In a border area between the Chianti Classico and the Val d’Elsa, halfway from Florence and Siena, overlooking the marvellous city of San Gimignano and its towers, for almost 40 years I Balzini has been producing long-lived, elegant wines. The winery was founded by Vincenzo D’Isanto, later joined by his wife Antonella and more recently by his daughter Diana. Since few years Diana is leading the family business.
Written during Covid-19 lockdown..
It’s the end of September, one of the last opening weekends of Telegrafo refuge on Monte Baldo: our final destination. The day is cloudy, we begin to climb slowly from Prada and the more we get up, the more the fog falls. During the journey, my friend and I tell each other about our lives and despite the wind that plays with our words and the fog that surrounds us, our thoughts are clear in the light of day.
Driven by curiosity for the birth of the new vintage, we started for a ‘hit and run’ in the heart of Umbria by Sagrantino, visiting my friend Paolo Bartoloni from Cantina Le Cimate, a full-blown intrusion during the harvest.
Towards Easter they decide to move to San Gaudenzio “a farm about two miles above the lake […] a lovely place. There is a garden around for over a mile, with vineyards and olive trees. It falls precipitously on the edge of the cliff above the lake. I sit and write in a desert lemon garden that catches the sun and keeps it.”
Bresciatourism, a non-profit company that promotes tourism in the city and province of Brescia, patronises the Italy4golf project.
The boom in winemaking along the coast of Tuscany is relatively recent. Sassicaia, on the market since 1972 (harvest 1968), acted as a trailblazer of an incredible enological progress of the area to the south of Pisa (province of Livorno).
“Everything seemed so lush, almost tropical – and everything seemed woven from the sun. Leaves, the earth, the stems of the plants […] So Riva: and there the lake sparkled in the sun. […] For him, Riva was beautiful. First of all, the ancient tower with its large blue facade with the clock rose up at the quay of the lake […] There was the lake, alive and marbled, with its blue-black transparent water, rather dark, so alive. And there were boats with bright yellow sails and red and orange sails, and boats with two white sails […] And there was cordiality, a sparkle, a delightful ease beyond belief, southern in its ease, and Nordic in its charm alert.”
When were they born? Who made them famous? What are the differences that characterize them? A brief history of “bubbles“, the Italian Champagne, and how they are loved today by wine experts from all over the world.
By going to the estate founded by Roberto Cavalli in the upper part of the Panzano area (heart of Chianti), although inspired by the notoriety of the fashion brand, you will discover an authentic love for the land. It is that of Tommaso Cavalli, Roberto’s son, involved at 360 degrees in wine production.
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