The first global digital vertical wine tasting

“In our culture, wine has great power to bring people together and create connections and bonds. Today we’ve been able to do this at the highest level. It was like sitting together with lots of people around a single table extending from Shanghai to New York, to share what our wines, though so characteristic and wedded to the land of their birth, Tuscany, have to tell the whole world”. With these words Paolo Panerai, head of the Castellare di Castellina and Rocca di Frassinello wineries, described the first global wine tasting ever held, an event that he himself envisaged and strongly desired.
Four continents. Nine locations, all interconnected and in direct dialogue: Madrid, Munich, London, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and New Delhi. In each an audience of wine journalists, experts and professionals of the highest level. An enormous organizational effort made possible by the technology of British Telecom, our partner in this extraordinary event. Technology for super-video conferences that the fashion industry is already using and now experienced for the first time ever in the world of wine. An undisputed success in the sharpness of the images, the sound quality and the possibility to communicate simultaneously between Asia and America, passing through Africa and Europe.

This was followed by a tasting of all six vintages produced so far of Baffonero, the 100% Merlot made at the Maremma winery of Rocca di Frassinello. This winery is a jewel of architecture designed by Renzo Piano, where all vinification takes place without the use of pumps and solely exploiting the force of gravity. Baffonero is produced by the careful selection of grapes grown in the property’s oldest vineyards. At the end of the tasting the opinion of the experts – from London to Munich and from Johannesburg to Milan – was once again unanimous in judging Baffonero to be a wine that has no need to challenge other wines, having as it does its own recognizable style in intensity and elegance. The final toast crossed all twelve time zones between the two most distant locations, so that while in New York it was 8 o’clock in the morning, with one guest commenting that it was “the best breakfast I’ve ever had”, in Shanghai it was eight o’clock in the evening.
Gianluca Cimini, CEO of BT Italy, commented: “I’ve strongly supported this initiative from the beginning, since it exploits our best collaboration solutions and demonstrates our commitment to helping the many outstanding Italian companies to create innovative solutions with which to improve – through continuous evolution – their way of doing business. This creative use of technology enables us to enhance the quality, the innovative capacities, the local traditions, the craftsmanship, the professionalism and the attention to detail for which Italian excellence deserves recognition all over the world. This is what we call The Art of Connecting.”