Tony di Dio of Tony di Dio Selections is the representative for a number of quality wine estates. It is always interesting to taste with him the wines from one of these estates. This time it was the Baracchi Estate located near Cortona in Tuscany, we tasted the wines with lunch at Gotham Bar and Grill in NYC.

Tony said that near the winery is the Relais Il Falconiere, part of the Relais & Chateaux which is operated  by the Baraccho family.

The Baracchi Estate is located on a hill overlooking the Valdichiana Valley. It covers about 60 hectares of which 22 are planted in vines. They are divided into small plots: San Martino where the winery is located, Gabbiano between Cortona and Montepulciano, and Montanare all of them at about 300 meters with a southern exposure.

Tony said that the agronomist Stefano Chioccioli, who is also the enologist, selected…

Tommaso Marrocchesi Marsi and his brother Federico are the owners of Bibbiano. I have tasted their wines before and really liked them but recently I had the chance to sit down with Tommaso and discuss the wines over lunch.

Tommaso Marsi

Tommaso is very passionate about the Sanviovese grape, Tuscany and Chianti Classico.

The winery was founded in 1865 and he and his brother are the fifth generation of the family at the winery. The winery is located in Castellina in Chianti overlooking the Elsa Valley. Tommaso said that there is organic farming and C02 zero emissions. He believes that there should be as little interference by the wine-maker as possible.

There are 25 hectares of vineyards and they are between 270 and 300 meters. The vineyards are on two slopes, which have different characteristics. The winery has the same boundaries that it had in 1865.

He also said that…

Prosecco is the leading selling sparkling wine in Italy. In addition, it outsells Champagne in the UK and sales of Prosecco increase every year in the United States.

Recently I attended a Prosecco tasting panel hosted by Alan Tardi, the US brand ambassador for Prosecco at A Voce Restaurant. Innocente Nardi, President of the Consorzio Tutela del Vino Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore made a few opening remarks. The tasting panel consisted of Scott Carney, M.S., Dean of wine studies, International Culinary Center; Oliver Flosse, Wine Director, Marc,U.S.A.; and Robin Kelly O’Connor CSW, CWE, Italian Wine Merchants. There were six Proseccos at the seminar and they were a true representation of the Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG.

The Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore zone is located in the region of the Veneto, about 50 kilometers north of Venice, midway between the Dolomite Mountains to the north and the Adriatic Sea to the south…

Barolo’s Greatest Vineyards Ranked

© Mick Rock/Cephas | Barolo experts are in agreement over the superlative quality of Rocche di Castiglione

Alfonso Cevola charts Barolo experts’ vineyard classifications to find the region’s best sites.

Posted Tuesday, 17-Mar-2015

Barolo is one of the hottest wine collectibles today. But Italian laws and classifications can make navigating the landscape a tar pit for the collector who simply wants to get in, find the best of these great Italian wines, and get out. Unlike Burgundy, which has official categorizations for vineyards and the Médoc, which ranks its estates, Italy’s Piedmont region has no official hierarchy of the great Barolo vineyards.

It was Renato Ratti who first put his imprimatur on a map ranking the top “prima” categories in the 1970s. Ratti’s map was inspired by an unofficial Barolo classification written by Francesco Arrigoni and Elio Ghisalberti for Luigi Veronelli’s book “The Wines of Italy”…

Very informative article on Nebbiolo by Eric Asimov in The New York Times. Once again I find myself in complete agreement with Mr. Asimov. He understands wine made from the Nebbiolo grape and  to be at their best they must be paired with food.

New York Times March 5th 2015

For wine drinkers reared on the myriad red grapes that are common all over the world, a wine made of nebbiolo is a departure.

It may flash a ready comparison to others: the combination of delicacy and intensity found in the best pinot noirs, the tannic potency of cabernet sauvignon, the taut acidity of barbera. Yet when you add in the specific aromas and flavors of nebbiolo (proverbially described as tar and roses), which are so unlike most red wines, you have a selection that seems entirely singular.

The blend of these remarkable characteristics results in wines that can haunt…

Cooking is a relatively new passion, but I also loved to travel and thus, when I find good opportunities both for travel and learning to cook I wish I have enough time and resources to spend my life in a kitchen in the middle of a nice cute location in the middle of nature. But I only wish and write about my wishes. Some were able to achieve this dream. 

I discovered the wonderful work that Mama Isa is doing on Facebook and Twitter and decided to dare to ask her an interview. With a strong academic background, she decided to spend her life cooking and helping people to learn how cook. Let’s read some of her advices and stories!

You are historian by background. How did you decide to make history in the kitchen? 

I spent five years at University of Venice and ended up with a B.S…