Tag: Gran Selezione

I was invited to sit down with Mr. Beppe d’Andrea, Ruffino‘s Senior Global Brand Ambassador, to taste a selection of their wines and talk about the winery and other wine topics while Beppe was attending VanWineFest 2024. In 1987, Beppe began his career with Ruffino and has never looked back. Initially working in the vineyards, he soon joined the winemaking…

For VanWineFest 2024, I joined Barone Francesco Ricasoli from Tuscany for an unforgettable dinner featuring his Chianti Classico wines paired with traditional Tuscan fare prepared by the culinary team at Italian Kitchen.  The Barone provided us with background to his family winery as well as information about each wine.  He is the 32nd Barone of the family, living in the…

If you prefer organic wines, and enjoy Chianti Classico, then you should try Il Molino di Grace‘s Il Margone Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2018.  If the name of the winery sounds familiar, it is because I posted an article about this winery visiting VanWineFest 2024.  My tasting notes below will give you an idea of the quality of their wines. …

Twenty-five wines coming from BC and around the world made it to my near-perfect – star category this year.  I’ve arranged these fantastic wines into BC wines followed by wines from the rest of the world.  Italian wine showed up prominently with my near-perfect wine scores.  Chardonnay showed prominently as well, primarily from BC. You should still be able to…

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….

This is Part Two of my article covering the Chianti Classico Masterclass led by Jason Yamasaki.  In Part One I covered the history, and grape varieties used for Chianti Classico, touched on the DOCG quality pyramid, and reviewed a basic Annata tier of Chianti Classico wines.  In Part Two I am covering the Chianti Classico Riserva and Gran Selezione tiers…

I have talked about the origins of the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione wines in a previous article, but there is always more to learn.  I was invited to attend a recent Masterclass on Chianti Classico Gran Selezione wines and I would like to share some of that knowledge with you, as well as give you my tasting notes on my…

What Do You Know About Chianti Classico? “Chianti Classico” and should not be confused with “Chianti”, which is a separate denomination that surrounds Chianti Classico. In 1716, the Tuscan Grand Duke Cosimo III, established for the first time in history the borders of the production area for Chianti Classico.  It covers the area between Siena and Florence and covers 70,000…

Did you know that Barone Ricasoli is the oldest winery in Italy and the second oldest winery in the world?  Did you also know that Baron Bettino Ricasoli invented the Chianti blend in 1872?  So much history at one winery, and we were lucky to have Barone Francesco Ricasoli to be in Vancouver to lead me and other wine trade people…

Tuscany is best known for its most famous, and probably Italy’s most famous, red wine called Chianti.  This wine is made primarily from the indigenous Sangiovese grape, and then blended with other red grapes, either Italian, like Colorino, or international, like Merlot. The region is further enhanced by the evolution of the “Super Tuscan” wine, most notably Sassicaia, made from International grape varieties,…