The more you spend on wine, the more important the vintage becomes. It can be both a blessing and a curse that our weather in the Old World is less reliable than it is in the New World – we never quite know what a year will bring, but…

Wine tasting is a serious business for some – it is reported that the great Robert Parker has his taste buds insured for $1,000,000. While this might be a step too far for the average wine enthusiast, it is important to learn how to taste…

To get the most out of your wine tasting experience, the final step is in the way you serve it. To ensure you can savour all its finest aromas and flavours, consideration should be given to the temperature at which you serve your wine and…

The journey from grape to bottle is defined by two very important processes, beginning with life in the vineyard. The best grapes will thrive in good vintages, influenced by the very soil they grow in, the conditions around them and their…

Viticulture refers to everything that happens in the vineyard, from how the grapes are planted all the way to their picking and arrival at the winery for vinification. Italian winemakers are known to have a tremendous respect for tradition,…

Every wine producing country has laws in place to indicate wine quality, from the bulk wines that are produced for the local market to their most expensive exports. The Italian wine classification system has often caused confusion in the…

Whether your goal is to become a capable wine connoisseur, or simply to better understand what kind of wines you like so you can select wines with confidence, to learn about wine is a worthwhile and valuable process. Italy is fortunate to…

Unlike food, wine in Italy has changed dramatically, in the last 25 years. For one thing, I think the biggest change to have taken place is that Italians realized that they could make very great wines only if they paid extraordinary…

Getting familiar with Italian wine can be like studying for an exam in which you have to categorize and name all the pebbles on a rocky beach, hoping that your professor has categorized and named the pebbles in the same way. The fact that…

We’ve all seen it. The still-life painting of an Italian table adorned with crusty bread, cheese, wine, and grapes. The label on the wine is sometimes legible, the cheese might have a name such as Asiago or Taleggio, but what about the…