This week’s Wine, Shine & Dine event in Cortona on Thursday, May 30th, will feature Bolgheri winery Tenuta Argentiera at the Locanda del Loggiato. With blends of grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grown in the Maremma region of Tuscany which is close to the Mediterranean Sea, this looks to be a VERY interesting evening. Here’s a sneak peak at what you will be tasting at both the free tasting in...

  It was a beautiful Tuscan evening and perfect for tasting Altesino Brunello outside in Piazza Repubblica in front of the Molesini Wine Shop. The line up for the free tasting was pretty impressive. We began with a taste of the Rosso di Montalcino Altesino 2011 DOCG, pretty impressive for “just” a Rosso.  They use the same grapes as are used for the Brunello, they just come from younger vines and are aged for less time. The...

This week’s Wine, Shine & Dine event in Cortona on Thursday, May 16th, will feature Montalcino winery Altesino at the Locanda del Loggiato. Looks to be a pretty amazing night.  The Brunello di Montalcino from Altesino has been highly rated by Wine Spectator, James Suckling and Wine Enthusiast, just to name a few. Here’s a sneak peak of the menu for Thursday night’s dinner… MENU APERITIVO Pappa al pomodoro, Panzanella e...

This coming Sunday is the once a year event “Cantine Aperte” (open wineries) all over Italy.  Most importantly, here in the Cortona area the Cosorzio Vini Cortona has put up a listing of which wineries are participating, you can click on the image to go to the Consorzio website. Hope to see you all...

This week’s Wine, Dine & Shine started off in Piazza Repubblica with a lucky sunny break during a very stormy day.  Castello di Ama was the featured winery being tasted in front of the Molesini Wine Shop. The owner and one of the marketing representatives of Castello di Ama poured the tastings and gave detailed information to all attendees about their wines, most of which were nicely made Chiantis. At 8:00 p.m. the event was moved to...