SANTA MARGHERITA WINE GROUP NAMED 'WINERY OF THE YEAR' IN THE GAMBERO ROSSO 'ITALIAN WINES 2021'

Santa Margherita Wine Group is an Italian tale of passion, effort, values and tradition which began in 1935 thanks to the vision of Count Gaetano Marzotto and his belief in modern, reliable agricultural methods based on bringing man, nature and technology together. 85 years might have passed since Santa Margherita's visionary started but its leading principles have continued to be unmodified with time and have seen Marzotto's dream grow into among the leading producers of wine in Italy.

A "mosaic of wines" that currently includes 10 various estates in some of the most beautiful Italian regions: from Eastern Veneto to the Adige Valley, from the hills of Valdobbiadene and Refrontolo to Franciacorta, from Alto Adige to Lugana, from Chianti Classico to Maremma, from Sicily to Sardinia, from north to south of the Italian peninsula. The mosaic crosses 712 hectares, 70% of which are owned by the Group and more than half are naturally farmed.

It's not just about the large dimension of the territory which Santa Margherita Wine Group covers, however. The Group's success boils down to its large and varied range of wines which have the ability to satisfy the needs of an ever-increasingly globalized market, and offer consumers an assurance of consistent top quality wines.

It is exactly this "variety of wines from the various estates incorporated with their very high quality which is the factor for this recognition of the Marzotto familys work", honoured with "Winery of the Year" award in the Gambero Rosso "Guide to Italian Wines 2021", among one of the most prestigious wine magazines in Italy.

"Santa Margherita Gruppo Vinicolo has succeded in producing outstanding wines in all the geographic areas it has estates", thanks to the invaluable contribution of all the 'tiles' which make up its 'mosaic': Santa Margherita, Torresella, Kettmeir, Lamole di Lamole, Ca' del Bosco, Cà Maiol, Tenuta Sassoregale, Vistarenni, Terrelíade and Cantina Mesa.

Certain of these 'tiles' or wineries would certainly not be in the setting to market themselves globally if they were single entities yet are able to do so by becoming part of the Group; at the same time, the Group would certainly not be what it is today if it offered only the most widely-known labels and not these lesser-known gems of Italian wine. The Team actively sought to accomplish this balance between both, and it is this equilibrium which is the charm and the toughness of Santa Margherita Wine Group.

"We are extraordinarily proud to receive this award - says Beniamino Garofolo, CEO of Santa Margherita Wine Group - Positive feedback, such as this, is a gratifying affirmation of what the Marzotto family have created so far and the contribution of everyone who has worked with them to make this dream great".

 

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. If you are like me you'll be pining for that enchanting hot air balloon flight over The Hand Jumeirah or, better yet, yearning to be spoiled with flowers and pricey sparkly things. What's more probable (if I'm actually fortunate) is a peaceful evening in, dinner, cuddles on the sofa after tucking in the sobbing child for a couple of hours ...

Keeping that in mind we have laid out our recommendations on what wines to couple with home-cooked man-approved dishes. Look into our ideas listed below.

Steak and also Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is king when it pertains to pairing with a juicy, well marbled steak like sirloin or rib-eye. Cabernet is high in tannins (the grippy, puckering feeling you feel on the inside of your cheeks when you consume alcohol a solid merlot), which essentially cleanse away the fat the steak leaves inside your mouth, helping each mouthful of steak taste like the first bite.

Love on a budget plan: Spend as much as you are happy to spend for a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. We suggest our Errazuriz Estate Series Cabernet Sauvignon.

Splash Out: Head to the UNITED STATES isle and treat yourself to a passionate Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa or Sonoma in The golden state. Try our Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

Favor a leaner cut? Given that beef tenderloin (fillet) isn't fatty and lovers of this cut tend to like their meat on the rare side, go with a lighter wine like a Pinot Noir. We suggest our chilean pinot noir from Errazuriz.

Love on a budget: There is no such thing as a cheap Pinot Noir (Or at the very least there shouldn't be). This grape requires a great deal of Tender Loving Care in the vineyard as well as expensive oak barrel aging making it costly to create. 

Splash Out: New Zealand is where it's at! Central Otago and Martinborough locations are where the most revered decreases originate from. 

Spaghetti Bolognaise (or other pasta in red sauce) and Chianti

You're eating Italian food, so stick with their wines as well. Italian wine tends to be a bit sour, and that's because they have actually progressed to match the acid in the food, like tasty tomato-based meals. Hey there Spag-Bol!

