When they say it's wonderful to age like a good wine, do they really contemplate a wine that is 50 years old? Today, the Donne del Vino - the Women of Wine - held a unique tasting: 10 women producers presented their wines. First, a recent vintage, something we all might buy at the wine…
The people who came up with this idea of Opera Wine really were on to something. The combination of opera and wine isn't incidental: there are divas in both worlds. Great personalities, dramatic stories, love affairs, betrayals, elaborate plans, soaring emotions, figures that are somehow larger than life, exquisite beauty... All the mixings of a great opera…
Meandering through Tuscany in the almost-springtime is something I suggest everyone do at some point in their lives. I was in Siena the other day, exploring a place called the Enoteca Italiana. While I've been to Siena more times than I can count, I'd never found my way into this shrine to wine. Founded in…
Or so they say in Italian (La classe non è acqua!) Maybe it's Brunello, or Amarone, or Chianti, or Prosecco, or Furore. See what I mean? That phrase could have been the caption for Wednesday night's super gala dinner for Le Donne del Vino (the Women of Wine Association). The event is called Finitaly, a play…
They never cease to amaze, these Super Tuscans. I met two in my hotel here at Vinitaly. They need no introduction: Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri, Italy. Ring a bell? Sassicaia - the Super Tuscan by definition. These people not only make Sassicaia (they invented it, for Pete's sake!), but they also make superb Sardinian wines.…
OK, it doesn't get more luxurious than this: a hydromassage in red wine! And what an effect on the skin! So soft, so smooth -- it's all those anti-oxidants, right? When you emerge from the bath, a pleasant, smiling assistant gives you something to replenish the liquids you've lost: And this is supposed to be…
Retreating into the Val d'Orcia for my pre-Vinitaly spring renewal. Driving through this part of Tuscany, I inevitably ask myself: do these greens really occur in nature? Got in just after lunch time. Now that is what I call a Room with a View! Do you really think those little lined-up trees happen naturally too?…
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 