Delights Of Sweet Whites, Italian Wine tasting, matching and comparing, Prosecco, Champagne, More

 

Italian Zonin1821 History

I went to the Zonin1821 portfolio tasting 2026 event. Zonin1821 is an Italian company, in the wine business, founded by the Zonin family in 1821, long before I was born. They started in the Veneto area, famous for the port of Venice, and Prosecco wine, and the Zonin bottle label is associated with this region.

They set up Zonin UK in 1998. How come I had never heard of them? This event aimed to put that right and it did. 

They now have wines from Europe, France, Spain and Italy, and the Lebanon,  South Africa, Chile and Argentina, and going south, from South Africa and New Zealand.

At a walk around tasting, I started with my favourite, Prosecco. From Italy. I compared a couple of them.

Then I went on to Asti, from Italy.

A couple of sweet Moscatos, muscats, sweet, of course.

Then a couple of Champagnes, from France, of course, to compare with Prosecco.

Wine Tasting

The walk around wine tasting of their wines had the usual arrangement of a good event, spittoons scattered about, because you could not drink many wines without ending up dancing on the table, falling asleep, or, as the old joke goes, under the table or under the host.

Some people like to taste wines without food, the better to isolate and concentrate on the aroma and savour the flavour of the wine. Others say, to be healthy, sober and sane, they prefer to taste wine with matching food. For them, a treat was to come. A chance to sit down, contemplate the colour of the wine in the glass, sip the wine and take tiny bites of flavoursome food with each wine.

The Zonin1821 Pairing Atelier: An Interactive Tasting Experience

A rare novelty, a sit down event, a masterclass, not just the usual sipping of half a dozen or more wines, whilst listening to an expert and watching slides, but this time tasting seven wines with assorted small plates of  food, savoury - and sweet. 

We took the glass of each wine in turn, nibbling something from each plate of food, deciding which food went best with the wine. 

The fanned pear is on the left. The glasses are numbered on the paper sheet below. But we changed the order, putting the sweet wine last. We had letters, for the food? But sometimes one wine went with more than one food.

Practical Problems - Cutlery

At first I did not know how to divide up the food using spoons and a pastry fork. But the meat proved to be soft so you could tear it apart with fingers or the fork and spoon.

Practical Problems - Losing Your Catalogue

I had already lost my programme which had my marks out of 7 of all the wines I had liked at the walk around tasting. When you put down your programme book, beside a dozen others, to taste the wine, then look for your programme, where is yours?

Luckily I had taken photos of my favourite wines, so the bottle labels were my memory aids.

Next time I go to a wine tasting or event, I shall take a sticker with my name and phone number to put on my programme. That way I can see at a glance that a programme on the table is mine, before I leave. If I drop it, the finder can call me to let me know.

Note Taking Problems

Next, where should I make notes about food pairing? 

The slide show, early on, included a slide with a list of the foods, and a list of the wines. Very good.

I reckoned it would be easier and quicker when making notes for members of the audience to have the slide copied onto a handout. The food on the left of your tasting page. The wines on the right. Then draw a line between the wine and the food it matched. 

Or a list of all the matches. Circle your favourite. 

Or a tick box for each pairing. Give it marks out of 7. From 1 for not good to 7 for heavenly.

My effort to write down the name of the wine, three to six words, then the names of the food, each of which had three ingredients, meant I needed to see the slide with the names of food, and missed commentary whilst I was trying to list the names of the food and wines. 

I spoke to Federica afterwards, and she agreed that each time they held the event they could incorporate changes and improvements which would make it better and better, even better.

Solution - A Food and Wine Pairing Sheet

Meanwhile, I am thinking about printing off my own pairing sheets. I would carry them around on my red clipboard.

Fabulous Food  - And Wine Matching

The food was fabulous. My favourite was the fanned pear, with stilton cheese in a creamy mousse. The name of the chef was not mentioned. The chef or supplier deserves a mention.

Which came first, food or drink, when planning the pairing? I presumed the wine producers and promoters would have picked seven wines to promote and asked the chef to do a pairing. At very least they might have asked for food to match in colour, for the red wine,  the red meat, for white wines, white savouries, and a sweet dessert. 

In a restaurant the sommelier might be shown the dish of the day, or dishes of the day. The chef created or selected recipes using what he has found, fresh, seasonal and reasonably priced in the market. The sommelier then has to match up wines to the food. 

