Vio's Food & Wine

Before opening this bottle, I had one thought:

Wait… a 2013 Sylvaner? 🤔🍷

Because let’s be honest — when people think of Alsace, they usually jump straight to Riesling, Gewürztraminer or Pinot Gris.

Poor Sylvaner often stays quietly in the corner 😄

But this bottle reminded me why simple wines should never be underestimated.

In the glass:

✨ citrus and orchard fruit
✨ fresh apple and peach notes
✨ light body
✨ crisp acidity and a clean, refreshing finish

No heavy oak.
No powerful aromas trying to steal the spotlight.

Just freshness and drinkability.

And honestly? That’s exactly why wines like this shine with food 👇

🍽️ Pair it with:

🐟 seafood and grilled fish
🥗 fresh salads
🥨 Alsatian classics like choucroute
🦪 oysters
🧀 goat cheese
🍋 light chicken dishes

The freshness and acidity make it incredibly easy at the table.

🍷 Vio’s tip:

Not every wine needs to be complex to be enjoyable.

Sometimes the bottles that surprise us most are the ones we almost didn’t choose 😉

And now I’m curious:

Have you ever tried Sylvaner… or are you team Riesling? 😄

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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For many people, it's simply a building in Mâcon, France. For me, it became much more than a wine school.

Over the past months, this is where countless hours of study, tastings, discussions, friendships and a fair amount of self-doubt became part of my Diploma journey.

Last Tuesday, I sat my WSET Diploma D4 and D5 exams here.

Whatever the results may be, I'm grateful for everything learned along the way and for the people who shared the journey so far.

A special thank you to Carole and the entire Esprits de Vins team for creating such a supportive place to learn about wine.

One chapter ends. Another begins... D6 is next!

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Tomorrow is exam day 🍷📚 And my house currently makes absolutely no sense.

On one table: Port and Madeira samples.
On another: sparkling wines.
Outside: palm trees and sunshine.
In the garden: one very relaxed cat living his best life.

Meanwhile me?

Trying to fit fortified wines, sparkling wines, sweetness levels, ageing methods and what feels like the entire wine world into one brain 😅

Funny thing with wine studies: eventually your whole life starts looking like revision notes.

You stop seeing bottles as bottles.

You see:
- Late Bottled Vintage...
- Traditional method...
- Wait… biological or oxidative ageing?

But after months of studying, practice questions, panic moments, green tea, and many glasses (strictly educational, of course 😉), there comes a moment where you simply have to trust yourself.

So today: one last review, one deep breath… and tomorrow we see what happens ...

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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Friday before exam 📚 Today’s revision plan: fortified wines, sparkling wines… and somehow this happened...

Because apparently when you spend months studying wine, opening an Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG suddenly counts as “revision.”

Technical justification:
✔ Sparkling wine module
✔ Asolo Prosecco = smaller DOCG area near Conegliano-Valdobbiadene
✔ Extra Dry = fun fact… sweeter than Brut 😉
✔ Biodiversity-certified producer 🌱

And honestly… this DID feel educational.

Pale lemon with fine bubbles, fresh aromas of green apple, pear, white peach and citrus, with a soft floral touch. Fresh, fruity and easy-drinking, with that slightly rounder Extra Dry style.

With Gorgonzola dolce as an apero? 🍾 Surprisingly good

And then came pasta alle vongole and bottarga.

Now… if you’ve watched my sparkling wine sweetness video on YouTube, you know I’m usually team Brut Nature or Extra Brut with seafood 😉

With highly concentrated, salty ingredients like bottarga and clams, a very dry sparkling wine often works beautifully because the freshness and zero (or very low) dosage help cleanse the palate.

So technically? This Extra Dry Prosecco, with 12 to 17g/L of sugar, wouldn’t have been my textbook pairing choice 😄

But wine is also about real life.

And sometimes that means sunshine, bubbles, good company… and trying to fit a few hundred pages of sparkling and fortified wine revision into one brain before exam day 😅

So yes. Officially studying. I refuse to hear objections 😅

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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This bottle had “special occasion wine” written all over it… 🍷☀️ And Indeed it was as we celebrated my husband's birthday.

