A day in Friuli: I Clivi I spent a long-awaited and satisfying 18 hours in the Collio Orientale denomination, hard by the Italian-Slovenian border last week.  The destination was the biologico winery I Clivi, a small family winery owned and run by Ferdinando Zanusso and his son Mario.  I had encountered Mario...

Another Friulian winemaker speaks up God knows, I'm not one to cause trouble or fan the flames of controversy.  However.  Whenever anyone becomes the center of a cult -- of personality or winemaking or anything else -- my built-in bullshit-o-meter goes crazy. By the way, I will provide an ad hoc definition...

Gli giovani che ridanno vita al vino italianoThis is no country for old men.  -- W. B. Yeats Not any more it isn't. Lately I've been struck by the extreme youth of winemakers (enologi) that I've met in Italy.  Energetic guys in their early-mid 30s and even their 20s, completely immersed in the life of the winery...