Screenshot from BresciaToday.

Today, the Italian wine world mourns the untimely loss of Marco Accordini, 26, beloved son of one of Valpolicella’s leading families.

According to reports published by mainstream media, he died this week after being severely injured in a tractor accident.

“Words cannot describe the pain we are feeling,” the family wrote on its Facebook page yesterday. “Marco was innovation. He was the brain. He was the present and future of our winery. We have lost a son, a nephew, a cousin, a friend. But more than anything else, we have lost a great man. An ambitious man teeming with ideas, hopes, passion, and dreams for a life ahead of him. A man who, despite his youth, left an indelible mark on the lives of all of us.”

A memorial is to be held tomorrow at the Church of San Rocco in Pedemonte.

I first met Marco many years ago when I visited his family’s estate. And I had the opportunity to interact with him last year when we presented a virtual wine dinner featuring Accordini’s wonderful wines. He was classic veneto: industrious, forthright, and extremely talented. His family’s wines are as pure and focused as was he in his work and in his life. His loss is a tremendous blow to Italian wine. He will be sorely missed by many.

Sit tibi terra levis Marce.