And then came a homemade focaccia barese 😄

Actually… I made it.

And if you’ve never had one, this isn’t your typical focaccia:

✨ potatoes mixed into the dough
✨ olive oil
✨ juicy cherry tomatoes on top

Soft inside, slightly crispy outside… and dangerously easy to keep eating 😄

Because wine pairings don’t always need white tablecloths and complicated rules.

This 2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Domaine Comte de Lauze brought all the Southern Rhône sunshine:

✨ ripe black fruit
✨ warm spices
✨ herbs and garrigue notes
✨ smooth, elegant tannins
✨ a long, generous finish

Built mainly around Grenache and Syrah, this is the kind of wine that has power… but still knows how to relax.

And yes, Châteauneuf-du-Pape loves food 👇

🍽️ Perfect with:

🥩 grilled meats
🍖 barbecue dishes
🧀 aged cheeses
🍄 roasted vegetables
🥖 and apparently… homemade focaccia barese fresh off the grill 😄

The smoky barbecue notes, the richness of the wine, and the olive oil and savory flavors from the focaccia worked surprisingly well together.

🍷 Vio’s tip:

People often save bottles like Châteauneuf-du-Pape for “the right moment.”

But sometimes the right moment is simply sunshine, friends, and saying:

"Wait... should we grill the focaccia too?" ☀️😄

Now I’m curious:

Are you team elegant dinner… or team unexpected food & wine adventures?

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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Today's study session looked a little different 🍷😄 Because apparently the best way to revise Lambrusco is sitting by the lake with a friend.

My husband doesn't like Lambrusco.

Her husband doesn't like Lambrusco.

But we do.

Well... she does.

I'm still deciding 😂 Lambrusco is definitely growing on me... but I'll admit that red sparkling wine still feels slightly wrong to me. My brain keeps expecting bubbles to be white!

So today we opened two very different styles:

🍷 Lambrusco di Sorbara
🍷 Lambrusco Grasparossa

Same family.
Very different personalities.

Sorbara is lighter, fresher and more delicate, with bright red fruit, floral notes and lively acidity.

Grasparossa is darker, richer and more structured, with deeper fruit, more body and a gentle tannic grip.

And while we didn't open one today, there is a third important Lambrusco variety I'm studying:

🍷 Lambrusco Salamino

It sits somewhere between the two styles and gets its name from the shape of its grape bunches, which resemble a small salami sausage 🌭😄

(Trust the Italians to find a food reference for everything.)

And honestly?

Studying wine becomes a lot more enjoyable when it comes with salami, prosciutto, cheese, sunshine and a view of the lake ☀️

🍷 Vio's tip:

One of the biggest surprises with Lambrusco is that it's not just one wine.

Different Lambrusco varieties create very different styles.

And that's exactly why tasting them side by side is so much fun.

Now the important question:

Team Sorbara or Team Grasparossa? 😉

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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I thought I was going for a wine tasting… And then I remembered how dangerous that can be 😉🍷 Because afternoons like these never end with just a few tasting notes...

You leave with:
✨ new discoveries
✨ wines you suddenly want to find again
✨ and a mental list of bottles growing much faster than expected 😄

Last Friday with ARVI was exactly that.

Great French wines.
Great people.
And one of those moments where you go from:

"I'll taste just a little..."

to:

"Wait… can I try that one again?" 😄

What I always love during tastings is how every bottle tells a different story.

One wine surprises you.
One confirms something you thought you knew.
And one completely changes your expectations.

A big thank you to for such a beautiful afternoon of tasting and sharing.

✨ Wine is never only about what’s in the glass.

Sometimes it's also about the moments that happen around it.

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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Before this dinner, if someone had said “Nebbiolo,” I would probably have immediately thought:

Barolo. 🍷

But Italy always has a way of reminding me there’s more to discover 😉

This De Le Mur Sassella 2020 from Convento San Lorenzo comes from Valtellina, in the mountains of Lombardy, where Nebbiolo grows on steep terraced vineyards surrounded by stone walls.

Same grape.

