Exploring wineries
Exploring wineries, visits to wineries, chats with producers, tastings of the year’s production or old vintages. Everything about a winery tour.
Bruno Paillard Champagne
Champagne Maison Bruno Paillard is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Perpetual Reserve (RP), the identity core of its most populous cuvées: Première Cuvée and Cuvée 72. The RP, renewed every year, ensures continuity and recognizability to the house’s style....
La Ponca: the challenge in the Collio
Let’s look today at the second leg of the press tour dedicated to the companies Le Monde, in Prata di Pordenone, and La Ponca, in Scriò, in the town of Dolegna del Collio. Same ownership, same production philosophy. Francesco Scalettaris...
Le Monde and La Ponca: two souls of the same vision
A press tour gave us an up-close look at two wineries that, although under the same ownership, tell different stories: Le Monde, in Prata di Pordenone, and La Ponca, in Scriò, in the town of Dolegna del Collio. Today we...
San Leonardo 2020: the Red Wine of the Year
We elected San Leonardo 2020, Tenuta San Leonardo‘s celebrated Bordeaux blend, Red Wine of the Year, an award that recognizes not only the wine’s intrinsic quality, but its ability to evoke territory, balance and longevity. Tenuta San Leonardo, owned by...
Manincor awarded for Sustainable Viticulture
For the Sustainable Vitienology, an award given to those who are committed to eco-sustainability in the most diverse ways, we have chosen a South Tyrolean company known everywhere for its biodynamic “creed,” a company that has made respect for the...
Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano for the Cooperation Award
The Cooperation Award, dedicated to social wineries, saw Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano, a small Tuscan cooperative winery that has seen a surge in the quality of its wines in recent years, come out on top. It is also marking an...
Castello di Grumello, the emerging producer
He is the emerging producer in the special awards of The Essential Guide 2026. It is located in Valcalepio, in the Bergamo area, inside a castle that has been, over the centuries, a bastion of quality viticulture, now reborn thanks...
Let’s meet the winery of the year: Vietti
A commitment that has lasted more than 150 years and is reflected in an expressiveness of wines that has been able to convince for decades. This has earned the Vietti winery recognition as Winery of the Year for the 2026 edition...
A chat with Francesco Zonin
Annalucia Galeone interviewed Francesco Zonin, vice president of the Zonin 1821 group, to understand with what strategies a large 210 million euro turnover group faces the challenges of the future. The Zonin Group was founded in Gambellara in 1821 and...
Cupertinum, the social winery for the social
C 90 years of history for Cupertinum, the social winery of Copertino. Focused not only on wine production, but also on social, cultural and tourism promotion. Annalucia Galeone tells us about it. Cupertinum, the social winery of Copertino, the oldest...
A day at San Lorenzo Wines
Abruzzo-based San Lorenzo Vini organized an interesting meeting at its headquarters to take stock of production, let us taste some old vintages of Pecorino Superiore and cheer us up with a wonderful talk by anthropologist Ernesto Di Renzo. Luciano Lombardi...
Tenuta Donna Paola, a small château from Campania
The Donna Paola Estate produces wines with structure and personality from very distinctive vineyards lying on a former dolomite quarry in Upper Campania. Tenuta Donna Paola is a small château from Campania, the vineyard bordered by natural walls and lying...
Fontanafredda’s new “Fini Wines”
Barolo winery Fontanafredda is launching a new 8-label collection that aims to tell the story of the diversity of the Langhe wine landscape, while also giving the word to the area’s most pop grapes. For wines that are good and...
Astro of Masari, a new star is born
With this new wine, Massimo and Arianna are aiming for absolute quality for Masari, with a project that starts from a small Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard and looks far ahead. This is not the first time I have written about the...
Masseria Cuturi: in conversation with Camilla Chauvenet
We interviewed Camilla Chauvenet, of Masseria Cuturi in Puglia, to talk together about territory, wine tourism, sustainability and other “hot” topics such as conscious consumption among young people. All stories have a beginning, that of Primitivo di Manduria began in...
