The day immediately after the DBG Italian tasting, Berry Bros and Rudd held its annual Italian portfolio tasting, grandly called the Grand Tour. It turned out to be a solemn, almost hushed affair. Perhaps it was the new venue, the stately Assembly Hall, right behind Westminster Abbey, that had replaced the much lighter, bigger Lindley Hall used in previous years. Or perhaps it was simply that fewer producers than usual were present to pour their wine.
Whatever the case, the tasting struggled to make a coherent impression. The large Assembly Hall apparently was thought too small to include the...