While 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. Red, red wine, Stay close to me... The Top…
Sicily is a feast for the senses… Stimulation abounds, as you are surrounded by beauty, both natural and man-made. On a recent visit to Scicli – which is pronounced chic + ly – I got to know a little corner of the Mediterranean’s biggest island that had inexplicably avoided my probing eye. This end-of-summer moment…
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…
Molise: The Sound of Wine. Love that. Not sure I know what it means. But it doesn't matter. What sound does wine make? Lots of different sounds, depends on where you are, at what point the wine is (pouring? drinking? slurping the last delicious drop?), and who you're with. As the following photos will attest,…
Today I had the rare opportunity to taste 19 rare wines made from little known indigenous grapes. Since I decided to focus during this Vinitaly 2017 on lesser known Italian wines and wine regions, this was the perfect tasting for me! I have to admit, I had not heard of the grape varieties Minutolo or…
'Tis the season to be jolly, and no matter what your mood, the bubbly will improve it! So since this is the ITALIAN Grapevine, make sure the bubbly that graces your New Year's table is something from the Bel Paese: Spumante - that's the Italian word for bubbly, but don't jump to conclusions! It doesn't…
You didn't know there was a vendemmia in Milan, did you? Let me tell you, this is one hell of a harvest festival in a city that rarely sleeps! It is such a hard life writing about Italian food, wine and culture... Last night I made my way through the throngs of people enjoying the…
Did you know that Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world? All that art and nature... wonderful, right? But how can one little country afford to preserve and promote all that beauty? We all have to pitch in, that's how! And the world of wine is doing its…
Continue reading ➞ The Culture of Wine Part 1: Tasca d’Almerita
Memories, like the corners of my mind... On a recent trip to Sicily, I was reminded that, once upon a time, we used to eat a different way too. Maybe it was that starlit night in the piazza with the great Baroque basilica front-lit against the black sky... It just evoked another era. Or maybe…
Everyone should take a sailboat trip around Italian islands at some point in their life. Now when Domenico Modugno sang 'Nel blu dipinto di blu' this is what he was talking about! A recent cruise around the Egadi Islands off of Sicily's western coast (departures from Marsala or Trapani - both fantastic small…
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 