Italian Wine Seminar

Italian Wine Seminar with Horizon Beverages and Philip diBelardino, Vice-President of Fine Wines from Banfi Vintners . Please join us for this fun and informative seminar as we host one of the gems of the wine industry as he leads us through six classic Italian wines with cheese and desserts at the Wentworth by the Sea at 588 Wentworth Road in New Castle, NH.

“VERONA IN LOVE” The denomination Soave

The denomination Soave, which includes 6,900 hectares of vineyards throughout 13 municipalities, is located within the Province of Verona. There are 2,781 producers, 249 bottling companies, 116 wineries, and 6 large social wineries. Soave makes up 5% of the total production of Italian DOC wines.

In 1931, it was the first wine to receive the royal decree of “fine Italian wine”, which was the equivalent of today’s denomination certified wines. Soave obtained its first DOC certification in 1968, and, in 1998, Recioto di Soave was the first wine in the Veneto to obtain the DOCG seal.

Enjoying Italian vintages

When I first seriously started getting immersed in the wine industry 17 years ago, I was drinking a lot of Italian wine, especially Barolos and Barbarescos from Piedmont. Back then I was able to get wines such as Produttori’s Barbaresco Asili, 1985, for $22 with my discount. Trust me, the current wholesale is way more than the high retail from 17 years ago. The first Piemontese wine that made this skeptic see God was the 1982 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano. I want to say it cost me about $40, but I’m not sure.

Italy's wine grape renaissance

Growing numbers of Italian winemakers are turning to local, often old grape varieties to mark themselves out against foreign competitors.

Rare varieties such as Uva di Troia were making a comeback, said Serena Sutcliffe MW at an Italian wine tasting in London this week.