This week I was lucky enough to attend an event called Banfi Day in Milano organised in collaboration with @AISMilano. There were over 30 labels of the Banfi line-up. Through the years I have had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Cristana Mariani May many times so it was doubly fun to encounter her in Milan.

It was also super fun to meet her at an AIS Lombardia tasting. I became a member of AIS Lombardia in 2004 when I received my Sommelier Certificate.

I love to go to the AIS tastings in Milan and I usually go with other Sommelier friends from Milan. This time we tasted some amazing Banfi wines from Tuscany. Since I had just been in Tuscany for the Anteprime Toscane, it was completely in line with where my palate has been qualibrated this past week.

I was thrilled to also taste some of their wines from the Alta Langa region called Aurora. We tasted three amazing Cuvée, one from 2012, one from 2016, and one also from 2017. I loved all three but was partial to the 2012 with its 100 months on the lees. The wine was long and persistent and had beautiful notes of stone fruit, brioche, and flowers. It was exceptional.

While I have had Banfi wines throughout most of my life in wine, I had no idea that they were in Piedmont for decades. Apparently, Banfi was one of the seven companies that started producing high quality Metodo Classico sparkling wines in Piedmont in 1990. The Aurora line was created in 1997.

Altalanga DOCG is a region that really intrigues me so it was fun to see such attention being paid to it but important Tuscan wine producers like Banfi. I hope to someday see more Altalanga DOCG wines in the US.