We're off to Italy (Circle from Venice to Florence to Tuscany to Santa Marghrita to Riva Del Garda to Verona to Venice)for three weeks in May. I can't wait to fully experience the whole range of Italian wines, but my wife is no fan of dry reds and whites. Is there something comparable to a Riesling (she loved Germany!) that is commonly available? I have ugly visions of desert wines and Muscatel. Help!

Hi doug, I would imagine that your wife would enjoy Prosecco which is from Veneto. Quite refresing and easy to drink. Your will be in beautiful areas.

Also, wine is not expensive in Italy as it is in the US so that is a help while she taste the various wines. Imagine the waiters can help with suggestions also. No secco means "not dry". Have fun!

These are not similar to rieslings (especially the off-dry German ones that you to allude to), but these are NOT dry:

Reciotto della Valpolicella is a full-bodied Amarone-like red dwine that is sweet and goes well with dessert fruits (especially blue and black berries).

Vin Santo is a dessert wine from Tuscany that goes well with plain biscotti.

Hi doug,

Valpocella and Lambrusco are red wines that everybody likes.

Frascati and Orvieto are pleasant, light whites that are not as sweet as a Riesling.

Pinot grigio is all the rage these days (one magazine called it "the new chardonnay&quot and it's a light, very drinkable wine. Why not go to a wine store that has a good selection of Italian wines and get the manager to recommend a few bottles of different types? Maybe you could throw a little pre-trip party.
(At one party with some wine-loving friends, we had pinot noirs from Oregon, France, California, New Zealand and Austria, covered up the bottles [disguised enough so that you couldn't get *any* clues from the bottle], and had a contest with everyone trying to identify which was which. No one got all five right, but we all had fun guessing!)

My suggestion is very general but "rose" wines are not an ugly word in Europe. That might open more ideas.

And Ira about those red wine "everybody likes"... some of us just plain can't drink red wine (for me I believe it has to do with the tannins or something).

>..some of us just plain can't drink red wine...<

I was thinking of red wines that people who can drink red wine might like to drink.

Lambrusco is one of the few red wines I do like, interestingly enough!