Wine with Leslie: Restore your faith in Pinot Grigio with this lively wine for under €20

Plus a Beara whiskey that's sweet, easy and soft — and a little too drinkable

While Cantina Tramin does produce some red wines (notably Lagrein and Pinot Noir), its focus in recent years has been on aromatic white wine

I am returning to Northern Italy this week, motivated by some fascinating sample bottles sent to me by Enrico Fantasia of Grape Circus and from Cantina Tramin, one of the oldest growers’ Co-Operative in Northern Italy (1898).

Cantina Tramin is based in Alto-Adige, Italy’s most northerly wine region at the Southern tip of the Austrian Tyrol with Alpine peaks towering over the vineyards. The co-op has 180 growers but the average vineyard size is just one hectare (100m by 100m). This might be Italy but German is also spoken here and, intriguingly, many of the grapes grown are French in origin.