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…
On March 25, Italy celebrated the second Dantedì (Heaven forbid we use English and call it Dante’s Day, Dante would roll over in his grave!). This important celebration marks the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death in 1321. I hear you: “Why the Inferno March 25?” As recognized by most scholars of the Divine Comedy, on…
And may all your Christmases ... and wines... be white! Italian Grapevine is going to dedicate two posts to a review of the year’s highlights – the best of the reds and the whites we’ve sampled this year. Granted, it was a tough year: practically no wine fairs, no travel, no restaurants. For heaven’s sake,…
Yours truly with Diego Bosoni Good thing I live so close to the Winery of the Year 2020 in these no-travel Covid times! Lucky me, I got to visit Cantine Lvnae twice, in late summer and early fall. We are talking southern Liguria, getting close to the Tuscan border. Can I say what a pleasure…
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…
Over the past few weeks, I've been sipping and tasting with the lovely Italian Women of Wine in Liguria. Le Donne del Vino in Italy numbers over 800 members, with winemakers, restaurateurs, sommeliers, journalists, wine shop owners, etc. Two restaurants hosted special events to feature the wines of Emilia-Romagna paired with Ligurian cuisine. Get out…
Almost three days have already flown by at Vinitaly, and we at Italian Grapevine are looking forward to a great last day tomorrow! This morning I had the chance to participate in Young to Young, a tasting led by the famous Food&Wine journalists Paolo Massobrio (La Stampa, Il Golosario) and Marco Gatti. Young to Young aims…
This Halloween, I’m reflecting on the moon and its incredible influence on us, and on agriculture. In 2018, we’ve even experienced some supermoons. Our grandfathers knew how to plant according to the moon’s cycles, and maybe we should be paying closer attention to what it’s doing to us, too. For years, I would pass through…
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…
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 