spirito Verdiano line was created to showcase the grapes that have been a part of the region's wine making since ancient times.  Giuseppe Scaltriti, Director of Communications, led us on the tour of the distillery followed by a tour of the Castle Roccabianca. The castle was original...

The first stop on the Grappa tour involved getting a lesson in how Grappa is made at the Bonollo Distillery  located in Torrita di Siena in the heart of Tuscany. Bonollo owns five distilleries located throughout Italy that distill 200,000 hectoliters of alcohol per year which is equal to 50 million bottles. Grappa is an alcoholic beverage of Italian origin and it is their most important product. They also produce acquavitae and brandy. We arrived just as a truckload of pomace which is also called marc arrived at the plant. Pomace is the used grape skin and seeds leftover after winemaking. Our tour was taking place during the wine grape harvest so the distillery was operating in full swing. The distillation season is only about three months long. In addition to alcohol production,  they also collect the grape seeds during the production process to make grape seed oil, used both for cooking and in the cosmetics industry. The pomace must come from Italy, grapes from ...

I went on a Grappa media tour in October. Before going, I really did not know much about Grappa, other than that it fell in the same category as Brandy. It had been briefly discussed years ago when I was taking wine certification classes though I don't remember actually tasting any at that time. Then, a few years ago, a wine producer brought some to Houston when they did an event and did I taste one at that time, I was surprised by it. It wasn't the "firewater" that I had expected, it was a far smoother drink and a nice way to end a heavy lunch. Unfortunately, in the Houston area at that time, I was not finding Grappa on the after dinner drinks list at my favorite restaurants so I was not able to explore it more. Almost 3 years after that positive experience, I found myself on a Grappa trail in Italy eager to learn more. The trip started with a rooftop party in Rome. Our group had the opportunity to meet some producers, taste an array of Grappa, and most impo...

As originally seen in the July issue of Galveston Monthly magazine

Abruzzo is located east of Lazio and north of Puglia on Italy's east coast along the Adriatic Sea. I went for a wine media trip to this region in May and learned that this is another one of those many places in the world that should have been on my destination bucket list to try to visit far sooner. I didn't know what I didn't know until I went and saw. There are seaside cities with beaches and seafood and mountain towns with sheep and cheese. There are medieval castles and ancient hilltop towns. There are beechwood forests inhabited with wolves and bears and huge national parks. There are water sports and snow skiing. The Gran Sasso mountain looms in the background while the blue Adriatic cools down the coast. Montepulciano is the most important red grape in the region. It is the second most planted red grape variety in Italy after Sangiovese. It makes a robust juicy red wine that has always been considered as a great wine with pizza. Abruzzo has long been known ...

As originally seen in the January 2017 issue of  Galveston Monthly  magazine

One of my favorite parts of our mother/daughter trip this spring was our cooking class in the Montalcino region at Castello Banfi Il Borgo  with Chef Domenico Francone. He oversees everything from the cuisine served at La Sala dei Grappoli, the fine dining restaurant, to the room service for the hotel guests. We had already enjoyed a multi-course dinner on our first night so we knew that he was going to be good. We had been looking forward to learning to cook some Tuscan dishes from a genuine Italian chef ever since we started planning our trip. We met Chef Domenico out on the grounds and we rode with him to a guest house out in the vineyard. Inside a small, homey kitchen, the three of us set about creating a four course lunch to be paired with Banfi wines. As the chief cook in my own home, I was happy to sit back, sample the wine and let him teach my next generation. I did help with everything though the video doesn't show it. My favorite part was making the pasta which, odd...

I became aware that  Castello Banfi Il Borgo existed several years ago due to the preponderance of wines that Banfi makes that can be found in the Houston market. I had googled it before and put it on my mental list of places that I would like to go. When my daughter suddenly requested to change the second leg of our travel plans from northern Spain to Florence and Rome, it was my very first thought even though it isn't located in either city. I quickly booked our 4 day stay. I hired a driver to pick us up in Florence and bring us to our temporary castle. Upon arrival, we were taken to our suite which featured a spacious bedroom, ample living area and a large, well-appointed bath room. This was pure heaven after our more modest accommodations in Paris. Our castle room was once a home for an entire family when it was built in the 1700's and it, unquestionably, provided us with more than enough room to thoroughly spread out. We quickly spruced up and headed to the hotel...