A fairy tale ending for Schioppettino, the wine that defeated time.
Palate Press, July 31, 2014
The Ghost Grape: Renaming "Tocai"
Seven years ago the European Court in Luxembourg forced Italy to stop using the name “tocai” for its white wine made from a grape known as tocai friulano.
Palate Press, June 27, 2014
The "Temporibus" project": Wine archeologist meets crowd funding
An Italian winemaker attempts to produce 1st century wines via a 21st century approach: crowdfunding.
Palate Press, May 19, 2014
Spring in Verona means Custoza with Asparagus
As usual in my home region of Verona, this is the time of year when people indulge in a favorite vegetable just coming into season: fresh green and white asparagus. If you’d like to add a touch of Italian...
Palate Press, April 30, 2014
A "New" Old Grape: Spigamonti, Candidate for the Wine Mosaic Collection?
In the summer of 2000, an agronomist consultant called Claudio Oliboni was checking some vineyards in a little place called Spigamonti. Within the rows of corvina, corvinone, rondinella and molinara, Oliboni noticed that some bunches of grapes were already deeply colored, while others were still unripe.
Palate Press, March 2014
Brilliance in a Wine Glass: Wine Business Innovation Summit Award
Here is “smart” glass for tracking your tastings at wine events. It silently notes the tables where you have tasted wines so there’s with no fear of forgetting the name of a wine or a brand.
Palate Press, February 2014
Recioto: the sweet hearth of Valpolicella
April, 1320 A.D.: A small group of knights was riding in the countryside of Valpolicella (near Verona) with their prince Federico della Scala, one of the Lords of Verona. They were heading to the top of a hill, were once an ancient castle stood, and now there was a small church dedicated to Saint Mary.
Priorat e Montsant. Terre, vini e donne
Francesc Capafons, titolare dell’azienda Capafons-Ossò, guidava il fuoristrada su un sentiero accidentato come una mulattiera con la disinvoltura di un pilota di Camel Trophy, shakerando a dovere i suoi passeggeri mentre chiacchierava allegro in spagnolo frammisto d’inglese. Giunti a destinazione in cima alla collina, sceso dall’auto strappò velocemente una serie di erbe, invitando i suoi ospiti ad annusarle, mentre raccoglieva alcune pietre scure, senza smettere di parlare di territorio, suoli, vitigni...
Vigna 1350, the Highest Vineyard in Europe
The view is breathtaking: in front of me are the rounded, rocky peaks of the Tofane ridges, while behind me the sharp ridges of Pomagagnon Mountain jut into the sky. I am in the Dolomites, just above the famous tourist town of Cortina d’Ampezzo which is as well known for its jet set crowd as for its historic European aristocracy.
Experience, Culture, Age and other factors influence sensory perception
Wine competitions: many wineries continue trust them implicitly, especially the international competitions where thousands of wines from around the world are entered. The judges who taste them also come from many different countries. All of the judges are professionals: winemakers, sommeliers, buyers or wine journalists. However, their personal and cultural backgrounds are different. So the question is: is it also possible that their perceptions of wine are different?
Carnival in Italy, a Festival of Wines and Foods
Every region in Italy is its own small world, with distinct customs, traditions — even local languages which can have different tones within a few kilometers — and their own distinct cuisines as well. During the year, various regional events celebrate the richness and range of Italian foods. The most significant occasions are holidays such as Christmas, Easter and the celebration of the saint patron of a town, a village or even a big city. And a pagan festival such as Carnival is also celebrated at the table with great pleasure.
Lucio Mastroberardino Champion of Campania Wine (1967-2013)
Lucio Mastroberardino, one of the most prominent figures in the Italian wine world, died this week at the age of 45.
2102 Redux: the Traveling Grapes, predicting our future wines
Visiting the oldest and most prestigious wine-growing areas in Europe, it’s entirely possible to run into very old vines interplanted with different red and white varieties. In these situations, the owner might not even have identified all the grapes in his vineyard.
Stop that train! save Lugana wine
Lugana sounds like a fairy tale. But a real nightmare now threatens: the high-speed train.
EWBC 2012: vino e web nei cieli di Izmir
Non è solo comunicazione del vino, e nemmeno aggiornamento tecnico sulle ultime novità in fatto di software, strumenti, strategie di marketing o social media engagement; non è solo degustazioni guidate e assaggi liberi, visite a cantine e seminari sulla cultura enogastronomica del paese ospitante, workshop su vini e vitigni e sessioni sull'uso del video nel vigneto.
Merlot and Cabernet of Italy
The history of enology in Italy is rich in fairy-tale-like stories like this one. Once upon a time, there was a young Italian nobleman who loved two things: racehorses and French wines. His name was Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. In 1929 he was finishing his degree in agriculture at Pisa University when he met a famous racehorse breeder, Federico Tesio, who a few years later asked him to become his business partner.
In case of sickness, take Nosiola wine
Almost all Italian wine regions have a wonderful tradition of “medicinal wine” used to restore strength to new mothers, to accelerate healing in those who are suffering from a bad flu, and to nourish old people. In Trentino, the wine to be uncorked “in case of sickness” or, as they say in the local language, “in casi di mali,” is the Vino Santo, a sweet white wine that is now rather rare; today it has a very limited annual production of less than 50,000 bottles (and those are “half” bottles, of 330 ml).
Vinegar, not only dressing
A few weeks ago, I was walking around a small fair of Italian foods and wines, in Northern Italy. A little crowd was gathered around a cotton candy machine that, swirling quickly, formed fluffy balls of cotton candy on the sticks. “Ah! Good for the kids, but too sweet for my palate!” said somebody...
The Traveling Grapes: Predicting our Future Wines
Visiting the oldest and most prestigious wine-growing areas in Europe, it’s entirely possible to run into very old vines interplanted with different red and white varieties. In these situations, the owner might not even have identified all the grapes in his vineyard.
A Spaniard in Italy - Tuscan Tempranillo
San Miniato is a delightful town in the province of Pisa, in Tuscany—it is also known as San Miniato al Tedesco meaning “of the German,” to distinguish it from another nearby San Miniato called “al Monte,” which is a convent in Florence about forty kilometers to the northeast. In this zone, the most famous agricultural product is certainly the precious white truffle, although the hills are covered with vineyards. However, the wines of this small area suffer from the weighty presence of much more famous Tuscan appellations like Chianti.