If you know what these two things have to do with each other, you are on top of your Italian culture! Last Saturday night, the 71st annual Festival di Sanremo, Italy’s annual music festival, concluded with a surprise win. The rock band Måneskin took first prize with a song called Zitti e buoni (Shut up…
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…
Nice thing about Vinitaly is getting to see the wine producers, whether old friends or new acquaintances. Meeting who is behind the wine is what it's all about. And besides, it's fun! So here are some of my highlights of the last Vinitaly! Just another Italian American from New York living in Italy? Joe…
Lucky for me, when I travel for wine, I also get to try an awful lot of good food. Puglia is one of those regions where authentic regional cuisine is flourishing. And as if that were not enough, going back to basics, using all natural ingredients or recipes the way grandma made them, is all…
Not everyone living in the Mediterranean is adhering to the Mediterranean Diet these days... To the point that some people even think the Mediterranean Diet is dead! Rubbish! Plenty of Italians are still eating healthy, vegetable-base meals with olive oil, accompanied by water and wine, maybe a little pasta, maybe a little fish, hardly any…
Continue reading ➞ The Mediterranean Diet is Alive and Well and Living in Puglia
Varvaglione 1921, Puglia's fastest growing winery, knows that it's a question of taste, and amply demonstrated it at their event A Question of Taste held at Borgo Egnazia April 20-22, 2018. The best of Puglia was on display, accompanied by a gamma of their wines, featuring for the most part native grape varieties. From Primitivo…
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…
True confessions: how much do you know about wine from Puglia? Not much? Well, it's time you learned! Puglia is Italy's hot, up-and-coming wine region, so you'd better be prepared. This is the heel of the boot. When talking terroir, a map is a good place to start! Local varieties have fun and evocative names…
Continue reading ➞ There’s Nothing Primitive about this Primitivo!
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 