Wine_tasting Archives - Gazing and Grazing

Venice and the Prosecco Road

September 20th, 2017

Prosecco and Venice go hand in hand. Since Venice is just a one hour train ride from Conegliano, and the start of Italy's "Prosecco Road", it's easy enough to explore the area especially if you have a car. We drove down to Valdobbiadene, the town on the other end of the Prosecco Road, from Cortina. As we headed south, the jagged peaks of the Dolomites turn to green slopes planted with glera, the grapes that make prosecco. To find out more about this increasingly popular aperitif, we spent...

Jade Palace – The Place to Go for Cantonese Food in Singapore

September 6th, 2015

Jade Palace is a well established Hong Kong style cantonese cuisine restaurant in Singapore. After more than 20 years, I think it is still the "go to" eatery for cantonese dining which is testament to the restaurant's consistency and focus on serving quality dishes. We wanted to introduce our Italian wine maker friends to some Australian wines recently and thus, had a menu of some better known standards along with some new creations.

One of the outstanding staples on Jade Palace's...

Tuscany – Iconic Views, Good Food and Stay (and sheep) at La Bandita

August 18th, 2015

I've long been obsessed with getting photos of the idyllic Tuscan countryside - you know, the ones with the rolling hills and cypress tress. So last year in May, 14 of us friends and family stayed in La Bandita, a converted farmhouse on a hill between Pienza and Chianchiano Terme. Although the drive up and down the hill to La Bandita took a bit of getting used to, the place was really well located to explore central Tuscany. And best of all, the food at La Bandita, cooked on the spot by a...

Alto Adige – Italy’s Austrian Wines and Scenery to Boot

July 20th, 2015

A church among the vines in the Alto Adige

Alto Adige or Sudterrol (to the local Tyrolleans) is a piece of Austria in northern Italy complete with alpine landscapes and crisp white wines such as the Gewürztraminer. This was the second last stop in our April wine tour of Italy. Our trip had taken us from the well known Tuscan wines to the heel of Italy on Mt. Etna and refined Amarones around Verona, but this is an area with its own lingo and culture.

We drove to St. Paul's winery in the Alto Adige from Verona, around...

Verona – Amarone Tasting and a Twilight Walk

July 19th, 2015

I knew nothing about Amarone so our visit to winemaker Nicolis this past April was a most enjoyable education particularly when accompanied by copious amounts of food and wine at dinner and a twilight walk in Verona. The tasting of good Amarone also debunked my view that this wine tends to be sweet. It was, in fact, one of the nicer red wines we tried on our wine tour of Italy.

After the rugged scenery of Sicily, we were back in the rolling hills and sculpted gardens of northern...