Love on a budget:  Get a bottle of Chianti. Generally those identified 'Chianti Classico' are the most effective so get among those if it remains in your spending plan, or else any Chianti will certainly do. Try lamole di lamole Chianti Classico.

Splash Out: Barolo. He ought to be so fortunate to have you, a residence cooked meal and also a Barolo in his arms. Try Domenico Clerico Barolo 2015.

Roast Chicken and Chardonnay

We know what (a few of) you are thinking. 'I don't like Chardonnay'. Well, it's time to try it again. Chardonnay underwent an uncomfortable stage in the 80's and 90's where woodier than Ron Wine red's hunting lodge. Wine makers now aim to strike an equilibrium between spice, timber and fruit flavours in Chardonnay. Roast chicken is a classic combination with the buttery and toasty preference of the wine.

Love on a budget: Avoid straight up cheap Chardonnay, even if you're on a spending plan. Chardonnay costs a lot to make well thanks to the expensive oak barrels it’s aged in. Go for something around the 20 euro mark from Argentina where economic climate aspects enable them to make decent wines that do not cost a fortune. Try Zuccardi Serie A Chardonnay. 

 

Splash Out: You can get wonderful Chardonnay from the majority of  wine producing nations if you more than happy to pay for it. Try an Australian gem.

Fish

White wine with fish is the general rule, however wine pairing can be more technical than that. If fish is on your menu here are some quick pointers of what wine to pair with various fish recipes:

Ceviche - Dry Riesling. Try Hugel Riesling. Grilled white fish - Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc, Albariño or Gavi. Try Our Pascal Jolivet Sancerre. Battered white fish - Cava or Champagne! Try our Charles Heidsieck Brut or Rose. 

 

We believe you can probably generate something terrific to please your Valentines' fancy after dinner without our aid ...

It's obvious that interest in wine is expanding.

Maybe you like wine for the suggested health benefits (i.e. keto friendly, anti-oxidants, etc). Or, maybe you just like rosé! Whatever the reason, one problem lots of beginners struggle with is constantly choosing wines they love.

This is specifically true with red wines since, stylistically talking, they're really varied.

So, right here are four excellent red wines that intend to please. We call them crowd pleasers:

• They are big on flavour and big on fruit. (also known as fruit forward).
• They're not also astringent (e.g. tannic) and have a smooth coating.
• Contrasted to other varietals, they provide terrific value. (We call this QPR, for quality-price proportion.).

Zinfandel.
All the fruit, all the time.

Matching white wine is enjoyable.

Fruit Flavors: Blackberry shrubs, strawberry, peach preserves, cinnamon, and pleasant tobacco.

What You'll Discover: Just how alcohol impacts the taste.

The most effective Zins out there are typically quite high in alcohol (absolutely try to find those with 14% or more by volume). Alcohol in wine is type of like MSG; it magnifies fruit flavors and also increases boldness.

To taste the alcohol level in wine, take a sip and slowly breathe out after you ingest: it prickles the back of your throat. (Pros can recognize within a 1% ABV with this technique!).

Petite Syrah.
A healthy and balanced dosage of antioxidants.

Fruit Flavours: Sugar plum, blueberry, dark chocolate, black pepper, and black tea.

What You'll Discover: What "black wines" truly look like.

The ancient Greeks described all red wines as "black wines." Today, black wines are an unique class of super grapes with a remarkably high antioxidant content. The antioxidants in wine are discovered in the skins, seeds, and stems of grapes and are usually called polyphenols, of which anthocyanin (the red colour) is one kind.

Grapes with high polyphenols have high tannin (that astringent, bitter, tea-like taste in red wine) and are typically deeply coloured. Certainly, wine makers have actually found out exactly how to manage bitterness in winemaking to make sure that they taste bold and smooth. Petit Syrah is no exemption!

Nero d'Avola.
The gateway to Italian reds.

Fruit Flavors: Black cherry, black plum, licorice, tobacco, as well as red chili flakes.

What You'll Discover: The taste of terroir.

If you're boggled by Italian wines, you're not alone. Italy is just one of the most difficult wine regions to recognize, even for pros. To make things more complicated, a number of the leading Italian wines like "Barolo" are an acquired taste. 

So, begin in the south! Sicily and Puglia continue to offer some of the best values in the whole nation. Nero d'Avola supplies bold, crowd-pleasing fruit flavours together with Italy's trademark dusty, clay-like terroir.

Merlot.
The unhonoured hero of Bordeaux.

