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.
The oenological case
Roberto Di Meo is currently one of the best interpreters of Italian "bianchista" oenology. This is demonstrated by many wines, but the last one he let me taste is a real oenological case: a Fiano with a stay of almost...
Interpreting wine
Only by knowing how to interpret a wine will I be able to understand it, in a kind of dialectic in which the characteristics of that wine and my ability to analyze it organoleptically can enable me to recognize it...
American wine criticism between expertise and competition
Evaluations of Italian wines by major American critics diverge strikingly. It comes to mind that this is a kind of score marketing, that is, they take into account principles governing competition and editorial positioning. American wine critics who cover Italy...
Old Raspa
Edoardo Raspelli, the "Raspa," one of the historic leading signatures of Italian food journalism, was fired by Gedi (publisher of Repubblica and La Stampa) via pec, without even a phone call of notice. Where did respect go? Especially since we...
Talking about wine
Parlare di vino senza essere fraintesi non è facile, bisogna cercare di spiegare questioni anche tecniche in modo che siano di immediata comprensione per tutti. Parlare di vino è difficile, su questo non c’è dubbio. Provare a spiegarlo, soprattutto a...
The bad vintages
Woe to generalize. The pretense of judging an absolute vintage can lead to considering as bad vintages that in some areas are not bad at all. Because of the shape of Italy, the climate can be very different from one...
Happy New Year 2024
Our wish is that 2024 can be an extraordinary year of growth, love and success for all. Let’s put this bad 2023 behind us and look forward. With the arrival of the new year, we would like to express our...
To celebrate New Year’s Eve
The midnight toast is somewhat of a rite of passage, although it is now increasingly commercialized. We like to imagine it at home, among friends, with an unassuming, special bottle that can be the emblem of a different, better year....
Happy Holidays from DoctorWine
Editor Daniele Cernilli and all of us in the editorial staff wish you a happy holiday season and a merry Christmas, amidst delicacies, wines and gifts; amidst moments of merriment and moments of reflection. Most of all, we wish you...
As of today we’re on www.doctorwine.wine
Save the date: today represents another important step in the evolution of our network. From now on to read DoctorWine you need to click on doctorwine.wine, while our old link doctorwine.it will only remain active as an archive. Like all...
The adventures of DoctorWine
A very difficult year is drawing to a close, one of high inflation and an economic crisis at home, along with wars and an environmental crisis abroad. It wasn’t easy for anyone but we at DoctorWine can be satisfied over...
Putting the cart before the horse
This is custom heading element I am taking up, expanding on, an old editorial from 2017 that I feel is really very timely. During one of the last visits to the Cote d’Or, the true Eldorado of Burgundy, one of...
The misunderstanding about the Top Hundred
This is custom heading element The ranking of this year’s top one hundred wines on Wine Spectator, the so-called Top Hundred, has come out, and the press-especially the national press-is competing to call the winning wine “the best in the...
Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio
If we take a look at the white wines spread worldwide, we find that Italy is known for Pinot Grigio, much to the chagrin of our native grape varieties. I consider the readers of DoctorWine to be experts and knowledgeable,...
Too much wine?
The stock figure in Italy is really worrying, not even a poor harvest like the one that just ended can balance the situation (at what price then?). It is time for the industry, with the support of policy, to plan...
The service temperatures
That of wine serving temperatures is a topic, in my opinion, that is little covered and much more important than people think. I begin with a little illustrative story. Giorgio Grai, who was a famous South Tyrolean winemaker and winemaker,...
Indigenous to whom?
Are we really sure that our use of the adjective native referring to grape varieties is correct? In the historical ebbs and flows of Italian wine, we went from the exaltation of international grape varieties in the 1990s to the...
Classic or Charmat?
These two methods of sparkling wine making are not to be considered one better than the other in an absolute sense, but to be considered in relation to the type of sparkling wine to be tasted. During a splendid seminar...
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...
Ten years and not feeling it
The Essential Guide to the Wines of Italy with the 2024 edition turns 10 years old and we are all very proud of it. In ten years we have seen a lot and grown. It’s not the age of majority...
On the trail of the Black Rooster
The Chianti Classico Wine Consortium was founded in 1924, making it a century old next year. For the centennial celebrations, among other things, a book on its history is planned to be published, which I devoted myself to as soon...
Remembering Mario Schioppetto
An important figure, a leading figure in Friulian viticulture, a pioneer of modern white wine in the region, who in one of the first meetings with Daniele Cernilli showed all his character. Today only those in their 50s and up...
Silvano Formigli, a great profesional
From the beginning, great preparation, passion and enthusiasm were the basis of Silvano Formigli’s work and when he decided to retire it, perhaps, marked the end of an era of great passion related to the world of wine. It has...
Let’s talk about Pinot Grigio
The geographic origin of this grape is not very clear, however, its ampelographic origin is that of a genetic mutation of Pinot Noir. It is now considered to be an Italian variety thanks to the global success of Pinot Grigio...
Angelo, le roi Gaja
That’s him, Angelo Gaja, the now over-80 producer known worldwide as the father of Barbaresco and an icon of quality Italian wine. A charismatic and highly intelligent man, he is considered an ambassador of made-in-Italy wine in the world. In...
Remembering Giacomo Tachis
If Tachis is considered to be the father of modern Italian winemaking it is because his ideas contributed to triggering an authentic productive revolution which led to a winemaking renaissance in Italy. Talking about Giacomo Tachis is very difficult from...
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...