Paul Caputo

Chatting about wine writing, journalism, criticism and the media landscape

I have a chat with Matthew Horkey of Exotic Wine Travel about how I see things developing in the wine media landscape over the next few years.

Videos

Video - Discussing the Cru wines of Soave (part one)

I was delighted to be joined by Matteo Inama of the famous Inama estate, Giula Franchetto of Cantina Franchetto, Danish importer Ole Udsen, Chiara Coffolle of Az.Ag. Coffolle, and Chiara Mattiello of the Consorzio. We talk about terroir of these new geographical units and talk about how some of

Videos

Video - Grape Focus - Discussing Susumaniello

I'm with Ole Udsen, Romina Leopardi of Tenuta Rubino, Alfredo Falvo of Masseria Li Veli and Massimiliano Apollonio of Vini Apollonio to discuss the old but increasingly fashionable Susumaniello grape found in Puglia. You can read more about Susumaniello here.

Travel - Concorso di Vermentino (Sardinia)

In February 2020 I flew in to Caglairi for a few days in order to judge at the relatively new Concorso di Vermentino, a competition designed to showcase Sardinia's top expressions of the Vermentino grape, a variety blessed with massive potential for fine, mineral rich white wines. You can listen

Wine

Pantelleria: Sweet Wines of the Black Pearl

You can also read this article on Vinorandum, where it won the Millesima Blog Award for Wine Reporter. Pantelleria is one of the most interesting terroirs in Italy. Known as the black pearl of the Mediterranean, this secluded Sicilian island is entirely volcanic, formed through a series of eruptions that

Articles

Timeless Gavi

You can also read this article on vinorandum.com > here --- The Gavi denomination knocks out around six million bottles a year. The bulk of this output is undertaken by large bottlers, many of them focussed on interests elsewhere in Piedmont - Asti in particular. This approach has done

Travel

Travel - A few days in Salento with #NegroamaroStories

Guagnano is one of the key winemaking villages of Salento. More specificially it's home to some of the best vineyards in Puglia's classic DOC of Salice Salentino. Here, bush vines of Negroamaro planted up to a century ago provide premium quality grapes capable of making stunning wines. It's just.....only

Travel

Visiting Romina Tacchino

The Dolcetto grape has two capitals - Ovada and Dogliani. The small village of Castelleto d'Orba is a stone's throw from Ovada, and here, the Tacchino family cultivate the variety in order to create a wine capable of ageing. You can see my profile of Azienda Agricola Tacchino on Vinorandum

Travel - A snapshot of Liguria

I spent a few days seeing Liguria for the first time. Starting off in La Spezia and heading west along the coast, virtually as far as San Remo, I was able to get a feel for the terrain that characterises appellations such as Cinque Terre DOC, Ormeasco di Pornassio DOC

Travel - On the road in Hungary with HungarianWines.eu

Here are a few notes from my recent four day study tour to Hungary, courtesy of HungarianWines.eu, the PR and marketing arm of the brilliant Ágnes Németh and Tamás Dobos. The format was a whistle-stop tour of Hungary by bus that incorporated the awards ceremony of the Hungarian Wine

Articles

Old Soave - the gift that keeps on giving

You can also read this article on vinorandum.com > here --- Something has happened to Soave in the last decade. It seems to have gone from being one of the most uninspiring names in wine to one of the most spectacularly under valued whites around. The secret, it seems,

Articles

The legacy of Moscato di Siracusa

Cantine Pupillo @ the fiefdom of TargiaTomasi di Lampedusa's colourful and evocative portrayal of the creeping, sleepy decline of the Sicilian aristocracy offers a romantic backdrop from which to consider one of the island's more sluggish DOCs. His acclaimed novel tells the story of the Prince of Salina and his family,

Articles

Durello, Italy’s trendiest sparkling wine

Durello is Italy’s coolest sparkling wine. Made from the Durella grape, it offers austere, steely, mineral characteristics.

Travel - Judging at IWCB in Bucharest, Romania

Last week I flew to Bucharest to take part in IWCB for the second time. I first attended the Bucharest International Wine Contest back in 2017, and having missed the event last year when it was held in Iasi, I was delighted to return to look into developments across the

Travel - A few days in Soave and the Venetian hills - Part 1

I woke up one day in early May to find two, presumably unrelated, emails waiting for me. The first alerted me to a UK trade campaign intended to highlight one of the Veneto's most misunderstood wines under the rather fun banner of Summer of Soave. The second was an invitation

Travel - Dining at Michelin Starred L'Oustalet in Gigondas

Here are a few moments from a fabulous lunch in the village of Gigondas. Michelin starred L’Oustalet (awarded earlier this year) is a collaboration between the Perrin family of Chateau Beaucastel (Chateaneuf-du-Pape fame) and highly acclaimed chef Laurent Deconinck who has been expressing his interpretation of Provençal cuisine for

Travel - A short visit to Châteauneuf-du-Pape

A big thank you to Michel Blanc and the syndicate of Châteauneuf-du-Pape for facilitating a few days in the appellation and an opportunity to engage with both the terroir and the wines. Despite tasting, drinking, selling and writing about these stony vineyards and full-bodied blends for years it was my

News - I'm a VinItaly Ambassador

After years of working with Italian wines I was delighted to be selected to join the VinItaly International Academy program and attempt the exam to become an VinItaly International Amabassador. I passed : )

The Culture of Collaboration

Interesting things tend to happen at the intersection of ideas. Some of the best innovations and original business creations have emerged from people who can re-assemble the theories of multiple disciplines and use the resulting combinations to solve problems in new ways. Quite often these developments are brought about through

Travel - Judging at Citadelles du Vin 2019, Bordeaux, France

Back in Blaye for the second time! In mid March I spent a few days judging at Citadelles du Vin, a small but long-standing competition held in Blaye, just across the Gironde from Bordeaux. The afternoons were filled with various visits - Lunch at Chateau des Tourtes in Saint-Caprais-de-Blaye and

Travel - My first time at Mundus Vini, Germany

Impressions of Mundus Vini 2019.... Mundus Vini has grown exponentially since its conception by the Meininger publishing house in 2001. It's importance in Germany, but also across the whole wine is demonstrated by the almost 12,000 samples that are submitted for judigng. The purpose of the competition is to

Events - Damien Petit of Domaine Desire Petit visits Mistral

On Wednesday the 6th of Feb Damien Petit came to Mistral to introduce his fabulous Jura wines to some of Chester's wine lovers. As the latest generation to oversee this long standing family business, Damien runs the almost 30 hectare estate in Pupillon. Alongside his sister, he has embarked on

Plans for 2019

Friends, Having broken the back of January I'm pleased to reach out with my first update of 2019. Last year I worked hard on launching Vinorandum, my ambitious plan to develop a wine search engine platform. Clearly there is still a lot of work still to do but I would

Cellar Highlights for Mistral Wine Bar - January 2019

What a year 2018 was! After just a few short weeks of being open word seemed to spread around Chester and our little reputation for creating a cosy, intimate wine space made its way onto social media and into the local paper. Last year we showed some amazing wines and

Events - Hosting an Alpine Wine Tasting at Mistral

We held our first wine tasting event at Mistral since its opening in September. Hopefully it will be the first of many, but we teamed up with Ben Drury of Yorkshire merchant Alpine wines to introduce customers to some of the boutique names hiding in the various shadows of the