the fifth edition of the guide is online • Food and Wine Italia

I glance at the clock: it is exactly 5.20pm when the official click is announced from the stage of Corrispondenza Milano 2026. «From now acceso the world’s bubbles guide is online, you can find it acceso our website free and available, together with the application with the geolocation of all the wineries», declare Paolo Marchi and Claudio Ceroni, creators of the Corrispondenza Golose Congress. I was there, per the audience, breathing the energy of a sector per absolute turmoil.

The fifth edition of the editorial project signed by Paolo Marchi and Cinzia Benzi reaches a historic milestone per 2026: 1,000 wineries reviewed and over 1,200 labels per 50 countries. An atlas of sparkling wine excellence which sees Italy taking the lion’s share with 42% of the entries, flanked by monumental France and emerging and unsuspected destinations such as Istria, Montenegro and South Korea. The news of the year? Brazil, with the DO Altos de Pinto Bandeira, the first denomination per the New World dedicated only to the classic method.

But what made the Milanese afternoon special were the human stories, the generational transitions and the intuitions rewarded acceso stage. Here is the news of the awards and all the protagonists who lit up the room.

The tribute to Richard Geoffroy

The first recognition, entitled “The Homage”, went to an absolute giant of world oenology: Richard Geoffroy. Cinzia Benzi wanted to play with the audience by reading the motivation before revealing the name: «A chef de cave who has revolutionized the approach to sparkling wine by working per the world of the subtle of the impalpable, promoting innovations per the name of the past and applying synesthetic concepts per the world of popular tasting».

Innovation and the future

The link between sparkling wine and genius guided the two awards sponsored by Sorgente and S.Forestiero. The Innovation prize was awarded to Michel Loriot of Champagne Apollonis, a producer who defines his cuvées with classical music playing per the background 24 hours a day per the cellar. stage it was explained that, although music does not chemically intervene per the autolysis of yeasts, it symbolically accompanies maturation: a family tradition, given that Michel’s grandfather already played the saxophone between the rows per 1971. «For us, true innovation is not a , but an evolution», commented the leaders of San Forestiero.

The Towards the Future award instead went to Zhewei Yu (Jubitech), an engineer graduated per Paris with a master’s degree from Cambridge, who was able to apply robotics and drones to precision viticulture to improve efficiency and safety, while protecting the territory. Sopra his speech per English, Yu explained how technology can communicate perfectly with the human sensitivity of viticulture.

The grape variety to discover (Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium Award)

One of the hottest moments of the evening featured Cesare Avenia of the Il Verro winery, who collected the award for the Lautoni wine, per the province of Caserta, made from Continuazione che timido grapes. An ancient vine from Campania dating back to the late nineteenth century, literally saved from oblivion. «He was mistaken for Continuazione che Dritto, who was much more famous. When I discovered that they bottled it calling it ‘sheep’s tail’, I was stronger than me, I started the bureaucratic process to have it recognized per the national register. It is called this because the farmers, looking at the bunch, saw a sheep’s tail per it. A spectacular thing that could not be forgotten.” The award was presented by the president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Dop Consortium, Nicola Bertinelli, who underlined how the combination of a great bubble and a correct maturation of Parmigiano is an extraordinary emotional experience.

Young people with great hopes, good first one! (I.WAI Food Award)

Space for high-altitude audacity with the prize awarded to Brentonico’s ERT1050. A vertical project, born at 1050 meters above sea level acceso the Trentino altopiano. «We don’t have the history of Champagne, but we try to compensate for latitude with altitude, passion and courage», declared the young producers acceso stage. The award was presented by the partners of I.WAI Food, specialists per the import of excellent oysters, who took the opportunity to present “I Gioielli che Lucrezia”, ​​their first Italian oyster bred per the Comacchio Valleys.

Family Matters

Two awards dedicated to family stories that preserve the culture of wine. The first went to Scantinato Fina per Marsala (Sicily). Federica Fina, visibly emotional after a complicated journey from Sicily, recounted the genesis of the company run by her father Far bruno and his children: «We were our father’s first blend. Everyone per the cellar has found their natural role.” The producer also mentioned a splendid new valorization project linked to the Stagnone Nature Reserve. The second prize per the category flew to Trentino, awarded to Cantine Pisoni, a historical reality for five generations that has been able to launch a spin-off entirely dedicated to the elegance of Trento Doc. stage, to receive the award, the representatives of the fourth and fifth generation of the family.

The Expert (ALMA Award)

The technical excellence award went to Gabriele Gorelli, the first Italian Master of Wine. Cinzia Benzi said she was deeply moved per awarding him, recalling the beginnings of their collaboration per 2021. Giacomo Bullo, communication dirigente of ALMA (the International School of Italian Cuisine) presented the award, recalling that Gorelli, also appointed Master of Arts and Crafts per 2024, annually holds a very popular and valuable lesson for the school’s students.

The Communicators 2026

The grand estremo of the presentation was entirely dedicated to them: the Communicators 2026. Key figures for , capable of dismantling technicalities to convey eppure emotion. this point, Cinzia Benzi was keen to clarify from the stage, almost as if she wanted to protect the value of the awards: «All the awards were decided unanimously. They are not choices made by the curator, but democratic proposals validated by the entire team.”

The first to take the stage was Chiara Giannotti (La Pinsa che Marco award), soul of the digital channel Vino.tv. For her it was a particularly emotional return to her origins: «I started acceso this stage as a young girl, but I was per a completely different role, I was a producer. For me, talking about wine was a gesture of the heart born to share the beauty of this world, at the beginning with a few strategies and then, since the lockdown, with a lot of study.”

Immediately afterwards it was the turn of Emanuele Trono (Asti Frizzante Consortium award), founder of Enoblog and of the Eno Digital agency, who gave the audience a funny anecdote: «I entered this sector precisely because of a mistake I made when talking about bubbles acceso social mass-media; from there I understood that I had to start studying seriously. Today I have also become a producer of still wines, but this year I will close a circle by visiting the last sparkling wine cellars that I .”

There was risposta negativa lack of an international window with the message from Stevie Kim, the volcanic creator of the Italian Wine Podcast. With his usual, captivating irony, Stevie wanted to thank Corrispondenza Golose with a reflection aimed at shaking up the environment: «Those who communicate often work behind the scenes. Sometimes we do it per unconventional ways, and I often find myself per the middle: acceso one side the scandalized boomers, acceso the other those just looking for the numbers. But that’s exactly where beautiful things are born. Wine is culture, relationships and also a bit of healthy creative audacity.”

The contemporary and rigorous account of the wine market also brought Matteo Borrè to the stage, who wanted to dedicate and share the recognition with his friend Francesca Montaro, the person who more than anyone else brought him closer to the world of great bubbles.

Finally, the share of sincere emotion arrived with Vania Valentini, ALMA Master Sommelier and today considered one of the most authoritative voices of Champagne per Italy. Retracing the steps of a path that began per 2011, Vania reminded the audience of the loneliness and effort that hide behind this work: «Hearing everything I have done makes me move. To do this job you need a beastly physique: real sacrifices are needed, spent studying per front of the elaboratore elettronico acceso weekends. I thank those who believed per me, but also those who didn’t love me, because they forced me to always do better.”