Kick Off At Puck

EXCLUSIVE – Next Wednesday, March 21, Gambero Rosso and Slow Food will present the 20th anniversary edition of their annual Italian Wines guide at a special Tre Bicchieri® (Three Glasses) event at the Fort Mason center in San Francisco.

A lead-up event will be held at the Puck Building in New York City on March 19.

The 2007 edition of Italian Wines is the tenth to come out in English, though the Italian version is now in its twentieth year of publication. It consists of more than 1,000 pages and reviews 2,206 wineries and 16,000 wines.

This year, for the first time, the guide includes an Award for Sustainable Viticulture, as well as 25 Retrospective Three Glasses awards for great wines that have shown they deserve this prestigious recognition over the years.

Each wine cited in the guide is ranked in categories that range from simple honorable mention all the way to the sought after Tre Bicchieri® (Three Glasses) symbol.

282 such symbols were awarded and are allocated as follows: Tuscany 55, Piedmont 53, Friuli-Venezia Giulia 29, Veneto 24, Alto Adige 23, Sicily 15, Campania 13, Marche 12, Lombardy 10, Abruzzo 9, Trentino and Emilia-Romagna 7 each, Umbria 6, Puglia 5, Sardinia 4, Valle d’Aosta 3, Lazio and Basilicata 2, Molise and Calabria 1.

This year’s Special Awards are:

Best Sparkling Wine: Franciacorta Saten ’02, by Gatti

Best White Wine: Cupo ’05, by Pietracupa

Best Red Wine: Brunello di Montalcino ’01, by Cerbaiona

Best Sweet Wine: AA Moscato Giallo Passito Serenade ’03, by Cantina

Viticoltori di Caldaro

Winery of the Year: Benanti, Catania

Winemaker of the Year: Casimiro Maule

Up-and-Coming Winery: Villa Medoro, Teramo

Outstanding Vinegrower: Josko Gravner

Best Priced Wine: Soave Classico Monte Fiorentine ’05, by Ca’ Rugate

Award for Sustainable Agriculture: Peter Pliger