Category: Barolo

This seminar, Challenge of the Red Titans, was fun.  It was held Friday afternoon and we had spent the week preceding with serious discussions of Italian wines.  We deserved a dash of fun, but the seminar still provided us with valuable information about Italian red wines.  We learned a bit about how the big Italian blockbuster wineries are reshaping themselves…

Although Italy contributes approximately 20% of the world’s wine, it remains a relative mystery to many people, due to unfamiliar grape varieties and wine region names.  Wine journalist and educator Filippo Bartolotta led us exploring the rich history, modern innovation, and the renaissance of Italian classic wine styles shaping the current identity of this historical wine region.  The winery principals…

There will be several wineries from the Piedmont region that produce Barolo wines attending VanWineFest 2024.  What do you know about this style of wine?  I have some background information for you, followed by a list of wineries from the Piedmont region that you can visit at the International Festival Tasting Room.  Cin cin. About Barolo Wines Barolo wine, often…

Piedmonte is a region in northwestern Italy that produces some of the most famous and prestigious wines in the world, such as Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, Moscato and Asti. How much do you know about these wines and their characteristics? Test your knowledge with this fun 5-question quiz and learn some interesting facts along the way!

One of the historical wineries in Italy is Marchesi di Barolo and how they elevated the Nebbiolo grape to the status it now receives around the world.  Read about their history and the wines that they will be pouring at the VanWineFest 2024 below.  The information below comes from the winery. About Marchesi di Barolo Named after our own town,…

The Grandi Marchi, is a collaboration of eighteen winemaking families across Italy to promote the culture and commercialization of Italian high-quality wine on world markets.  All the wineries are family-owned, have been in operation for at least 25 years (some for centuries), own their estate vineyards, are innovators, and much more.  We had nine of the eighteen families visiting in Vancouver to…

I enjoy attending the Top Drop Canada wine tasting each year.  It is probably my second favourite event after the Vancouver International Wine Festival.  If you have not heard of Top Drop before, the organizers describe it as “Top Drop’s focus and mandate is providing a platform for terroir-influenced, handcrafted wines, and the people behind them. We believe in the…

It is not every day that you get invited to a portfolio tasting of wines from Italy’s Antinori Estates.  Many of you have probably heard of their most famous wine, Marchesi Antinori Tignanello Toscana IGT, a Super Tuscan, that helped lead the way to blend in International grape varieties, e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with Italy’s Sangiovese grape in Tuscany….

Have you ever heard of Top Drop Vancouver?  It is a festival where 40 hand-selected wineries from around the world come to Vancouver and pour their wines for you.  These wineries have to have a certain level of quality and status in order for them to be invited so that you know you are going to enjoy premium wines. Yes,…

Italian wine always excites me.  I think it is the acidity in the wines and the in general red fruit flavours.  There is also a wide variety of wines from sparkling Prosecco and Franciacorta wines, and rosé/white/red wines made from indigenous grapes that smell and taste different from the other vitis vinifera that is now so common around the world. …