Figuring out which wines are worthy of our hard-earned dollars can be a challenge, especially if you love Italian wines, with 20 regions, over 2,000 varietals, and thousands of producers in play. Wine ratings can be tricky, depending on who you align your palate with. Gambero Rosso, Italy’s leading food and wine authority, publishes an annual Italian wine guide, based on a simple Three Glass ratings system, or Tre Bicchieri. More than 70 expert tasters blind-taste over 45,000 wines every year, and only include those that they feel are above average, with less than 1% granted the top prize.
Celebrating 31 years of excellence, Gambero Rosso’s wine guide, Italian Wines 2018, contains more than 25,000 wine reviews and profiles of the passionate winemakers behind them. Only 440 wines are crowned with Tre Bicchieri, or “extraordinary wines”. The ratings system is as follows:
- Three Glasses “extraordinary wines”
- Two Glasses “very good to excellent wines”
- Three Glasses “extraordinary wines”
- Two Glasses “very good to excellent wines”
Almost 100 producers, from all twenty wine regions of Italy, poured their very best wines in Los Angeles, one stop on an eight city US tour. A breathtaking array of all categories of wine truly represented the vast diversity of wine throughout Italy. Winery of the Year went to Masi Agricola of the Boscaini family from the Veneto, with its rockstar Amarone wines. Some regions received more praise than others; Piedmont, with its Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara and Barbera reds and Moscato d’Asti, Gavi, Roero Arneis and Erbaluce di Caluso white wines captured 77 Tre Bicchieri awards, or 1 of every 6. Tuscany raked in 75 Tre Bicchieri awards, with Chianti Classico, Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and Super Tuscan red blends seizing the lion’s share. White wines, especially Soave and Prosecco, are well represented but don’t get as much attention as the big red wines.
Before the tasting event began, a special #white&gold Custoza Master Class was held, exploring ten examples of this beautiful white wine. Relatively unknown, it’s officially designated Bianco di Custoza, a blend of Garganega and Trebbiano, plus small amounts of several other white varietals, grown near the Lake Garda region of the Veneto. Perfumed aromatics of floral and fruit, fresh acidity, full-bodied structure with a depth of flavor and complexity on the palate, and a persistent finish are the hallmarks of these wines. The bonus, Custoza gets even better with age and is oh so affordable! I found seven of the ten wines excellent, with three of them exceptional. The top wine of this tasting, Monte Del Fra Ca’ del Magro Custoza Superiore 2008, was stunning, peach and pineapple fruit, saffron spice, and caramel notes, all a result of aging. A younger version was poured, the 2015, which was round and fragrant, still delicious but lacked the rich complexity that only time can add.
Because of the breadth and scope of these awards, there are so many highlights, it was an incredible tasting. For more information, I recommend you purchase the guide, Italian Wines 2018, so many discoveries are waiting to be found within its pages, it's a great resource.