Arneis Montepulciano Rum Italy Marche

The Arneis white wine grape varietal is a native fruit of the beautiful northern region of Piedmont, in Italy. Whilst it has had great success over recent decades in several New World countries, Arneis has been cultivated for centuries in northern Italy, where it is recognized as one of the most representative grapes of the region. Arneis has long been used as a blending grape, due to its highly aromatic character, but it is becoming more and more common to see single variety bottles made using this grape. At its best, Arneis produces beautifully full bodied white wines, packed full of orchard fruit and apricot flavors, with a fine crispness and acidic punch. However, it is a notoriously difficult grape to cultivate successfully, hence its name which translates as 'little rascal'.

Montepulciano grapes are one of the most widely cultivated varietals in Italy, with vines growing in twenty of Italy's ninety five provinces. This varietal is renowned for producing high yields, making it popular with vintners looking for a relatively easy varietal to grow. Whilst the grapes tend to have a low skin to juice ratio, the skins themselves are remarkably high in tannins with a lot of pigmentation, which means they often produce rather well bodied wines with a beautiful deep, dark color The wines of Montepulciano grapes are most commonly associated with soft, rounded characteristics, with plenty of juicy, plummy flavors The wines are known for being very smooth and drinkable, and easy to match with a wide range of foods.

It is difficult to categorize rum as a single spirit, because of all the spirits found around the globe, rum is perhaps the one which varies most dramatically from place to place. Clear, white rum - a favorite for cocktail drinkers - is perhaps the most prevalent example found today, but there is a whole world of darker, spiced and molasses-rich rums to explore, thanks to the fascinating history and wide reach this drink has.

Rum came about during the colonial times, when sugar was a huge and world-changing business. The molasses left over from the sugar production industry could easily be distilled into a delicious alcoholic drink, and provided extra income for the sugar traders. Before long, it became a favorite of sailors and transatlantic merchants, and it quickly spread across the Caribbean and Latin America, where it remains highly popular today.

The production of rum is a basic and simple one - you take your molasses, add yeast and water, and then ferment and distil the mixture. However, as is often the case, the devil is in the detail. The variation in yeasts found from place to place, the maturation period, the length of the fermentation and the type of stills and barrels used provide the rainbow-colored variation that gives rum its spectrum of styles and characteristics.

There are few countries in the world with a viticultural history as long or as illustrious as that claimed by Italy. Grapes were first being grown and cultivated on Italian soil several thousand years ago by the Greeks and the Pheonicians, who named Italy 'Oenotria' – the land of wines – so impressed were they with the climate and the suitability of the soil for wine production. Of course, it was the rise of the Roman Empire which had the most lasting influence on wine production in Italy, and their influence can still be felt today, as much of the riches of the empire came about through their enthusiasm for producing wines and exporting it to neighbouring countries. Since those times, a vast amount of Italian land has remained primarily for vine cultivation, and thousands of wineries can be found throughout the entire length and breadth of this beautiful country, drenched in Mediterranean sunshine and benefiting from the excellent fertile soils found there. Italy remains very much a 'land of wines', and one could not imagine this country, its landscape and culture, without it.

Marche, an Italian wine region on the Adriatic coast, is one of the world's most ancient wine regions. For thousands of years, vines have been cultivated in this beautiful and mountainous landscape, and the region has been influenced by the Pheonicians, the Lombards and the Romans, giving it a wine culture and identity quite unlike any other region of Italy. With a relatively high number of DOC and DOCG titles, Marche is home to many of Italy's finest wines, and is a region most readily associated with superb white wines. Indeed, the most common grape varietals grown in Marche are the Trebbiano and Verdicchio, which have been cultivated in vast amounts for white wine production in Marche for at least six hundred years, and which produce wines packed full of unique flavors associated with the region.