An Italian LOVE AFFAIR

The history runs deep and personal between the winelands of the US west coast and the great, long-established wine dynasties of Italy. As perfectly shown in the fascinating stories of the three partnerships that follow...

- J'NAI GAITHER

Italy’s great wines are some of the most coveted in the world, and with good reason: they have incredible heritage and pedigree, are often capable of ageing for decades, and, above all else, they’re delicious.

Italian immigrants were largely responsible for the modern-day California and Washington wine industries, many of them bringing Old World winemaking techniques to the ‘New World’, as well as introducing Italian varieties to the American viticultural landscape. This connection between the old and the new would serve as the beginning of an enduring, centuries-long collaboration – one that would bring American sensibilities to Italian wine brands, and Italian quality and heritage to American wineries. That cross-cultural exchange is what we see here, in three wine labels that marry both Italian and American traditions. In one case, quite literally.

Col Solare

Atop Red Mountain, wines echo Tuscany’s distinct sense of place

Washington state’s reputation in wine has steadily increased over the past 30 years. The state in the US far northwest is now known to produce wines of world-class quality. One of Italy’s renowned wine pioneers saw its potential early on – its complex soils and particular climatic conditions – and made a serious investment in Washington and its future.

With its inaugural vintage in 1995, Col Solare – Italian for ‘sunny hill’ – began from a recommendation from one of the wine world’s most respected winemakers: André Tchelistcheff. And it remains a 50/50 collaboration between Tuscany’s Marchesi Antinori and Woodinville, Seattle-based Ste Michelle Wine Estates.