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The value of verticals

Vertical of Malvasia di Bosa from Sardinia

A clutch of vertical tastings of some special Italian wines, including a Sardinian rarity and a special Vin Santo.

Tim writes Vertical tastings are something of a stock-in-trade of the wine world. Tasting multiple vintages of the same wine alongside each other – as opposed to a horizontal tasting of the same vintage, but multiple different wines – can be a powerful tool for understanding wines and winemakers.

In an entirely unconnected series of coincidences, three separate opportunities to taste verticals recently came my way, all from Italian producers, presenting radically different styles of wine: Prosecco from Bottega, the Sardinian...