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The Beauties of Baricci, a Historic Brunello Estate
A bottle of Baricci Brunello from the 1970s Drive up any long, winding road out of Montalcino, and you’ll pass any number of Brunello makers. So many wineries, so little time. It’s hard to know which...
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Gianfranco Soldera, the Man, the Estate, Same Difference
If Montalcino is a magical place (and I believe that it is), then Gianfranco Soldera’s Case Basse estate sits at the center of its mystical convergence. Much has been made about how the eco system of...
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Recollections of Sassicaia’s Maker
Sebastiano Rosa before Sassicaia’s barriques There is an unmistakable scent when wine ages. It’s a smell of ineffable purple, of life and wood and grapes and the alchemy of fruit becoming something...
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The Heart of Suvereto, Tua Rita
The day I visited Tua Rita, the grass had just been cut, and the air was filled with the green of grass tinged with the pointy scent of wild scallions that grow in and among the grass. It was a day of...
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Great, Geeky, Gorgeous Grattamacco
Vines growing at Grattamacco Founded in 1977, Grattamacco, one of the pioneers of Bolgheri and the Super-Tuscan movement, was the second winery in Bolgheri—Sassicaia was the first, and these two...
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Wine Gifts from the Heart
Spring at the biodynamic Castello dei Rampolla estate in Panzano. Marcel Proust had a point when he bit into that madeleine. Our human sensory experiences sit inextricably twisted with our personal...
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Visiting Umbria’s Paolo Bea
IWM recently offered a quartet of new Paolo Bea releases, which makes it the perfect time to revisit John Camacho Vidal’s visit to this iconic winemaker’s estate. When I visited Italy in 2014, I...
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Inside Umbria, Toscana’s Overlooked Neighbor
Sagrantino grapes ripening at Paolo Bea Although Umbria and Toscana abut, Umbria is very much its own region—one that has been coming into its own and attracting the notice of both critic and consumer....
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Enjoying the Amber Wines of Josko Gravner
Gravner’s “orange” Ribolla Gialla White wine with red meat? I say yes—when the wine in question is made byJosko Gravner. These magical golden wines from Friuli are fascinating on their own, and they’re...
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Castello dei Rampolla’s Harmony with Nature
Biodynamic Castello dei Rampolla Farmers who use biodynamic growing methods choose to plant, weed, treat, harvest and, if they’re winemakers, vinify in concert with the movement of the planets. The...
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