Tenuta Mara Mia: Embracing Biodynamics and Mozart in the Vineyard

Mara Mia’s winemaker in Hong Kong to promote their biodynamic wine.

Tenuta Mara Mia is a small vineyard in Romagna, Italy, which was started quite recently in 2000 by Giordano Emendatori in dedication to his wife Mara Emendatori.

Giordano set out to create wine in the most natural and non-interventionist ways possible, through biodynamic and organic production. They were recently in Hong Kong to promote their wine at a press dinner at Cuisine Cuisine.

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Important Chianti Classico Wine Producer: Barone Ricasoli

A pioneer in Chianti Classico.

Barone Ricasoli is one of the oldest family wine estates in the world still run by its founding family.  The estate was founded in the 1141 by Barone Ricasoli and  is today one of the largest estate (245 hectares) in Chianti Classico. A pioneer in Chianti Classico style of wine making, Barone Rocasoli has been setting the standard for quality for over 900 years with research and scientific experimentation and was one of the first to work with Brolio variety.

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Italian Wine Producer Spotlight: Tenuta Santa Maria Alla Pieve

A visit to Tenuta Santa Maria.

One of the vineyards we visited in Verona recently was Tenuta Santa Maria. Situation 16 kilometres east of Verona in the Colognola Ai Colli commune in the valley of Illasi, the estate belonged to the Bertani family since 1860 and dates all the way  back to the 2nd century B.C and was colonized by the Roman Empire under Emperor Claudio when the cultivation of vines was introduced.   Read more

Italian Producer Spotlight: Santa Margherita

A modern approach to winemaking in traditional Italy.

Established in 1935 by entrepreneur, Count Gaetano Marzotto  aim to create an innovative agricultural hub that would break the traditional mould of the time and represent a source of modernity and growth.  Today the Santa Margherita Wine Group lives up to its original objective and led by CEO, Ettore Nicoletto today is one of  youngest and most successful winery group from Italy.

Ettore Nicoletto

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Château Ksara’s Elie Maamari: On French Influences in Lebanese Winemaking

Winebuzz sits down with a Lebanese wine master.

Château Ksara is the oldest winery in the oldest winemaking country of Lebanon.

Founded in 1857 by Jesuit priests, Ksara is a household name in Lebanon and exports much of its wines internationally, winning scores of prestigious wine competitions including its recent selection as the top 10 Chardonnay of the world 2011 at the Chardonnay du Monde 2011 competition, topping out from nearly 1,000 samples.

Elie Maamari comes to Hong Kong to hold a series of Ksara wine tastings and we asked him more about making wine in Lebanon—where Jesus famously turned water into wine.

What do Lebanese wines taste like?

Most Lebanese wines are very French in style, because of the French influence on the country (Lebanon was once a French colony). I studied in France myself and we have a French winemaker, James Palg, at Ksara who used to make wine in the Margaux region.

Ksara was established by the French Jesuits, who planted the kind of grape varieties grown in France, because it’s the best style that suits the Lebanon terrior. Think of it as as good as Bordeaux but less expensive. I have many people tell me that our Chateau range tastes like a St-Julien, and that’s a good comparison.

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