Wine Land's Redemption
How Italian vino went from plonk to prestige -- and where it goes from here
On my first trip to Bordeaux in the early 1990s, I met an opinionated wine merchant during a tasting at Château Prieuré-Lichine. I was with friends, and we must have been tasting the ’86 or the ’89. One of my friends -- like me, American -- said something innocuous, like “Hey, this is pretty good.”
The wine merchant scoffed. “Mais bien sûr!” he blurted.…
