Italy's grandees

Below is a collection of tasting notes I have tarried far too long before publishing –probably because I am not particularly proud of them.

They were taken in rather difficult circumstances, at a very crowded, rather rushed, reception at the Italian Embassy in London last September, just before a dinner to celebrate the new close association between the Institute of Masters of Wine and the Istituto Grandi Marchi, an Italian counterpart of the Union des Grands Crus in Bordeaux.

Nevertheless, the Italians were kind enough to open some of their finest wines for us and there are certainly many...