Written by Rosemary Mantini | 20 August 2010
Posted in KitchenMama

Here's a quick update about the Haywire Winery. Alberto Antonini has agreed to act as consulting oenologist for British Columbia’s newest winery. Antonini was in the area recently touring the Okanagan Valley, visiting vineyards (including the Switchback Vineyard and Hollenbach Vineyard) and working with Haywire owners Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie, as well as with advisor David Scholefield to finalize winery construction plans and wine making protocols.

“We are both delighted and humbled to have a person of Alberto’s global stature working with us here in the Okanagan,” Coletta said. “We were overawed at first. But hearing Alberto say ‘it’s essential to make wines that talk of the land, that have a sense of place and are more related to the people and their stories’ was very reassuring and validating after decades of hearing David Scholefield talk about ‘place not grape!’ and ‘wine is narrative!’ We know that the Okanagan has a great story to tell, and we know that Alberto is the perfect person to help us tell it.”

Alberto Antonini was born near Florence, Italy, and earned a doctorate degree in agricultural studies from the University of Florence. He later studied oenology at the Université de Bordeaux and UC Davis. His experience includes working as senior winemaker at Antinori and Frescobaldi in Tuscany, and at Robert Mondavi, Au Bon Climat and Qupé in California. He and partner Attilio Pagli founded a consulting agency called Gruppo Matura in 1996. Today, Antonini consults in many wine regions in Italy, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, California, South Africa, Portugal, Spain and Australia. At home in Tuscany, he lives at Poggiotondo, his 50-hectare estate in the western hills of Chianti, with his wife and three children.

Some might argue that wines should be produced by those who grew up in the particular region and know the land best. Although there's certainly truth to that, sharing expert knowledge goes a long way in creating the best conditions for great grapes and better wine.

argentina | australia | california | chile | italian | new world | old world | portugal | south africa | spain | wineries