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First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who came by the Lini 910 stand at Vinitaly in Verona last week!

It was a great fair and it was great to be back in-person. And it was wonderful to see so many good friends whom we haven’t been able to hug in WAY too long!

In other BIG news, Alicia has a new Instagram: @inmylambruscoshoes.

Please visit her new feed for photos from Lini 910’s Vinitaly. And please follow! We’re so excited to see more of Alicia and her travels on social media.

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Yesterday, Alicia spoke and led a guided tasting at the Women in Wine Leadership Symposium in New York — an invitation-only gathering featuring leading women wine professionals from across the world.

That’s Alicia above (left) with Master Sommelier Madeline Triffon, another one of the featured panelists at yesterday’s event.

Known as “Detroit’s First Lady of Wine,” Madeline made history when she became the first American woman, the second woman in the world, and the ninth American to earn the coveted Master Sommelier title. She also made news at the time by passing the notoriously challenging exam on her first attempt — something very few of her colleagues have achieved.

See this superb profile of Madeline in the Atlantic to read more about her trail-blazing career and life.

Chapeau bas, Madeline! Alicia was thrilled to get to meet you and interact with you!

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Above: Lini Lambrusco at Pizzeria Mercato in Carrboro, North Carolina.

Yesterday, Alicia wrapped her first Vini d’Italia tour with Winebow/Leonardo LoCascio Selections, Lini’s new U.S. importer.

“It’s just been amazing,” she said over WhatsApp. “The reception Lini has been getting has been simply fantastic. It’s been great to meet so many talented wine professionals in each of the three cities we visited. Wonderful!”

Above: Lini at five fifty-five in Portland, Maine.

“It’s our first tour with Winebow,” she told the Lini USA blog, “and so of course it’s a very emotional moment for me and my family: It’s always been our dream to work with a national importer like them and so it’s really a dream come true.”

“But the most wonderful thing,” she added, “was the warm welcome that we got along the way. In every city, people were so nice and excited to learn more about Lambrusco. I couldn’t be more grateful for the way we were received at every stop.”

A thousand thanks to the staff at Wineblow/LLS for organizing such a great series of events.

And heartfelt thanks to everyone who tasted with Alicia along the way.

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We were thrilled to learn that Lini’s rosé has been awarded the “Corona” (“Crown”) prize by the editors of the 2019 Vini Buoni d’Italia (“Good Wines from Italy”) guide, the publication’s top honor.

Click here for the complete list of winners. (It’s not bad company to keep!)

The Vini Buoni d’Italia guide is devoted exclusively to Italy’s native grape varieties and native wines. We couldn’t be more pleased to be among the winners of this year’s prestigious prize.

All of the winners will be presented at this year’s Merano Wine Festival, November 9-13.

We hope to see you there!

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The Lini USA blog would like to share its heartfelt thanks to the owners of Jaynes Gastropub in San Diego, Jayne Battle and Jon Erickson, and the roughly 30 food and wine lovers who came out to taste with our American blogger Jeremy Parzen aka Do Bianchi.

What a great afternoon and what a great group of people!

That’s the legendary Jaynes Burger, above, a great pairing for our Lambruscos!

Jaynes currently serves all four of the Lambruscos that we presented last Saturday.

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SAVE THE DATE: On Saturday afternoon, July 28, our blogmaster Jeremy Parzen (aka Do Bianchi) will be hosting a Lini Lambrusco tasting at one of his favorite San Diego restaurants, Jaynes Gastropub.

Jaynes Gastropub
4677 30th St.
San Diego CA 92116
(619) 563-1011
Google map

Stay tuned for details…

Please email Jeremy to register (not required but encouraged).

Thank you! We hope to see you in San Diego in July!

Image via Corkscrew Concierge.

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“Forget Lambrusco and discover ‘the Lambrusco,'” writes Alberto Lupetti, Italy’s leading authority on Champagne, “because this was likely the original Lambrusco.”

Lini 2005 Lambrusco Metodo Classico
92 points

If you’re expecting a classic Lambrusco, the nose of this wine will surprise you from the get-go. But in a positive way: You’ll raise an eyebrow as you experience an “ah-ha” moment. The wine is fresh and vibrant, with vivacious floral notes and a hint of citrus when you first taste it. Next come spice and medicinal herbs, roots, underbrush, and then finally the fruit appears: Small wild berries, more dry than sweet. Only as the nose begins to open up do you get the darker and more vinous notes. But the wine remains elegant and fresh all the while, with a faint hint of toast and umami aromas. You can’t help but be reminded of Pinot Noir in this wine… On the palate, the wine is fresh and silky (Fabio Lini’s decision not to allow for malolactic fermentation to take place makes for a winner: Chapeau, Fabio Lini!). The wine pivots between rhubarb and chinotto as its vinous character begins to open up and the acidity and complexity begin to emerge. The finish is clean and cleansing, with just a touch of delicate minerality and citrus…

Alberto Lupetti
May 2018

Alberto Lupetti is the editor of Grandi Champagne, now in its fourth edition, Italy’s authoritative guide to the wines of Champagne.

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Above: The Gran Guardia Palace in downtown Verona were the Wine Spectator Top 100 Italian Wines are presented each year during the Opera Wine preview event at Vinitaly.

It seems like yesterday that the letter arrived: we are pleased to inform you…

We couldn’t have been more thrilled to learn that Lini had been included in the 2016 Opera Wine TOP 100 Wines selected by the editors of Wine Spectator.

And as if being one of Italy top 100 wines, along with some of the greatest wine-producing estates in the country, Sting’s winery Il Palagio was also included and he even performed at the awards ceremony!

Click here for a complete list of Wine Spectator TOP 100 wines for 2016.

Image by freakydesignz’ Flickr (Creative Commons).

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We are thrilled share the video below, produced by Grape Collective, one of the leading wine blogs in the U.S.

The interview was conducted by Grape Collective founder and editor-in-chief, Christopher Barnes, one of our favorite American wine writers.

Over the course of their conversation, Christopher asks Alicia to talk about Lambrusco’s “complicated” nature and history.

“Lambrusco is a very simple wine that comes from a very complicated story,” she tells him. “Because in the past, it’s been destroyed, the name and the fame, because it’s been produced in a very quick way. You can produce, obtain a sparkling Lambrusco in three days, in a week, but our entry level products will stay in the big tank for at least three months. So between a week and three months, there is a world of difference.”

Click the video below for the complete interview or click here for the transcription.