Monthly Archives: March 2023

  1. Oscar Arrivabene on the Legacy of Domenico Clerico, the Barolo Boys and the Evolution of Modernism in Barolo

    Oscar Arrivabene on the Legacy of Domenico Clerico, the Barolo Boys and the Evolution of Modernism in Barolo

    Grape Collective talks with Oscar Arrivabene about the history of the Domenico Clerico estate and the impact of the Barolo Boys with regard to traditional versus modern styles of Barolo.

  2. Chuckles Candy, SVB and Harlan: Tips From the Wine Writers Forum

    Chuckles Candy, SVB and Harlan: Tips From the Wine Writers Forum

    On a Wednesday morning in March, Rob McMillan, executive vice president and founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division, discussed his State of the Wine Industry report on the last day of the Wine Writers Symposium in Napa. We have been quoting McMillan for years. Two days later, while we were waiting for our plane home at San Francisco airport, the news broke: Silicon Valley Bank, a critical piece of the California wine industry, had collapsed. 

  3. Eduardo Torres Acosta on Making Volcanic Wines in the Canary Islands and Mount Etna

    Eduardo Torres Acosta on Making Volcanic Wines in the Canary Islands and Mount Etna

    Grape Collective talks to Eduardo about this unique wine journey and the magic of making wine on Etna. 

  4. Book Review: Italian Wine Unplugged 2.0 Offers a Deep Dive Into Italian Wine

    Book Review: Italian Wine Unplugged 2.0 Offers a Deep Dive Into Italian Wine

    As wine lives, breathes, and evolves, so must wine study books change over time. The best reference books about wine reflect this natural evolution with updated editions that add to an original wealth of material. 

    Italian Wine Unplugged 2.0 is a second-edition book that builds upon the success of Italian Wine Unplugged Grape by Grape, a study guide for students and lovers of Italian wine that debuted in 2017. Compiled by a team of wine experts and educators, the first edition quickly became a benchmark and has been used as the core textbook for the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA), a leader in Italian wine education. 

    As its subtitle, Grape by Grape, suggests, the first edition focuses on Italian grapes, specifically 430+ indigenous varieties. Within its pages, you will find all the well-known varieties like Sangiovese and Nebbiolo as well as the obscure, hard-to-pronounce grapes such as Susumaniello...

  5. A New Generation Discovers OTBN: ‘Our Favorite Night’

    A New Generation Discovers OTBN: ‘Our Favorite Night’

    Wine should be joyful. If you ever think it becomes routine to people in the industry, we’d urge you to look at the picture of Marcus Notaro as he celebrates Open That Bottle Night. Notaro is the head winemaker at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and quite famous, but when it came to OTBN, he was like a kid in a candy store and it shows on his face.

    “I enjoy celebrating Open That Bottle Night each year. I chose the 1997 S.L.V. as it’s from a benchmark vintage in Napa Valley and the wines in the mid-’90s are in a sweet spot right now,” he told us. (His lovely video of tasting the wine is on Twitter @StagsLeapCASK23.)

    (Marcus Notaro)

    Winemakers from all over – Singlefile Wines in Australia, Domaine Gayda in Languedoc – opened special bottles, too. And it wasn’t just winemakers, of course. OTBN was celebrated by regular wine-loving folks from El Salvador, to Chicago to South ...

  6. Bruna Flaibani on Biodynamics and why Friuli is Kissed by Luck

    Bruna Flaibani on Biodynamics and why Friuli is Kissed by Luck

    The Flaibani estate is located in Cividale del Friuli in the Colli Orientali del Friuli area very close to the Slovenian border. The Flaibanis have three hectares of planted vineyards, all terraced and with steep slopes, that resemble a garden surrounded by six hectares of woods. They are working with vines over 100 years old with their youngest vines over 20 years. They produce less than 10,000 bottles of six different types of wine from Schioppettino, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Friulano, and Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso. Their wines have a vibrancy, energy and quality that validate all the passion and hard work behind them.

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