Abelé Champagne 1757
A historic Champagne producer, Abelé 1757 is the fifth oldest Maison in the territory. As it states, it “uses its traditional experience to build a bridge between the present and the future.” Abelé 1757 has been in existence for quite...
Ronco Calino: a dream among the vineyards of Franciacorta
There are dreams that take decades to come true. Ronco Calino is one of them, long left in the drawer, but which has finally blossomed and grown to its current reality. We are in Franciacorta, and this is the story...
Alberto Longo and the Cacc’e Mmitte di Lucera
Halfway between San Severo and Lucera, in the heart of the Tavoliere delle Puglie, Alberto Longo has renovated an ancient 17th-century farmhouse and built inside it a modern, eco-sustainable winery that has become the standard-bearer for Lucera’s Cacc’e Mmitte, a...
Ampeleia and Cabernet Franc, a winning combination
About Cabernet Franc and Ampeleia being a winning combination, there is now no shadow of doubt. This is also thanks to a cohesive, close-knit and competent staff, aided by oenologist and director Marco Tait, from Trentino and Maremma by adoption,...
Cà du Ferrà, authentic wines with an ancient soul
From the passion for native grape varieties to the rediscovery of Ruzzese with the birth of a new wine: Zero tolleranza per il silenzio. This is the path of Cà du Ferrà. Cà du Ferrà It must be such a...
Vajo dei Masi, the value of time
This very special Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, Vajo dei Masi, is now being released in the 1999 vintage. After the classic production route, it rests in a nitrogen-protected atmosphere for twenty years. The result is extraordinary. On the occasion of...
Grola 2022 Allegrini: welcome to the Valpolicella Doc
The Grola pays homage to the territory with the first Grola. It sounds like a play on words, but no. Because Allegrini’s Grola has grown up, Sissi Baratella‘s word. And gives us the first Grola Valpolicella Classico Superiore. The Grola...
Abraxas’ new course in Pantelleria
The Scudieri family enters the Pantelleria area with the purchase of the historic Abraxas winery, enriching the island with an important player. Federico Latteri, a Sicilian taster and our correspondent, talked about it in Cronache di Gusto. Abraxas, one of...
Tenuta Maryamado, Tuscan Farm 3.0
A French-Saudi property of the Khashoggi family, the Tenuta Maryamado proposes a modern agricultural, wine and landscape regeneration project, as told by Stefania Vinciguerra. Let’s start with the name, which certainly does not sound Tuscan, but hides the ancient Lucignano...
Under Water Wines: the wines at the bottom of the sea of Campania by Tommasone
That of aging wines underwater is not just a fad: the conditions created under the sea are very favorable for wine maturation. Antonella Amodio gave it a try, tasting Tommasone’s sparkling wines aged in the cellar and underwater. The under...
Vigna Cigliano Solfatara vineyard, the new cru from Cantine Federiciane 1951
Antonella Amodio tells us about the Palumbo family’s Cantine Federiciane 1951 and the new Vigna Cigliano Solfatara wine project in the Campi Flegrei. “Cantine Federiciane is a journey that begins with the passionate work of four generations of farmers united...
Maculan Award: sweet wines with savory dishes
The Maculan Prize, the competition for the best pairings of sweet wines and savory dishes, is back. Taste-olfactory and emotional combinations capable of ranging from the immediacy of concordance to the wonder of contrasts. Alessandra Ruggi went to the presentation...
Farina Wines, when research enters the enterprise
The fourth generation of the Farina family has embarked on a collaboration with the University of Verona for an interesting research project. Among other aims is to test the materials used in the aging, maturation and preservation of wines, as...
Cabernet Sauvignon Tenuta Liliana: the Salento of the Future
Antonio and Liliana Intiglietta have focused on Cabernet Sauvignon for their estate in Salento. Supporting them in their project is estate director Andrea Fattizzo, an agronomist and oenologist, with advice from Carlo Ferrini. Erika Mantovan tells us about it. Deep...
Sustainability according to Varvaglione
The fourth generation of the Varvaglione family is very sensitive to the issue of both social and environmental sustainability. Annalucia Galeone went to see what good practices are being adopted. Marzia, Angelo and Chicca represent the fourth generation of the...