Latest news with #DolomiteMountains
Forbes
01-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
A Miscellany Of New Italian Wine Releases
The vineyards of San Lorenzo in Italy's Dolomite Mountains. With summer on the wing, one yearns for outdoor dining and perhaps a bit more adventurous spirit when it comes to drinking wines. Here are several Italian wines I like very much and give good bang for the buck. Its Germanic name is due to Kaltern's vineyards on the border of Austria. KALTERN KALTERERSEE CLASSICO SUPERIORE 2024 ($14). True, it doesn't sound very Italian but this splendid red wine is made in Alto-Adige in the north, from vineyards around Lake Kaltern from Alpine Schiava grapes (called Tollinger in Austria). The vintage weather was perfect and allowed for early ripening. With just 12.5% alcohol., it is recommended as an apéritif with light foods, but I found it delicious with grilled chicken and vegetable-based pastas. FAMIGLIA COTARELLA FERENANO BIANCO LAZIO 2119 ($25). Named after the ancient Etruscan town of Ferento in Lazio, this 100% Roscetto (similar to Trebbiano and Greco) uses grapes from planting averaging 17 years of age. Vinified in stainless steel and oak tanks after an eight-hour cryomaceration, it then spends four months in French oak and six months aging. It emerges at an alcohol level of 12.7%, making it an easy to drink wine with lots of tropical fruit notes, very good with dishes like salmon, branzino and Gorgonzola cheese. Bolla is one of the oldest Veneto wineries making a classic Amarone. BOLLA AMARONE DELLA VALPOLICELLA CLASSICO 2018 ($56). This was the first Amarone I ever had, way back in the 1970s, and I was impressed with its big, leathery, slightly sweet flavor that is a classic profile of this Veneto wine. Since then Amarones have become lighter and less distinctive, but Bolla's blend of Corvina and Rondinella still maintains the boldness of the wine, making it excellent with red meat on the grill and in autumn with venison. VIGNE SURRAU SCIALA VERMENTINO DI GALLURA SUPERIORE 2022 ($29). 'Sciala' comes from an Arabic word for an abundant harvest, and this is a prime example of Sardinian Vermentino , made by Mariolino Siddi, planted in sandy, granite-rich soil that provides minerality. Aged for six months, it is released with 14% alcohol. The Demuro family produces about 90,000 bottles. Ideal with linguine with clam sauce. OLIANAS VERMENTINO DI SARDEGNA 2023 ($20). Here's another fine Sardinian Vermentino, this from the southern region of Sarcidano. The Olianas estates' 35 hectares of vineyards are planted exclusively with native Sardinian grape varieties such as Cannonau, Vermentino, Tintillu, Nasco, Bovale and Carignano. This Vermentino comes from the Murvonis vineyard with a clay loam texture and the Porruddu vineyard, with a dark brown loam texture soil and sandy marl. About 20% of the grapes are harvested slightly in advance and allowed to ferment with maceration on the skins. The result is a complex example of this all-too-often bland varietal. This is a Tuscan IGT wine made from 100% Cabernet Franc. TENUTA CASADEI FILARE 18 2022 ($65). An IGT venture by Tuscan Stefano Casadei and Californian Fred Cline, both dedicated to organic crops. The wine is from the estate in Suvereto, made from 100% Cabernet Franc planted in 1999 and grown on medium texture soil. Spontaneous fermentation and maceration take place within tburied amphorae, and the wine is then aged in new French oak barriques for 18 to 20 months. The producers say this has a potential to age for twenty years but I found is very good now in its youth especially as an accompaniment to pork. 'VETTE' DI SAN LEONARDO SAUVIGNON BLANC 2024 ($25). Sauvignon Blanc is not rare in Italy though vintners have only recently been making examples that show off Italian rather than New World terroir, in this case from the Dolomites. The estate, since 2012 run by Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga, is known for its Bordeaux-like blends but the Sauvignon Blanc 'Vette' ('peaks') comes from a high elevation site to the north of the winery, vinified in stainless steel and aged on fine lees for five months. It has just enough vegetal flavor, kept in balance with its acids and floral components. Livio Felluga has long been one of the premier white winemakers of northern Italy. LIVIO FELLUGA FRIULANO SIGAR ($63). Long among the finest producers of Italy, Livio Felluga named this wine after his enjoyment of a cigar while inspecting his Rosazzo estate in the evening. Today, the 500-acre winery is led by Livio's son, Andrea. Vines were planted in 1963. The grapes are hand-picked and undergo maceration on the skins for a few hours, then racked into terracotta jars towards the end of alcoholic fermentation, to permit proper temperature control. There is a fine citrus and aroma of herbs, making it wonderful with all seafood.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'This should not be published': Scientists throw shade on study claiming trees 'talk' before solar eclipses
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The idea that trees communicate with each other during an eclipse and synchronize their behavior — as has been widely reported recently — is a compelling one. The fascinating idea sprang out of research detecting bioelectric signals in spruce trees (Picea abies) in Italy's Dolomite mountains during a 2-hour-long partial solar eclipse. But many researchers aren't convinced, saying the number of trees studied is tiny and that there are more plausible explanations for the results. Some 6,600 feet (2,000 meters) above sea level, Alessandro Chiolerio, a physicist at the Italian Institute of Technology, Monica Gagliano, an ecologist at Southern Cross University in Australia, and their colleagues attached remote sensors to three healthy spruce trees — two of about 70 years old and the other around 20 years old — and to five tree stumps. The sensors were there to detect electrical currents created when charged molecules travel through the cells of living organisms. "Our results demonstrated that spruce trees exhibited synchronized changes in their bioelectrical activity in anticipation of a solar eclipse," Gagliano