On the Road with the Grape Guy
Report from - The Bolla Relaunch Dinner ... June 1, 2010
22 Jun 2010- Details
- Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
Bolla is not a new winery, not by a long shot. It was established in 1883 and was the Italian wine to the stars in the 1950’s. It was mainly a family operation up until the year 2000 when the winery was bought by the U.S. based company Brown-Forman. In 2008 Gruppo Italiano Vini (GIV) bought part of the winery and in 2009, acquired it all – finally putting 100% of Bolla back into Italian hands for the first time since the late 60’s.
GIV, represented tonight by Stefano Puppini, has 14 wineries under their umbrella, of which Folonari is the most recognizable. GIV produces some 80 million bottles a year of which Bolla accounts for 15 million, that’s a sizable chunk.
So now, it’s time to bring handcrafted wines back to one of Italy’s most prestigious wineries – at least that is the message that GIV brings to dinner at Donnatello’s in the Yorkville area of Toronto tonight.
Now I could tell you all about the new direction being taken by the new Bolla owners, their philosophy and style differences, from their American counterparts, but it’s about what’s in the bottle that counts here, so let’s look there.
We started with the welcome wine ... (to find out about the wines, click here)
