My Article: Divino Tuscany - Let the Festivities Begin!

I just finished filming the introduction to the documentary on the music, wine, and food event Divino Tuscany in Florence. I am excited for both the film and the event. We start tonight with a concert at the Teatro della Pergola with one of the most amazing violinists on earth, Joshua Bell, followed by an outdoor buffet dinner at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel with a range of delicious Chianti Classicos. (Check out the photo I took of the garden and pool at the hotel with the silhouette of the dome of the Duomo in the background.)

Divino Tuscany is sold out. About 400 people are attending the four-day event with 50 of the greatest wineries in Tuscany. It’s going to be a wonderful few days of sharing culture, music, cuisine and wine – Tuscan wine – with wine lovers from all over the world, including such faraway places as China and India. And what better place than the renaissance city of Florence?

We are going to taste and drink close to 4,000 bottles of the greatest wines ever produced in Italy, from Masseto to Solaia to Valdicava Brunello to Fontodi Flaccianello. I chose slightly more than four dozen of the best wineries in the region to participate, following more than three decades of tasting the wines of the region. They are top-quality producers. (The storeroom of the Four Seasons Hotel is packed with cases of wine.)

I keep on thinking about an encounter I had with Chateau Margaux’s technical director Paul Pontallier about 20 years ago during a wine tasting in Tuscany. We tasted a range of Tuscan reds with Bordeaux reds, and the winemaker turned to me and said, “James, spending a few days in Tuscany and seeing how beautiful the region is, you have to believe that it makes great wine as well. And it does.”

That’s why Divino Tuscany exists, and I am happy that IMG Artists, the biggest classical music agents in the world, as well as mine, has organized such a great event. Stay tuned for updates on how it is all going.