Time leaves its mark—on history, on us, and above all, on wine. Riserva Storica Panizzi Ten Years After, the project that reintroduces this Vernaccia Riserva a decade after its birth, made us reflect on how fragile memory can be. Tasting the 2015 Riserva Storica, glass in hand, we wondered: What were we doing back in 2015? And how much do we truly recall?
Winemakers never forget…
As vintners, we remember the 2015 season vividly—the sweltering summer, the forecasts of an extraordinary vintage, and, in time, the confirmation that it would become one of the finest in 25 years. But who else remembers the weather from ten years ago? Only beekeepers, farmers, and meteorologists, perhaps?
Wine remembers what we do not
The question isn’t just who remembers, but what. The vines, the land, and the wine itself hold a lasting time imprint of the past. While we’d forgotten defining moments—Obama reopening dialogue with Cuba, the terrorist attacks in Paris, Aung San Suu Kyi’s rise in Myanmar—the 2015 Riserva preserved the essence of that year: a gentle winter, parched summer months, and September’s cool nights. It carries the memory of harvest days and the choices that shaped its very soul.
Tempus fugit, Vino manet (Time flies, Wine endures)
In a world that races forward, even pivotal moments fade. But in our hands, this bottle of 2015 Vernaccia Riserva stood as proof: some things remain. Every decision, every harvest leaves its trace. Wine does more than age—it remembers. It asks us to slow down, to reflect, to look back.
