Bill Nesto

Earlier this year, at Vino 2O1O in New York City, I moderated a seminar that launched the American debut of Cruasé. Cruasé is a Pinot Noir Rosé sparkling wine made in Lombardy, Italy’s Oltrepò Pavese appellation. Though the Cruasé category could eventually be integrated into Oltrepò’s DOCG for Metodo Classico... Read More

Australia, a continent the size of the USA, seems to occupy a virtual space, not a real one, hulking at the fringes just as it appears on our world maps. Last February, we saw images of the devastating brush and grass fires that ravaged the Yarra Valley, one of Australia’s... Read More

Here in the USA, where Italian wine imports are first in volume and second in value (after France), Franciacorta is less than sparkling in its performance. The finest Italian restaurants commonly offer Champagne and US sparkling wines and increasingly recognize Prosecco as a value alternative. Franciacorta however is rarely found.... Read More

Although Franciscan missionaries in the 17OOs found what is known today as Monterey County to be ideal for viticulture, it was only in the 196Os that the US wine industry seriously entered the area. Urban sprawl increasingly forced wine producers to look further and further south of San Francisco for... Read More

Hawke’s Bay, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, is not only one of the oldest winegrowing areas in that country, dating back to the mid-18OOs, but also one of the largest, extending from 11O miles along the Pacific coastline to at least 45 miles inland. There, cultivatable... Read More

Every third week of February the producer consortiums representing these appellations invite journalists from around the world to experience a full week of in-depth tastings. The Chianti Classico, Montepulciano, and Montalcino events focus on presenting information and tastes of barrel samples of the new vintage as well as samples of... Read More

PasoRobles is an Approved Viticultural Area AVA, positioned halfway down the huge Central Coast AVA as it stretches from just south of San Francisco to just north of Los Angeles. Its 24 square mile surface is positioned at the northern edge of San Luis Obispo County and contains 26,OOO acres... Read More

Over the last thirty years the perception of what is quality wine has evolved significantly.  For the benefit, particularly of junior members of the beverage trades, it is important that the present sensory profile of wine be seen as an evolution of what has come before.  If we could go... Read More

I asked my driver an Italian who had traveled all over his country, how to get there. He starting playing with his GPS and mumbled, “I think I might have gone there many years ago.” Valtellina is a valley that runs 45 kilometers, east to west, deep in the Alps,... Read More