This is a wine that makes you glad you live in Italy. The production is small (6,500 bottles), the wine is INCREDIBLE, and the price is insane - around 14 euro in one of the best enotecas in Florence,.

This wine at this price blows the doors off many white Burgundies from France costing 2 or 3 times as much or more.

After it warmed a bit from the fridge and was open for a while, the nose was of figs and honey, but it retains a sharply fruity/acidic minerality. On the palate it is complex with several citrus and other white fruit flavors and notes, especially green apple skin, grapefruit, pear, and lemon. It has a well defined smooth tongue near butter coating feel, but it ends in a white pepper/green olive oil throat tingle. A ton of interesting things going on and all of them good!

If you ever come across a bottle of this or anything from the producer, give it a try - you won't be sorry.

Castel Juval Weissburgunder 2010 fact sheet PDF (in German only).

L'Eccellenza di Toscana 2011 at Villa Castelletti, Signa

While austerity programs in many European countries are currently proving to the wrong course or action for economic recovery, the Tuscan wine world may want to start thinking about some austerity programs of their own - especially when it comes to the character of their wines.

Just as a credit glut preceded the current economic crisis, it seems that all the investment in the wine making industry in Tuscany in the last decade (new vineyards, better machinery, advancement in scientific analysis, etc.) may have sowed the seeds for a similar problem - too much excellent wine (or the capacity to produce a lot of excellent wine) but much of it too much the same. Some austerity in the process and on the palate would perhaps make an event like this, celebrating the best of the region, a bit more interesting and diverse.

Far too many of these wines, especially the IGTs and those made with French Varietals (funny how people don't seem to say "Super Tuscan" so much lately) suffered from the same type of profile: fruit forward (and too much of it), loaded middle, and a disappearing act on the finish. They were in a word - boring. Delicious? Many of them. Drinkable? Of course. These are all award winning wines. But as a group they were lacking - lacking austerity, mystery, curiosity, staying power. It really does seem to be an effort on everyone's part of trying to make the "same" wine - a very drinkable, ready when opened, "easy" wine. Is this the victory of the 90 + points or bust culture? I hope not - but maybe with todays economic conditions (i.e. the difficulty of selling) some producers will start to experiment and find that different can be better too, and perhaps some of these fine wines will take off in new and more exciting directions.

Sorry for the late notice - this event is tomorrow! I have been meaning to post about it forever...

Typically a fantastic tasting with wines of a very high level, it was held at the Grand Hotel Winter Garden in Piazza Ognissanti for many years until the hotel was recently updated to the St. Regis and that space became a lounge/restaurant. Last year I think it was at the Four Seasons Florence, but this year it is outside of Florence in Signa.

Here is the vineyard/producer list (PDF! - Italians love their PDF files still...).

Wine Town Firenze is this weekend, taking place in multiple venues in the center of Florence. Their website is a little weak, but this PDF has almost everything you need to know. For a list of producers/vineyards/consorzio represented, see this page. There is a lot of music and other events happening also.

One of the more interesting aspect of this event is that many of the tasting venues are in palazzos that you would more than likely never visit. Below is where you will find the wine:

We just happened to visit Corzano e Paterno today because a family member has rented a villa very close by, and I wanted to stock up on some wine and cheese. They were harvesting and sorting and crushing today - always a busy and exciting time.

This is a great winery and a good place to visit if you are staying near Florence as it is very close - and they have a brand new tasting room/shop to sell their wine, cheese, and olive oil.

Here is Arianna hand sorting grapes today - they use a double hand sort technique - so the grapes are hand picked, then hand sorted by the bunch, and then once de-stemmed sorted again like in the photo:

And here is a selection of their cheese from an event a couple of years ago:

We're back in Florence from an extended trip to the U.S. and eager to talk about wine!

Firstly, FWM will be changing our focus and mission. Due to the persistent global economic slowdown, the absolute glut of wine in the U.S. market, and the need to focus on other existing business, our own efforts to import and sell wine on the Internet are now on hold. We were very close and I believe the model could work with just a little tweaking and investment, but for us at this time it is best put on hold.

That means that the focus of FWM will now be on news, events, tastings, and blogging about Italian Wine, with a focus on the Tuscan region.

I am also available to consult with producers on Direct To Consumer marketing, and to assist in online branding, e-commerce initiatives, and social networking. If you want to sell direct from your vineyard in Italy, send me a message. Even if you already have a website, I can provide a review and consulting to improve your efforts.

This weekend was the annual wine tasting in Greve, and next weekend is our favorite intimate event of September, Vino al Vino in Panzano.

And coming near the end of the month is the Florence Wine Town event - hope to see you there!

The Florence Wine Event has been moved up to June this year (3,4 and 5). Click the image for more information (Italian only!). The event is in the courtyard of the Palazzo Pitti again, like last year:

So we are here at the event - I posted a couple of quick pictures to Twitter - Cosimo of Fattoria Rignana and Francesco of Casa al Vento. Unfortunately the press access that I thought I was attending was only this morning - so instead of being able to sit here and taste wines brought to my by sommeliers and blog about them, I will have to walk around the hall. All that means is I won't be writing as much as I thought.

What I do have with me is a glass of the 2008 Rignana Chianti Classico - this is going to be our first wine in America. I just spoke with Cosimo, and once I send him the labels it shouldn't be long before the wine ships to California.

The wine is drinking very nicely now and has been in the bottle since around March 2010. It is naturally fermented and aged in oak, and while it has a strong tannic and acidic structure it is also full of dark cherry and red fruits on the front end with nice spice notes on the mid palate. It has been one of my favorite Chianti Classicos since I first tasted it, and it seems to be getting better with each vintage. It is very supple with a bright finish and just goes wonderful with roast pork, strong cheeses, and other grilled meats, savory, and fatty dishes. It almost makes you want to eat something off the grill!

Gambero Rosso Italian Wines 2011 has been completely revised to make it more attractive and easier to use and includes over 20,000 wines and 2,350 wineries. Find all the descriptions of prize-winning three glasses wines for the last ten years, with a special section dedicated to ones that sell for under twenty dollars.

Features:

• Search for wine by name, producer, type, region, price, variety and score
• Wine reviews including variety, appellation, price, Gambero Rosso score, with the possibility of adding your own photo, commenting, or sharing the information on the principal social networks
• The unique section devoted to all the wines receiving awards from Gambero Rosso: new this year, all the three glasses wines of the last decade and a special section for the three glasses winners costing under fifteen euros.
• Develop your own wine cellar, using the time-tested evaluation forms developed by Gambero Rosso
• 2,200 reviews of wineries by zone, complete with production information, list of wines, services offered and all contacts necessary to organize your visits.
• Extra content to help you understand how the three glasses method of evaluation was developed and works today, and a mini-guide on pairing food and wine.

This Sunday, December 5th, is the annual L'eccellenza di Toscana wine tasting by AIS. This event was historically held at the Grand Hotel in Piazza Ognissanti which is currently being renovated, so this year the venue is the new Four Seasons hotel (which is great as I have yet to see the hotel from the inside). I have only been to this event once and it was one of the most memorable tastings I have ever attended in Italy or anywhere. Over 300 producers, and only the best of Tuscany. Highly recommended if you are in Florence this Sunday. 15€ at the door for non AIS members. There is also an optional dinner afterward (see their site for details).