Wine, Wild Herbs, and Sustainability: A Journey Into Regaleali Estate

I had just returned from a sunrise walk through the vineyards at Tenuta Regaleali—nestled in the heart of Sicily—when Alberto Tasca noticed my shoes, caked with mud. I looked down, thinking I should probably scrape them clean before stepping into the elegant courtyard or the beautiful room they’d provided for me. Alberto greeted me with his warm, easy smile. “See her shoes?” he said, gesturing toward them. Valerio, one of the estate’s hospitality hosts and wine educators, looked over. Now…

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Seismic Resilience: The art and wine of Tenute Orestiadi

Within hours of the devastating 1968 earthquake, locals of the village of Gibellina were offered the opportunity to obtain a passport and a one-way ticket out of Sicily. Some packed their belongings, others stayed and put the pieces of their lives together over the next 12 years. What they didn’t know was that their tragedy would become a canvas of creativity and renewal. During the town’s reconstruction, Gibellina’s mayor, Ludovico Corrao, decided to rebuild not just with bricks and mortar…

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Writer and illustrator Marisa Finetti releases Tiny Tales of Umbria, an engaging new medium for wine regions to blend storytelling, wine, and culture

Acclaimed wine writer and illustrator Marisa Finetti, creator of Marisa’s Wine Doodles, is excited to unveil her second book, Tiny Tales of Umbria – A Madrevite Story. This innovative book transcends the typical boundaries of wine literature, inviting readers to explore Italy’s “green heart” through an immersive storybook journey, rich with illustration and charm.  Commissioned by Madrevite winery, Tiny Tales of Umbria celebrates the spirit of Umbria with what Marisa calls a “sip trip” through local wines, offering a taste…

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Rockin’ the Brunello in Montalcino

In the early Miocene period, the hills of Tuscany were submerged under sea level due to the Earth’s violent movement. This led to the creation of valleys, which were later flooded by seawater. When the tides receded, they left behind more than silence — they gifted the land with deposits of calcium carbonate from ancient seashells. Over time, these deposits transformed, through recrystallization, compaction, uplift, exposure, and weathering, into the alabaster and limestone that now define Montalcino’s geological tapestry. To…

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You never truly drink alone

: by Kirk Peterson and Marisa Finetti : Great wine is art that must be destroyed to be enjoyed. It is an anachronism, a vestige of another time and another way of living. Vines are fussed and fawned over, cajoled and supplicated to give up their fruit for wine to then be locked away from the world, aging and changing and developing at a rate entirely its own. It presents an opportunity to taste the labors of people long gone,…

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Vintage: Old-is-New-Again Vineyard Practices

We’re talking about vintage as it pertains to something classic and enduring from the past, like the days of pre-industrial agriculture.  In these fast-paced times,  where technology is transforming the wine world, from augmented reality labels to AI-crafted wine blends, some things do remain – thank goodness. Contemporary innovations are paving the path, but the wine industry’s future is also grounded in the soil with vineyard practices based on age-old holistic farming techniques.  Conversations around “revolutionary” vineyard practices point to…

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A bounty of deliciousness in Reggio Emilia

The tri-colored Italian flag was established here. It’s the birthplace of a renowned educational philosophy, and the city where the young Kobe Bryant started dribbling the basketball. Reggio, as locals call it, is also the home of Luciano Pavarotti’s first operatic performance and the headquarters of Italy’s Max Mara fashion house. Amid its cobbled streets dotted with historical churches, theatres, galleries, and monuments, Reggio Emilia is already culturally and fashionably rich. And then there’s food and wine. Situated perfectly between…

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Lake fish, beans, and Umbria’s other red wine

Even a seasoned traveler may skirt past the shores of Lake Trasimeno to discover the better-known wine regions of Umbria, like Montefalco (home to the Sagrantino grape) and Orvieto (known for their historic white blends). However, the land around Lake Trasimeno, located in the northwest pocket of the “green heart of Italy,” offers charming discoveries of a grape and wine curiously called Gamay del Trasimeno, a bean saved from extinction, and a bounty of lake fish prepared like game. As…

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Biondi-Santi: The wonderment and beauty of wine

The long and picturesque row of towering trees that line the driveway at Biondi-Santi’s Tenuta Greppo estate is a welcome unlike any other. The slow approach down the drive provides time to ponder this moment, this month (June 2023), and to imagine what it must be like for wine producers of Montalcino. Certainly, it was atypical. Moderately warm, the summer was constantly mingling with the threat of rainfall that ranged from light showers to lightning strikes and torrential downpours. Now…

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Podere Le Ripi: Guardians of the land

“We’re more focused on the richness of life,” says Sebastian Nasello, CEO and winemaker at Podere Le Ripi. Situated at the end of a long and gravely dirt road near the village of Castenuovo dell’Abate just south of Montalcino, Podere Le Ripi is more than a biodynamic winery and farm; it’s its own ecosystem. A thick row of lavender hosts dancing winged pollinators – bumble bees, honey bees and paper-white butterflies. Swallows fly about in response to the impending storm.…

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