SICILIAN WINERY PLANETA, ENOLOGIST CARLO FERRINI, AND THE MONTALCINO TERRITORY: THREE NOMINATIONS ON THE LIST FOR THE “WINE STAR AWARDS 2006”, BY WINE ENTHUSIAST, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WINE MAGAZINES WORLDWIDE

The Sicilian company Planeta is in the running for the “European Winery of the Year”, the Tuscan enologist Carlo Ferrini for the “Winemaker of the Year” category, and the Montalcino region (Brunello’s homeland) for the “Wine Region of the Year”: these are the three Italian nominations listed for the “Wine Star Industry Award 2006”, the prestigious prizes that are awarded each year by Wine Enthusiast, one of the most important and most referenced wine magazines worldwide. The magazine just announced its 50 nominations for 2006, which will appear in the October issue in anticipation of the proclamation of the winners in November.
Monica Larner, Wine Enthusiast correspondent for Italy, explains: “We are truly happy that Italy appears in three categories, which represent well the various aspects of Italian enology: there is the emerging South, there is the historical area of Montalcino, there is innovative enology with Carlo Ferrini. At Wine Enthusiast we are all big fans of Italian wines, and we have a great desire to make known the work that is going on here, in particular, increased awareness of the autochthonous vineyards. Even last year Italy had various nominations, without winning the grand prize, and we hope that this will be the year!”
These are the other nominations in the three categories in which Italy is competing: for the “Winery of the Year”, Planeta (Italia), Dr. Loosen (Germany), Marqus de Riscal (Spain), Niepoort (Portugal), Torres (Spain) are the candidates; for the “Winemaker of the Year”, Carlo Ferrini (Italia), Willi Brundlmayer (Austria), Olivier Humbrecht (France), Tony & Michele Jordan (Australia), Randy Ullom (California); for the “Wine Region of the Year”, Montalcino (Italia), Alexander Valley (California), Douro (Portugal), Medoc (France), Mendoza (Argentina).