Which is?

When I was younger I hated chianti, rioja - well reds in general I suppose but definitely Italian or Spanish reds (unless they had fruit floating in them!) - but after going to Italy two years ago I fell for Montepulciano wines - could be because of the holiday memories.

Wine just whispers to you of wonderful times away from home.

I too drink a lot of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (Wine Society own label), it's perfect with pasta and tomato based sauces and also a pleasant drink on its own.

But -- Montepulciano is confusing because there are two different types of wine with the name Montepulciano, because Montepulciano is both the name of a town in Italy and the name of a grape variety.

Basically, if the word Montepulciano comes first, e.g. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, then it is made from the Montepulciano grape variety grown in the Abruzzo region.

If Montepulciano comes last e.g. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano it comes from Sangiovese grapes grown in the Montepulciano region.

(they don't grow Montepulciano grapes in the Montepulciano region!!)

Ah - now I get it.

It was Montepulciano D'Abruzzo that I was drinking, as we were in Tuscany, and near Abruzzo.

I actually thought that was a cheapy variety of 'Montepulciano' wine, as when I bought some at home (ie in England), from the Co op, there was a brand called 'La Chianti' with a key on the label (unsurprisingly as this means The Key in Italian), it is really cheap, and yet tasted very good, and is D'Abruzzo wine.

Odd that they don't grow Montepulciano grapes in the Montepulciano region. Thanks for filling me in, Peter

The Co-Op brand Montepulciano D'Abruzzo is La Chiave (Chianti is a wine region whose predominate grape variety is Sangiovese)

Hi Peter,

I like the German Rieslings, for example, Carl Reh, Chateau St. Michelle Riesling from Washington State and Dr. Constantin Frank's Riesling - Salmon Run line as well from New York's Finger Lake region.

If I decided to drink red wine again, my all time favorite is Gevrey Chambertin -- pinot noir. Heavenly.

Thanks for the post. There's some very good Rieslings from New York. I don't think I've had the Washington one.

I knew it was too late for me to post anything coherent! And what a prat I sound 'unsurprisingly as this means The Key in Italian' Hah!

La Chiave - of course. And jolly nice it is too

It was my son's 17th birthday yesterday. I got some Fairtrade Chilean Carminere from the Co-op - really nice, very blackcurranty.

I don't know anything about Chilean wine - do you, Peter?

Well, yes, actually

Carmenere is a Bordeaux grape variety that is one of the six allowed in the red blends from that region, but virtually none is grown there now.

Cuttings were taken to Chile just before phylloxera destroyed Europes vineyards. Because Carmenere vines look like Merlot is wasn't realised until the 1990's that many 'merlot' vineyards in Chile were actually Carmenere.

Carmenere is Chile's 'trademark' variety now. In taste its close to Cabernet Sauvignon.

Chile is a source of excellent quality wines as a reasonable price - its hard to go wrong buying a Chilean wine.