The northwest Italian region of Piedmont (meaning the foot of the mountains) is generally known for its red wines: Barbera and Dolcetto, Barbaresco and Barolo…

But they also grow and raise some excellent white wines there.

When it comes to Italian white wines in general, owner and wine director at Vino Vino Jeff Courington always seems to be reaching for one of his personal favorites: Gavi (appellation) made from Cortese (grape variety).

The Cortese grape is all about freshness and bright acidity. The village of Gavi where this wine is grown is located about halfway from the upper Mediterranean sea and the foothills of the Alps. As a result, it enjoys cool air coming down from the mountains heading toward the sea. The cool air helps to keep the vineyards ventilated (thus preventing rot and mildew) and it keeps the fruit cool at night during the summer as the berries reach complete ripening.

Palladino is an OLD SCHOOL producer: no spoof here! Classic, clean, crisp Gavi, ideal for seafood and spicier dishes here at Vino Vino.

Photos by Linda Ryan.

If you’re a fan of Vino Vino, then you know that one of owners and wine director Jeff Courington’s great passions in Southern Rhône and in particular Gigondas. On any given day, you’ll find a wide selection of earthy, acidity-driven bottlings of Grenache on his list. One of his favorites is Domaine de Cabasse.

On his recent trip to Europe, Jeff visited the winery.

The following are some of the images captured during his stay there. It’s not hard to understand why these wines are so special.

Evening Happy Hour
Monday-Friday 5:30-7 pm

$2 OFF ANY GLASS OF WINE
HALF-PRICED
SELECT DRAFT BEER
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Late Night Happy Hour
Sunday-Thursday 10 pm-12 am

$2 OFF ANY GLASS OF WINE
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PAELLA EVERY SUNDAY

7 PM SHARP!

It’s all about the acid. No, not the LSD, man! The acid! The acidity!

Acidity is what makes wine food-friendly: it helps to stimulate your appetite by setting your digestion into motion and it also helps to break down the fattiness in the food you eat (the same way we use the acidity in vinegar or citrus to marinate different foods).

Acidity also help to preserve wine as it ages (by fending off any unwanted bacteria) and balancing the wine’s alcoholic content.

The bright acidity in Barbera — the quintessential red grape of northern Italy — is just one of the things that we love about it. Its natural acidity, combined with its ripe red and berry fruit flavors, give it a wonderful versatility, making it a great match for a wide variety of dishes.

On Jeff’s recent amazing trip to Italy, he got turned on to the Barbera d’Asti by Damilano, one of Piedmont’s greatest Barolo producers.

Check it out by the glass at Vino Vino: it goes with nearly everything on our menu!

Here at Vino Vino, we dig figs.

That’s just one of the reasons we’ve decided to open a new Italian restaurant here in Austin, Texas, called Al Fico — “at the fig tree.”

And being that we are also hip to social media, we’ve already launched a new blog, Twitter, and Facebook so that our friends can follow along as we build out the restaurant and start developing our new all-Italian menu and wine list.

And for the folks who want to find out about special offers and pre-opening events, they can sign up for Al Fico’s e-letter by clicking here.

What does Al Fico mean? Click here to find out the story behind the name…

Some folks don’t have time to visit our website every day. That’s why we’re constantly updating our Facebook with information about special events, tastings, and offers.

And because we don’t have space to post every single fantabulous photo of our food and wine here on our blog, we often post the overflow on our Facebook.

We recently shut down the old Vino Vino group page: so if you haven’t had a chance to do so already, please like us on Facebook by clicking here.

PAELLA EVERY SUNDAY

7 PM SHARP!