Over the years, I’ve taken dozens of photos of stands at Vinitaly that struck me for some reason. Deciding how to portray your winery with a stand is no simple or laughing matter. It’s serious business and can cost quite a bit as well. Some elaborate, some simple (at times, too simple!), how you use…
Two of the powerhouses of this year’s Vinitaly, Wine Spectator and Veronafiere-Vinitaly, have paired up on more than just Opera Wine this year. There is a whole calendar of tastings and master classes to complement the pavilions that feature, region by region, Italy’s vast array of vintages. Powerhouses of Italian wine (left to right: Marilisa…
Back in the saddle, sipping again! Last Saturday I had the great good fortune to attend Wine Spectator’s pull-out-the-stops event, Opera Wine 2021 live and in person in Verona. This was one of the first live tasting events since the pandemic, and it brought together – as is tradition – producers, buyers, journalists from around…
The last weekend of October, Rome was a hotbed of activity for the maximum in Italian wine. On Saturday, October 26, the Italian Association of Sommeliers (AIS – Associazione Italiana Sommelier) presented its guide, Vitae, at the prestigious Nuvola Convention Center designed by famed Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas. The Maximum in wine and architecture! And…
One of Italy’s big B wines (Brunello, Barolo, Barbaresco, maybe even Bolgheri) that command universal respect, Brunello di Montalcino is perhaps the most exquisite expression of that versatile grape Sangiovese. Of course in this area of Tuscany, the grape itself is called Brunello, whereas in nearby Montepulciano, it goes by the name of Prugnolo Gentile!…
One of Italy's best under-appreciated native grape varieties is Aglianico. Can I say how much I love it? It grows principally in the South of Italy, mostly in the regions of Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Calabria. Whether a wine is 100% Aglianico, or a blend, there is a lot to be said for this grape,…
Roero may not be a name on everybody’s lips, but it is certainly the Italian area with the most roaring name. Try practicing the difficult Italian ‘R’ sound: Roero! Along with the Langhe and Monferrato, Roero is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Vineyard Landscapes of Piedmont. Roero takes its name from a noble…
The national association of Le Donne del Vino - the Women of Wine - today presented a special tasting on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the association's founding: wines made from very old vines. That means even 80-year-old vines, and sometimes even older! You knew that some wines improve with age, but did…
Get the party started! Wine Spectator's mega-event kick-off to Vinitaly, Opera Wine, is a feel-good event that showcases Italy's Top 100 wines (which for some reason, this year were 107!) Maybe because it was the 7th annual Opera Wine? The event sported an oddly American stars-and-stripes theme. Crank up the volume, because this blog post has…
Breaking with tradition: we are not going to talk about wine. This is the Lent period in preparation for Vinitaly: time to give things up, purify, detox, and get ready for the biggest wine event in Italy, held every year in Verona. This year, from Sunday, April 15 to Wednesday, April 18, tens of thousands…
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 