They came, they poured, we drank…a lot of very good wine! Last week was the parade of Italian
winemakers who flew into Florida and put on four wonderful wine tasting events. If you have never attended one of these great wine tasting events, well, shame on you. This is really a must for anyone who has any interest at all in drinking or learning something about the wines of Italy. This tour is the brainchild of the renowned Italian wine importer Nadia Galati of Alberello Imports. Ms. Galati picked 11 top winemakers and owners from all areas of the Italian wine scene and brought them to us.

In October of last year, I was fortunate enough to be part of a trip to Italy that was organized by Nadia, who introduced me to several wineries in northern Italy. On this trip we visited Giovanna Tantini, of Tantini Wines, Mauro Pavia of Pavia & Figli (sons) and Massimo Nicolis of Nicolis Wines, who were also a part of this year’s Italian Tour. So along with Alberto Passeri of La Gerla, Giovanni Cattani of La Calonica, Gregory Perrucci of Racemi Wines, Sisto Tessari of La Cappuccina, Michele di Gregorio of Tenuta Pepe, Piero Lanza of Poggerino and Cristina Neri of Santa Maria la Palma, a truly magnificent group of wine artisans were introduced to the wine lovers of Florida.

The tastings, which started on Wednesday night, were held in Sunrise, Vero Beach, Jacksonville and
Tampa for the grand finale, the giant MOSI event on Saturday. The event we held here in Jacksonville on Friday night was attended by nearly 200 welcomed guests and proved to be a great success, as everyone had opportunity to discuss the history, personality and future wines with each of the spirited winemakers.

So if you missed this year’s tour, please do yourself a favor and keep an eye out for the next time the Italians land on our Florida beaches.

Ken Amendola

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena