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Morgan Wine School with Sommelier Morgan

@morganwineschool

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Sharing my training and travels with all those who love exploring through wine, food, friends and stories. Based in London, travelling the world.

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Can you taste pride? Elena Fucci went to Milan to study wine, inspired by her grandfather in Basilicata. His vineyards lay among the highest points of arable land, on a volcano unknown outside of southern Italy, called Vulture.

Following her education, Elena turned her hand at helping to take the most popular local grape, Aglianico, to the next level. She has expanded both the growing area and the winery significantly, and experimented with new techniques and styles to optimise her favourite aspects of the expression of the grape. While her grandfather sold his production to others for bottling and selling, Elena has created her own Titolo label and now sells all her production in about 40,000 bottles.

Her passion for excellence - and experimentation - is evident everywhere. In particular, she employs de-stemming and high-tech sorting equipment to select only the very best grapes from every bunch (each grape checked! really!). And for Canadian icewine fans, she has twisted the meaning, using dry ice to freeze the grapes being used for rosé and to elongate their time 'on the skins' when pressed.

Among my favourites was her amphora wine, which created a body and complexity which I loved in this deeply dark red fruit. Clay breathes more than wood, and oxygenates the wine differently.

Having said that, her Superiore and Riserva are produced with elegant and balanced wood aging, which complemented the wine beautifully and with subtle influence.

To top it off, she sends some of her wine to Turin to be made into Vermouth, which was essentially like Campari on steroids. Elena and her husband, Andrea, try to host all tasting groups personally and it was delightful to get the story firsthand. To feel her pride, passion, and accomplishment, while tasting her wines, is the authenticity of experience which drives me to love this form of travel.

Grazie Elena!

@elena.fucci #aglianicodivulture #vulture #basilicata #italywinetour by @morganwineschool

My new idol in the instruction of wine is a man hidden in one of Italy's most breathtaking and unique cities. Matera, famous from many movies from James Bond (Daniel Craig, when Vesper's tomb blows up) to the Passion of the Christ, has its origins in caves ('Sassi') which are now available as hotels and restaurants. It's about an hour south from Melfi, where we had explored the volcanic home of Aglianico di Vulture wines.

Giuliano Calabrese (actually from Puglia) has worked across Italy in some of its most famous restaurants, and now runs Retrobottega as his own. With over 300 wines, he offers flights of 5 tastings (easily upsized!) and the most you ask, the more he loves to surprise. This is a sommelier's sommelier.

Boar pasta and slow-cooked ox cheek complemented a shock-and-awe selection of southern Italian wines including a sparkling Fiano, passion-fruit driven Sauv Blanc from Vulture, a staircase of increasingly complex Aglianico's (even gelato here is made with that wine), and to finish we had an amazing 16.5% Primitivo from Puglia which gets a late harvest, Port-like style from grapes grown only inches away from the hot ground.

To finish off, Giuliano shared a famous Gianni Cappovilla grappa from Champagne grapes, a trick which I continue to push to my English sparkling wine friends.

As Giuliano says, 'Il vino è il patrimonio di l'umanità'. With thousands of years of development, wine is the cultural heritage of humanity. For those who love Italy and its gastronomy, this is an adventure far beyond simply paying for expensive restaurants in London or New York. Get it done!

#materafood #italywinetour @retrobottegamatera @giuliano.calabrese.sommelier #italiansommelier by @morganwineschool

In the very south of Italy, in the 'ball' of the foot, lies one of Europe's biggest surprises for wine lovers. Sila National Park reaches up to 2,000m above sea level, with downhill skiiing (!!!) in the winter and beautiful pine forests for walking in the summer when it is 10 degrees cooler than the coasts. And here, they have built the highest winery in all of Europe (there are higher vinyards... but they don't press and store!).

At 1,300-1,315m, Vigneto Immacolata Pedace grow Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Cab Sav, Cab Franc, and Merlot. Started as a project in 2006, the vineyard and winery are run by the ever-so-hospitable Immacolata Pedace and her family. Besides exciting tours (the 4x4 on the hills is a thrill!), they offer tastings and even accommodation on site. She also collects ancient farming relics as an outdoor museum for visiting schoolchildren (and those young at heart!).

We enjoyed a beautiful; selection of local meats and cheeses, with 4 wines (there is a sparkling which we did not try). Among my favourites was the purely Cab Franc 'Anthea' rosé, with that extra something for the nose that cab franc loves to offer, with a long finish and well-defined intensity of both fresh strawberries and cherries but also with a touch of pepper. Imma's 'Lykos' red is literally a gold medal winner, blending cab franc and cab sav for a wonderfully complex mix of sour cherries ('Amarena'), strawberry, rosemary, thyme, violet, plums and more.

The south is known for many other wines; it is a shame to come this far and not experience how this unique combination of climate and altitude allow for a truly unique story.

Tickets available through Toursearcher.it... but don't get confused... they say the location is the nearest town, Camigliatello, but you need to get yourself to the winery!

#italywinetour #silanationalpark #highestwineeurope @ilvignetopiualtodeuropa #cavadimelis #longobuco by @morganwineschool

A splendid morning to go grape harvesting with Paola at JoJo's vineyard outside West London, in the beautiful Chiltern Hills near Christmas Common. JoJo's Ian and Tess appeal for volunteers every year and put on a lovely BBQ.

Today was focused on lovely Chardonnay grapes, small and sweet and full of ripe flavours. Tomorrow is Pinot Noir, also shown here. These were also sweet with that characteristic tannin..

Have you got a local to help?!? by @morganwineschool

Being able to study wine in London is a privilege, a market where untold tens of thousands of wines find a home. And you get a calibre of amazing professionals like Shane Jones, at the WSET.

