Editorial
DoctorWine’s editorial is a Monday regular feature with an in-depth article, analysis and commentary on current topics from both the wine and food worlds of the Italian and international scene.
Are we really sure that young people do not drink wine?
Stefania Vinciguerra offers some thoughts on wine consumption by Gen Z youth and Millennials. It is wrong to say that they don’t drink; you have to try to understand how and why they drink. Surrounded by people who keep repeating...
Enoteca Ferrara has closed
It has closed (but the promise is to reopen elsewhere) the Paolillo sisters’ historic Enoteca Ferrara, an eatery of excellent cuisine and stellar wines in Rome. The causes? The transformation of Trastevere, between movida and overtourism. Daniele Cernilli tells us...
White people singing the blues
Just as in the modern musical tradition there are singers with vocals reminiscent of blacks, so there are white grape varieties-very traditional and territorial-from which white wines are produced that look like reds. Do you remember Joe Cocker? The “gas...
The color match
A few simple rules inspired by the principle of color matching. A system based mostly on experience and common sense and that normally works. Daniele Cernilli‘s word. With my longtime friend Silvano Prompicai, a.k.a. “the legendary Prompi,” we have been...
DoctorWine Guide 2026: the countdown begins
You are beginning to write to us in the editorial office or via social to get more information about the Guide 2026 presentations. Let’s start with the first previews. As I write this, we are just over a month away...
Not just duties
For months the word “tariffs” has monopolized the discourse of wine world insiders. The most schizophrenic assumptions have not allowed for serious analysis of what is really happening in the wine world outside of the duties to the U.S. Of...
Remembering Stefano Bonilli again
As he does every year in commemoration of his passing, Daniele Cernilli turns his remembrance to Stefano Bonilli, a lifelong friend and companion in his professional and food and wine adventures. On the evening of August 3, 2014, eleven years...
Wines and scores: repetita iuvant
Daniele Cernilli reposts an editorial from two years ago about whether or not wines should be evaluated with numerical scores. At a very sensitive time, for wine and for the world, that of wine scores may seem perhaps a futile...
The Essential Guide 2026: work in progress
As always in July, work on the new edition of the Essential Guide to the Wines of Italy, 2026, is in full swing. Stefania Vinciguerra tells us the behind-the-scenes story. This is it, our summer of “guiding” is in full...
Mama Ais’s 60th birthday
Exactly (or almost) 60 years ago, on July 7, 1965, the Ais, Italian Sommelier Association, was founded in Milan. We must never forget, recalls Daniele Cernilli, the contribution of Ais education to the growth of the wine sector. On July...
Small producers
Speaking of small artisanal producers, Daniele Cernilli reminds us how “small is beautiful” is primarily an Italian concept. And it is good to remember that small producers are more subject to various difficulties, climatic and market, bureaucratic and cost of...
Not just little brothers
In the past, “second wines” from the more established appellations were often referred to as the “little brothers” of the great wines. Today this is less and less true: in many cases the “little brother” is the wine that is...
“Wines for the Summer 2025” has arrived
To start the summer with the right glass, there is only “uncorking” the new edition of “Wines for Summer” by DoctorWine. It is also a way to try not to think only about the problems the wine world is going...
Traditions or admixture?
The constant appeal to ill-defined “traditions” suggests as much a need to lean on something reassuring, though perhaps untruthful, rather than venture into the unknown terrain of innovation. Eric J. Hobsbawn, a very famous British historian, wrote an enlightening book...
Still on the trail of the Black Rooster
“On the Trails of the Black Rooster,” the book written on behalf of the Chianti Classico Consortium in collaboration with Paolo De Cristofaro, won the Bruno Lunelli “a wine book” literary prize. Forgive me some self-referentiality this time. Only because...
What it means to write about wine
Writing is a profession. Not everyone can do it, even though we all went to school and learned to read and write. But that is like saying that getting a driver’s license means then knowing how to drive well. That...
Best wishes, Bruno Gambacorta
The best wishes of Daniele Cernilli and the editorial staff of DoctorWine are for Bruno Gambacorta, creator of the Eat Parade column, aired weekly on Rai2, inside TG2. Because Bruno is first and foremost a fellow journalist. Now retired. But...
Wine consumption and health: experts speak (4)
We conclude this roundup of articles on the relationship between wine consumption and health with one last paper on the topic. Today we discuss the principle of proportionality and balanced risk communication. In formulating health policies and messages to the...
Wine consumption and health: experts speak (3)
We continue today the publication of our experts’ interventions based on scientific studies. It is important to emphasize that what we report is not a personal opinion on the relationship between wine consumption and health, but report studies done internationally....
Wine consumption and health, experts speak (2)
We saw yesterday how scientific evidence urges us to distinguish between general alcohol consumption and moderate wine consumption. Today we look at the possible positive effects of moderate and informed wine consumption. Contrary to some extremely cautious positions, there is...
Wine consumption and health, experts speak (1)
It is improper and scientifically incorrect to label wine, outright, as harmful to health. We report the opinions of various specialists in a series of articles dealing with the topic of the relationship between wine consumption and health. The following...
Another perspective on the relationship between alcohol and cancer
This is how Professor Fulvio Ursini’s position on the relationship between alcohol and cancer can be defined, which we bring to you. And to make you understand “from what pulpit” we add his impressive academic record. Fulvio Ursini, born in...
Why I drink wine
Behind the choice to drink wine there can be several reasons, says Daniele Cernilli, but the main one is the hedonistic one: we drink wine because it is good, because we like it. Some of you may remember the movie...
Water and wine
Apparently a provocation, but actually a proposal: why,” reasons Daniele Cernilli, “in order to make a low-alcohol wine, do we not allow dilution with water? The act of “watering down” wine has always been a widespread practice. Since the time...
Killer alcohol. Are we all complicit?
According to the WHO (and others), alcohol-and consequently wine-causes cancer; it is a real killer. This indiscriminate accusation raises the doubt that wine producers, and we who talk about it, are all “killers.” Daniele Cernilli reasons about this paradox. If,...
Wine and alcohol, let’s take stock
Let’s not let wine be demonized. Moderate wine consumption represents an equally moderate risk and even has some positive aspects. Wine and alcohol, devilish embrace? Alcoholic beverage intake is responsible for about 4 percent of cancer cases worldwide, and 14...
How to change
Even the most famous wines over the years undergo many changes due to climatic changes, new plantings in the vineyard, stylistic choices in the cellar, and technical evolution. Following the different evolutions of wines also involves being able to recognize...
Back to Vinitaly
For the wine world, this is one of the most difficult periods it has ever experienced. Vinitaly will help understand whether this is a structural crisis or whether there is room to overcome it, perhaps all together. From April 6...
Wines and supermarkets
Large-scale retail trade (GDO) is now the main channel for wine sales in Italy, intercepting an increasingly large and varied audience. Beginning on April 3, we will address this topic with a series of in-depth reports. How often do we...
Wine and culture
We must avoid rhetoric, technicalities, narcissism, and self-referentiality, says Daniele Cernilli. But we must not forget the relationship between wine and culture and those aspects that have made wine much more than “something to drink.” I have been reading lately...