told Live Science. "Remarkably, this synchronization began several hours before the eclipse occurred, suggesting not just a passive reaction to darkness but an active, anticipatory response." "The strongest signs of this early response were observed in older trees, hinting at a memory-like capacity linked to their age and environmental history," she said. "This study provides the first evidence that trees in a forest can behave as a coordinated collective system — functioning more like an integrated network than just as isolated individuals." So, what exactly is going on in this work published April 30 in Royal Society Open Science, and how seriously should we take it? "There is strong concern among my colleagues that this paper was published," James Cahill, a plant ecologist at the University of Alberta in Canada, told Live Science. "The paper doesn't meet what I would say are the basic standards needed for science. Its sample size is three, which is very low and they have a super large number of variables that they're testing — over 10 — and you're always going to find a pattern if you do something like that." Related: Tropical tree in Panama has evolved to kill its 'enemies' with lightning Many plants and animals respond to the day-night cycles of light and dark, so plants responding to approaching darkness shouldn't be a surprise, he said. "If you turn off the lights in a greenhouse or at night, every plant will show reduced water transpiration and reduced photosynthesis. Is that coordination?" asked Cahill. This would also alter their bioelectrical signals, and every biological material has bioelectrical signals, he added, so there's nothing fancy in detecting changes to these. It's also unlikely there's an evolutionary survival advantage to responding to an eclipse, Cahill pointed out, given how briefly and infrequently they occur. Instead, he thinks the plants are responding with capabilities that have evolved for a different reason. "It is very easy to imagine that sensory systems evolved for other purposes that are then hijacked in an eclipse. Plants respond to darkness and an eclipse causes darkness. But it doesn't mean that the eclipse caused the response to darkness." And when it comes to the bioelectrical signals changing before the eclipse rather than during it, there's also a simple possible answer, he said. "Plants have elaborate sensory systems for detecting light and a lot of plants can detect UV light and blue light changes and those tend to come first across the horizon. A lot of plants will start changing their photosynthetic machinery before sunrise," said Cahill. "I'm not sure this is anything different." "It's disappointing that this paper is getting so much press because it's just an idea and there's not much here other than assertion," said Cahill. "This could have been replicated, it should be replicated. There's no understanding of why they are focusing on electrical signals instead of the photosynthetic rate. They also didn't compare this to just night and day, which is the obvious thing to do and that's very worrisome to me." Other researchers approached by Live Science said similar things. "I don't think anything can be concluded from an experiment that does not include replicates," Justine Karst, a forest ecologist at the University of Alberta in Canada, told Live Science. Researchers in the field are also skeptical about the idea that older trees responded more strongly. There are three living trees in the study and there are assertions about young versus old, said Cahill, "but they only have one young plant and it's in a different site. And it's not even young, it's 20 years old." Asked about the small sample size, Chiolerio told Live Science how difficult it was to spend whole days working at almost 7,000 feet above sea level to attach sensors to trees when temperatures go down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius). "Due to the complexity of the field setup — monitoring trees 24/7 in alpine conditions — we focused on a small number of carefully selected individuals. Despite the sample size, the data were robust and consistent across trees and sites," said Gagliano. "Still, this is an early study, and we view it as a foundation for broader research." Karst compared the new findings to experimental studies that seemed to reveal a wood-wide web in which trees communicate and share resources via underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi. She was a co-author of work published in 2023 showing that there was insufficient evidence for the idea. "I hoped that after the wood-wide web fell apart, journalists would be more skeptical about research claiming that 'trees talk'," said Karst. RELATED STORIES —Scientists find the best crops to grow during the apocalypse —'Gossiping neighbors': Plants didn't evolve to be kind to each other, study finds —'Alien plant' fossil discovered near Utah ghost town doesn't belong to any known plant families, living or extinct Cahill is in favor of studying plant behavior to probe whether these organisms have cognition — he is doing work in that area himself — but says the level of evidence needs to be very high before claims are made. "How would we test cognition in plants? I'm sympathetic to the idea of a different approach, but papers like this make it really hard to do very strong science in a controversial area," said Cahill. "It's very disappointing because the Royal Society has had a great reputation. But this should not be published." In response to questions about the study's publication, The Royal Society Open Science sent Live Science the following comment. "All research published by Royal Society Open Science goes through thorough peer review before being accepted." They also noted the role post-publication discussion plays in their process. "We encourage academic debate and constructive criticism of the research published in our journals. Any reader is able to submit a comment on research published in Open Science, this will be peer reviewed and published alongside an invited reply from the original authors." Editor's Note: This story was updated at 1:10 p.m. EDT to include comment from the Royal Society Open Science.
