A wine blog by Susannah Gold
I had the occasion to stop by at the Benvenuto Brunello tasting in New York this past week. As I was trying to stay away from alcohol for a few days, I tasted very little but what I did do was taste some Rosso di Montalcino's. I am about to go to Montalcino next week... Continue Reading →
I love the concept of "dry January" when people and many beverage professionals swear off the drink for a month and cleanse themselves. I know I am one of the people who could use a dry January. I know this because I just came back from a trip in which we tasted loads of wine... Continue Reading →
In December, I had the good fortune to translate for Roberto Cipresso at an amazing event called Once Upon A Kitchen , created by an experiential marketing company called GR8. This was my second event with them, the first was in 2018 at Ellis Island. This one was held at Gotham Hall. The world's three best... Continue Reading →
Umbria, known as the greenheart of Italy, is an incredible lush and verdant part of the country. In this great region, Sagrantino grows, a complicated and profound grape variety, that makes some of the best passito I have ever tasted. As a sweet wine lover, passito is always on my radar. I can't remember when... Continue Reading →
I'm hosting a webinar on Lugana tomorrow for the Society of Wine Educators. Here is some information if you want to join in. Hope to see you there. #WineWednesdayWebinar: Lugana: The Liquid Gold of Lake Garda winewitandwisdomswe.com Tomorrow evening—January 30th at 7:00 pm central time—we are pleased to offer a new webinar, entitled “Lugana: The Liquid... Continue Reading →
Once again, today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. I just read this story from a survivor. The level of inhumanity is breathtaking and makes me weep to this day.
I just got back from a trip to Brazil about 2 hours ago and have been thinking about diversity, overcoming the past and the peaceful co-existence of different peoples. More to come on that topic and on wines that I tasted this week but for today, thinking of all who lost their lives in that dark moment in history and all that might have been for the people who perished. Millions of lives lost and who knows what medical cures, literary works, magical music and everything else that they might have done had they been given a chance to live their lives. I find it all staggering to this day.
Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. World leaders commemorated this day in various places, including at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Six million Jews, including many members of my family were among those murdered. Slavs, Roma, people who were Gay, those with disabilities, religious leaders and many others who tried to shelter Jews died as well. My Dad always remarks about the one million Jewish children who were murdered and what they might have become someday. Perhaps one of them would have found the cure for Cancer or been a new Beethoven, we will never know. Now that I’m a Mom, I can’t stand thinking about the parents who had their children ripped from their arms and murdered. I also can’t believe that goes on today in Myanmar with the Rohingya. Human cruelty seems to have no end. I hope we have learned something…
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Puglia or Apulia as we would say in English is a beautiful part of Italy. This long region is among the top wine producing regions in Italy. A large part of the wines are made with indigenous varieties such as Primitivo and Negro Amaro, two red grapes that many people know and have tasted in... Continue Reading →
This summer I discovered a new grape variety that I really like called Vidal blanc. I tried a lot of examples of wines made with tbis grape in both the Finger Lakes during the Society of Wine Educators annual conference and at the American Wine Society conference in Buffalo. Vidal makes a variety of wines... Continue Reading →
Just re-reading this blog post and thinking about cooperatives. I wrote this 10 years ago and I am not sure that the reputation of coops has changed all that much despite enormous progress on their parts. I think that is s shame and that we should reconsider these wines.
Wine cooperatives in Italy are often considered to be synonymous with low quality wines. While this is true of some cooperatives, it is an inaccurate perception of the quality of the wines from some of the best known ones. Nonetheless, many people shy away from these cooperatives and it’s a real shame. There are two or three stand-out examples that come to mind that are the exceptions to the rule and many people luckily know of their existence: Cantina San Michele Appiano, Cantina Produttori di Termeno, and the Sardinian winery called Santadi are a few that come to mind.
Each of these cooperatives is strongly linked to the success of their particular region. San Michele Appiano, a cooperative in the Alto Adige region of Italy, just celebrated its 100 year birthday in 2007. It was created in June 1907 and now has 355 members with 350 hectares of vineyards.
The…
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