💯🕰️ A 25 year vertical at Fattoria di Grignano
In this article I focus on the Chianti Rufina subzone and the aged wines of Fattoria di Grignano.
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💯 Tasting: The Historical SuperTuscans
Earlier this year, I attended a rare tasting of wines from members of the Association of Historical SuperTuscans. Predominantly hailing from the 2016 vintage, these were a joy to taste and and a reminder that they remain some of the finest wines in the world. As Tuscany’s wine scene
🇬🇪 Reflections on the Gurjaani Wine Festival
It’s mid afternoon in Eastern Georgia and an October sun loiters in the boundless blue sky. A shimmering heat haze lingers over the Alazani river plain, distorting the vast snow capped profile of the Caucusses. We’re just over 100km from Tbilisi, in the Kakheti region’s principle winemaking
💯🌋 Tasting report: Etna Bianco
Etna’s evocative landscapes conjure thoughts of vibrant wines that bristle with energy, tart fruit and fiery acidity. The territory is in vogue right now and even with rapidly rising prices the wines are an easy sell. Reds from Nerello Mascalese have driven the recent renaissance, but I predict it
Heroic viticulture in the hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene
I look at the growing interest around single vineyard Prosecco and contemplate the significance of heroic viticulture. How important is terroir in the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG appellation and can we taste it in the glass?
🗝️🕸️ From the Cellar: Millennium Riesling still going strong
Over the last decade or so I’ve built up a little cellar. It’s full of all sorts of wonderful things, but also plenty of wines that are surely past their best. ‘From the cellar’ is a new idea for a monthly column where I’ll raid the racks
🍽️ Fine dining: LÚ Cocina y Alma, Jerez, Spain
Juanlu Fernández, or Lu for short, frequently describes his approach to cooking as ‘rearguard vanguard’, a playful dichotomy that captures the essence of his first business venture, LÚ Cocina y Alma, an intimate restaurant space in the historical centre of Jerez de la Frontera. Off the back of a 10
🗝️🕸️ From the cellar: Summer recess
From the cellar looks at old wines from various cellars around the world. The aim isn’t to find the most prestigious labels, but wines that might surprise and delight.
📝 Derthona 2.0: The Story of Timorasso and the Road Ahead
Timorasso represents one of the great comebacks of the Italian wine scene. All but lost to the archives of history it was rescued by winemaker Walter Massa and not only kept in circulation harvest after harvest, but elevated to the podium as one of the country’s great white wines.
📸 Photo diary: Sicilia En Primeur
Earlier in May I was in Sicily for Sicilia En Primeur. With groups of journalists heading all over the island for in depth tastings and visits, before reconvening in Taormina, the event represents a huge annual showcase of Sicily's continued evolution. I opted to go to Marsala, to continue my
📸 Photo diary: In Bordeaux for the start of the En Primeur campaign
Visiting Bordeaux for a few days for the panoramic tasting of the 2021 vintage.
📝 From ashes to elegance: exploring Falanghina in the explosive terroir of the Phlegraean Fields
Don’t let the romantic archaeological sites, coastal lakes, beaches, thermal springs, and nature reserves fool you. This is one of the most dangerous places on earth make to wine. Paul Caputo tastes through some of the Campi Flegrei’s best white wines and discovers an appellation growing in confidence,
📸 Photo diary: In Barolo
Between judging at 5 Star Wines in Verona and VinItaly I was able to find a few days of visiting and tasting in Barolo with Chris Barnes of Grape Collective in New York. Here are some snaps. Onwards to Caastello di Verduno.
📸 Photo diary: 5 Star Wines & Opera Wine 2021
I was a panel chairman during the 5 Star Wine competition held in Verona. Once the business of judging was over, it's a great chance to catch up with old friends and of course meet new ones. The Wine Spectator Opera Wine event followed as a prelude to VinItaly Out
📝 Fontanavecchia and the ageing potential of Falanghina Beneventana
Despite its historic pedigree, the Falanghina grape has spent recent decades in the doldrums. For too long it has resided on the periphery of Italian wine chat, and is generally considered to be one of Southern Italy’s provincial jug wines. Over the last few years however, it has arguably
Dancing in the dark
A collaboration with De Burris, producers of Amarone della Valpolicella.
Articles
📝 Building Allure: The Changing Faces of Winery Architecture
Photo diary
📸 Photo diary: 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. The competition was
Articles
📝 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
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📝 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 much to
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
Photo diary
📸 Photo diary: 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
Photo diary
📸 Photo diary: 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
Photo diary
📸 Photo diary: 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
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Old Soave - the gift that keeps on giving
You can also read this article on vinorandum.com > here [https://www.vinorandum.com/blog/old-soave-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving] --- 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
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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,
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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 : )