The Poggiotondo winery. Organic Wines
Alberto Antonini is a leading global winemaking consultant, active in Argentina, Australia, the US, Canada, Uruguay and Chile as well as his native Italy. He has helped create some iconic wines but he also makes humble Italian wines like entry-level Chianti.
He visited Australia recently to promote his Poggiotondo Tuscan wines, as well as to consult with wineries here, such as Pizzini, to whom he has consulted for 25 years. More recently, he’s been involved with the exciting and relatively new Barossa Valley venture, Alkina. In Mendoza, Argentina, he is a partner in Altos Las Hormigas.
A key feature of Antonini’s wines is the avoidance of intrusive winemaking: oak is used sparingly, if at all.
His career began with winemaking stints at the leading Tuscan wineries Frescobaldi, Col d’Orcia and Antinori (where he followed the great Giacomo Tachis as head of winemaking) before establishing his consultancy. He’s twice been nominated as one of the top five winemaking consultants in the world and is credited for being a key influence in Argentine malbec’s rise to international recognition. A major theme with Alberto is encouraging producers to use autochthonous grape varieties and use methods that suit their terroir and cepages, no matter in which country or region they’re working.
While he’s best known as a winemaker, Alberto considers himself at least as much a viticulturist, understanding as well as anyone that wine quality begins in the vineyard. The Poggiotondo wines are organically grown and the intention is
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
