Report from: Montes Dry Farming Initiative Tasting
09 Mar 2015- Details
- Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
(March 2, 2015) ... Aurelio Montes Jr. came to town, do da do da ... to promote Montes' newest initiative: Dry Farming, plus an introduction to one of Montes' newest wines "Taita", which is in such limited production (200-250 cases) that only 36 bottles are being made available in Canada - not cases ... bottles.
Aurelio stressed that a winery has to still be on the cutting edge, even if they have been around awhile (Montes recently celebrated 25 years); "must be aware of what's new, what's happening and trends," he said, to remain relevant in these fast and ever-changing times.
Montes has moved to a different level of sustainability in their winery practices, which looks at 4 major components: environmental, energy, workers and community - for example, Montes reduced 60% of its energy usage.
To read more about this initiative and about the new wines, click here.
(February 22, 2015) ... When I told some of my colleagues I was headed to Romagna for a Sangiovese and Albana tasting, I got a lot of flak about the Albana. Sangiovese, of course, is a grape grown all over Italy, but Albana is very regionally grown, specifically in the Romagna area. It was the first white wine granted DOCG status (in 1987), and even the seminar leader made note that the status was due to a "very strong lobby."
