Valle dell’Acate – “Iri da Iri”, the Cru of Cerasuolo di Vittoria that missed

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Today I introduce you an absolutely new wine, as, while I am writing it is going to be released on the domestic and foreign market. It is produced in a special area of “my” Sicily , the area of production is  Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico, the sole DOCG of the island. It is made by one of the most dynamic wineries of the area, probably a flagship winery of this place, Valle dell’Acate, whose name comes from this area, Valle dell’Acate of Dirillo, a small river and even the name of this South – Eastern town of Sicily, in the province of Ragusa. 

Altemasi Graal Riserva. From the region Trentino, a winning example of cooperation!

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There are several example of cooperation in Italy, in agriculture, but above all in the wine business. More than ever “there is strength in numbers”. And the wine, I am talking about, that amused me is a sparkling one, produced by a cooperative, Cavit Trento, i.e. Cantina Viticoltori del Trentino, a really big one, involving about 4500 vinegrowers, from 10 cooperatives in Trentino, in the North East of Italy.

Marisa Cuomo – Furore Fiorduva, an extreme white wine that smells of sea and rock

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It is told so often about wines, referred as “terroir expression”. I think I have definitely found a wine, really terroir expression and obviously I have tasted it. It is an extraordinary white wine, from extreme vineyards on the Amalfi Coast, in Campania, between Naples and Salerno: this is Furore Fiorduva by Marisa Cuomo. Before telling you more about the incredible tasting notes of this white wine, let me tell you more about it.Who’s the winemaker? Where is it from? What about the vine’s training system? And why is Fiorduva an “extreme wine”? Here we go, with all the replies. 

Amazing Fiano experience by Maura Sarno from Irpina Land in Southern Italy

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TheWineReporter go back to Campania, in Southern Italy, to talk about a really rampant woman winegrower. She’s Maura Sarno, currently one of the most important names among the Irpinia producers, in the Region hinterland. Her motto was for a long time: “A single land, a single vineyard, a single wine produced: the Fiano di Avellino DOCG”. Surely, this enthusiastic and positive woman is the real key to the success of her own winery, called Tenuta Sarno 1860.

In the sign of Donatella: the President’s wine is also the womens’ wine

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The protagonist of this wine story is a volcanic woman, proactive and full of ideas. She’s Donatella Cinelli Colombini, a great woman of Italian wine. Born in Siena and graduated in History of Medieval Art, in 1993 she founded the “Movimento del Turismo del Vino” (Wine Tourism Movement) and invented “Cantine aperte” (open wineries), the event that made wine tourism known in Italy.

Firriato Gaudensius, the sparkling wine that releases volcano’s energy

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Perhaps not everyone knows that since some years italian winegrowers can create excellent classic method sparkling wines in Italian regions different from those known as “traditional”. Well! Today I want to tell you about an excellent sparkling wine that comes from grapes harvested on the slopes of Mount Etna, in Sicily. Of course everybody knows Mount Etna and knows where it is: it’s the highest active volcano in Europe with its 3,350 meters of altitude. All around the mountain – on different sides – the vine has been cultivated for centuries, up to altitudes of 1,100-1,200 meters.

LasteRosse, an original Classic Method from Groppello rediscovered in Trentino

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I want to talk about a wine that is born from an authentic love story. It all starts in Val di Non Mountains, in Trentino, that’s an enological region of North-East Italy. Soon the dream of Pietro Pancheri and his wife Silvia Tadiello (the LasteRosse owners) becomes reality: they have created a winery that respects territory, land and traditions. In practice, they have chosen to work sustainable agriculture, to preserve the native vines and to work following the rhythms of nature with a careful look to the moon.

Pardi Brothers: Sacrantino give a breakthrough to Umbria wine tradition

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I like to come back often, very nicely, in the beautiful Montefalco (Umbria region, at the centre of Italy), an uncontamined historical land of wine since Roman times. Think about it: it’s one of the few towns where the vineyards were inside their walls: they were really “urban vineyards”.
So, I will tell you the story of Cantina Fratelli Pardi (Pardis Brothers Winery). It began about a century ago, in 1919, when the three Pardi brothers (Alfredo, Francesco and Alberto) decided to produce and sell their local wines. At the time the wines were traveling to the Vatican where they were much appreciated.

Ten surprising shades of dry Albana di Romagna

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It’s always a nice job to share impressions, emotions and evaluations about typical wines of a specific Italian region (in this case: Romagna, on the North of Italy), comfortably in my city: Rome. I Like too much the idea of ​​focusing on the Albana di Romagna vine, suggested in dry version (introducing by sommelier Monica Coluccia) proposed  which is the most true and perhaps the most natural way. Let’s be honest: when we speak about Albana di Romagna DOCG, we think to the most famous kind: the straw wine (Passito) or even the one beneficially shaped by noble rot. But – in my opinion – this kind of Albana dry vinification is the real test for each good wine-grower in Romagna.

Istine LeVigne, that natural and fresh face of Chianti Classico Riserva

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The “natural woman” Angela Fronti is the real “fresh face” of a wonderful Chianti Classico Riserva that thrilled me at last FIVI Market. FIVI is Italian Federation of Indipendent Winegrowers. FIVI winemakers in Italy are a clear sample of artisans winemakers, the classic vigneron, who follow in first person all the steps from vine to wine, up to the marketing and communication of their products. Wines that almost always are the result of organic or natural agriculture, without (or almost) use of chemical treatments in the vineyard and in the cellar.