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Groppello 2015

posted on 22 October 2015
In exercising my profession, I’ve been “treading the vineyards” for a good thirty years now, more or less, and I never expected to find such utterly fantastic Groppello! Totally unexpected, because Groppello, planted over hardly more than 400 hectares, exclusively on the Brescian side of Lago di Garda, is a challenging grape to grow. Its tight-packed cluster of “knotted-up” (groppello) berries; thin skin, with often little pigment; its hard-to-achieve balance of sugar and acidity—all these mean that even in good growing years the grapes struggle to ripen adequately, and suffer attacks of mould well before the harvest arrives. This year, instead, we experienced exceptional weather: a particularly warm summer, dry and well ventilated, with a cooling wind in September, conditions that brought us a harvest that delivered grapes that were perfect from every point of view. Let me repeat: Never do I remember Groppello like this. Below are some photos of typical clusters of Groppello Gentile and … Groppello di Mocasina. Diego

In Nuremburg with K&U Hausmesse 2014 – Wein radikal anders

posted on 27 November 2014
Gorgeous, wonderful tasting organised by K&U, by Martin Kossler, Dunja Ulbricht and their team. They’re a modest-sized importer in Nuremburg, very special persons, all of them, and they simply exude that spirit, in their remarkably-warm hospitality and generosity, and in every perfect organizational detail of this event that runs for two days every year.

Cows, horses, and nothing but green. Account of a tasting in a de-consacrated church.

posted on 11 November 2014
And here I am back from Belgium. The only Italian producer among a group of French, I participated for the second time in three days of tastings organised by my small importer, Michel Wijnen in Dilbeek. Just a few tables, with 8 selected producers, all taking part personally. Next to the bottles were the wine-bar prices, as well as promotional prices in case an order was placed right then. The tasters each received a glass and list of the wines, and they had the opportunity of placing an order immediately as they exited–very efficient! Everyone was very interested and tasted every wine by every producer.

2014 harvest… totally difficult, but not impossible

posted on 15 October 2014
We have finally finished this year’s troubled harvest, and after our series of tastings we feel that we can now give a very preliminary judgment on this year’s wines. The factors that characterised this growing season were huge amounts of rain, low average temperatures, little sun, and a summer that we saw only for brief moments. These conditions created a host of problems, with the grapes struggling to achieve ripeness and various fungal attacks – despite our constant efforts in the vineyards – affecting both clusters and leaves.
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