My official baptism into the world of professional tastings with Vinodabere begins while the city is still wrapped in sleep. Friday, December 19, 5:30 a.m.: the alarm goes off and adrenaline replaces fatigue. I leave home in the darkness of early morning, as the cold air nips at my cheeks and the streets are still deserted. I board the first Prato–Florence regional train at 6:30, filled with nervous excitement and that urge to have fun that makes it impossible to sit still.
At Florence Santa Maria Novella, the Italo train to Rome is waiting for me. During the journey, watching the train race through landscapes that are slowly stretching awake into the day, I feel that I am stepping into something important.
At Rome Termini I am welcomed by Maurizio Gabriele of Wining.it and his son Federico: ready smiles, energy, and the immediate feeling of being part of a team. The ride to the restaurant VII Coorte turns into a playful sightseeing tour for a Tuscan friend. Rome has a strange kind of magic: it takes you by the hand and makes you feel like you belong. Maybe it’s the accent, maybe it’s the warmth, maybe it’s the way every corner seems eager to tell a story; the fact is that, after just a few minutes, I feel as if I was born there.
When we arrive at the restaurant, the scene before us is worthy of a film and brings a smile to anyone who knows what a major tasting entails: Maurizio Valeriani’s car is loaded beyond all limits, literally overflowing with already wrapped and numbered Brunello samples. We all start unloading bottles without knowing where to put them: tables are full, the service counter is invaded, even the floor becomes a mosaic of glass. Around 60 samples: 45 Brunello di Montalcino, eleven Rosso di Montalcino (six from the 2024 vintage and five from 2023), and four 2020 Riserva wines. We are inside a storm of labels, and I am euphoric.
When we finally sit down and an almost ritual silence bounces among us, I truly understand where I am. There are twenty-six professionals: sommeliers, critics, journalists, restaurateurs. A diverse group, united by the same sensory tension. The tasting is strictly blind, to the point that we don’t even know the vintage of the wines in our glasses. I look around and see us all bent over our glasses: Antonella Piga, Antonio Battisti, Antonio Ciotti, Daniele Moroni, Delia Giri, Emanuele Giannone, Federico Gabriele, Franco Santini, Gianmarco Nulli Gennari, Gianni Travaglini, Luca Matarazzo, Luca Sandulli, Maurizio Gabriele, Maurizio Valeriani, Michelangelo Fani, Paolo Carpino, Paolo Frugoni, Paolo Valentini, Paolo Zappitelli, Paula Clarke, Pino Perrone, Sara Calimari, Stefano Puhalovich, Raffaele Mosca, Roberto Alloi, Susanna Schivardi.
It feels like stepping into an orchestra of highly trained noses and palates.
The first tastings flow respectfully, then they intensify, one after another. Impressions, quick notes and whispered comparisons pile up on the table. And then comes the moment I will never forget: at the fortieth sample, I suddenly feel like a heroine. Not only because of the endurance — which, I assure you, is absolutely necessary — but because I realize that I am truly inside all of this, no longer a spectator but an active, thinking, judging part of it. It’s a thrill that doesn’t fade.
The comparison between the 2020 and 2021 vintages is the technical heart of the day. Out of 45 total samples, 2020 prevails over 2021 by just 0.2 points: an infinitesimal difference that shows how much both vintages had to say. Fourteen tasters prefer 2020 (myself included), seven choose 2021, and five opt for a tie. Scores distributed like weights on a scale that wobbles until the very end.
Among the Brunello di Montalcino, twenty-one labels surpass 90 points and win over the room:
Maté Famiglia 2020
Sesti Castello di Argiano 2021
Fuligni 2020
Silvio Nardi 2021
Tenuta di Sesta 2021
Chiusa Grossa 2020
Collemattoni 2020
Greppone Mazzi Ruffino 2021
Corte dei Venti 2021
Mastrojanni 2020
Camigliano 2021
Fuligni 2021
Corte dei Venti 2020
Gorelli 2020
Pinino 2021
Fattoria dei Barbi 2020
Patrizia Cencioni (2021 and 2020)
Villa al Cortile 2021
Tenuta di Sesta 2020
Donatella Cinelli Colombini 2020
Among the Rosso di Montalcino, Mastrojanni 2023, Collemattoni 2023 and Fattoi 2023 stand out decisively.
When we leave the restaurant, it is already afternoon. I carry with me a mix of fatigue and pride. I started the day at dawn, on an almost empty train, and I am ending it with a baggage full of emotions, notes and sensations, and above all with the certainty that I have just crossed an important threshold. It was my baptism by fire: countless glasses, a welcoming city, extraordinary colleagues, and a new awareness. I return home knowing that this world, when told with seriousness, passion and humility, truly feels like home.
