Summary:  The Italian wine landscape is beautiful but treacherously complicated. Alfonso Cevola, who writes the “On the wine trail in Italy” blog since 2005 will (virtually) hand out decoder rings to help navigate the wondrous world of Italian wine in this webinar. Presenter: Alfonso

Summary:  Join Nick Bielak for a punchy introduction to some of the important buzzwords of contemporary Italian wine… what’s exciting and what to look out for.  Going beyond Italian Wine 101 (basics of Italian wine, main varieties and regions, culture and pronunciation), Nick will discuss hot topics including: menzioni geografiche aggiuntive in Barolo, the noble Italian red varieties,

Emilia-Romagna’s Romagna Albana DOCG holds the claim to that distinction. This was Emilia-Romagna’s first DOCG, and more controversially, Italy’s first white DOCG.

Summary:  This fascinating webinar will focus on the ‘red hot’ wines of Sicily from regions such as Etna and Vittoria. Jimmy will cover how the very distinctive soils such as lava rock and limestone craft a wonderful array of elegant but complex styles of wine. Jimmy will set the scene by guiding you through the complex history of this large island, and through discovering the volcanic effect from Etna, Stromboli and Vulcano, he will explain how these volcanic soils craft

Summary:  Join us as we delve into two of Italy's lesser-known Southern regions, Basilicata and Molise. Home to wonderful wines made using indigenous grape varieties, Basilicata and Molise are regions to keep on your radar. In this WSG Live we will discuss the topography and climate factors as well as the denominations and producers that make these areas ones to watch.

Summary:  This small Italian region is home to wonderful foods, gorgeous landscapes and views but few think of it in terms of its wines. Together we will discuss Liguria's eight D.O.C. wine-producing areas and the indigenous grapes used to make these wonderful wines. Liguria has a host of varieties that few people know about and even fewer have

Summary:  For many years the area around Marsala has been producing a fortified wine that enchanted the English merchants landing on the western coast of Sicily in the XIX century. This wine was sold around the globe gaining the same reputation as the well-known Port, Sherry and Madeira wines. Unfortunately, its big success and the large-scale production undermined its reputation, converting it into a wine often associated with low quality and price. But thanks to stubborn

Summary:  Piedmont is most known for its Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto, the three core varieties that form the backbone of the Langhe, Piedmont’s most famous sub-region. But a number of other exciting indigenous and qualitative varieties make up the region’s complex viticultural patchwork. This webinar will focus on 4 lesser-known whites – Arneis,

“Andreeeeea! There is no plane from Napoli to Ancona!” This was the incredulous cry that I heard from my Campanian friends when I told them how I was leaving their beautiful region to visit Marche. They were sure that when I arrived at the terminal, that what I thought was going to be a plane would, in fact, turn out to be a bus. They were so adamant that no such flight existed that even I began to doubt the authenticity of the travel itinerary I had received. My relief was therefore clearly visible when I was able to check in for my evening flight to Ancona. 

A number of Friuli’s native varieties were rescued from the brink of disappearance. Let us introduce you to Vitovska and Pignolo. Vitovska: The name of this white grape variety is of clear Slavic origin, but it is generally considered to be a native variety of both eastern Friuli and Slovenia, as it was historically only cultivated in Carso (in the province of Trieste) and in Slovenia.

Summary:  Nebbiolo is one of Italy’s greatest cultivars—if not the greatest, period.  Historically, it has held a place of reverence. In the 15th century, damaging a Nebbiolo vine was punishable by death!  Native to Piedmont and thriving in the Langhe, this grape is the consummate interpreter of “place.” Bold, brash, sophisticated or elegant, it manifests multiple personalities depending upon the

Summary:  "Noble Nebbiolo" a survey of the prestigious Italian variety and its most important manifestations, appellations, and growing areas namely: Valtellina (Lombardia), Valle d'Aosta, and Piemonte (Langhe, Roero, Canavese, Alto Piemonte). Presenter: Alan Tardi Alan Tardi first became interested in wine

Summary:  The Orvieto wine-producing region in Umbria is a whole package of beauty, history, cultural richness, and extraordinary wines, a region that sometimes flies under the radar beside its famous neighbors in Tuscany. Orvieto wines were the prize of the renaissance period in Italy, but in recent history, the wines have been better known for deliciously democratic wines led by

Ciro Pirone is the Director of Italian Wines for Horizon Beverage Group and will be teaching the next online Italian Wine Scholar course beginning in February. In under 30 minutes Ciro gives us the fascinating history of Italian sparkling wine production, and discusses key points on the spumante wines of Alta Langa. We also learn about the main grapes and styles of Lambrusco, and learn important distinctions between Asti DOCG and Moscato d’Asti DOCG. 

Master of Wine Jane Hunt is interviewed by Decanter Magazine’s Andrew Jefford about Tuscany and its wines. Jane has a long, distinguished career in various aspects of the wine trade. She leads the Wine Scholar Guild immersion tours through some of the legendary Tuscan wine estates. 

Maurizio Broggi, DWS, FWS, is the Education Director for the Italian Wine Scholar (IWS) program. During an eight-day summer tour, he led a group of IWS educators through three of Italy’s northern wine producing regions, Trentino, Franciacorta and Lugana.

For much of the wine history of Abruzzo, large cooperatives established a perception that the region’s wines were pleasant and technically correct, but offered little in the way of excellence. Today, the image of Abruzzese wine has taken on a new light, as dozens of smaller producers are crafting more sophisticated offerings that not only display superior complexity, but also offer greater elegance and aging potential as compared with the typical wines of the past.

Summary:  Lambrusco has a bad rap. Many wine drinkers dismiss it as simple sweet commercial fizz. And perhaps much of it was when it made its international debut in the 1960s and ‘70s. But that was a long time ago. And there’s much more to Lambrusco than many are aware. In this webinar we will investigate the ancient origin of the Lambrusco family of grapes in an atypical growing area in the Po River valley, focusing on three of the most important, site-specific

Are you looking for the best Italian red grapes? The wonderful thing about Italian red grape varieties is that they are distinctly Italian. Plenty of winegrowers around the world have made attempts at growing Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and Barbera, but few have come even close to matching the results of these grapes’ native soils. As a rule, Italian grape varieties don’t care to leave Italy, and who could blame them? Completely at home in their places of origin or tradition, each Italian red grape has evolved and adapted in perfect harmony with their surroundings. 

Glera is the principal grape of Prosecco sparkling wine. Originally the grape was known as Prosecco (more precisely Prosecco Tondo). The variety has an unclear origin and an even more complicated ampelographic history due to the fact that several distinct varieties have been called “Prosecco-something” in northeast Italy since the 18th century. The grape is late-ripening and prone to both fungal diseases and water stress. It is widely planted in the province of Treviso.