8/10/2019 WINE 15

1/7

A GREAT WHITE-WINE region is frequently a great source of a good summer red. This

may sound oxymoronic, but consider some examples: The Sonoma Coast and the

Anderson Valley regions in California both produce minerally Chardonnays and savory,

summery Pinot Noirs; the Loire Valley of France is home to long-lived whites like

Vouvray and Muscadet and tangy reds like Chinon and Bourgueil. But no place may

offer better proof of this theory than the Alto Adige region of northeastern Italy.

This largely German-speaking, mountainous corner of the country is one of the best

cool-climate wine regions in Italy, if not the world. And a cool climate is key not only to

characterful whites but to refreshing reds.

Yet while the white wines of Alto Adige are well-known and much praised, overlooked

are some equally delicious and lively reds, particularly wines made from the region's two

most planted red grapes, Lagrein and Schiava. The latter, also known as Vernatsch and

Trollinger, is actually the region's single most planted grapeclosely followed by Pinot

Grigio and Chardonnay.

Lagrein and Schiava (la-GRINE and ski-AHva) are native to Alto Adige, which was

known as South Tyrol (Sdtirol) when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Many

of the area's winemakers still identify themselves by their Austrian heritage. As Martin

Foradori Hofsttter, proprietor of J. Hofsttter estate, put it in an email, "Our passport

and our territory is part of Italy, but our origin is Austrian and our culture as well." In fact,

when I visited the region a few years ago and asked producers where their wines were

exported, they often listed Italy. In other words, Italy was a foreign land.

Although it is often linked to the province of Trentino, as Trentino-Alto Adige, Alto Adige

is a distinct wine appellation. It is sometimes confused with Friuli, another white-wine-

dominant territory in northern Italy. Both regions happen to produce many of the same

grapes, including Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay, although Friuli wines are

more widely distributed and better known. Jeff Kellogg, wine director of Maialino

restaurant in New York, has seen this mix-up many times. "People will say they love the

wines of Alto Adige, but then they talk about Friuli," he said. In both cases, he added,

they know the white wines of both regions better than they do the reds.

8/10/2019 WINE 15

2/7

Bobby Stuckey, owner and wine director of Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colo.,

attributes the confusion to sommeliers who only know the two places from reading wine

books. "A lot of wine books lump Alto Adige, Trentino and Friuli together as northeastern

Italy," he bemoaned in an email. This is, to Mr. Stuckey, a real mistake. "That would be

likeputting Burgundy, the Loire and the Rhne together," he said.

Mr. Stuckey specializes in Italian wines at his restaurant and makes his own Friulian

wine, but he's a fan of Alto Adige too, particularly Schiava, which he regards as a good

summer match for cured meats and pastas.

The cool climate of mountainous Alto Adige, in northeastern Italy, is key to producing lively reds.

Jason Jacobeit, wine director of Btard restaurant in New York, knows about Alto Adige

thanks in part to an Italian romance. Mr. Jacobeit went through what he called a Schiavakick a few years ago, when he was dating a woman from northern Italy. He loved

Schiava in part for its resemblance to other easy-drinking northern Italian reds that he

knew and admired, such as Ghemme and Gattinara, from the Piedmont region. Schiava

had the same "bright acidity and scrubby red fruit" he said, but it was also less tannic

and more accessible than either Piedmont wines.

One of the greatest attributes of Schiava is its food friendliness, as Mr. Jacobeit noted.

That's thanks to the wine's terrific aciditya young Schiava (and it is best consumed

young, within a year or two of the vintage) is a truly mouthwatering drink. The wine isbrisk, light bodied and juicy. It's also fairly low-alcohol (around 12 %), and thus easy to

consume.

Lagrein is a bit richer and denser than Schiava, with more texture and weight, more dark

fruit and spice (plum versus Schiava's strawberry or cherry.) But the lighter Lagreins are

also good summer wines; they are lithe and flexible with a firm mineral thread. And

perhaps best of all, both Lagrein and Schiava are reasonably priced (another important

attribute of a good summer wine). Most Schiavas and many Lagreins cost less than $20

a bottle.

In fact, the most expensive wine in the group of Alto Adige reds I purchased for my

tasting didn't cost more than $25, and many were much less. I bought 14 bottles total of

Lagrein and Schiavaalthough it wasn't an easy task. Some had to be specially ordered,

as distribution of Alto Adige's whites is definitely much wider than that of its reds. Unlike

in other parts of Italy, or for that matter other parts of the world, where a cooperative-

8/10/2019 WINE 15

3/7

made bottling isn't traditionally considered a quality wine, some of the best wines in Alto

Adige are made by cooperatives.

Despite the admittedly small sampling of wines, the results were impressive. My group of

tasters and I found only one bottle a dud (a dull Lagrein lacking in fruit) and one too highin alcohol (a Lagrein that was over 14%). By the way, all of these wines showed best

with a slight chill; I put them in the refrigerator for less than an hour.

