NEW #TWSTaste virtual wine tasting: Northern Italy, Thursday 30th April, 8-9pm

Drinks Chat
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Hello all!

Thank you very much to everyone who attended our Roam around the Rhône virtual tasting event last night! It was very busy, with some amazing bottles on show - thank you all for your participation!

It’s now time to get our next virtual tasting in the diary:

New twstaste virtual wine tasting: Northern Italy, Thursday 30th April, 8-9pm

https://media.giphy.com/media/Sa1xEnaWKjpLO/giphy.gif(image larger than 8 MB)

Like our previous few tastings, we’re asking you to raid your wine rack to see what you’ve already got at home, and join together to taste along live next Thursday.

It doesn’t matter where in Northern Italy the wine is from, or the grape variety - anything that you want to open is welcome, as are you!

If you haven’t got any Northern Italian wine and want to open something else and taste along, that’s fine too. Bring along a bottle and join in anyway - you might find some inspiration for different wines to put on your ‘must try’ list!

Northern Italian Wine Guide

If you need to brush up on your Northern Italian wine knowledge, have a read of our Ultimate Guide to Italian Wines

We’re also extremely excited to let you know that our Italy buyer @Sarah Knowles MW will be joining us, so feel free to ask her any questions you might have about the wines that you’re opening!

A NOTE FROM SARAH

“From Soave to Pinot Grigio, Amarone to Barolo and Prosecco to Recioto, Northern Italy really has a vast selection of wonderful wines in a huge range of styles.

The vineyards form a patchwork stretching east to west across the foot hills of the Alps and Dolomites - surrounding lakes, following rivers or clinging to the coasts. They have also historically benefited from being at the confluence of Italy, with France, Austria, Switzerland, and Slovenia to the North, as well as surrounding the wealthy northern town of Genoa in the West, Turin, Milan, Verona, Venice and Trieste in the East. Each tiny sub region, however, has complete personality and a unique sense of place - a wide spectrum of native grape varieties are planted, leading to the broad range of styles available.

I love travelling in Northern Italy, from my annual pilgrimage to Barolo and Barbaresco, to the stunning hills of Prosecco, with the beautiful castle topped town of Soave, lake side Bardolino and terraced Alto Adige in between - these are regions that can captivate the imagination and definitely quench your thirst!

Whether you grab a bottle of Valpol, Lagrien or Ghemme I hope you join this tasting for all things Northern Italian this Thursday.

As I should have been in Verona last week at VinItaly. I have also been indulging in some Italian wines and home cooking in place of this. If you need any inspiration, take a look at these…."

Drink VinItaly with Sarah Knowles MW Episode 1

Drink VinItaly with Sarah Knowles MW Episode 2

Here’s how to take part:

  1. Have a look to see if you have any wines from Northern Italy at home. If you don’t, you can currently buy full cases of an individual wine from our website for delivery, or your nearest indie wine merchant may be able to deliver if our delivery dates before next Thursday are full.
  2. Reply to this topic saying what Northern Italian wine you’ve got - and if you’ve got more than one option, feel free to share notes with your fellow members here and get advice about which bottle to open (feel free to open more than one if you like…). You could also ask about decanting or get some serving suggestions/food matches lined up.
  3. Log in to the Community just before 8pm on Thursday 30th April - there’ll be a topic called ‘LIVE #TWSTaste: Northern Italy’ where we’ll host the live event. We’ll all say which bottles we’re opening/share photos of the bottles, and then we’ll taste along together and compare notes, just like we do for a normal twstaste event.

Don’t worry - we always start the event properly a few minutes after 8pm so we can all join in with #clapforourcarers if you’d like to participate.

If you’re new to The Community and need help with how to use the forum for the tasting, have a read of our guide ‘How To’ - Take part in our virtual #TWSTaste events’

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Who’s joining us?

  • I’ll be there!
  • I haven’t got any wines from Northern Italy, but I’ll join in anyway
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We hope you can join us! If you can’t make it, we’re currently planning the following week’s tasting and we’ll let you all know the theme soon :smiley:

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WS are selling a number of ‘pre-mixed cases’. Could they put together a pre-mixed case to cover the next 6 weeks virtual tastings?

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N Italy… touch broad, maybe? :grinning:

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It has to be kept fairly broad as not everyone will already have many of the wines in their racks. Some might have Piedmont but no Alto Adige, others will have Verona but no Valpolicella and so on. That’s why last night we didn’t just go for Northern Rhone. These are after all just meant to be a bit of fun.

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Looking forward to Thursday!

I’m brining this to the party:
2010 Azienda Agricola Elvio Cogno Barolo Cascina Nuova

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You’re almost tempting me to open the 2010 Ravera… but I think it’s a little too early.

A toss up at the minute, but the 2008 Castello di Verduno Barolo Riserva Monvigliero is in the lead in my mind, to lift the spirits after this weeks ‘disappointments’ :grinning:

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I plan to bring this to the table on the night:

I’ll probably decant an hour or two before.

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I will open this…

https://www.thewinesociety.com/shop/HistoricProductDetail.aspx?pd=IT18231

At the end of the TWS window, I am sure it will be okay.

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I’d say traditionally produced Barolo from 2010 should last a couple of decades at least.

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So about ready to start drinking then?

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Dont have much northern Italian in my house but that could change of my delivery of wines from Italy turns up by Thursday but I am not optimistic. So gonna be opening a bottle of Corte Del Drago Chardonnay from Friuli-Venezia Giulia and a bottle of one of my favourite everyday wines Medici Riccardi Chianti Rufina 2017.
Looking forward to Thursday.

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Fairly certain it’s from the right area - one of my Society favs so fortunately got one in, Lugana Ca die Frati. Love it so hope it counts? Might rumage to see if still have a sweet red but may have downed that one. And know not a red from the area in quaffing distance so be pleased to hear about all yours.

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Chianti not really from northern Italy, but hey… :wink:

Not sure what I’ll open. Tough to choose between about 100 wines :roll_eyes:

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Depends your definition if where the north starts haha. I always consider north of Rome to be Northern Italy since my consideration that Chianti is northern Italian. But that may be a bias I have having spent quite a bit of time in Calabria

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Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio etc are central Italy in my book! Italians don’t usually think of Tuscany as the north.

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I’ll be opening a bottle of Valpolicella: Allegrini’s La Grola 2006.

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Hopefully also a ribeye (and fresh truffle!) to pair with it! The 2010s should be drinking well now but still pretty firm! See you on Thursday.

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Should be delicious - be sure to decant an hour or so before, and if opening this, I’d also choose something high protein for dinner!

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A lovely decision to have…! Both the 2008s and 2010s will keep for decades, but of the wines I have tasted recently both are opening up with air, and pair well with simple but meaty dishes!

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This should be singing!