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Our archive includes three sections: columns, recipes, and training. You are invited to comment and discuss articles, ask for more insights, or just share your thoughts and experience with other wine lovers!

Columns

  • Winemaking differences of our three Chianti Classico (even, what happens before the bottle?) Let’s start from the beginning. The harvest here at Castello Monterinaldi is between September and October. The perfectly ripe grapes are harvested by hand, de-stemmed, and then sent directly to our concrete......

  • Tuscany, The Land of Winemaking Castles Have you ever dreamed of spending a weekend roaming around the beautiful region of Tuscany, famous for its luscious green hills, its castles, and its bold red wines? What if I tell you that you can fulfill your dreams......

  • 2020 Harvest A vintage that came good in the end We can’t say this last 2020 has been all bad, it’s given us excellent grapes and so the vintage promises to be a good one… at least from a wine-making point of view! Overall, the......

Recipes

  • Literally translated as “hot bath” this dipping sauce for vegetables often appears in many Italian homes as part of the Christmas Eve appetizers. It’s a hot dish made from garlic and anchovies, originating in the South of Piedmont, during the 16th century. Traditionally it is......

  • In Tuscany, Sunday would not be the same without “crostini di fegatini” (toasted bread slices and chicken liver patè), known as “crostini toscani” in other regions or “crostini neri” if you are from Tuscany! This a typical, authentic Tuscan recipe and every family has its......

  • Tortellini in broth are a traditional first-course dish from Emilia Romagna consisting of filled pasta. Home-made tortellini, small parcels of egg pasta enclosing a delicious filling of meat, cured ham, mortadella and Parmigiano Reggiano, are a speciality of the Italian culinary tradition and are always......

Training

  • Serving Temperature One of the most important factors influencing the tasting of a wine is certainly the serving temperature. This element is sometimes underestimated, but it plays a fundamental role in the correct perception that we should have of a wine. On many occasions we......

  • Four questions (and answers) about vineyards and next vintages Fabrizio was asked to explain his opinion about four points. Here are questions and answers 1. Can you briefly describe the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons for your vineyards? Both 2015 and 2016 can be judged......

  • What happens to wine in barriques? Barriques are small barrels – of French origin – built with oak wood, of small dimensions (225 litres for the Bordeaux and 228 litres for the Burgundy). The history of barriques brings us back to France because they were......