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.
Food and wine
No one has a magic wand to determine the proper “tastes” for food and wine pairing. There are many factors to take into consideration: cooking methods, winemaking styles, experience and tradition, which are all elements involved but are not written...
Unintentional fusion
Cuisines today, Italian as well as the others, are commixtures that are the result of centuries of travels and trade. And even those recipes that are apparently more traditional are the product of a combination of international ingredients, and this...
Neglected wines
Wine does not make itself and those who say it does (and believe it) do not take into account that wine is not made by nature alone but involves human intervention. Pressing grapes and letting the juice ferment by itself...
Wines and ratings
Assigning ratings to wines is the most concise way to state their quality but in our Essential Guide to Italian Wine we go beyond this: we describe the wines we evaluate, we say what grapes and aging method were used...
Marco Oreggia, one of us
Marco Oreggia is probably the most skilled and famous extra-virgin olive oil critic in the world and with his Flos Olei project he has created an unmatched informational initiative for quality EVOO. I have known Marco Oreggia since the latter half of the 1980s...
Romagna nostra
We have all seen the images of the flooding that recently devastated the region of Romagna and which words cannot describe. We hope our friends in Romagna will pull through this as soon as possible with the strength, courage and...
The varietal name on the label
According to European Union law, to place the name of a varietal on a wine label it is sufficient that the wine be at least 85% made with that grape. The rest can be composed of varieties permitted by the...
Wine guides 36 years later
Some are of the opinion that wine guides are, by now, useless, while others buy them year after year and don’t know what they would do without them. Like all things in the fragmented world, these guides are a niche...
Is blending the future
Every so often we hear people speak about this and it’s always authoritative producers who do so. A return to the practices of blending wines would appear to be a reasonable response, even if partial, to a problem as great...
From your agent at Vinality
Some memorable tastings done around the fair with Sicilian enologist Tonino Guzzo. Maybe it’s because some people may be beginning to think that I’m getting “too old and tired”, but the fact is that this year at the DoctorWine stand...
The year of the three fairs
The three fairs in question are Vinexpo, Prowein and Vinitaly, the three European trade fairs dedicated to wine that, following month after month, have been highlighting 2023. The question does arise, however, of how useful they can be being so...
The legendary Vigna
Luciano Lombardi, AKA Vignadelmar, Vigna for short, is an historic “host” with an enormous passion for restaurants and wine, which are his bread and butter. The title is a reference to how Lucio Dalla once defined Renato Villa, the Bologna...
Brunello, Nobile, Chianti… are not just Sangiovese
Everyone now talks, rightly, about territories. But many critics forget, when evaluating a wine, that the same grape variety changes a lot depending on the territory where it is produced. Therefore, evaluation parameters need to be changed. There is a...
In praise of Ribolla
Ribolla Gialla is an extraordinary varietal, very eclectic, which makes many excellent wines. Unfortunately, we have seen the appearance of many other wines that seem to trivialize this great grape. The latest news on the fate of Ribolla Gialla is...
How bright is the Sassicaia star?
Sassicaia is not only a formidable wine but it is also a trailblazer for all quality Italian wines the world over. This should be clear to everyone, especially those who insist on arguing that it is an overrated wine. My...
Piedmont producer and wine giudes
Do Italian critics not like Piedmont wine? Not exactly, it’s only that, for various reasons, many of the region’s wines are not properly reviewed. There has recently been a little brouhaha over a ranking of the 100 best Italian red wines...
Consumerist society and defectives wines
What is the attraction of defective wines, which are considered to be authentic, compared to technically well-made wines that are seen as the antithesis of rural culture? During a recent press tour, I noticed how some of my younger colleagues paid exaggerated...
The importance of learning
Wine appreciation courses not only teach you how to taste wine but also, and above all, to understand such a multifaceted world and how to learn to be an informed consumer. I took my first wine appreciation course at the...
Sometimes they come back
Not everyone knows this but wine-in-a-can originated in Italy in the 1980s. Its initial and quick success soon dissipated with its detractors having the upper hand and this practice went on hold until a few years ago. However, its popularity...
Vertical tasings
By undertaking a vertical tasting of all or most vintages of a wine, one can deeply understand that wine, its history, its stylistic evolution and the context in which it developed. One of the most effective ways to deeply understand...
Luciano Sandrone, a remembrance
Luciano Sandrone’s wines mirrored his good-natured, kind and cheerful personality. He was someone who was not out to teach anything to anyone but only to make wines that reflected their origin using clean and precise methods. Another friend is gone....
Whites wines and natives grapes
Italians have every reason to be proud of their white wines and should sing the praises of many of the great ones. Which wines? We’ll let you be the judge. Were I to ask my friend Luciano Lombardi, AKA Vignamar,...
The great wines of the near future
It is not easy to predict which will be the next Italian wine growing areas to attract the international limelight, however we can make some educated guesses. There is little doubt that Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Bolgheri and Amarone, along with some...
The nouvelle cuisine
The basic principles of the movement known as nouvelle cuisine are different from what is often blathered about today, confusing a movement that proposed a critique and overcoming of classical French cuisine with a nebulous concept of creative cuisine, understood...
Message in a bottle
Each wine not only tells of its aroma or taste, but also evokes the world that is underlying: terroir, grapes, winemaking technique, producer's philosophy--both scientific and humanistic aspects. Any wine is not just something to drink. The difference there is...
Possible wines for the coming year
The luxury market has driven up the prices of all iconic wines. Prices that are too high may drive new generations away from wine consumption, and this would be a big problem for the future of this industry. Fortunately, in...
Ms. Oriana and Masterchef
The Masterchef contestant laid bare the distance between the cuisine presented by the popular TV show and the "real" cuisine, the one at home, the one that people understand and eat every day. To a stunned Bruno Barbieri who had...