Brett, The Wine Maestro

We have just arrived in Brescia, a delightful town in Lombardy, Northern Italy which is in heart of the Franciacorta sparkling wine region. I’d always been taught and told that Francicorta produced the best bottle-fermented sparkling wine in Italy. “As good as Champagne”…

After a 4 hour journey from Chinaillon, were we left under cloudy skies, to be greeted, as we emerged from the road tunnel under Mont Blanc, by clear blue skies. The views back up to Monte Bianco were stunning, and the steep, soon vine-clad, slopes of Aosta were breathtaking.

We’ve checked into the comfortable Hotel Ambascatori, unpacked and now ready to meet old friends and make new ones at the European Wine Bloggers’ Conference 2011. Our work will be cut out as there 200 or so delegates from all over the world.

The pre-event (the conference actually officially starts tomorrow) this evening is a BYOB buffet where there will be some great and interesting wines on offer.

In fact we enjoyed a pre-pre-event at home in Haute Savoie as our friends Jim and Carole broke their journey from the Loire to stay the night. We tasted, discussed and drank six wines from Jura and Savoie (well, drank some from each bottle!) to accompany our dinner. Our moderation ensured we set off with clear heads after breakfast!

Here are details of what this event is all about. This is the fourth EWBC; we’ve attended the last two, in Lisbon and in Vienna, and are really looking forward to this year’s which will really sparkle…

We had been asked to prepare video introductions, so here are ours:
Wink
Brett