The Overton BBC (bring a bottle club) has a cheerfully random air about it. This is particularly the case with ‘BBC1’. As the idea is to taste the wines blind, there is no plan about who will bring what. Usually, this works absolutely fine and often some fascinating themes emerge. By chance, three people will
After the Capezzana tasting, the riches of Decanter’s Italian day at the Landmark Hotel. This has to be the best one-day introduction to the Italian quality wine scene in the UK and maybe beyond. It’s big – with 86 listed producers – and pretty representative, 13 out of 20 regions present, with Sardinia a surprising
Piemonte 2-3 Toscana: A weekend in Italy part 2 Read More »
A second wine which suffers at the hands of its reputation is the Tuscan indigenous white, Vernaccia di San Gimignano. If I had a pound for every average bottle sold to tourists in this spectacular town under its medieval towers, I would be … well, you can finish the sentence. But it is potentially a
Vinitaly 3: a towering Vernaccia Read More »
As you drive from the south towards the high plateau on which the hill town of Montalcino sits in Southern Tuscany, you can’t really miss the presence of Banfi. In a mixed landscape of farming, woods, hunting land and of course, vineyards, once you cross the River Orcia you see first an enormous factory of
Castello Banfi – a modern Brunello Read More »