“Sip Trip”: Jeff Porter’s journey exploring and narrating the soul of Italian wines

The basic idea behind “Sip Trip” is that it is a journey into the charm of Italy’s wines and territories, to understand the essence and then narrate it to fans, in a simple and comprehensible way. It is what is called an on-the-road show, starring Jeff Porter, one of the most influential wine names in the USA (as well as the beverage division Director of the Bastianich Group), produced together with Marina Nedic and Giancarlo Voglino’s IEEM - International Event & Exhibition Management, the US PR agency Colangelo & Partners, and the very popular US portal VinePair. It will be aired online starting from next spring, initially on the YouTube platform and on VinePair.
“Sip Trip” is a colossal exploration of Italy and as a matter of fact, in just a few days we have covered 3.700 kilometers”, Jeff Porter told WineNews, during the stop in Montalcino, one of the most prestigious Italian wine destinations.
Other stops were also the prestigious hills of Barolo, Asti DOCG and Barbera, as well as Franciacorta, the territory of Italian sparkling wine excellence. The Sip Trip has already visited excellent territories and gone through the history and landscapes of the beauty of Lake Garda, Umbria, which is the “Green Heart of Italy”, Lazio and its centuries-old history of wine and the grandeur of Rome, and subsequently wine that has mixed with history also in Naples and Pompeii, which Porter commented is, “the most incredible place I’ve ever seen”. Further along, in this first part of the tour, the trip also went through the Marches, in Offida, Basilicata and Campania, in the lands of Taurasi, and in the next few weeks, will also stop in the magnificent territory of Chianti Classico.
The esteemed and prominent wineries in their respective territories tell their stories; from Piedmont (Consortium Protection of Asti DOCG and the Consortium Barbera d’Asti and wines of Monferrato, and the reference wineries of Barolo, such as Renato Ratti, Pio Cesare and Fontanafredda), to Veneto (top brands like Amarone della Valpolicella but also, like Masi and Zenato), Lombardy (Ca’ del Bosco, reference winery of Franciacorta), Tuscany (the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino and the Castle of Monsanto, historical wine cellar of Chianti Classico), Umbria (the Cotarella family winery), the Marches (Ciù Ciù, one of the triumphs of the Marches wine), Campania (Mastroberardino , Irpinia’s leading winery), just to name the most important ones Jeff Porter has mentioned.
“The idea of Sip Trip is to look for the cultural identity of the territories”, Porter said, “through connecting wine to people, food to people, and to the stories that make these territories so great, understanding and then telling why all this works so well”.
The journey has already been quite long, but it has touched only a part of what Italy’s wine and food, history and territories truly has to offer. “My dream is to visit many other places and to get to know the people, the wine, the food, the places, and then be able to narrate them. If we succeed in our endeavor, we will then go on to explore other territories and cultures, and that’s what I want to do”.