For the 50th year in a row, Vinitaly, the world’s largest wine trade fair, convened in Verona, Italy, last month. What did you miss, and why should you consider going next year? Vinitaly is no longer merely a gathering of 4,100 exhibitors, spread out over a million square feet of floor space, showing their wines […]
Posted November 2, 2015 Brunello & Rosso di Montalcino Tighten Their Regulations Brunello di Montalcino, already among the highest-quality wine denominations in Italy, is updating its disciplinare (the rules governing wine production) to ensure that quality in the production zone remains at a level that will continue to justify its lofty reputation and price. New […]
2015 a Good Vintage in Italy After a forgettable 2014 harvest in many regions of Italy, the 2015 vintage is a welcome arrival. Rain and cool weather at inopportune times during the 2014 growing season shaved almost 20% off the quantity that was produced in 2013’s bumper crop. Now, with fine summer and fall weather […]
We are very pleased to share this article by Andrew Chalk, IWP, who recently took the Italian Wine Professional program on his own initiative to evaluate its relevance for sommeliers and others looking to improve their knowledge of Italian wine. Chalk’s conclusion: “The Italian Wine Professional program represents the future of wine certification.” The article […]
Letter from the Prosecco Consorzio June 24, 2015 As has been widely reported, global sales of Prosecco reached 306 million bottles last year, compared to 241.5 million bottles the previous year. Even with this documented increase, there have been reports in the media that there is a current shortage. We felt the need to issue […]
Gran Selezione and New Labeling Terms Posted June 11, 2015 For a three-century-old denomination, a lot has been going on in Chianti Classico lately. Much of the activity follows from a major scientific study known as Chianti Classico 2000, which spent 16 years (1987–2003) doing experiments in the vineyards to determine what “best practices” means […]
Posted May 19, 2015 Fresh from creating a new quality level (gran selezione) for their wines, the producers of Chianti Classico are now contemplating another way to distinguish the best of their wines from the rest of the pack. Taking a cue from Barolo, Barbaresco, and a few other regions, Chianti Classico is thinking about […]
Posted May 18, 2015 With summer just around the bend, interest in rosato wines is again increasing with the 2014s arriving weekly. Two denominations that specialize in this refreshing style of wine are located near Lake Garda, which lies between Veneto and Lombardy. One, Bardolino, is well known, while the other, Valtènesi, deserves to be. […]
Posted December 4, 2014 Quick quiz. Pignoletto is: A. An opera by Giuseppe Verdi B. A fairy-tale puppet that magically becomes a little boy C. A sketch from The Muppet Show D. An Italian grape variety The correct answer is none of the above. Until very recently, Pignoletto was the name of a white grape […]
