I was getting ready to stop by the Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and pick up my August wine club selection, as I am finally getting back on track.  Perhaps soon there will be wine tastings again and the ability for every business up and down the food chain to start making a living again.  Since the state is collecting valuable tax money on wine, you would think that would be high on the list, because tax revenues came to a screeching halt, when everything was basically shut down during the lockdown.  Also, because I had ordered another case of everyday white wine, back when the lockdown began, to try to help a local business, and my case and probably another forty-nine cases of it came in the door as well. 

Giacomo Sperone SPA was founded in 1911 by Antonio Sperone Sr., who had started a craft-made production of Vermouth and fortified wines in a small cellar in the outskirts of Turin.  He was also selling bulk wine to customers and consumers and he started off with horse drawn wagons, but there was a slight pause during The Great War.  The company kept expanding production and business, and Antonio’s son Giacomo became an oenologist and began innovations and initiating changes in the way business was proceeding.  In 1960, Giacomo built a new facility in Cusano Milanino and added Asti sparkling wine to the list of products.  In 1983, the family purchased seventy-five acres of prime vineyards in Piedmont and built their current facility in Mombaruzzo near Monferrato.   In the Seventies, Giacomo’s sons Paolo and Antonio joined the family business.  They began Tenute Nairano, which is centered on the production of quality wines from the Piedmont.  In the last ten years they also began Caravello Limoncello, one of the leading brands marketed in America. 

As the family business grew and expanded, one of the newer wines is “FS” Franco Serra Rosato Piemonte DOC 2018.  Piemonte has more DOCG and DOC appellations than any other area in Italy, with a wide range of special grapes designated for certain areas.  Barbera is a workhorse for the Monferrato region and certain designations even have the name of the grape as part of the title.  This particular wine is almost entirely Barbera, except for five percent which is Dolcetto.  This Rosé wine is described as being elegant, light-bodied and dry with fruity, floral aromas, sweet cherries, raspberries and watermelon flavors with a bright acidity.  It is touted to be served chilled and perfect as an aperitif or with appetizers and first courses.