“To make wine is a matter of responsibility.” Josetta Saffirio‘s 5th-generation vintner Sara Vezza has one of those life outlooks that might only be possible in places like Barolo. The kind of outlook that balance the contemporary and the historic; the kind that seemingly sprouts up directly from the ancient soils of the Castelletto, Ravera,…
Tag: Italian Wine
HEY STELLA!!!! (Tenuta Stella Recent Releases)
HEY STELLA!!!! So… turns out that line is a lot more fun to yell at your laptop screen before a Zoom tasting than it is to explain afterwards to your family, who just kind of stare at you instead of responding with the only appropriate reply (“You gonna get the law on you!“). Which, ok,…
On the Edge (Tenute Tomasella Recent Releases)
Tenute Tomasella—the 2nd generation, family-run winery located in Italy’s Mansuè that’s coming up on its 60th anniversary—has edgy wines. And I mean that both figuratively and literally. Farming about 50 hectares between Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, they are located on the literal edge of two Northern Italian DOCs: Friuli and Prosecco. And they take their…
“Top of the Hill” (100th Anniversary of Giovanni Manzone)
It’s often written that a winery is “perched” somewhere, but in the case of Giovanni Manzone, which celebrates its 100th year of existence in 2025, “perched” is an accurate descriptor of their location. For five generations, the Manzones have been farming 8.5 hectares on the steep hills of Castelletto and Gramolere, in the Langhe’S Monforte…