“Opera Wine”: 40 years of italian wine in the Usa

In October 1978, the newly born magazine “Wine Spectator”, put Italy, and precisely, Chianti, on its first cover. Forty years later, their April 2018 issue cover story is dedicated to Italy once more, this time Bolgheri. In between, 43 other cover stories of the most widely read wine magazine have been dedicated to Italy and its most important producers, from Antinori to Gaja, Ruffino, Allegrini, Farinetti, Lodovico Antinori, and also its territories, especially Piedmont and Tuscany, but also Veneto, and often the entire country of Italy. Opera Wine 2018 was dedicated to the Italy-USA connection and the 45 covers over the magazine’s 40 years, because “America loves Italian wine and Italy. One of our most successful covers was dedicated to the “Travel guide to Florence”. When Americans are deciding where to go on holiday their first choice is always Italy”, explained Thomas Matthews, editor in chief of “Wine Spectator “, to WineNews. “Opera Wine” is now a traditional and prestigious preview of Vinitaly, and this year’s edition was dedicated to the link between Italy and the USA. In order for the States to keep growing, “I believe that Italian wine”, said Matthews “should focus on two aspects, one is variety or diversity, to really make this characteristic that Italy alone possesses widely known”, said Matthews, “and then work on quality, making sure that each and every bottle is expressed at its very best, like Italian wine deserves”. Diversity is Italian wine’s trump card, while the mission of “Opera Wine”, whose 107 wineries have been selected based on the factors “regionalism, excellence, and historical value, is to narrate it. And I think that from the uniqueness of Gravner in Friuli to Carole Bouquet’s passito in Pantelleria (La Serraglia, ed.), in the middle there is the entire story of the diversity of Italian wine”. Wine Spectator’s latest cover, issued April 2018, is dedicated to “the Incisa family of Rocchetta, Tenuta San Guido and Sassicaia, Bolgheri has a story to tell. Americans absolutely love Bolgheri wines, even though they are made from international varieties, because the truth is that Italy is really capable of producing any wine in an excellent way” (https://goo.gl/qPKfQg).