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Continue reading →: Buon Appetito! Support the Restaurants!On this Valentine’s Day, I would like to say ‘I love you’ to all the restaurateurs out there. These are the people who have prepared our special Valentine’s Day dinners over the years (and on all those other special occasions we’ve shared with friends and loved ones in restaurants). They…
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Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti, Culture, Dolce Vita, Donne del Vino, Lazio, Made in Italy, Sicily, Siena, South Africa, Super Tuscans, Tuscany, Uncategorized, Wine
Red, Red Wine
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Continue reading →: Red, Red WineWhile the holiday season was quieter this year than in recent memory, it has taken a while to post this Highlights of 2020 Red Wines, a companion piece to the December post that talked about whites. If you read to the end here, you’ll know why. The Top Ten red…
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Art, Chianti, Culture, Dolce Vita, Donne del Vino, Emilia Romagna, Lambrusco, Liguria, Made in Italy, South Africa, Tuscany, Uncategorized, Wine
May Your Days Be Merry and Bright…
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Continue reading →: May Your Days Be Merry and Bright…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,…
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Over the Moon at Lvnae
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Continue reading →: Over the Moon at LvnaeGood 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…
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architecture, Art, Chianti, Culture, Dolce Vita, Donne del Vino, Food, Made in Italy, Olive Oil, Renaissance, Super Tuscans, Tuscany, Uncategorized, Wine
Tuscan Quintet Part V: Tenuta Il Corno
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Continue reading →: Tuscan Quintet Part V: Tenuta Il CornoTenuta Il Corno sits on a ridge in the Tuscan countryside just outside San Casciano Val di Pesa. The first time I visited the estate was on a dark and rainy January late afternoon. Struck by its austere and impressive façade, with a medieval bell tower to boot, the place…
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Continue reading →: Tuscan Quintet Part IV: Az. Agr. TamburiniLet me tell you a modern day fairy tale:Once upon a time, there was a dynamic dark-haired beauty. She made wine in Tuscany (I said this was a fairytale!) in a place called Il Castelluccio (which roughly translated means ‘the cute little castle’.) The beauty’s name is Emanuela Tamburini and…
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Continue reading →: Tuscan Quintet: Part III Conte GuicciardiniOrganization and method: that is what I found at Castello Poppiano, headquarters of the Conte Guicciardini winery. And history, vast history. And a touch of romanticism. A perfect blend that seems to have found its way into each carefully crafted bottle that bears the family crest. Conte Ferdinando himself was…
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Continue reading →: Tuscan Quintet Part II: La SalaThe hills are alive, and they’re calling my name. The hills of Tuscany that is, and in particular the area around San Casciano Val di Pesa. Tuscany is full of rolling hills, rivers, and thermal baths, which is why it is such a great wine-growing region, in particular for reds…
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Tuscan Quintet Part I: Travignoli
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Continue reading →: Tuscan Quintet Part I: TravignoliMy visit to the Travignoli winery took place on a day that was quintessential Tuscany: picture-perfect rolling green hills, white puffy clouds dotting an azure sky, neat rows of vines lending a sense of order to Nature, the occasional bright red geranium a splash of color. It had been some…
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AIS Associazione Italiana Sommelier, Culture, Dolce Vita, Donne del Vino, Food, Made in Italy, Tuscany, Uncategorized, Wine
Girl, Interrupted
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Continue reading →: Girl, InterruptedShe’s back!!!! Did you miss me as much as I’ve missed you? And as much as I’ve missed gallivanting about through the vineyards? Or tasting in the company of friends, fellow wine-lovers, producers, and not in front of a computer screen, peering into that black mirror trying to grasp some…
Suzanne Branciforte
has one foot firmly planted on either continent
is New York born and Harvard educated
is Italian and American and Italian-American
has resided on the Italian Riviera for the past 15 years
has a Masters degree and a Ph.D. from UCLA
is a writer, translator and interpreter
interpreted for the President of the Bundesbank and Nobel Prize winning economists and authors
is the author of the international best-selling textbook Parliamo italiano!
has lived extensively in California, France and Italy
knows that good wine doesn’t grow in ugly places
is convinced that living is your greatest work of art
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 