When Paolo Laiolo took up the trowel in 1998 and joined his father Guido at the tiny family estate of Laiolo Reginin, it was made clear to him that though he would probably never become rich, he would nonetheless meet many fascinating people along the way. Undeterred, or perhaps spurred on, Paolo responded by spending […]

No, not from Wembley – ‘new manager please! (same result)’ – but more importantly here’s an update on new arrivals and what you can look forward to in 2012 from snowy Italia… Fresh off the bench this spring (!) come a pair of sunny, but measured Sardinians as made by Adele and Maurizio at the […]

For this second blog on the region of the Alto Piemonte (Lessona, Bramaterra, Gattinara, Boca) I assessed 25 wines covering mostly vintages 2009 – 2004 from 12 producers: Cantine del Castello Conti (Boca), Antonio Vallana (Boca), Antoniolo (Gattinara), Antoniotti (Bramaterra), Sperino (Lessona),  Le Piane (Boca), Patriarca Franco (Gattinara), Travaglini (Gattinara), Tenuta Sella (Lessona), Nervi (Gattinara), […]

Just back from my annual visit to the Loire where I assessed the vintage, caught up with Berrys’ suppliers, visited some new names to get a clearer perspective & dwelt on some of the issues influencing Loire wines, particularly those of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. The 2011 Loire vintage was shaped, as elsewhere in Europe, by […]