Tag: Ripasso

Gambero Rosso is Italy’s leading authority on food, wine, and culinary culture, renowned for its annual Vini d’Italia guide, which evaluates over 45,000 wines to identify the country’s finest. The prestigious Tre Bicchieri (Three Glasses) award is reserved for fewer than 1% of these wines, marking them as exceptional examples of Italian winemaking. To celebrate and promote these top-tier wines,…

Did you know that Giusti Wine, comes from the Valpolicella region of Italy, but is owned by a BC businessman, Mr. Joe Giusti?  Mr. Ermenegildo “Joe” Giusti, was born and raised in Italy and moved to Vancouver, where he became a very successful businessman in the construction industry.  With this wealth, he wanted to show his passion of Italian wine;…

While I was Grinch-like in awarding 5 stars to only three wines I tasted in 2024, I was more Oprah-like with the 4.5-5 -star wines.  Plus, there are many quality wines, so it should not be a surprise.  This year there were 13 BC wines, 18 Italian wines, 4 French wines, 2 Californian wines, and 4 wines from New Zealand…

I and other Trade individuals were invited to Discover Extraordinary Italian Wines.  Some of the wineries at the event were searching for local representation, while other wineries already have an agent and their wines are in BC Liquor stores or private wine shops and restaurants.  I’ve put a “*” beside those wineries that have local representation, so you should be…

Wineries change hands over time, but you do not often hear of a winery with a vineyard going from monks to lay people.  Monte del Frà is one of those wineries and we are lucky to have the winery attending VanWineFest 2024.  Their wines are in our market already, but you can get a chance to speak with a winery…

After attending the Valpolicella Masterclass, there was a walkabout tasting from these wineries where they offered different wines to enjoy.  In the Masterclass there were only Valpolicella DOC and Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG wines to taste.  As there were no Valpolicella Ripasso DOC in the Masterclass, I decided for the walkabout tasting that I would taste only these wines.  Valpolicella…

Valpolicella may not be as well-known to many wine lovers compared to Chianti Classico in Italy but deserves to be.  There are different levels of quality of Valpolicella wines to satisfy everybody’s palates.  I was fortunate to attend a Valpolicella Masterclass with Daenna Van Mulligen leading the class.  Following is information that I thought would be of interest to you followed…

It’s been two years since we last tasted wines from around the world at the Vancouver International Wine Festival.  During COVID grapevines produced grapes and wine was made but may have been a little harder than normal to get workers in the vineyard and in the winery.  Below are my Old World wine selections.  Most of the vintages are 2020…

North and east of Verona, Italy is where Valpolicella wines originate and a little to the north of Valpolicella you find Prosecco wines.  You may have heard of Prosecco, the sparkling darling of people around the world at the moment.  It is not as complex or expensive as Champagne, but many people want an inexpensive, typically off-dry bubble to share…

I was pleased to be invited to interview Olga Bussinello, Director, of the Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Valpolicella here in Vancouver recently. The Consortium for the Tutelage of Valpolicella Wines is an association of wine producers, winemakers and bottlers of the wine production area of Valpolicella, a territory that includes 19 municipalities in the Verona province. Excellence in the vineyard is the purpose of the…