Just over a month ago, a group of Italian producers, spanning the length and breadth of Italy, decided to formalise their on-line connections and “Tweet your Wines” was launched.

This umbrella group encompasses producers of delicious sparkling Franciacorta DOCG www.ilmosnel.it and Prosecco www.belecasel.it. There is www.santamargherita.com, whose production spans three different areas in Northern Italy, ranging from Prosecco Valdobbiadene DOC to Rosè and Veneto reds. There are Piedmontese gems made by www.cascinacarpini.it and www.cascinagilli.it. There is a producer of Garda DOP olive oil Brolo www.il-brolo.it and Garda DOC white wines www.sandrodebruno.it. Moving down the boot there is www.terrecontese.it in Forlì and two exponents of Tuscan DOCGS; Nobile di Montepulciano from www.crociani.it and our Brunello di Montalcino www.ilpalazzone.mikelee.nyc. Further down still we have www.cantele.it in Puglia with an impressive range of reds  and www.carbonevini.it in Basilicata in Southern Italy who make wines on the slopes of an extinct volcano…. And we have the full participation and support of a distributor, Riccardo Zola at Schemalibero www.schemalibero.com

We are a disparate group working with extremely different varietals and in totally different production areas. Along with our passion for wine we also share a faith in social media and in the unlimited possibilities of “only connect.”

Tweet after tweet another great initiative has taken shape… we’re proud to announce the imaginatively named “Twit Asta” – or Twitter Auction. The auction will raise funds for the Gaslini Hospital in Genova, specifically to provide help and support for premature babies and their families. Each #tyw producer is donating their wines to create mixed cases of 6 bottles. They will be packed in original Cromobox, the tailor-made boxes created by Roberto Colombo @Cromobox to celebrate the launch of Tweet your Wines at Vinitaly.

The auction will take place on Twitter from 10 am on Sunday 30 May to 10 pm on Saturday 5 June. Times are GMT + 1.Bids start at 50 Euros per case, which is far below the retail value of each box of wine. The highest bidder for each of Cromobox will receive instructions in order to donate the final bid price directly to the association.

In order to facilitate the auction (and since we’re all TwitterAddicts) each case will have a #.

Follow us on Twitter @TweetYourWines, on FriendFeed or on Facebook.

The details of each case will presented next week… So don’t forget:

Twit Asta from 10 on Sunday 30 May to 10 pm on Sunday 5th June! Let’s raise some money for those babies! Viva #tyw !

Blog:http://tweetyourwines.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @TweetYourWines , #tyw, #cosaseidispostoafare
Full list of producers on http://tweetyourwines.wordpress.com/tweetyourwine-vinitaly2010/        Fan Page FB: http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/pages/Tweet-Your-Wines/119567314721726?ref=ts