Italy’s Hidden Gems

THURSDAYS 17th & 24th SEPTEMBER

Every text book will tell you about the diversity to be found in Italian wine. Italy makes wine in every region from north to south and east to west, each of the regions celebrating their culture and distinct identity with indigenous grape varieties at the heart of production.

What’s the Theme of This Tasting?

This tasting looks beyond the familiar. Some estimate that Italy is home to over 2,000 indigenous grape varieties, yet most of us know only a fraction of them. We invite you to break rank with the masses and join our online masterclass: Italy’s Hidden Gems.

Tom has gathered together a selection of ‘alternative’ grapes that are currently the darlings of top sommeliers, but remain a secret to the general public. Most have ancient origins, some close to extinction before Italy’s passionate artisan winemakers stepped in.

What We’ll Taste Week One

We begin in the north, with a wine from around Lake Garda. Garganega often dominates Soave, but elsewhere is rarely bottled as a single variety. Here it makes a juicy and fresh white, with that distinctly Italian hint of almond. We travel south to Abruzzo for our second wine: the Passerina, a native grape of the Adriatic coast in central Italy. Used to produce both still and sparkling wines, our dry white example is grown on chalky clay soils. Week one concludes much further south, in Puglia in the ‘heel’ of Italy. You may be familiar with the region’s Primitivo, but we’ll be tasting the much more uncommon and ancient red wne variety Susumaniello, native of Brindisi on the Puglian coast.

What We’ll Taste Week Two

A sparkling start to week two, not with Prosecco, but with a bright and characterful spumante made from the Ribolla Gialla variety in its native province of Friuli Venezia Giulia, close to the Slovenian border. Next up, a dry white wine from Chieti, where the Pecorino vines grow on hillside slopes 300 metres above sea level, giving its wines mineral qualities and freshness. Week two concludes on the island of Sicily. Sicily is home to many native varieties that thrive on its varied, often volcanic soils. We’ll taste Nerelo Mascalese, one of the island’s signature red wine grapes, making lighter and softer wines sometimes compared in style to Pinot Noir.

The Wines

The six wines would normally cost £79.13, but exclusively for this tasting they are offered for just £72 including UK mainland delivery, saving £7.13.

The Tasting

This tasting runs over two sessions, from 7pm – 8:15pm each evening. The ticket price of £27.50 covers both sessions and is per household, not per person. We’ll open three wines each night, but they’ll drink just as well over the next couple of days so nothing is wasted. And of course, if you miss a live tasting session we’ll send you the video recording to taste along in your own time.