The wine merchant of Venice

Giovanni Morelli hits the autostrade to sample some of the fine artwork at the current Venice Biennale, tasting some proper road-side coffee and some some wines from the Dolomites along the way. ‘I feast on wine and bread, and feasts they are’. — Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), Tuscan poet, painter, sculptor, architect and engineer. July was a very hot month in Tuscany, and while August continued in the same vein, there were some wet days too; ideal for good-quality grapes and wine. The harvest (Vendemmia) for white grapes began in the middle of August in the Maremma and for black grapes,…