Andrea, with his brother Alberto and sister-in-law Cinzia

We all know Andrea Bocelli for his songs, but most people probably have no idea his family’s been making wine for 130 years in Tuscany. I didn’t, but got to taste them a few weeks ago with Andrea, his brother, and his sister-in-law who run the vineyard. As Andrea put it, “My role is to drink the wine.” That’s a really good role. The Bocelli brothers grew up playing and hiding in the vines and drinking wine at every lunch and dinner with just a drop in some water. Then when they were 18: mecca! “Without water!” Now when he goes on tour he can’t drink “and I suffer” he said. When I tasted his wines he’d been going on 15 days without the grape. Poor guy.

Since it’s Fizzmas, let’s start with the Prosecco (which is actually a great way to start a dinner party too). Prosecco usually has peachy notes, but this is intensely majorly summer ripe peachy. It’s only about $16 (check out sellers here).

They also make five red wines. The main grape in Tuscany is Sangiovese, and I’m not a huge fan of it. “Cabernet is easier for many people. But Sangiovese is the plants of my father.” I actually liked the 2011 Sangiovese IGT – very smooth and good dark cherry, black olive and violets – and you can drink it “pronto subito” (basically, immediately) as Andrea said. The 2009 In Canto Cabernet is his favorite (it was my second fave) – had great blackberry and leather notes and very fresh and smooth. The best one to me was the 2009 Terre di Sandro IGT (Alessandro was his father). And guess what? It’s 100% Sangiovese! Still had all that SG dirt and grit, but I loved the fresh red cherry and savory tomato/basil taste. So Tuscan!

Speaking of singers, I really think Michael Bublé should make a sparkling wine – Bublé Bubbly is too good a name to not use!