Italian wine Archives - Winefriend.org

Diary 75: Prünent and Pergola with Cantine Garrone

22 September 2026

The town of Domodossola is surrounded by Piemonte’s most northerly DOC: Valli Ossolane. Switzerland lies 20 kilometres to the north; Barolo is a distant 225 kilometres to the south. Here, the main variety is Prünent, the biotype of Nebbiolo, specific to Val d’Ossola. In my Northern Piemonte report (free download at www.winefriend.org), I describe it

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Broglia Vecchia Annata Gavi DOCG 2016 and Roagna Montemarzino Derthona 2016 after ten years of bottle ageing.

Diary 74: Ten years on, Piemonte 2016

17 July 2026

The 2016 vintage 2016 is widely regarded as one of the outstanding years of this century in Piemonte. The growing season was long and remarkably even, producing one of the region’s benchmark vintages. A cool spring delayed vine development, followed by a warm but never excessively hot summer, with occasional rain, which allowed the grapes

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Diary 73: Timorasso updated

6 April 2026

In March 2026, I had the pleasure of attending a press trip to Tortona, alongside the public tasting Derthona DueZero, a celebration of the Timorasso grape variety and the wines of the Colli Tortonesi. Early spring days, committed growers and winemakers, great hospitality and the charm of Tortona itself made for an informative and thoroughly

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Why Northern Piemonte?

5 January 2026

Update: for my comprehensive report on Northern Piemonte, download the free report here. When wine lovers say they love Piemonte, nine times out of ten, they are talking about Barolo and Barbaresco. The well-informed might mention the Langhe, the area around the two world-famous Nebbiolo denominations. This is entirely understandable given the exceptional quality of

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2025: hectic but fulfilling

30 December 2025

It’s been another busy year, packed with my continuing work for WSET (two days a week) and much Italian wine travel. Here are some highlights from a hectic year, with apologies for the long post. Winery profiles for Nebbia e Luce 2025 saw me completing my ‘dream job’, writing profiles of 25 wineries for the

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Diary 70: Barbaresco 2023 in anteprima

20 October 2025

How have the wines of the difficult 2023 vintage in Barbaresco turned out? The wines will be released in January 2026. However, thanks to Vinexus, who import these wines into the UK, it was possible to get an early tasting of wines from some top producers. Many of the wines were cask samples, bottled and

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Diary 69: Nebbia e Luce, a great Nebbiolo project

27 November 2024

I am delighted to start work this week for Nebbia e Luce, a Nebbiolo-focused company founded by Simon Farr. The company’s name means ‘Fog and Light’, encapsulating its Piemontese roots. It has been buying and storing Nebbiolo wines from various parts of Piemonte. It will then release the wines when they are fully mature and

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Diary 68: Piemonte in Texas

4 October 2024

I was hugely honoured to present ‘Piedmont: off the beaten track’ at Texsom in a tasting/seminar in Dallas. If you had told me even a few years ago that I would present Piemonte in Texas, I would not have believed you. My session was on the Monday of the two-day event and was followed by

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Diary 67: review of the year–Piemonte reaches Turin, Dallas and Lisbon

29 September 2024

It is a year since I wrote to you about the publication of The Wines of Piemonte. It has been a full and exciting year. Here are the highlights in a review of the year: The Classic Wine Library which published my book has a new home. The Académie du Vin Library bought the company, founded by

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Mascarello Monprivato vertical young vintages in the glass

Diary 65: Mascarello Monprivato vertical

23 June 2024

Giuseppe Mascarello is one of the storied names of Barolo. I recently had the pleasure of tasting a Mascarello Monprivato vertical which merely confirmed the greatness of these wines. Mauro Mascarello, now approaching his 90th birthday, decided back in 1970 to bottle Nebbiolo from the Monprivato vineyard as a separate wine. What a great move

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