"At this year’s VinItaly, I had a chance to spend some time with Francesco Leanza; after 20 minutes of talking about some his past vintages that I’ve enjoyed, I also had some time to taste his newly released wines. My experience with the Podere Salicutti wines prior to meeting him prepared me, if just a little, for our meeting, but there are certain things that can only be learned as a result of sitting and talking, face to face. That said, I’m glad to have had the opportunity to learn more about the vision and dedication here, and, of course, taste the wines.
As a wine journalist/critic, a part of me glass is half full, goooo underdog!) wants to like everything I taste, and a part of me wants to find some faults with everything (cynic, pragmatist, economist, New York native, etc.). In many respects, I continue as the posterchild for those born under the Gemini sign.
This four days at VinItaly was going to different; I promised myself as much. You see, I was trying to leave everything I knew about a wine/label/points/scores/vintages/the winegrowers, modern vs. traditional (read: noise, all of it) and park it outside in the car lot somewhere; my goal was to focus solely on what’s in the glass – easier said than done when years of memorization/learning/tasting/press/noise lurks ubiquitously in the dark corners of the brain.
link to my blog post Podere Salicutti – humility and genius – ItalianWine.blog
thanks for looking, and happy hunting if you already know these wines