Many restaurant diners would pick the food first, then ask the sommelier for a wine to match.

At home you might have bought a new wine from the Zonin list, then wondered, what food can I cook to go with this?

Buying Zonin Wines On the Web

After I got home I searched on the internet for Zonin wines. Up popped their wines on Amazon. Quite reasonably priced. 

I also found their website. The group is very successful, an umbrella group, connected with wines all over Italy and other places.  In addition to the bottles with their own label, their portfolio includes wines with other labels.

What if you or one of your group cannot drink wine. In addition to those abstaining for religious reasons, people could be driving, taking pills, and you could have youngsters or cautious drinkers. I liked Zonin's refreshing Limoneto Spritz, sparkling wine with lemon juice. You can buy it from Amazon in a 75cl bottle, or in a collection of cans 25cl.

Low and No Alcohol

Whilst their entire collection was new to me, they were excited about what is new for them. They have kept pace with the trend towards low alcohol wines, and non alcohol wines, and wine not only in bottles, small bottles, but also in cans.

Training Sommeliers

They are training sommeliers, and their own staff worldwide, as well as wine writers, wine educators and influencers on pairing their wines with food. I tried six wines, whites, a rose, and reds, with six different savoury and sweet dishes.  

Denni di Rosa, left. Federica Zanghirella, Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association, centre. Christopher Burr MW, right.

Federica Zanghirella, Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association, left. Christopher Burr MW right.

Three Wise Wine Experts

Instruction and enlightenment came from three delightful personalities.

Federica Zanghirella Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association. Glamorous and efficient, explaining how we were to save the delicious food to have some with each wine. Reminding us how in educational sessions we were sometimes given salty and sweet morsel to demonstrate how wine tastes different with different foods.

Christopher Burr MW. A Master of Wine always has worldwide knowledge. A walking encyclopaedia of wine. 

Denni di Rosa BA, knowledgeable on the Italian region, his homeland, Zonin's global ambassador, was an impressive presence in stature and knowledge. He explained each wine in detail.

They all emphasized that matching the wine with food, and picking our favourite pairing, comparing our choices with those of the producers and experts and the majority opinion, was not a test, but should be fun.

Matching Wine With Food

We all wrote down which wine we thought suited which food, the best match, not only on colour, red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat or fish, sweet wine with dessert, but the wines might complement or contrast in flavour. Though the recommendations are a guidelines, a consensus of popular opinion, the fun of wine tasting and wine pairing is finding what you like, for a one off enjoyable surprise, but ideally something to add to your internal recipe book and shopping list.

I am a vintage customer, stuck in the Sixties, liking sweet wines, sparkling, white and rose. So my favourite pairing was the pear dessert with the sweet wine, Castello di Albola, Vin Santo del Chianti. From Tuscany. The wine variety was Trebbiano Toscano, Malvasia del Chianti. Size 50 c.

Here is Denni di Rosa. Proudly holding the wine I praised as my favourite.

My favourite wine paired with the pear dessert was from label Castello di Albola, Vin Santo Chinati Classico DOCG, varietal Trebbiano Toscano Malvasia del Chianti, 50 cl, costing more than £20. From Tuscany in Italy. On Amazon you can buy red or white wines with the same characteristic grand house on the label.

Useful Websites On Zonin Wine

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Castello-Albola-Santo-Chianti-DOCG/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=zonin

https://www.bottledandboxed.com/product/6697_zonin-prosecco-brut-millesimato-doc-75cl

https://www.zonin1821.com/en/

zonin.co.uk

Sommelier Association

https://www.uksommelierassociation.com/

Wiki on wines - Vinopedia

https://vinopedia.org/wiki/Indication_G%C3%A9ographique_Prot%C3%A9g%C3%A9e_(IGP)

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Which Champagne For New Year? And Which Travel Resolutions?

 

G H Mumm Champagne Brut Cordon Rouge.  Photo by Angela Lansbury.

My husband chose this Champagne for Christmas. Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France. It is a dry wine, hence the word Brut, meaning dry. 

Angela and her husband Trevor drinking Champagne on Christmas Day. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Champagne is a sparkling white wine, made with red skinned grapes. I kid you not. This one is made from a grape called pinot noir. Noir is French for black. In English we describe grapes as red and black grapes but in wine-making most grapes are black.