The 2012 Gumphof Vernatsch ($20) was a crowd favoritefruity and lively and

uncomplicatedly delicious (the mostly organic winery has also won awards for its

Sauvignon Blanc), while the 2012 Cantina Andriano Bocado Vernatsch ($16) was darker

and a bit earthier. It covered all linguistic bases as welllabeled Schiava on the back

and Vernatsch on the front, as if they weren't sure which would sell. The name was the

most complex aspect of the 2012 Erste & Neue Leuchtenburg Auslese Schiava ($12),

which was pleasant and lively and identified as a ros-style red on its back label. (Erste

& Neue, which translates to First & New, is a first-rate cooperative.)

The 2012 Lagrein from Muri-Gries, a winemaking Benedictine monastery, was another

favoritericher and more concentrated than the Schiavas but with what a friend called

the "necessary leanness" of a summer red. Christian Werth, the much-heralded

winemaker at Muri-Gries, makes three highly regarded Lagreins; this was their lighter

"normale" wine. The 2011 J. Hofsttter Lagrein was even riper and denser but stillvivacious, with bright acidity and a touch of minerality. The Muri-Gries, at $16, and the

Hofsttter, at $20, were very good buys.

8/10/2019 WINE 15

4/7

4 Winning Tips for Playing Baccarat

The rules of the game and the scoring are very simple. It's all about getting a score as

close to a "natural nine" or a "natural eight" as possible. If the score is not a natural,

then another card is drawn to get the score closer to the natural. If the cards total a

score more than 10, then the left digit of the double digit score is dropped and the right

digit is considered as the score. If you are playing in the casino and betting money, then

you need to be careful and keep some things in mind before putting your hard earned

money on the table. The most important thing to remember is not to be taken in by

anybody who can give you a magic winning formula. If such tricks existed, then the

casinos would all be broke.

8/10/2019 WINE 15

5/7

Tip 1

Gambling is a risky business, based purely on luck. A game like baccarat is a game of

fortune, nothing much to do with skill. So, be careful with your money. If the tables are

playing on very high stakes, then back off. There are other better and safer ways of

earning money. Also remember not to push your luck too hard, if you are on a winning

streak. If you can make a decent amount, then take it and leave. Do not wait until your

lady luck deserts you, taking all your money with it. When you step into decide the

maximum amount that you can afford to lose and stick to that decision. Do not get

tempted to play for more than this money. The trick in winning while gambling is to

know where to call it quits.

Tip 2

In baccarat, you can either bet on the banker, the payer or on a tie. The chance of a tie

is rare. The odds against one of the players winning are always better than a tie in most

cases. So, don't waste your money on an unlikely tie. Choose a definite party to bet on.

Also, while betting, begin with small amounts. Don't begin playing with high bets. Start

low and if luck seems favorable, then increase the amounts gradually. Luck is an

important thing in baccarat. So, test your waters before plunging in completely.

Tip 3

Look for casinos where the house charges are less. Although the standard commission's

charges by the casino are 5%, there are casinos where the house charges are lesser

than this. If you look around, you will find places with commissions as low as 2.75% to

4%. Playing is such casinos will automatically increase your take home money, as there

will be less cutting on the tax.

Tip 4

Although it is still a risky gamble with not much logic, betting on the Bunco will alwaysprove beneficial to you. Study the winning patterns of the game. If you can find a

pattern, follow it. If you don't, then bet on whoever won before last game. Also, if you

find the same party repeatedly for more than 3 times, and then bet on the other party

for the fifth time. It is very unlikely that the same party will win 5 times in a row.

STOCK TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

DIAMOND IS EASIER TO DETECT ON WEEKLY BASIS

8/10/2019 WINE 15

6/7

EX:

When stock drops, it will pull back to its former apex

Thin, highly speculative issues and heavy

investment stocks offer exceptions, the former usually steeper and the latter

flatter.

Thus, once a Trend Channel appears to have become well established,

any failure of a rally to reach the Return Line (top parallel of the channel in

an Intermediate Advance) is taken as a sign of deterioration in the trend.Further, the margin by which a rally fails to reach the Return Line (before

turning down) frequently equals the margin by which the Basic Trendline

is penetrated by the ensuing decline before a halt or Throwback in the latter

occurs.

By the same token, given an established Trend Channel, when a reaction

from the Return Line fails to carry prices all the way back to the Basic

Trendline but bottoms out somewhere above it, the advance from that Bottom

will usually push up out of the channel on the top side (through the

Return Line) by a margin approximately equal to the margin by which the

reaction failed to reach the bottom of the channel (Basic Trendline).

However, and this is of considerable practical importance, the very last

Intermediate Downswing in a Major Bear Market, i.e., the last Primary Move

which leads to the final, long-term Bottom, is usually cleaner, more regular,less precipitous

When, after a Major Bear Trend has proceeded for some time and distance,

and has experienced at least one Panic Sell-Off, it then goes off in

another but less active and more orderly decline, and this decline develops

and follows a good trendline. Watch it closely. If this Intermediate holds to

its steady and not-too-steep downward courseif its trendline is contacted

several times by Minor Ralliesif it produces a fairly consistent channel,

and prices do not fall out of bed down through its parallel Return Line,

then the eventual upside penetration of this trendline may well signal a

8/10/2019 WINE 15

7/7

Major

Turn, the inception of a new Bull Market.