On what was a beautiful late winters day in San Francisco we lined up and went in to taste some Great Wines of Italy. So rumor has it that James tasted close to 4,000 Italian wines in 2016 to have the ability to assemble the wines at the event. As we collected our 90 point James Suckling tasting glass it was off to the races and off to randomly taste some wonderful Italian wines. For the first tastes we went after some lovely whites, but is was not long before we were tempted by some young Italian lady (no not like that, ok maybe a little bit) who poured some beautiful reds. As we wandered around we tasted one lovely wine after another, and then when comparing our individual experiences were constantly using way too many superlatives. We are always (and shouldn't be) amazed at how much we love all these wines. From whites to reds, from Puglia to Veneto on the east and Piedmont to Sicily on the West there are so many tasty, well made food friendly, generally affordable great Italian wines.
The charcuterie stations at each of the three tasting rooms were also perfect, and unlike most events well stocked. Having more great cured meats than any event ever attended and some lovely cheeses it was spot on! |
| Our new best mate! |
The crowd is a mix of industry and enthusiastic punters and this year all fairly well behaved (they must have known we were watching). Now while we did get stuck into it there were a good number of wines unfortunately we did not get to. We did however meet some new best friends as is the usual theme with Italians. One in particular that we had a great conversation with was Gian Luigi Maravalle of Tenuta Vitalonga . He kept inviting us to come visit him. We even warned him that it was highly probable that we would show up and he still said come come.The wines were amazing. So many lovely Italian wines all in one place made for a wonderful evening of wine tasting pleasure. James is a great host and he is always on the move talking with both sides of the tasting table. There is an obvious respect from the producers towards James and from him to them and this just adds to the feel of this wonderful event.
 |
| Our other new best mate... |
For added entertainment Adelaide Australia's Surahn Sidhu will managed the DJ booth with fantastic wine tasting beats just as he did the previous year. Nice to see a home town boy (at least for one of us) having a good time and doing well. Great to have a chat and catch up a bit as well.As we tried to compile a list of favorites it became very obvious that we really enjoyed everything we tasted and trying to pick a top 3 or 5 was proving to be really hard. These were an amazing collection of wonderful wines and we decided that, yes, they were all winners for having been invited by James to be a part of his tour. So congratulations to all the producers pouring their wines as you are all winners!
This truly was a wonderful event and we would like to thank James for the invite and the great hospitality and wine. If you can get to one of Jame's events, do it!
Happy Wine Adventures,
Cheers,
WineWalkabout
Booked our tickets! Can't wait to taste what you guys have been telling us about.
ReplyDeleteFrank