Exploring Italian Wine One Grape at a Time
Eleva Winery in Sant’Ambrogio in Valpolicella, Veneto, is owned by Prof. Davide Gaeta and enologist Raffaella Veroli. I got to know Prof. Davide Gaeta a couple of years ago thanks to a fellow wine writer. I was collaborating with the Barrel Hunter Club in Canada and looking for a smaller organic winery in Valpolicella with … Read more
This episode of the WinesOfItaly Show was a collaboration with Susannah Gold and our Substack project All That Wine. Susanna and I explore a lesser-known wine region in Veneto: the Valle d’Agno, northwest of Vicenza. Our guest, Massimo Dal Lago, co-founder of Masari Winery, guides us into the heart of this valley, where volcanic soils … Read more
I am standing in an Oseleta vineyard wrapped in beautiful autumn colors somewhere in Veneto, not far from Lake Garda, looking at the recently harvested vines. I am snapping photos together with fellow wine peeps, hoping to get to taste the monovarietal Oseleta wine. I am excited. This was me some years back. I was … Read more
Graziano Prà is an organic winery with vineyards in both Soave and Valpolicella in Veneto that looks toward the future. The owner Graziano Prà makes slim and elegant wines with longevity and great drinkability. He is one of five vintners – Gli Svitati – that have embraced and are promoting the use of screw caps … Read more
The future of wine, or at least the future of Italian wine, was discussed at an event organized by the Uva Sapiens Consultancy Group in Veneto some months ago. Uva Sapiens is a team of vine and wine consultants founded by Mattia Filippi, Umberto Marchiori, and Roberto Merlo 10 years ago. In December last year, … Read more
When going to Veneto to explore the local wine culture, the Euganean Hills is probably not the first area you come to think of. We are more familiar with Ripasso and Amarone wines from Valpolicella, the white wines from Lugana and Soave (the Turbiana/Trebbiano di Soave and Garganega grapes), and the Chiaretto rosé wine from … Read more
Chiaretto di Bardolino is a rosé wine with an important history that has had an amazing and revolutionary development during the last 10 years, giving it a pole position among Italian rosé wines on the world map. It has become more essential to give an expression to micro-climate and terroir in rosé wines. Earlier this … Read more
A day in Valpolicella with Sabrina and Riccardo Tedeschi at their winery was a great opportunity to learn more about their winemaking. Here, I will take us back to a lovely summer day when I jumped on a train with destination Verona and Valpolicella. I had gotten an invitation to come and visit the Tedeschi … Read more
Three wine professionals and friends came together in the 1990s to start what today is a winery focused on producing quality Valdobbiadene DOCG wines. I am talking about Col Vetoraz, and the three guys are Francesco Miotto, the owner of the land and infrastructure, Paolo De Bortoli, the agronomist, and Loris Dall’Acqua, the oenologist. The … Read more
La birra Pedavena, è bere un’emozione. Pedavena beer, it’s like drinking an emotion. (I heard this sort of motto at Pedavena brewery last year, I cannot remember if said by the master brewer or someone else.) The Pedavena brewery really does create emotion; with its long and tumultuous though fantastic history, its location that is … Read more