We are concluding a week that included two national holidays: Pasquetta, or Little Easter, on Monday, and the Festa della Liberazione, April 25th on Friday. How will we make it through next week? There's only one national holiday: Thursday is May 1st, or Labor Day! Here in my neck of the woods (Liguria), April 25th…
Continue reading ➞ Ever wonder why it’s called Genoa salame?
Today is ‘Little Easter’ in Italy: Pasquetta! Easter Monday is traditionally spent having a barbecue (you didn’t know Italians loved barbecue? They invented mixed grilled meat!!) Or sometimes having a picnic, usually associated with a walk in the countryside. This is like what 90% of the people do here on Pasquetta. You need a day…
On this Holy Day in Italy – venerdì santo, or Good Friday – the question is: Vin Santo or Vino Santo? Holy cow, as Phil Rizzuto used to say, we are not talking about the holy wine they use on the altar during Mass, OK? We are talking about sweet wines, dessert wines – although…
In Italian we say it is important to finire in bellezza, that is, to end things nicely, beautifully. It’s all about impressions and leaving a good taste in your mouth, so to speak. It’s what people remember, what they take away with them. And we can say that Vinitaly 2014 certainly ended with a bang!…
Continue reading ➞ Finire in bellezza… The Beautiful Finish to Vinitaly
Have I convinced you yet that all this tasting is hard work? When you start sipping at 10 in the morning, your taste buds are begging for a break by mid-afternoon. I don’t know if this is harder on the legs or on the taste buds. Tuesday is dedicated to some serious conferencing, as…
We are deep into it now, Vinitaly 2014. The heat is on, here in Verona – temperatures are record-breaking, and the wines are sweating. The refrigeration just can’t keep up with the sun beating down on the Verona fairgrounds. I’ve got to admit it, I prefer to sniff. The aromas are heady… I came to…
Racing around Vinitaly is grueling work … but someone’s got to do it, right? The numbers would seem to be good – all the winemakers I talked to, indicated that the first day (Sunday) seemed like a record-breaking day, with lots of foreigners (always a good sign in times of crisis!) Warm spring temperatures make…
I get into Verona around 6 p.m. on Saturday, just in time for Opera Wine, the kick-off event sponsored by the Wine Spectator to showcase their pick of Italy’s 100 best wines. It’s a time for meeting and greeting and the electricity is in the air. Just to get started - rev up…
In preparation for the wine-lover’s all-time kermesse, Vinitaly, what does one do? One gets in shape in a weekend of wellness at a thermal spa, what else? (Can you hear George Clooney saying that ‘What else?’ or does George only do Nespresso commercials in his adopted home, Italy?) Days in the sun, and nights in…
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 