Autochtona Award 2021: increasingly foreign in the jury

"The vastness of the heritage of native vines found in Italy is always surprising, it represents an inexhaustible source of emotions and discoveries for the eno-curious, for those who are constantly looking for different flavors, for alternative expressions". It is a beautiful definition that of Darrel Joseph , journalist and judge of international fame, who perfectly defines the value of Autochtona and its Awards, the Autochtona Awards, which for eighteen years have aimed at enhancing the great Italian wine heritage and which, this year, it returns with its Italian and international jurors called to discover and enhance a heritage so precious for our country.

"Knowing how to listen to wines and what they have to say during the tasting process": this will be what the jury will have to do, taking up the words of Christy Canterbury , journalist and MW. In fact, for two days, strictly blindly, a large number of wines obtained from native vines linked to specific Italian areas, and interpreted in a different way by the many producers who from North to South protect a unique and inimitable ampelographic heritage, will be tasted by curious jurors , passionate and professional, able to bring to light all the peculiarities that enhance these wines.

The Italian components of the 2021 edition will be: Giuseppe Carrus (Gambero Rosso), Fabio Giavedoni (Slow Wine), Andrea Gori (Intravino), Christine Mayr (Vitae-AIS), Alessandra Piubello (I Vini di Veronelli), Marco Rossi (Tannico ) and Leila Salimbeni (Spirito diVino). Together with them also the journalists Alessandro Franceschini (Viniplus di Lombardia) in the role of secretary of the Autochtona Award and Pierluigi Gorgoni (journalist, oenologist and teacher of the Alma school) coordinator of the award. The first names of international faces, the result of collaboration with the ICE Agency, are instead: Paula Bosch (sommelier, journalist and writer), John Brunton (The Guardian), Sigi Hiss (Vinum), Susan Hulme (MW and journalist for Decanter ), Anders Levander (DinVinguide).

The jury, which will be completed shortly, will be led by a figure who for over 40 years has been one of the most authoritative voices on the Italian and world wine scene: Daniele Cernilli (DoctorWine) who will assign the Autochtona Awards within different categories. Alongside the traditional awards, the award for the "Best Winemaker Under 40" and two new "Best Ancestral Wine" returns, reserved for wines obtained through fermentation in the bottle and with the presence of a fermentation base (sur lie), and the "Best Wine Orange ", which will include wines produced from native white berried grapes with a considerable maceration on the skins.

Furthermore, this year the wines featured in the Autochtona Award will also be present in a large tasting counter at Fiera Bolzano, managed in total safety by the AIS sommeliers from South Tyrol, which will take place on 18 and 19 October on the occasion of the 18th edition. of the traditional Autochtona event .

The announcement of the Autochtona Awards will be streamed live on the social channels of Fiera Bolzano on the afternoon of Tuesday 19 October: the final act of an edition that will have as its highlights, in addition to the tasting counter, an intense masterclass program.

Autochtona is organized by Fiera Bolzano and will take place concurrently with Hotel, an international fair dedicated to catering and hôtellerie scheduled until 21 October.

For more information on how to register: www.fierabolzano.it/it/autochtona/