“Italian” holiday toasts for international critics, between London and New York

On the one hand “Big Ben”, Westminster and the Tower of London, in London, on the other the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and Central Park, in New York: two cities-symbols of the world, divided by 5,570 kilometers of distance, but united by the passion for Italian wine, which in the Uk and U.S. markets is the leader in consumers’ glasses. And it is not surprising, then, that in the end-of-year wine recommendations of two of the world’s most important pens of critics, the “very British” Jancis Robinson, at the top of “The Best Wine Critics in the World”, and, among other things, a signature for the “Financial Times”, the most authoritative British economic newspaper, and the American Eric Asimov, wine signature for the very popular “The New York Times”, one of America’s most widely read newspapers, there are numerous labels from Italy.
Looking at the year-end recommendations signed by Jancis Robinson, among the wines of the world, Italy is the protagonist in all categories. For whites, in fact, Robinson (Master of Wine and Obe - Order of the British Empire, one of the highest honors awarded in the United Kingdom), here is the Piccozza Pinot Bianco 2023 from Nals Margreid, from Alto Adige, but also the Greco di Tufo Vico Storto 2022 from Nativ, passing through the Igt Veneto “Hey French Terza Edizione” by Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, a peculiar blend of wines from different vintages, based on Garganega, from the vineyards on the Verona side of Monte Calvarina, in the Soave area. Among Italian reds, on the other hand, Robinson points to Fasoli Gino’s Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Abbondanza 2022, one of the most celebrated names in Abruzzo, and then to the classicism of the Langhe and Tuscany, with Paolo Scavino’s Nebbiolo Langhe 2021 and Marengo’s Barolo Brunate 2018, in the former case, and again Poggio Landi’s Brunello di Montalcino 2018, Bibi Graetz’s Igt Toscana Casamatta 2022 and Tenuta Sette Cieli’s Bolgheri Noi 4 2022. Italy can’t be missed among bubbles either. And while Robinson suggests one of the symbols of Italian sparkling wine, Guido Berlucchi’s Franciacorta Nv 61 Satèn Brut, it also ranges over a more unusual curiosity, such as Terrevive Bergianti’s Igt Emilia San Vincent Rosato Frizzante.
But Italian wine is also well represented among “The Most Memorable Wines of 2024” selected by Eric Asimov. Like Calabria Giramondo 2020 from L’Acino, a wine that comes from vineyards in the Pollino Park, or like the iconic Chianti Classico Riserva 2019 from Val delle Corti, one of the gems of the Black Rooster territory and Radda in Chianti. And also from the same territory comes the Vin Santo del Chianti Classico 2015 from Fèlsina, the Poggiali family winery, with its heart in Castelnuovo Berardenga, and among the most emblazoned in the Tuscan territory.