The wine world lost a true giant when Franco Bernabei passed away at 73 years of age on July 2. Bernabei was one of the handful of consultants in the late 1970s and early 1980s who brought contemporary best practices in winemaking to Tuscany and helped catapult Italian wines onto the global stage. He was an avid proponent of the virtues of Sangiovese at a time when few believed in its potential.
