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Winery
Vinosia
Vintage: 2008
2008 saw very high yields across wineries in much of the southern hemisphere, as a result of highly favorable climatic conditions. Although in many areas, these high yields brought with them something of a drop in overall quality, this could not be said for South Australia's wines, which were reportedly excellent. Indeed, the 2008 Shiraz harvest in South Australia is said to be one of the most successful in recent decades, and western Australia's Chardonnays are set to be ones to watch out for. New Zealand's Pinot Noir harvest was also very good, with wineries in Martinborough reportedly very excited about this particular grape and the characteristics it revealed this year.
Pinot Noir also grew very well in the United States, and was probably the most successful grape varietal to come out of California in 2008, with Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley delivering fantastic results from this grape. Elsewhere in United States, Washington State and Oregon had highly successful harvests in 2008 despite some early worries about frost.
However, it was France who had the best of the weather and growing conditions in 2008, and this year was one of the great vintages for Champagne, the Médoc in Bordeaux, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence, with Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes leading the way. Italy, too, shared many of these ideal conditions, with the wineries in Tuscany claiming that their Chianti Classicos of 2008 will be ones to collect, and Piedmont's Barberesco and Barolo wines will be recognized as amongst the finest of the past decade.
Varietal: Fiano
The beautiful straw colored wines made with the Fiano varietal grape are notable for their delightfully floral aromas, and the fact that they contain fascinating flavors of dark honey and hazelnut, alongside spicy notes and other complex features. However, the Fiano grapes which grow in and around the Campania region of Italy, as well as in certain New World countries, are most renowned for the fact that they are a truly ancient classical grape varietal, being a favorite of the ancient Romans and most likely the ancient Greeks before them. The cultivation of Fiano varietal grapes remains quite small to this day, but the wines made from these grapes is adored by those looking for an elegant and complex white wine full of character.
Region: Campania
Campania is a stunning coastal wine region of Italy, home to over a hundred native grape varietals and some of the finest soils and climatic conditions for viticulture on earth. The fine Mediterranean climate crossed with the mineral rich volcanic terroirs produces grapes of exceptional quality and flavor, and as such, Campania has been an important center for wine production for over three thousand years. As one might expect from such an ancient and esteemed wine region, tradition is highly important to the wineries which operate there. Careful attention is paid in order to bring the most representative flavors and aromas out of the grapes, and traditional, time honored techniques are still employed across the region when producing their many highly regarded wines.
Country: Italy
For several decades in the mid to late twentieth century, Italy's reputation for quality wines took a fairly serious blow. This was brought about partly due to lack of regulation in certain regions, and too much regulation in others. This led to several wineries in the beautiful and highly fertile region of Tuscany making the bold move to work outside of the law, which they saw as responsible for the drop in quality in Tuscan wines. They believed that they had the expertise and the generations of experience necessary with which to make truly excellent, world class wines, and set about doing just that. These 'Super Tuscans', as they came to be known, quickly inspired the rest of Italy to improve their produce, and now, Italian wine producers in the twenty-first century are widely recognised to be amongst the best in the world. Regulation and law began to change, and wine drinkers across the globe woke up to the outstanding wines coming out of Italy, which are continuing to improve and impress to this day.