Vin Pseudo.

In Europe, Parmesan cheese by definition must be produced in the Parma region of Italy, ditto with Parma ham. I don't get quite as agitated as my brother does about the American penchant for calling certain food items by what is traditionally considered their place of origin, when clearly the foods in question have been produced domestically in the USA. I simply attribute his alarm at these aberrations of nomenclature to the fact that he has lived all of his adult life under the labeling constraints of the European Union. On a personal level, I do appreciate the fact that Americans usually refrain from calling domestically produced sparkling wine Champagne - so, dear brother, all is not lost. However, at a dessert wine tasting the other day I must admit that I, myself, did experience a little bit of distress over one particular wine: a Vin Santo produced in St. Helena.

Vin Santo, Tuscany's classic dessert wine, is a deeply amber-coloured wine that is made from dessicated grapes. Without going into the maddening complexities of Italy's DOC or DOCG laws, it is generally understood that having DOC/G on a wine's label at least guarantees some semblance of authenticity as to the wine's origin. Whilst I know Vin Santo isn't an actual place, indeed they also produce a Vin Santo in Montepulciano, it did get me thinking about the naming of certain food products. Should the name Vin Santo be reserved for a dessert wine exclusively produced in Italy? Or is Vin Santo simply the name for this particular style of winemaking? Questions, questions.

As for the wine itself, in my opinion, the Il Ponte from L'Uvaggio di Giacomo Winery, wasn't a very good interpretation of this unique Italian digestif. Let me put it another way, I won't be dunking my biscotti into a glass of Il Ponte any time soon.

As today is the feast day of the patron saint of winemakers, St. Morand, maybe a little divine intervention will answer these questions for me. Holy Moly!