On Monday, June 23, the wines of over twenty Italian wineries and one leading Chinese winery were featured in Toronto, Canada, at an all-day affair attended by some of the city’s most prominent wine professionals, including educators, sommeliers, importers and bloggers/journalists.
From about ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, over thirty wine professionals took part in three very different masterclasses devoted to:
- Italy’s grapes and wines from north to south
- Nebbiolo and Barolo: crus and wines
- Silver Heights:A leading Chinese winery combining the best of China, France and Italy.
The first two masterclass featured Ian D’Agata and Julie Garton, one of Toronto’s best-known, most knowledgeable and well-respected sommeliers, co-guiding. The tasting devoted to Italy’s wines from north to south the wines of star wine estates such as Barone Pizzini, Bocale, Casalfarneto, Castello di Radda, Comaroto, Tenuta Moraia, Terenzuola, Trabucchi and Valiano. The wines by Comaroto and Terenzuola stole the show, but in the end, just about every wine had its fans, a sure-fire good sign for Italy’s wines and the estates that were presenting them because all were liked to a greater or lesser degree.
The Nebbiolo and Barolo masterclass was popular as expected, with the quality of the Nebbiolo wines being the real pleasant surprise: clearly, everyone in attendance expected the Barolos to run away with the show, but it wasn’t necessarily so. Langhe Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo d’Alba are too different from Barolo for the wines to be truly comparable, but there was a lot to say for the bright fruit, pure fruit aromas and flavours and easy drinkability of the less famous of those three wines. In fact, the Nebbiolo wines by Sandrone and especially Scarzello were some of the day’s favourite wines; the Barolos by Arnaldo Rivera, Mauro Molino, Scarzello and Sandrone followed, and were, not unexpectedly, also much admired and appreciated, with perhaps the Barolo Conca from Molino raking in the biggest applause of all.
Last but not least, Ian D’Agata and Marco Milani, the CEO of one of China’s leading wine estates, Silver Heights (who exports to many different countries including the UK, Italy, the USA, Japan, Korea, Thailand and others), presented eight wines from this winery located in the Ningxia province. Safe to say that the reactions of the attendees ranged from surprise to approval, with many wines clearly being all-round winners. And while the wines the estate is best-known for are made with international varieties such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, and that those in attendance deemed to be world-class wines as expected, the Silver Heights wines that really stole the show and left some wine professionals truly speechless with surprise were the Pinot Noir, the Barbera, the Sangiovese and the PetNat.
Most importantly, those wineries looking for importers were extremely happy with the events results: owners Federica Scarzello (of Scarzello) and Ivan Giuliani (of Terenzuola) were both on hand to speak about their estates and wines, and both came away with solid contacts of companies interested in importing their wines into Canada. Similarly, Silver Heights also attracted interest and talks have begun. Hopefully, given the excellent wines they all produce, they will all be able to make things work and conquer new market niches.
At day’s end, a wine dinner for eight other wine professionals who had been unable to attend the day’s proceedings, was held for Silver Heights and its wines at the outstanding The Oxley restaurant in downtown Yorkville, Toronto’s hippest, upscale neighbourhood.
In ultimate analysis, Toronto proved another important stop in the Ian D’Agata Wine Culture World Tour of wine shows and masterclasses. A good selection of the city’s most important and prominent wine sommeliers, agents, importers and other professionals had the opportunity to taste wines made with at times rare grape varieties from little-known terroirs (such as Vermentino Nero and the Colli di Luni, for example), but also outstanding examples of very fine wines from all-important names (such as Sandrone and Barolo, for example). As is always the case with shows organized by D’Agata, no tickets to the general public were sold, making for a highly professional, knowledgeable group of attendees who work for the city’s most important wine retailers, importers, wine bars and restaurants. The day’s activities highlighted not just great Italian grapes and wines, but also how some of these grapes express themselves in totally different terroirs (such as China) while helping expand the boundaries of wine knowledge by introducing local professionals to the wines of one of China’s leading wineries.
As our readers know, Ian D’Agata sources the world for fine wines made in both famous and little-known places: he studies the behaviors of little -known grape varieties anywhere he can and has an especially keen interest in discovering what Italian wine grapes can do in new lands. He first tasted Chinese wines made with Italian grape varieties such as Barbera and Sangiovese a few years ago at different Chinese wineries, and had come away suitably impressed. Therefore, his goal with this tasting was not just to showcase the delicious and well-made wines a serious Chinese wine estate can come up with (Silver Heights owner Emma Gao studied viticulture and oenology in Bordeaux and trained at Chateaux Calon-Ségur and Lafon-Rochet) but also its work with Italian grape varieties that are starting to be increasingly planted in China. The results of this tasting, that mirror those of another large Chinese wine tasting held in Verona in 2024, carry importance and insight for all those paying attention. The good showing by Chinese wines made with the Italian grape varieties is no chance occurrence, because despite what French consultant winemakers and nurseries tell people to plant (almost always the same French grapes, of course, thereby artificially augmenting the plantings and supposed importance of such grapes), the simple fact of the matter is that some Italian grape varieties have adapted remarkably well to Chinese terroirs, where they give outstanding wines compared to much of the stuff being made with the usual well-known grapes that always get pushed everywhere (ask yourself if that is really a good idea). In fact, there are some less popular French wine grapes that are also doing amazingly well in China, with their wines ranking amongst the country’s best: Marselan and Petit Manseng, for example. Certainly, the Barbera wines of Ningxia are excellent, and the Sangiovese Emma Gao fashions is truly something remarkable. And at least on this occasion, Pinot Noir also came up aces: Interestingly, to have the local wine professionals (where they know a thing or two about Pinot Noir, given Ontario’s many fine wines made with the variety) impressed by the Chinese Pinot Noir wine is another feather in the cap of Silver Heights and their staff.
The Ian D’Agata Wine Culture team has already scheduled the next wine tour in Toronto for March 9, 2026.