Fruit Flavors: Red cherry, plum, chocolate, graphite, dried out herbs, and vanilla.

What You'll Discover: Great Merlot gives Cabernet Sauvignon a run for the money.

Go to any kind of wine store or restaurant and compare the prices of the greater end bottles of Merlot wine to Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot wine is always cheaper (unless we're talking Petrus!) What's funny concerning this fact is that of all the grapes on the planet,Merlot wine and Cabernet couldn't be more similar. They're even related.

Take Much Better Notes.
Next time you open up a bottle of wine, attempt tasting it with the 4-step approach. You'll be surprised the amount of more flavours you can obtain!

When you look back on 2020, you may not be able to fight the need to drink wine directly from the decanter. Nobody's judging you.

There's Never Ever Enough Wine
Year of Wine Review (2020 )
You can not hurry through a vintage, even if often you want to strike the "skip" button and never look back. But, it would be a shame not to reflect on those highs, lows, and hilarious moments that made 2020 such a pivotal year in wine.

 

Governments are getting their oily paws around wine sales.
Getting a terrific bottle of wine just got a lot harder thanks to international trade policies. 

• US degrees second toll against European alcohol, causing United States imports of French wine to drop by fifty percent.
• Europe responds to US tolls by shifting wine exports to China.
• China kicks Australian wine trade in the gut with 212% tariff. Consume some Australian wine today!
• The South African government locks down wine exports, cutting a $600M annually market in half. Time to stock up on South African Cabernet!

 

Wine sales are up! However, it's not precisely what you think.
Complete sales volume for wine throughout 2020 is up significantly. Sales came to virtually 30% more during March- May compared to 2019. What are people buying?

• Wine sales got dominated by Sparkling wines and wine-based cocktails.
• Large brands pushed tons of wines this year, while little wineries based on in-person sales suffered.
• People felt the need to stock up and we saw a large increase on box wine sales.

 

Independent wineries had to get creative selling wine this year.
With dining establishments closed throughout COVID wineries needed to be creative. There was a massive uptick in virtual tastings, live streams, and internet sales in wine this year.

 

Climate modification is in full effect.
Back in 2015 we reported on a climate change study pointing to several wine regions becoming “unsuitable” by year 2050. This year we got to really experience what that actually feels like.

• Germany experienced its nine warm winter, which resulted in almost all of the Ice wine makers missing out on the target.
• California and Oregon get struck hard by wildfires in late summer, ruining lots of wineries, houses, and in some locations, the entire grape harvest ...
• A proactive British company invents a paper wine bottle using recycled material. It saves on waste, stores as easily as glass, and insulates better! Drinking from a paper bag has finally achieved the elegance it deserves.
• For vineyards, there is now an all-electric tractor that can run without a driver.
• A massive excess of wine results in a mystical boon in unexpected wine spills and celebrity wines. 

 

We've been swimming in a sea of wine since late. It looks like each week there's a new celebrity coming out with a rosé (Post Malone and Kylie Minogue), a "pure" wine (Cameron Diaz), or a bottle of badassery (Snoop Dog and Mary J Blige).

What’s weird is all the mysterious reports of wine spills and new wine-based distillates.

• A Mission Hill worker inadvertently pumped greater than 20,000 bottles worth of wine down a drain ... and this had not been the very first time.
• A creek in Sonoma Area, California ran red after a mixing storage tank failure caused 490,000 bottles of Cabernet washing into Russian River.
• French winemakers fight the surplus by transforming unsold wine into hand-sanitizer, which we strongly recommend you not to drink.
• A winery Muscadine in North Carolina proactively gave away 74,000 bottles worth of wine to distill right into hand sanitizer. Did they do that out of love, or was it really just that bad?
• A strange malfunction at a winery in Italy caused Lambrusco to flow from people's taps. Why consume  water when you can drink wine!

All in all, everyone has had a serious thirst for wine. And, it got to our heads…

• A mostly naked California man is found drinking wine straight from a moving tanker truck.
• Cracker Barrel makes a move to add wine and  beer to their menu. We recommend trting a great Lambrusco Grassparossa with the Poultry n' Dumplins.
• Taco Bell made wine. No joke. Try the Jalapeño Noir with their Toasted Cheesy Chalupa.

 

Raise a glass to 2020 ... and wave it goodbye. Let's do a much better job in 2021 shall we?

 

It's been an intriguing year, a difficult year, and a year of adjustment. Enjoy in a great bottle of wine and see it out the door in style.