Rouge is the French word for red. The word rouge in English has also come to mean red cosmetics applied to the cheeks for colour.

Cordon rouge, like cordon Bleu, (Bleu is French for blue) refers to the cordon, which is a sash. You see it here on the Champagne worn diagonally. It is on both the bottle and the cap.

Other Champagnes sold in the same supermarket were made from Chardonnay grapes. My husband prefers the fuller flavour of pinot noir. Most people are happy with a best selling cheaper wine.

For New Year, for a change, my husband might buy a blanc de blanc, meaning a white wine made from white grapes. And what about New Year resolutions and travel?  My plans include:

1 Keeping A Travel Wishlist

2 Learn a new language each year. Finish a course in that language on Duolingo.

3 Learn the words from every bottle of wine. (Even if you are not a drinker, you can learn the words from the wine bottles, the wine list, and the menu.

I have been to many Champagne cellars in Rheims, as well as wineries around the world.

According to their website, the Mumm company has installed art and architecture making it an award winning tourist attraction. So they are on my wish-list for a destination as soon as Covid-19 caused restrictions are lifted and I and my family can fly to the UK and on by ferry to France. Meanwhile, a happy New Year to you and yours.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._H._Mumm

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

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Reading wine labels in restaurants: Champagne, Cava, Procecco

Here's a bottle capped with a traditional cork stopper. The wire holds it on because the pressure of the bubbles could cause the cork to pop out, wasting the wine or injuring somebody. When you uncork the bottle, you must hold onto the cork firmly with one hand, hold the cork still and grip it, whilst twisting the bottle with your other hand.

The foil is to conceal the air gap between the top of the wine and the cap. This varies and might upset the customer who thinks he is being short-changed. The gold of the foil adds a touch of glamour and class. 

A wine label often tells you the wine, the grower, the producer, the country of origin. You might choose one category only (you want wine from France, rather than South America, or Australia, or one of the latter instead of the former, either to match your food, the atmosphere of the restaurant or event, your companion, or your budget.

For the same reasons, you might wish to check and select all categories, from the wine list. If you are in a supermarket you might look at the labels on the bottles on the shelves. In a wine shop you could compare two bottles at different prices.

Lets look at sparkling wines, often ordered as a pre-dinner drink at dinners, cocktail parties, opening night of conferences or the last night dinner, and of course celebrations such as weddings. You can have the full on big bubbles or the teeny bubbles, c r e m a n t (I have to spell the word out with spaces because spell checker wants to change the word to creaming).

Sugar In Your Wine - Let's be brutal
Most champagne is brut, which means dry. You can't taste any sugar. It's only 0-12 g/l (grams per litre) usually 9.
Below that is Brut Nature / Bruto Natural / Naturherb / Zero Dosage meaning 0=3 g/l which has occurred naturally and stays after fermentation, but no d o s a g e (spellchecker wantedisagree is added.

Crémant d'Alsace, Appellation crémant d'Alsace controlée, Dopff, au moulin, Cuvée Julien.

Champagne and Cava

Champagne is the king, Cava is the queen, Prosecco is the Jack. Cava comes from Spain south of Rioja. P r o s e c c o  comes from Italy. (I had to separate the letters. Spell checker changed the word to process.)

Cheap sparkling wine from Australia is made by pumping carbon dioxide into it. Don't worry about it. You can't even find it in the UK. It's not worth shipping it across the world. But if you want cheap sparkling wine and you can't tell the difference, it's good for your budget. Big bubbles.

Prosecco - lots of it about. Big bubbles which collapse quickly in the glass, so drink up fast.

Cava is made like champagne and has a fine mousse, smaller bubbles.

I just did a tasting comparison of two Cavas. One was mixed with Chardonnay, popular with buyers because they recognise the name and know what it is. Cheaper, strong flavour of acidic grape or lemon flavour. (Fine for me. Why spend more?)

The other one was mixed with two grapes which most people don't know, to add more flavour, more subtle flavour.

However, taking the reserve cava I compared it with champagne and got different results.

Reserve means reserved in the bottle.

The other Cava was a mix of three grapes, the second two adding flavour, the 'biscuit' aroma, more subtle, less strong acid. 

