As usual, before Vinitaly my email box is full of invitations to events: press conferences, round tables, seminars, workshops, etc. And as usual, due to lack of time, I have to decline the most of them. But this time there was an invitation that intrigued me: a tasting of torbato.
I first discovered wine at the tender age of nineteen on a trip to Italy -- ostensibly to learn how to sing. I spent that summer learning more about Umbrian and Tuscan reds than I did about singing and have been spoiled rotten ever since. It is a terrible thing
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is distinctive, but why? The Science of Sauvignon Blanc by wine writer and plant science Ph.D. Jamie Goode explores a host of recent scientific research topics in many facets of sauvignon blanc prodcution. The book, funded by the New Zealand Winegrowers’ levy-funded research program, sets out to
In 2010, the Chinese takeover of the fine wine investment market was big news. Premium Bordeaux futures were selling like hot cakes, particularly off the back of the 2008 vintage (the Chinese symbol for the number 8 is considered to be very auspicious), and any fine wine merchant worth his
April is the time of year when wine people start pricking up their ears, scanning for news from Bordeaux. A few actually go there for the en primeur tastings of the latest vintage in early April, while the rest wait around until their tasting notes are made public. Occasionally, we
Franco Biondi Santi, the patriarch of the family credited for having laid the foundations of the prestigious Brunello di Montalcino appellation, died last weekend at the age of 91. A staunch guardian of the tradition started by his grandfather Ferrucio, both by the style of the family estate's wines and
British wine critic Jancis Robinson has something of a romantic debt to American wine. Not only was her first British national wine story about American wine, but she met her husband, Nick Lander, when they organized a tasting of American wines in London. At the time, wines from the US
Hardy Wallace gave himself one year to sell through his first significant release of wines from Dirty and Rowdy Family Winery in late August, 2012. It would be work, hand selling, lots of travel. If they could sell out in a year, it would be a sign that maybe this