Wine Openers

MUNICH – This dynamic city is cowering under a heavy grey shawl of clouds, clouds without any promise of the snow my seat mate said she and friends flew for 10 hours to find. A dozen eager cross-country fliers (and skiers) are headed to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and then maybe Austria if the Internet photos of bare ground in G-P prove true.
I’m grounded, waiting in a dim, near-deserted terminal for yet another flight, the fourth in, umm, let’s see, 20 hours or so as I get closer to Bologna and then Faenza, along the Via Emilia and the Consorzio Vini di Romagna, protectors, producers and purveyors of Sangioivese di Romagna Riserva, which is to be presented this weekend.
So many legs to this trip it feels like I’m sneaking up on Italy, although that might be the last thing Italy needs.
Silvio Berlusconi. ‘Nuff said.
This country has some incredibly talented winemakers and each week I seem to meet or hear about yet another. Recently it seems many of the newest names are women, from the multi-talented Barbara Tamburini to Susanna Crociani and most-recently Cristina Geminiani of Fattorina Zerbina. More about her after Saturday’s tasting.
They aren’t new to winemkaing, each of them already having established a solid reputation, but there’s still so much to learn.
The world is out there, only temporarily hiding behind that curtain of fog and rain.