Italy, the largest wine producing country of the world, and Canada’s number one wine importing source, organizes every year at the beginning of November in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal a wine festival attended by many prominent wineries.
This year, 78 wineries participated, pouring more than 300 wines.
The food is always of very high quality and catered by a local Italian restaurant.
Some Italian wineries still prefer to produce “old style” highly extracted, barrel aged, tannic red wines that require long cellaring to mellow, while others (possibly the majority now) switched to more fruit-driven, lighter wines, often using “new” and French grape varieties (mainly cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc) to achieve their objective.
Below, is a list of the wines I recommend
White
Chardonnay, 2012, Planeta, Sicily
91/100
Ribolla Gialla, 2012, Castello di Friuli,
90/100
Dessert wines
Torcolato, 2009, Veneto,
93/100
375 ml
Recioto della Valpolicella, 2008, Monte Faustine, Veneto
93/100
500 ml
Red wines
Rocca di Frasinello, 2009,
Castellare di Castellina, Tuscany
92/100
Lucente, 2010, Tenuta Luce della Vite, Tuscany
94/100
Barolo Cannubi, 2008, Marchesi di Barolo, Piedmont
92/100
Barolo Sarmassa, 2008, Marchesi di Barolo, Piedmont
93/100
Passo delle Mule, Nero d’Avola, 2011, Duca di Salaparuta, Sicily
90/100
Merlot, 2009, Planeta, Sicily
91/100
Syrah, 2012, Planeta, Sicily
91/100
Santa Cecilia, 2010, Planeta, Sicily
92/100
Ornelaia 25th Anniversario 2010, Tenuta di Ornelaia, Tiscany
93/100
Il Frapatto, 2012, Valle de Acate, Sicily
92/100
Chianti Classico, 2009, Canonau a Ceretto, Tuscany
92/100
There were numerous prosecco wines, as well as pinot grigio.
I concentrated on red wines
