Although I grew up drinking good wine and experiencing many varieties through travel, I have been recently trying to develop a better understanding about the complexities of wine. I have a question about an unpleasantness I've encountered a few times now.

Sometimes a red, which should have high expectation seems to be a bit carbonated, as if the fermentation process was not completed. The most upsetting was at a wine bar in Montepulciano last summer. I was able to aerate it enough through swirling it to get it to mellow out and be drinkable, but I wanted to know what specifically this means.

You may have had a form of Italian wine, referred to as 'frizzante' or 'Italian spritz.' It is a partially carbonated wine, but not quite carbonated enough to make a cork pop. The fully carbonated Italian wines are referred to as 'spumante.'
I believe quite a bit of moscato wines in montalcino are made into 'frizzante' half-bubblies.

i had a sparkling shiraz called Vixen, it was fantastic!

quote:

Originally posted by swirlygirl:
i had a sparkling shiraz called Vixen, it was fantastic!

Swirlygirl, if you can find Peter Rumball Sparkling Shiraz, buy it! It is fantastic.

There's also always Andre's Cold Duck NV.

I had a bottle of Brachetto d'Acqui that I don't know where it came from. I wasn't familiar with it and it had a regular cork so I was surprised to find it fizzy.
Not bad.

If a red is fizzy, and you don't expect it to be fizzy, then it's an off bottle and should be returned for a refund.

I don't know if fizzy red wines are made in that part of Italy or not, but one of the in-house Italian experts like futronic or enoselsa could probably tell you.

I've had some stuff in Italian wine bars that is slightly frizzante. It did cost €2 per litre though.

Or maybe it was Fragolino - sparkling wine with a strawberry taste?

bman - Brachetto d'Acqui is supposed to be fizzy, I just didn't know anything about what it was supposed to be. It was a bottle I found in the wine rack meaning it was probably a gift from some dinner guest that I forgot about. It didn't have a champagne style cork so that reinforced the surprise.

quote:

Originally posted by swirlygirl:
i had a sparkling shiraz called Vixen, it was fantastic!

I agree! fantastic stuff!

I was tasting a couple of weeks ago.. (keep in mind I'm new at this) but I had a Sparkling Geyser Peak Shiraz from Sonoma County. It was pretty good. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to do some tastings in Australia and I ran across the same thing except a lot sweeter. Good Stuff

Question for you, jetwines.com.

Are you in any way affiliated with the recently started website of the same address?

PH

The best fizzy wine that I've had is Marzemino Dolce, a great dessert wine, or just sipping wine. I always have a couple of bottles of this in the fridge.

Otto