First sniff and sip, the Champagne was strong aroma and fruity. Cava didn't smell of anything much. Yet, second sipping, cava tasted and smelled of nothing, Champagne had no aroma but a slightly lemony, fruity flavour.

Just proves what was discovered years ago by whisky makers, and more recently by wine makers. Your average person can tell the difference between a cheaper wine and a more expensive glass first time around. So serve your expensive wine first. By the time they have reached the second, they can't tell the difference in the aromas and flavours and in any case are too happy to care. (Your wine buffs and sommeliers will know the difference.)

My wine expert says the cava has a rubber smell, stronger but not so nice. I must admit that on third tasting the cava smells aromatic, but Champagne of not so much.

So I am what you might call a cheap date, easily satisfied with the cheaper cava.

I do find you have to leave a gap for your taste buds to recover. Drink water. Then go back to the wine to appreciate the aroma. Like perfume and bad smells, you start to get used to what is in the air and only notice when you are given something new and completely different.

Stop talking, sniff, sip, to enjoy the full effect and appreciate what you are paying for.

Champagne is 12-12 and a half per cent alcohol. 

Cava is 11 to 11 and a half per cent alcohol. 

You wouldn't think it would make much difference, but it does. For the total inebriated, grinning and singing effect you need champagne. Too much of it, two or three glasses, and without food you, or rather I, will be talking loudly, grinning like a maniac, swaying off my high heels, needing to sit down.

appellation - naming, from appel name (Je m ' a p p e l Angela - I (me/myself) am called/named Angela or I call myself Angela)

Champagne - only made in the Champagne region, nobody else allowed to claim they are Champagne (although some claim to use method Champagnoise, same method as used in the Champagne region)

Controlée - controlled 

Crémant - creamy or 'bubbly' French made outside Champagne

de d' French for of, d followed by apostrophe before a vowel

Alsace - region of France and Germany which changed hands from one country to another through history, giving us the word Alsatian where the dogs come from, very pretty architecture, great place to visit as a tourist

au - at the, á is at so it turns to au for at the (masculine word) or á la before a feminine word and here moulin is masculine so it is au

moulin - windmill - and you can see the small red windmill symbol above the name Dopff

cuvée - parcel of wine, a blend, container from one maker

Julien - French male name, English equivalent Julian, the person who did the selection, such as the wine maker or the company's chief taster and blender 

Vintage, age, year
Having decided on your preferred wine, you might also, finally, check the vintage. A good sommelier would have checked for you and will present the bottle with a question, "You ordered the 20011, sir/ madam?"  Or he will apologise, "I'm sorry. The one listed on the menu was the 2011, but we've run out, so I can only offer you the 2010."

I used to think the sommelier was being pernickety. (The sommelier is the wine expert and man employed by restaurant to buy their stock of wine and explain it to customers and ensure it is served correctly). Later I thought the sommelier was obliged to tell us customers because of trades descriptions acts, to guard against a customer writing a bad review of the restaurant or asking for money back.

Now I know that the year makes a big difference. Firstly to the quality. A year with early rains and storms might mean a ruined crop, half thrown away. The result is poor wine,
and cheap wine because nobody wants it.

More rarely, in the case of old bottles bought for display rather than drinking, it could mean scarcity in a year famous for something else. That could be the start of a famous vineyard, a war or coronation, or the buyer's birthday in a baby boom year.  Therefore higher prices are paid by investors hoping eventually to sell on to museums and collectors.

(Recently it was discovered that fraudulent bottles of famous years connected with the American revolution and other dates had been manufactured with fake labels and sold for high prices. This was reported in the trade and in national newspapers. If you are interested you can check that and follow it up on the internet.

(I shall be adding more to this and other posts so come back later. Please follow my posts and link to me on linked or Facebook.)

Maison A n t e c h is the maker (family of A n t e c h) in Limoux - they sell more than a million bottles. £11.95, c r e m a n t (sparkling wine not made in France not champagne, not with another name such as Clairette or Blanquette, sold by Berry Brothers of London.

Berry Brothers have a shop near Green Park and Piccadilly in London and an on line trade business (read trade and retail info on the internet). Berry Brothers run tastings of several kinds, from trade walk around events to seated dinners for the public. I have been to several.