Very different personality.

In the glass:

✨ red cherry and wild strawberry
✨ dried rose petals
✨ mountain herbs and subtle spice
✨ fresh acidity and elegant tannins

Compared with Barolo, Valtellina Nebbiolo often feels lighter, more lifted and more delicate.

And then came the pairing 👇

Ossobuco with saffron risotto.

The richness of the slow-cooked meat met the wine’s acidity beautifully, while the bright fruit and freshness kept everything feeling balanced.

One of those pairings where nothing fights for attention.

Everything simply works.

🍷 Vio’s tip:

If you love Barolo, don’t stop at Barolo 😉

Nebbiolo changes dramatically depending on where it grows. Mountain Nebbiolo from Valtellina can show a fresher, more elegant side of the grape.

And discovering those differences… is half the fun ✨

Have you ever tried Nebbiolo outside Piedmont?

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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I knew the pairing sounded good.

I didn’t expect myself to keep going back to the glass after every bite 😉🍷

This Bourgogne Les Sétilles 2022 by Olivier Leflaive ended up being one of those bottles that quietly steals the show.

Olivier Leflaive is one of Burgundy’s most respected names, based in Puligny-Montrachet — a village famous for producing some of the world’s most elegant Chardonnay wines.

And while Les Sétilles sits at Bourgogne level rather than Premier Cru or Grand Cru, don’t let that fool you.

In the glass:

✨ citrus and ripe orchard fruit
✨ white flowers
✨ a touch of hazelnut and subtle creaminess
✨ bright acidity keeping everything fresh

Classic Burgundy Chardonnay: elegant rather than heavy.

And then came the pairing 👇

Foie gras.
Fig.
Toasted brioche.

The richness of the foie gras met the wine’s freshness beautifully, while the fig brought a sweet contrast that made the fruit in the wine feel even more expressive.

One of those moments where the wine doesn’t dominate the dish...

it simply makes everything around it taste better.

🍷 Vio’s tip:

Burgundy Chardonnay isn’t always about powerful oak and expensive Grand Crus.

Sometimes the “entry level” bottles from great producers are where the magic starts ✨

And honestly? Those can become some of the most useful bottles to know when you want to impress without needing a special occasion 😉

And a little bonus: this moment happened at Locanda Borromini in Bissone, Ticino — one of those places where good food, good wine, and a relaxed atmosphere quietly make you want to stay longer. ✨

What’s a wine that surprised you recently?

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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This is usually the moment where I discover… that maybe I’m not Italian enough yet 😂

Because after a beautiful dinner in Piemonte, someone said:
“Now it’s time for the amaro.”

Suddenly I found myself face to face with this: Lingera Amaro d’Erbe from Distillerie Berta.

And honestly?
The fact that it was selected for a restaurant called Violetta felt a little too perfect for Vio’s Food & Wine not to try it 😉

Let’s just say… this is VERY different from Champagne or Barolo 😅

🍷 (Well… technically not wine at all.)

Amaro is an Italian herbal liqueur traditionally enjoyed after a meal as a digestif.

And this one?
Intense herbs, roots, spices, bitterness, warmth, medicinal notes… and definitely a serious kick at 30% alcohol.

I have to admit: the medicinal / herbal side is not naturally my thing.

But honestly? That’s also part of learning about drinks and wine culture.

Sometimes you discover a new favorite.
Sometimes you simply understand better why people love it 😉

And in Italy, amaro is often less about “tasting notes”…
and more about the ritual:
✨ slowing down
✨ ending the meal
✨ talking a little longer at the table

Which, to be fair, is a tradition I fully support 😄

🍷 Vio’s tip:
If you’re new to amaro, don’t start by asking: “Do I like this?”

Instead ask: “What is this trying to express?”

Many amaros are built around bitterness, herbs, roots, freshness, and digestive sensations rather than fruitiness or sweetness.

Have you ever tried amaro? And did you love it immediately… or ... ?

🔔 Subscribe now to Vio's Food & Wine YouTube Channel for simple wine tips & food pairings!

For wine education and appreciation purposes. Content for adults of legal drinking age.

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