Category: accolades

90+ scores for two Barone Pizzini wines in the Wine Enthusiast buying guide!

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Here’s what Kerin O’Keefe (above center at a wine dinner in Manhattan in 2015), one of the world’s leading Italian wine reviewers, had to say about Barone Pizzini’s wines in the 2015 Wine Enthusiast Wine Buying Guide:

BARONE PIZZINI Naturae Franciacorta 2011 – 92 points
A blend of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Nero, this elegant wine opens with an alluring fragrance of white flowers and stone fruit. Made with no dosage, the linear palate offers juicy yellow apple, citrus, toasted almond and a hint of spice. A refined perlage accentuates the mineral finish.

BARONE PIZZINI Rosé Franciacorta 2011 – 91 points
Made with organically farmed Pinot Nero, this vibrant wine delivers pure strawberry, cherry and cake spice flavors backed up by mineral and a hint of pastry. It’s framed in an elegant, lively perlage while fresh acidity provides impeccable balance and a crisp finish. Delicious!

Barone Pizzini Franciacorta Nature “is a master piece,” writes leading Italian wine writer Fabio Turchetti

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In his preview (below) of SparkleDAY, a sparkling wine tasting held each year in Rome since 2001, national Italian daily Il Messagero wine critic Fabio Turchetti calls the Barone Pizzini Franciacorta Nature one of the “masterpieces” that will be featured in the tasting flight.

“Extra fine bubbles,” he writes, “with aromas of crusty bread, almond, peach, prune, and citrus. Fresh but elegant on the palate with a salty finish that can’t escape the embrace of highly aromatic shellfish.”

This year’s event is Saturday, November 21 at the Westin Excelsior Hotel. At the gathering, the editors of Cucina & Vini present their 2016 wine guide.

Click here for details.

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Pievalta brings home yet another prize with the Gambero Rosso Bere Bene Guide 2016

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We are thrilled to announce that in a season in which Barone Pizzini and Pievalta have already delivered a tsunami of accolades, Pievalta has brought home yet another with a “best in quality-price ratio” award from the editors of the Gambero Rosso Bere Bene (Drink Well) guide 2016 for its 2014 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Superiore Dominé.

bere bene best rated verdicchio

Despite challenges, 2014 a promising vintage for Verdicchio say Slow Wine editors

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Above: “After 25 days, 11,529 crates of grapes, and 600 cups of espresso and meals sitting around the wine press,” wrote Pievalta general manager Silvia Loschi on the winery’s Facebook on October 8, “harvest 2015 is over!”

“The cold, rainy 2014 vintage posed many challenges” for Verdicchio growers write the editors of Slow Wine in a blog post published last week.

“But when it comes to the Superiore category, despite the difficulties of the harvest, there were many worthwhile results.”

Pievalta’s Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Superiore Dominé was one of them.

“The wines have high acidity and deep minerality but they are also very complex.”

The Dominé was one of the wines tasted and cited recently by the editors in a report published on their blog.

And they also named it one of their 2016 guide’s “best everyday wines.”

Barone Pizzini brings home Espresso “Excellence” prize… again!

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chicco cerea vittorio

Above, from left: Chef Bobo Cerea of Da Vittorio, Chef Vito Mollica of Il Palagio (Four Seasons), Chef Chicco Cerea of Da Vittorio, and Barone Pizzini CEO Silvano Brescianini.

Once again, Barone Pizzini has brought home an “Excellence” award from the Espresso restaurant and wine guide, arguably Italy’s top accolade for both categories.

That’s Barone Pizzini CEO Silvano (right) with some of the winning chefs at the award presentation, which took place last week at Il Palagio restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Florence.

Not bad company to keep!

Barone Pizzini won for its Franciacorta Satèn 2011, which was awarded 18 out of 20 points.

Monica Larner (Wine Advocate): “2011 Franciacorta Satèn Brut is a lovely sparkling wine” (91 points)

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From Monica Larner’s reviews in the September 2015 issue of Wine Advocate:

2011 Barone Pizzini Franciacorta Saten Brut
91 points

The 2011 Franciacorta Satèn Brut is a lovely sparkling wine with crisp tones and a fresh, forward style. Crisp fruit tones of peach, citrus and melon pop with bright intensity from the bouquet. Those overtly fruity tones from Chardonnay grapes are followed by heavier aromas of toasted nut and baked bread, although these are contained at the back. In the mouth, this pretty Satèn sparkler presents a creamy style with medium density and thick, slow-moving perlage. This wine ages on the the lees for up to 40 months.

NV Barone Pizzini Franciacorta Brut Animante
90 points

Made with organically-farmed fruit, the non-vintage Franciacorta Brut Animante is a plush and textured sparkling wine that peels back slowly to reveal aromas of peach, honeydew melon, pear and Golden Delicious apple. Crisp acidity helps to create a mouthfeel that is light, tonic and graced with a great sense of energy and brightness. The wine presents mild textural richness that suggests immediate or near-term drinking window. The blend is 78% Chardonnay, 18% Pinot Nero and 4% Pinot Bianco.

Barone Pizzini takes home a snail award in Slow Wine Guide 2016

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We are pleased to announce that, once again, Barone Pizzini has brought home a Snail (Chiocciola) award with the publication of the 2016 Slow Wine Guide.

Here’s how the editors of the guide describe the meaning of the Snail award:

The “Snail” [or “Chiocciola” in Italian] is awarded to a winery for the way in which it interprets the sensorial, territorial, and environmental characteristics of their wines in synch with Slow Food.

The wines by “snailed” wineries also need to represent good price-quality ratio.

The Slow Food movement (or Slow movement, as it is often referred to now) was founded in the late 1980s in response to the growing number of fast food restaurants and expanding fast food culture in Italy at the time.

Pievalta, Barone Pizzini’s estate in Jesi, also brought home a Snail this year.