Exploring Southern Italy with Radici del Sud
Simon reports on a superb evening tasting Southern Italian wines and pairing them with delicious food from their home regions.
Orange couture – a Denavolo vertical
The story of an incredible and unexpected lunch which took in a complete summary of Guilio Armani’s Denavolo wines.
Originally published as “Dina is served” in Noble Rot issue 29.
Valentina Passalacqua – an inconvenient truth?
The arrest of Valentina Passalacqua’s father, on charges of using illegal labour gangs (caporalato) has shocked the natural wine world – who were previously in love with Valentina and her wines. Simon J Woolf investigates and sets out the background and the context for this challenging affair.
New faces at Raw Fair London
Simon reports back from a typically exciting Raw fair London, full of new discoveries.
Artisan winemakers of Slovenia and Friuli
A brief report on 2018’s Artisan winemakers of Slovenia and Friuli, and details of how to book for the 2019 tour.
Cosi Casè – a capricious Malvasia di Candia
Every week, Simon selects an orange wine (a white wine made with extended skin contact) that grabbed his attention. View the whole series here. When I first discovered the macerated monolith that is La Stoppa’s Ageno, I made the assumption that it was Read more
Celebrating The Amber Revolution with a Gravner vertical
Simon is lucky enough to taste an incredible vertical of Gravner’s wines, during a celebratory weekend as his book Amber Revolution launches in Europe
Vodopivec, a perfect expression of Vitovska
“The first problem for wine producers is not oedium, it’s ego”, states Paolo Vodopivec disarmingly. He concludes “I don’t want my ego in my wines”. Simon discoves what this means, and why Vodopivec hates being associated with the orange wine scene.
Italy’s new wave of natural wine fairs
If like me you have a deep-seated passion for all things amber-hued, and consecrated to the Great Mother of Unholy Macerations, you surely know of the major natural wine fairs in Italy and you may have been a more or Read more
Matej Skerlj shows the elegance of Vitovska
The wonderful skin macerated Vitovska from Skerlj isn’t just a great wine, it’s also a demonstration of how different this region is from its Friuli-Venezia-Giulia neighbours.