Alessia and Mariangela (Alessia's mum), Gill (almost family), Alessia, Ruben, Roberto and Athena Picech, Bella (niece), Rosie (daughter) and Ferrante (di Marzo) aka the Avellino kid.
A lovely evening and huge thanks to Sarah and the team at St. John's Smith Square, to the winemakers who made the trip and to our customers who popped up from all over the UK to make this a very special evening.
It is always interesting to see which wines were most popular and the truest way is to the count the empty bottles: no Ruben came back, and the Parco Largo was hit hard, which tuned in with anecdotal reports - which is more unusual than you would think; it is commonplace for the big reds to receive the accolades and light reds and dry aromatic whites to be finished first. I was very happy with how the 'Spring wines' were received; the Piuchebello was lovely, lots of kind words; the Motta Rose was a delight; the new Groppello from Lorenzo at La Torre was not really mentioned, not much was left at the end of the evening though... Ferrante's Fiano and Greco were both delicious, and more popular on the evening than the single vineyard wines which is understandable, the Serrone is challenging and both the Laure and Ortale push the descriptor 'mineral' - great wines through, I have just put together a mixed case of the 3 Crus for you.
A real, family affair: Emma and I had Polly and Rosie (our daughters) helping, and Bella (our niece, who also now works in the background with our Wine Club) and Gill who has helped out for decades, we are very lucky. The whole Picech family was over, half the Plantamura family and, understandably, Ferrante left his 5 year old twins at home with Paola.