Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/26650
OFF TO ITALy! THE TASTING PANEL IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNER OF OUR Italian Wine Write-Off FEATURING THE WINES OF BARONE FINI, LIONELLO MARCHESI AND VILLA POzzI Kate Webber Owner/Wine Director, Webber Restaurant Group, Groton, MA Our challenge was to write the most creative tasting note on a wine from the portfolio of any of these top Italian producers. Kate won a trip for two to Italy—and six months as a guest reviewer in THE TASTING PANEL—with her wonderful tasting note-poem on Barone Fini Pinot Grigio. PHOTO: MICHAEL QUIET { A Series of Haikus Explaining Why I Prefer Barone Fini Pinot Grigio to My Stupid Ex-Boyfriend Barone Fini I wish my ex-boyfriend had described me the way He always described your wines: Honey. Peaches. Bright. You were Passionfruit. I never got called Sweet, sugared lemon, or Long. You got Flowers and Lingering Finish. The best I ever got was “Tart.” Well. I never. About Our Winner K ate is the Wine Director for the Webber Restaurant Group, Kate Webber, photo- graphed at The Gibbet Hill Grill in Groton, MA. 92 / the tasting panel / march 201 1 which includes The Gibbet Hill Grill, The Scarlet Oak Tavern, Fireside Catering and The Barn at Gibbet Hill. She holds a Diploma from the Wine and Spirits Education trust and is a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers and the International Sommelier Guild. She is also a Certified Specialist of Wine, a Certified Specialist of Spirits through the Society of Wine Educators and an Associate Member of the Institute of Wine and Spirits. Currently she is the Vice-Chair of the Boston Sommelier Society. In her previous life, Kate worked in professional theatre and independent film before getting her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Virginia. (We think that explains the excellence of her Italian Wine Write-Off entry!) “I love haiku because it’s a way of making your thoughts concise,” says Kate. A longtime fan of the wines not only from Barone Fini, but also from Lionello Marchesi and Villa Pozzi, the poetic wine expert says, “I really think these wines over-perform. The Barone Fini, for example, is an excellent Pinot Grigio that shows lots of complex- ity—different from the typical profile of this varietal.” On her trip to Italy, she’ll be visiting one or more of these wineries and will keep readers of THE TASTING PANEL posted on her experiences.