Earlier (ok… much earlier) this year, I had the opportunity to hit up an in-person, sit-down tasting media dinner (the idea of which seemed almost too quaint to even contemplate during COVID) with Rodney Strong‘s Director of Communications Chris O’Gormon and head of winemaking Justin Seidenfeld. I’ve now known these guys for a long time,…
Category: kick-ass wines
Wine in the Time of Coronavirus, Part 62: ‘Round & ‘Round (Tasting Librandi Calabria Recent Releases)
Italy’s Calabria has been a bit of a victim of its own success. The ancient Greeks dubbed Enotria Tellus—”Land of Wine.” Sporting a diverse terroir that features plenty of ocean influence and even more sunshine, wine grapes have thrived there for eons. Which led to the modern Calabrian wine market becoming co-op heavy, focused on…
Wine In the Time of Coronavirus, Part 60: Nebbiolo, Six Ways (Tenuta Carretta Recent Releases)
It’s hard to shake the pressure of 555 years of history. Just ask Tenuta Carretta (with whom I recently enjoyed a virtual Zoom samples tasting, guided by CEO Giovanni Minetti and Technical Director Paolo Scaiola). It was on 28th of November, 1467 that a sharecropper concession was drawn up that officially kicked off the estate’s…
Wine In the Time of Coronavirus, Part 59: Rule Breakers (Bellenda Valdobbiadene Recent Releases)
“We always wanted to break the rules.” So mentioned Prosecco family producer Bellenda owner Umberto Cosmo and his daughter Lucrezia during an online samples tasting I attended (relatively) recently. If ever an outfit in Valdobbiadene embodied the Italian spirit of flaunting convention, it’s this one. Founded in 1986 by Umberto and his brothers and father,…