Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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French & Italian Wine www.beveragedynamics.com U.S. WINE IMPORTS BY COUNTRY, VOLUME 2014-2015 (000 Gallons) '14/'15 COUNTRY 2014 2015 % CHG Italy 80,559 85,600 6.3% Australia 44,605 44,829 0.5% Chile 39,624 35,122 -11.4% France 30,587 34,589 13.1% Argentina 27,829 28,591 2.7% Spain 19,036 19,833 4.2% Germany 5,914 5,725 -3.2% Portugal 4,099 4,587 11.9% All Others 44,184 53,755 21.7% Totals 296,437 312,630 5.5% Source: The Beverage Information & Insights Group. For more data, visit www.albevresearch.com. U.S. WINE IMPORTS BY COUNTRY, VALUE 2014-2015 (Millions) '14/'15 COUNTRY 2014 2015 % CHG Italy $1,735 $1,745 0.6% France $1,462 $1,543 5.5% All Others $597 $672 12.6% Australia $449 $430 -4.2% Spain $353 $346 -2.0% Argentina $351 $345 -1.7% Chile $296 $285 -3.7% Germany $118 $105 -11.0% Portugal $89 $92 3.4% Source: The Beverage Information & Insights Group. For more data, visit www.albevresearch.com. versatility with food for its popularity. Shelley Lindgren is wine director and owner of Italian restau- rants SPQR in San Francisco and A16 in San Francisco and Oak- land. A16's wine list is focused on southern Italian wines, but she sells several Soaves at SPQR. Lindgren is a particular fan of the wines from Pra, which she calls "excellent, world-class Soave." Lindgren pairs Soave with various seafood preparations, in- cluding fritto misto and seafood risotto, and says it's particularly good with crustaceans. She also likes Soave with prosciutto and with game birds. Nadel thinks it's a good match for white meats and cream sauces. FIANO Fiano, a white grape most commonly grown in southern Italy, doesn't have an image problem. For most consumers, it sim- ply doesn't have an image. Even wine reference books don't give it much attention: The fourth edition of "The Oxford Companion to Wine" by Jancis Robinson gives Fiano only one shortish paragraph. "That's one that's still fl ying under the radar a little bit," Hi- Time's Johnston says. The best Fiano grows in Campania, in the wooded hills around the city of Avellino, where the wine is called, appropri- ately, Fiano di Avellino. Plantings of Fiano are also increasing in Sicily; Planeta makes a particularly good one called Cometa. At its best, Fiano produces an aromatic, fl avorful wine that is capable of aging. Lindgren is a big fan of Fiano. "If I drink a white wine every day it's Fiano," she says. She thinks it's currently undervalued, but that's start- ing to change. "It's being recognized as one of the world's noble grapes," she says. Fiano is well-represented on Lindgren's wine list at A16. She says it can stand up to hearty dishes like braised pork. Goldstein agrees that pork is a good match. He also recommends osso buco, saying that Fiano's fl avors mirror those of the gremolata, the chopped herb and lemon zest condiment traditionally served with the dish. Because of Fiano's versatility with food, Nadel says, when he's asked for a white wine to accompany the entire meal, "it's one of the white wines to which I gravitate." He also notes that because it's relatively unknown, Fiano has "no stigma attached to it at all." Among the Fianos he sells are bottlings from Terredora and Clelia Romano "Colli di Lapio." Lindgren also sells the latter at A16. Pietracupa is another of her favorites. Two Fiano di Avellinos that are well-distributed are from Mastroberar- dino and Feudi di San Gregorio. BD that is capable of aging. Lindgren is a big fan of Fiano. "If I drink a white wine every day it's Fiano," she says. She thinks it's currently undervalued, but that's start- ing to change. "It's being recognized as one of the world's noble grapes," she says. Fiano is well-represented on Lindgren's wine list at A16. She says it can stand up to hearty dishes like braised pork. Goldstein agrees that pork is a good match. He also recommends osso buco, saying that Fiano's fl avors mirror those of the A Northern California resident, LAURIE DANIEL has written about wine for more than 20 years. Her wine column appears in several California newspapers, and her articles have appeared in magazines such as Wines & Vines, Food & Wine, Wine Country Living, Drinks and the Wine Enthusiast.