Selborne Wine Society 2012

On Tuesday Ricco had the pleasure of hosting yet another excellent wine tasting with the wonderful people of Selborne Wine Society. 

To accompany our 8 fine Italian wines, a team from the society cooked up a very fine selection of antipasti.

Wines tasted on the evening were; 'Nerodise' Rosato Spumante, 'Salapia' Bombino Bianco, 'Versure' Fiano, 'Le Fossette' Falanghina, 'Secondopasso' Nero di Troia, 'Capoposto' Negroamaro, 'Terraferma' Rosso Primitivo/Nero di Troia and Albana Di Romagna Passito - a fantastic white dessert wine.

The winners of the evening? 

- Best value for money: 'Secondopasso' Nero di Troia.

An excellent medium-bodied red for everyday drinking. My favourite at the moment!

- If money were no option: 'Terraferma' Rosso 

Drinking now, will age. Very well made with elegant fruit on the nose and palate. A lot of wine for £14.95!

Both of these wines would make perfect choices for Christmas.

So yet another victory for Mr Angelo Paradiso at Cantine Podere Belmantello. Keep up the good work! 

Also great results again for Alberto Longo, with his 'Le Fossette' being the most popular white of the evening, great remarks also for his 'Capoposto'.

Always a pleasure to visit Selborne Wine Society; a very active, friendly group with a great mix of people. Why not join them for a meeting? See their website for details.

Thanks again to everyone that made it such a good evening, hope to see you again soon!

Queen's Jubilee Weekend - June 2012

A huge thanks to all that joined us at Ricco for our tastings last week, we had a busy weekend and really enjoyed your company.

As ever, the "Chloe" Spumante from Althea was very popular. The new vintage Pignoletto was also a real winner - a very food friendly white wine. The new "Lorenzo" Piemonte Cortese also received a very positive response; this is in every respect a Gavi, but cannot be named as such because it has a screwcap closure.

Going south into Puglia, the range of wines from Alberto Longo were universally enjoyed for their style and quality; in particular his "Le Fossette" Falanghina - a very impressive premium white wine from 100% Falanghina. A wine traditionally matched with seafood, white meat and fresh cheeses.

Something (almost) as popular as the wine was the arrival of Mark and Nicola in their classic Ferrari Testarossa, Mark would do anything to outshine Trevor in his Renault Kangoo van!

As for the reds, the wines of Petrigama continue to delight, the Rosato, Aglianico and Nero di Troia. Take advantage of our June promotion; 15% discount on this fantastic range!

Our new addition from Tuscany, the "Camponovo" 100% Sangiovese from Tenuta di Sesta - a wine of great character and drinkability, offering versatility with foods; salamis, steaks, roast meats, lasagne and young cheeses. Watch this space for other new wines from this excellent cantina.

Another new addition to our list is "Scassa" Barbera d'Alba Superiore from Grimaldi Bruna. An excellent example of Barbera with a great balance of fruit and rounded tannins.

To complete the weekend, the "Albana Passito" dessert wine proved popular for those indulging their waist-lines, no offence intended to the officers from Sandhurst who found this particularly appealing! For those needing to accommodate both chocolate and cheese, we advised the "Il Griccio" red dessert wine from 100% Syrah from Alberto Longo, well done Alberto!

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR RICCO'S EXCLUSIVO EVENINGS - DATES SOON TO BE ANNOUNCED.

UPDATE - Buckets and Spades back in storage

Our dalliance with the Isle of Wight has been cancelled (for now) - the organisers have had to call off the Spring Garden Show due to the severe weather that is battering the Island. 

As a result, Ricco will be OPEN on Friday the 27th and Saturday 28th April as per usual. 

We’ve also had a delivery today, so our Rubente (as featured in the Sunday Times) and Gavi are back in stock. We also have 2 new wines to offer you, both from the highly accomplished cantina of Alberto Longo.

- "Le Fossette" - a high quality white wine from the Falanghina grape.

and

- Cacc 'e Mmitte (pronounced Catch-a-me-te') di Lucera - a blend of Montepulciano, Nero di Troia and Bombino Bianco. A very versatile, rounded and satisfying red.