Shane's right thumb knows more about wine than most people, and I had the pleasure of seeing him again last week to share his favourites from Gavi. His objective was to show how this somewhat commonly-known grape is now producing some very uncommon wines.

We started on sparkling (made the same way as Champagne), and tried wines made in amphora and also acacia barrels (not oak!). From young, to 10 years old. The simpler versions deliver fresh apple-pear, lemon-lime fruit with hints of white pepper and some nectarine/peach notes... but the range we tasted brought in stronger tropical fruits, sometimes cheese or mushroom, even fennel, and often honey and almond complexity.

I love just about everything that comes out of Italy, but some more than others. I was perhaps most surprised at the 'reasonable' end of the spectrum by Anfora by La Zerba, the amphora-aged version which had far more development flavour than its 4 years. And for the big spenders, the 10-year old Vecchia Annata by Broglia was even more complex. And with a honey-imbued sweetness that left me wanting the lesson to keep going.

If you live in London, this school and its wine nights are just a few more of those things which you shouldn't take for granted. by @morganwineschool

English sparkling is o e of the most pleasant surprises in our generation of wine drinkers (and who doesn't like fizz!). And Dropmore happen to be practically in NY backyard, just outside Beaconsfield west of London.

Their rosé, which is hard to get outside of a farmers market, had the long finish, elegant mousse, and slightly tannic bite that you want from pink fizz. With strawberry and raspberry flavours on top of soft pastry, and refreshing acidity to wash down your canapé.

Sometimes its what's right under your nose. No school or tasting session required!

@dropmore_vineyard by @morganwineschool

Sometimes it's just one curious guess at a wine to make a night. In Naples for my last night on holiday recently, I was happy to see a 10 year old Fiano di Avelino. Known for its stone fruit flavours and refreshing acidity, it was a perfect compliment to a salty anchovy pizza and it had a softened, smoky tone that can only come from aging. Don't ask me where the zucchini came from... like spontaneous wines, some things just happen!

Southern Italian wines do not get half the interest they deserve, and this was a case in point. I will be posting more from the trip over the next week.

Grazie mille to Lungomare or a fabulous meal, extensive wine list, and colourful customers. Even pizza an wine is an adventure on the beach here, and nothing finishes a meal like wandering the boardwalk with al the families on passeggiata. It restored my faith in humanity, and Italy, to see so many people and families of all ages, walking and talking together, and so few on their phones.

E naturalmente a Paola, mia bellezza, per i foto l'ispirazione. X

#fianodiavellino @lungomarerestaurant by @morganwineschool

The Winemakers Club has become my favourite London winebar, hidden in the grand brick arches of the Holborn viaduct and staffed with the best educated wine staff I know. And... they run professional tastings.

This month was Riesling, with 4 Germans, a Frenchie from Alsace and an Ozzie. All with the characteristic and oddly pleasing petrol smell, and loaded with mixtures of lime, lemon, peach, bruised apple, white pepper, and even watercress. The Alsacian, "Les Longue Lignes", won me over despite its youth (2024), with extra complexity from 3 years on lees and judicious time in quieter oak barrels.

The biggest surprise was the dessert wine, a Rieslaner (Riesling-Sylvaner cross), which I would hold up to aTokaji, Sauturnes, or even icewine.

See you next month!

@winemakersclub #Riesling #londonwinebars by @morganwineschool

Our southern Italy wine tour started, as it should, on the dormant slopes of the volcano Vulture, where the local Aglianico grapes have earned their DOCG. Stop 1 was the Cantine del Notaio in Rionero, led by the young and well-versed Giovanni. His father is a local wine maker, and this winery goes back well into the last century when a local notary started usinig his cellars to store wine. @giovannimascolo__

This incredible tasting featured white sparkling (traditional method and, yes, white wine from the softest pressing of red grapes), rose, and 2 reds all made from this remarkable grape. And we finished with a local sweet wine, a blend of Moscato and Malvasia.

Cheese included the lightest ricotta you can imagine, followed by cow and goat cheeses of varying levels of strength for the wines. With charcuterie to match. The local 'Emigrant' cheese was made around meat, to hide it from customs.

The spumante LA STIPULA was definitely comparable with champagne, with complexity and pastry flavours and a light mousse. The older red, IL SEGILLO, was made from late harvest, raisined grapes, and was also delightfully complex with strong tannins, red and darker fruits, and the extra notes you expect from time aging in oak.

This was a brilliant way to start - grazie Giovanni! And special thanks to @bayram_deniz at @wset_school, whose enthusiasm for Aglianico was inspirational for this trip.

@cantinedelnotaio #aglianico #basilicata @thevinomad #italywinetour by @morganwineschool

A great Friday evening of some of the most exciting South Africa wines offered by The Wine Society.

Uber-energetic buyer Victoria picked a smashing collection of wines from her region, dominated by chenin blanc, syrah, as well as some remarkable other singles (chardonnay, pinot noir, pinotage) and blends.

Anyone whose family motto starts with the word Erectus (it was on the notes) has got to be interesting and Sébastien Beaumont gave me the family crested shirt for having made the connection. His family make both the easily best value Chenin B, as well as one of it's more premium old vine versions with a pleasant hint of new wood barrel aging. Worth a case of each! @beaumontwines

At the Clerkenwell Crypt, still my first and favourite venue. And this time with amazing food! Thank you TWS for another great evening out. by @morganwineschool

@bacchusbeaconsfield is resting the winetasting glasses for the summer. But the kitchen is very much open and I remain so grateful to have such authentic Italian cooking - and good humour - in my village. Here is a sommelier lunch with Macon chardonnay and delicious branzino (sea bass). With Martha at the bar, Claudio and Riccardo (not pictured). by @morganwineschool