There is a small paradox hiding on sparkling wine labels that anyone who has ever picked a bottle by instinct will have encountered at least once. It is called Extra Dry, and it is not the driest style in the category. In fact, it is sweeter than Brut. The real counterintuitive leap, however, is not […]
How much does a wine change with its vineyard and the time it spends in the cellar? On Friday 23 October 2026, an AIS Lazio event with Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG producers at the A.Roma Lifestyle Hotel offered a useful way to explore that question. We were there. Entry was free, with advance booking. […]
There is a thread linking a high-altitude garnacha from the Sierra de Gredos, a Pelaverga from Verduno that is moving faster than the denomination can expand, and a Lambrusco trying to be read differently in Toronto. This is not proof of a global wine reset, but it does point to a few converging directions: lighter […]
It happens all the time: someone picks up a flûte of bubbles and uses the words sparkling wine, Prosecco and Champagne as if they were interchangeable. The confusion is understandable — all three sparkle, all three show up at celebrations — but they tell very different stories: of territories, grape varieties, production choices and identity. […]
It is a nice tradition of AIS Lazio to pair the sommelier diploma ceremony with a meeting on a theme or a territory, carefully curated and open to anyone who wants to take part. It is always a pleasure to go, when the calendar allows. On Sunday 18 October, in Rome, two territories took centre […]
Almost every bottle of wine on the market carries that small label note: contains sulphites. For many consumers, those two words have become a kind of warning signal, something to approach with caution. And yet behind that mandatory declaration lies a story of chemistry, preservation and winemaking decisions that deserves a clear-eyed look — without […]
Primo Franco is one of Valdobbiadene’s most respected names: his family has led Nino Franco Spumanti since the postwar years, and much of the credit for turning Prosecco Superiore into an internationally recognised designation — the DOCG that today coexists with the far broader DOC — belongs to him. Back in the 1980s he was […]
Wine is entering a phase in which numbers matter more than impressions. In 2025, global wine consumption fell 2.7%, while Italy recorded a 9.4% drop. That is a heavy figure, especially because it comes from mature markets rather than a one-off seasonal swing. More than an abrupt shift, it points to a demand curve that […]
One figure captures a clear shift in the way people relate to wine. In 2026, for the first time, visiting a family-run winery overtook buying wine at a good price among the preferred experiences of Italian wine tourists. The margin is not dramatic, but it is enough to point in one direction: people travelling for […]
The perfect cellar is a privilege enjoyed by few. Constant year-round temperature, natural darkness, the right humidity, no vibrations: conditions that are hard to replicate in a modern apartment, but not impossible to approximate. Most wine purchased and consumed at home is opened within a few weeks of buying it, which means long-term storage is […]