- Silverstone's previous recommendations

Rotari Brut Riserva 1999

Best of the Fizzy Bunch

I suppose you could blame it on my upbringing. I'm just an uncouth fellow and it's in my nature to maintain the low standards to which I have always been accustomed.

For example, when I attended a Center City hotel's wine steward's very serious induction into a Burgundian Wine Order a couple of years ago, and fell on the floor in fits of laughter at the absurdity of the event, I was frowned on by all who were in attendance. Yet I managed to continue giggling my socks off the entire evening. I'm pleased to say I was never invited to attend again.

I also recall the time a delegation from a French

Champagne importer's New York office, visited the Philadelphia hotel where I was hosting events. They wanted to launch a new vintage of their fizz, and were quite serious when they insisted the color of the toilet paper in the rest rooms MUST match the coloring of the wine label. As you can guess, I once again ended up on the floor in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Ce la vie!

As I keep reminding you, wine is a fun drink, not an experience reserved for some obscure religious group. If you can pop a cork and have some fun, then you're leaps and bounds ahead of the game. And it's not the French who behave arrogantly around their wines, it's most often their representatives and devotees Stateside who

display the attitude. And fizz is a perfect example. But if you enjoy sparkling wine and want to chuckle about it, that's OK too. French bubbly usually comes from the region of Champagne and I must confess, the wines from that neck of the woods aren't generally too bad. But there is some stunning fizz being made in other parts of the globe worthy of your time and money.

Take for example Rotari Brut Riserva 1999. It's Italian for goodness sake. Imagine that! Rotari is made from the grapes used in Champagne: Chardonnay and Pinot Nero (known in France as Pinot Noir). Made in Trento in north east Italy, in the same method they make Champagne, this wine is soft, delicate with a delicious, gentle

fruitiness resulting in a very agreeable quaff indeed.

I'm not sure whether kudos from a self confessed uncouth individual will serve this wine justly. If you tend to favor snooty wine organizations, act sycophantically towards Michelin starred chefs and were one of the guests who stared angrily at me when I was falling off my chair in laughter you probably won't enjoy this wine. Everyone else will think it's brilliant!

Cheers!

PRICE (approx) $14.99