Glossary
Blanc - white
blanche - white, make white, girl's name
Blanquette - small white berry / grape - e t t e  is feminine for small in French where nouns are male or female, just as in English ships are known as she, especially but not exclusively those with feminine names such as QEII
brut - dry
Champagne - from the region of Champagne
Clairette - Clairette grape, local to the South of France
c r e m a - cream
c r e m a n t - creamy on top like espresso coffee, a sparkling wine from any region other than Champagne but made in the same way (except for Clairette de Die and Blanquette de Limoux which are allowed to have their own distinctive name)
de - of (French)
Die - name of a village north of Marseille
d o s a g e - dose - small amount added
Limoux - a place name, a particular village, if you are interested see map of Languedoc (tongue of Oc - Languedoc is their language, Occitan are the people, SE from Toulouse towards N a r b o n n e (Spell check wanted to turn that into carbine)
maison - house, nowadays often the company name
nature - natural, nothing added
par - by
produit - product

Gascon/ Gascony from the Spanish border to the Gironde including the left bank of Bordeaux (border with waters or eaux; eau is French for water, add x for plural)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.

Wine Regions and Bottle Label Glossary

Glossary:
Alsace region
anything in quotes is a brand name
1er cru - higher quality (depending on region - on Bordeau it is top level but in most other regions it's below grand cru as in Burgundy
Bandol a place in south of Brance in Provence which makes rose wine, dry. French rose is dry. (Mateus from Portugal is sweet.)
Banyuls - a region
Beaune - a region of Burgundy
Beaumes de venise - an appellation, a defined geographical region with regulations about wine appellation control, meaning controlled production
beaujolais -
blanc - white
Bordeaux - region literally border of water, meaning the sea coast, South West coast and further inland region of France
Bordeaux superieur - better quality than plain Bordeaux
cabernet - grape variety - several similar sounding names such as cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon
brut - dry - used for Champagne
Champagne - region of France
chateau (castle or mansion house - under French rules if you put a picture of a castle or palatial mansion on the label that must be a real place, and the place where you wine is grown or bottled)
Chateux Neuf du Pape makes red and white wine, famous, in southern Rhone near the towns of Avignon and Orange
clos - enclosed or walled vineyard originally although nowadays the walls have fallen but the name survives
Condrieu grows Viognier grape
cote - slope (where wine grows)
coteaux - side (area)
cotes - side (area, slope)
cremant - literally creamy - similar to sparkling but with smaller bubbles made like champagne in the same way but not allowed to be called Champagne which is a region
cru bourgeois - next level up in Bordeau above Bordeau superior (above that are named regions, above those are specifically named villages such as Margaux)
cuvee - a particular wine, might have another brand name for this blend or grape
de - of
du - of the
dom. - domaine
domaine - same as domain or place in English - maker or wine estate (every chateau is a domain but not every domaine has a chateau - it could be farmland without a farmhouse)
fils - son
Jurancon - a pretty town
La - the
La tour vieille - the old tower (adjective after the noun in French)
moulleux - off dry, slightly semi sweet
mousseux -
muscat - a grape variety
muscadet - appelation controlle name of a place - particular stye of wine from a particular grape
NV non vintage  no year specified, a blend to ensure consistent quality over the variable years
pays - country
reserva - not part of quality control in France, (but it is in Spain where the terms reserve and grand reserve are for white and reds, which refers to age their rather than the quality although you would not bother to mature it for ages unless it was good quality)
Riesling - a grape variety
rose - pink
rouge - red
sec - dry
sylvaner - a white grape
superieur -
tour - tower
vin - wine
vin de pays - wine of the country of France, in the French control system, the lowest level of quality, not tied to a specific local control, can be sourced from grapes anywhere, used to be called vin de France, now just vin de pays, we would call it table wine or in French vin de table
vieux - old
vielle - old (spelled this way to match a feminine word)
fumee - smoky - gives flint in wine taste
pouilly fuisse is a white wine from south Burgundy, Chardonnay is a grape used in this region where wine is nearly always Chardonnay (unless the small amount of nasty Aligote which is mixed with Cassis to make the mixed drink Kir, named after Canon Kir who is credited with mixing local fruit juice with the nasty wine to make it more palatable - why would you buy Aligote? Because you need it as the mixer. A sweeter wine mixed with the fruit juice is horrid but a kir is wonderful.)