Jeremy Parzen
After obtaining his Ph.D. in Italian literature at U.C.L.A. in 1997, Jeremy Parzen moved to New York City where he shifted his focus to food and wine. By 1998, he was the chief wine writer for the English-language edition of La Cucina Italiana. In 2005, he published his annotated translation of Maestro Martino's 15th century cookery book, The Art of Cooking (University of California Press). In 2007, he launched his blog DoBianchi.com (named after the Venetian expression for two glasses of white wine). Since that time, he has published countless articles on Italian food and wine, including bylines for publications like Decanter and Wine and Spirits, which named him a "Master of Place" in 2017. Known for his humanist perspective onto the world of Italian enogastronomy, he works as wine and restaurant industry consultant from his home office in Houston, where he and his wife Tracie (a native Texan) are raising their two daughters. A former rock musician and songwriter, Jeremy continues to compose and record music with and for his family. He was honored to be named an Italian Association of Wine Merchants ambassador in 2018 for his "profound scholarship in the humanities, his great knowledge of winemaking, and his excellence in communications."
Last week a group of 100 or so wine writers, wine bloggers, lifestyle writers, and "opinion leaders" (as they call them in Italy) were welcomed in the land of Moscato by the Moscato d'Asti growers and bottlers consortium.
The moment has arrived!
Whenever I hear the expression "dessert wine," I can't help from chortling. And what's worse, whenever I hear the words "wine and chocolate" used together in conjunction with the word "tasting," I literally can't help myself from laughing out loud.
I can't remember a Texas Thanksgiving without Moscato d'Asti: It's a wine that everyone loves, that everyone can coalesce around, that everyone can share in celebration.
Creative pairings for Moscato d'Asti are increasingly common (and that's good news!).
Moscato d'Asti is the world's only sparkling wine that's made using no refined sugar; only the grape's natural sugar is used.
The best expressions of Moscato d'Asti (like nearly any sparkling wine) will deliver the symmetry — the promise (nose) and fulfillment (mouth) — that professional tasters look for in sparkling wine
But the fact that so many writers reach for roughly the same descriptors gives us an indication that the common denominator of high-quality Moscato d'Asti is nearly always stone fruit and candied fruit.
This is yet another way that Moscato d'Asti represents an entirely unique style of winemaking and wine.
One of the things that a lot of people don't realize about sparkling wine and wine in general, for that matter, is that all wine contains sugar.
