I had the pleasure of meeting Riccardo Talenti and tasting his newly released Brunellos at Benvenuto Brunello 2013. Besides being very charming and approachable (I’m talking about Riccardo!), I was very impressed with the new Talenti Brunello releases. Here’s the skinny: Talenti Brunello 2008 – Not a lot on the nose, but it was the beginning of the day and the bottle had just been opened.  In the mouth there was red fruits,...

The city of Copenhagen was host to a very special group, our very own Strada dei Vini Cortona on the the 1st and 2nd of March! The local newspaper Politiken spread the word and more than 1500 tickets were sold in advance for the two day event.  I think that probably at least a good 200o people attended.   The space was ultra modern with the theme being wine, Cortona products and tourism.  Of course most people were there for the wine. Not...

When art makes wine.  With a little sex thrown in. Soffocone di Vincigliata comes from Azienda Agricola Testamatta in the hills of Fiesole, just above Florence.  The owner, Bibi Graetz, of Italian/Norwegian descent, is an artist who only started making wine in the late 90’s with the help of winemaker Alberto Antonini who worked with him for four years using Graetz’s family land.  Antonini has worked with Antinori, Frescobaldi, E...

I had the absolute pleasure to attend THE Benvenuto Brunello 2013 event this past Monday in Montalcino and taste many of the newly released Brunellos.  WAY too many to talk about in one post but I promise to report all my findings soon. As the icing on the cake we stopped in at Casanova di Neri on our way back to Cortona, where I literally was RUINED for all other Riserva Brunellos 2007.  And trust me, I tried some really good ones. All of the...

Recently a well known wine -o-phile in Italy, Alessandro Rossi, put together a group of winemakers, wine lovers, wine writers and wine experts to blind taste 9 of the best Cabernet Francs from Tuscany.  Only one of the wines was from the Cortona D.O.C. area. (important to note since I’m blatantly for home team Cortona D.O.C.!) The end result, Leuta rated 95/100 for the win. It’s no secret I’m a Leuta fan and I am always...