Wine News - December 18, 2005 |
YOU ARE HERE >>
|
Welcome to VOLUME III , NUMBER 20 of Wine News, the e-Letter from the WineCountry.IT network. (Would you rather see the e-Letter on your favorite browser? Use this link. Usa il link seguente se vuoi leggere le News in italiano).
It's already mid-December and before we know it it will be the year 2006. If you happen to be in Italy for the holiday season, be prepared for a lot of loud POPs as Italians open up countless bottles of delicious local spumante. On these occasions they don't heed traditional wine etiquette, which demands that the cork of a sparkler come off with a subdued 'puff' while remaining in the hand of whoever opens the bottle. During the Italian holiday season instead, the louder the cork sound, the more festive the party. Be advised, duck your head as cork 'projectiles' ricochet around the room.
While waiting for the official beginning of winter, we will finalize the details for the next 'mini' version of Italian Flavor Forum III, which takes place on January 11, 2006 in the garden of the Consulate General of Italy, at Broadway and Webster, in San Francisco, California. As usual, the event is by invitation only. In this case though, the event is dedicated exclusively to best San Francisco Bay Area restaurants, wine bars and selected wine stores.
We are still working on the organization of the Italian Flavor Forum Africa, tentatively planned for February 11, 2006 in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal.
I would also like to point our readers to the article about the Italian Flavor Forum IV, which takes place on March 14 and 15, 2006 at the Fort Mason Center, in San Francisco, California. This fourth Forum will be embedded with the first Italia Gourmet Show (IGS), a one-of-a-kind, all Italian wine and food trade show organized by WineCountry.IT in collaboration with Project4U.
US wine and food professionals, from importers to distributors, resellers, restauranteurs, buyers for supermarkets, specialty food shops and wine stores, will have the opportunity to taste selected regional specialties, quality wines and new, exciting liquors. Everything strictly Italian, straight from the producers who, in many cases, will be at hand to talk about their fare. In addition, in collaboration with BICA - Best of Italy Consumer Association - the Italia Gourmet Show will provide workshops to educate participants on the vast universe of Italian regional quality food and wine. If you are a wine and food professional or writer, you should not miss this event. To make sure to receive your invitation, please fill out this form.
We wish you happy reading, a gratifying holiday season and a prosperous new year, more peaceful and rewarding than the one that's about to end. We invite you all to drink your favorite Italian wines responsibly, in the company of friends, family and loved ones. 'Cin cin!'
Loris Scagliarini,
President |
|
|
Articles |
|
| New Label Proposed for the 'Supertuscans' |
| |
 A new label for the 'Supertuscan' wines has been proposed during the course of the presentation of a book by Andrea Zanfi entitled 'I Supertuscans' ('The Supertuscans') - over four hundred pages that praise wines such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, made strictly in accordance with the DOC and DOCG protocols.
Continue...
|
|
|
| If life's got you down, go to Umbria |
| |
 If you're depressed, go to Umbria. If you can't shake a sniffly cold, think your haircut is the worst you've ever had or if you're just in need of a little pick-me-up, go to Umbria.
If you husband or wife is being a pain, or your boyfriend or girlfriend has left you, if you have just walked off your job, can't stand breathing the filthy, smoggy city air around you, and you absolutely hate your living room couch, go to Umbria.
Continue... |
|
|
|
|
|
'Abitare la Storia': Two Restaurants and One Castle Join the Association
First of Four Parts |
| |
 'Abitare la Storia' is an association founded in 1995 to organize restaurants and hotels housed in antique buildings, across the Italian cities and countryside. The goal of the association is to promote the style and tradition of the Italian hospitality, guaranteeing visitors that they will be welcomed with professionalism and courtesy, offering an overall unique staying experience to hosts who appreciate living within and surrounded by centuries of history and art.
Continue...
|
|
|
| Italia Gourmet Show |
| |
 The Italia Gourmet Show (IGS) is a one-of-a-kind, Italian-only wine and specialty food trade show in the western United States. The event is dedicated exclusively to importers, distributors, resellers, restauranteurs, wine bar managers, wine collectors, and food and wine writers. Over two days, US trade professionals will have the opportunity to meet Italian producers of quality wines and food, sample their gourmet offerings, compare products, and eventually place orders directly.
Continue...
|
|
|
| Geofoods: The Truffle Specialists |
| |
 Located in Città di Castello, in the Umbria region, in the heart of an generous area which produces great quantities of truffles, Geofoods has the opportunity to collect, select and market the best products available to wholesalers and distributors.
Continue...
|
|
|
| The Italian Wine, the Chinese and Other International Markets |
| |
 Following the seventh annual Vinitaly China, we would like to share our thoughts about the possible Chinese market share that has opened for Italian wines in that country. According to some, 2006 exports could double the 2005 figures. Though we are talking about small volumes compared to giant importers such as the United States, Germany, or the European Union as a whole, China offers huge potential, providing that the current political trend does not change.
Continue...
|
|
|
| Italian Technological Record at 21st SIMEI Show in Milan |
| |
 The world's largest wine technology show took place from November 22 to November 26 at the Fiera (Trade Center) in Milan. The show introduced 767 machinery-exporting enterprises, as well as 133 exhibitors participating in Enovitis, the Vine-Growing Techniques Exhibition that took place within the main event.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WineCountry.IT
Columns
|
|
Italian Native Vines
|
Vine cultivation in the Molise region was already practiced by the ancient Samnites, who produced wine and other fermented drinks, having learned the trade from the Greeks and the Etruscans. It was only in Roman times, however, that vine growing expanded into larger vineyards.
Though vine growing has had its ups and downs in the history of this region, the particularly favorable climate has contributed to establishing an interesting wine culture.
- Read More...
|
|
We close 2005 introducing Castellari Bergaglio Azienda Vitivinicola as December's Company of the Month. This forward looking Piedmont winery is located in the quiet, green landscape of Gavi, in the province of Alessandria:. This winemaking family has handed down the love for the vine and its precious products for over four generations.
To this day, the members of the family work with passion and enthusiasm, striving to better the quality of their wines, drawing from the creativity, personality and know-how of the people working with them.
- Read More...
|
|
In addition to being the holiday month, December is also the month in which we look back on the accomplishments achieved during the year that is about to end. We also make plans for the new year. Thus December is an important month in more than one way. During this month families gather together around festive dinner tables to share traditional recipes, amid seasonal music and joyous pops of uncorked spumante corks in the background.
Let's find out what Chef Davide Dalloco from the Scuola Alberghiera di Serramazzoni suggests for a traditional meal with friends and family Emilia region-style
- Cold cuts with crescentine (kind of fried bread from Modena)
- Tortellini in broth – (see recipe)
- Cotechino [kind of pork salami] in prison (see recipe)
- Zuppa inglese (Dessert made of cookies, pudding and liquor)
- Grana Padano cheese with plum jam
Buon Appetito!
- Read
More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The third tourist destination that recently joined the association'Abitare la Storia' is located in Piedmont. Surrounded by a park with century-old trees, the Castello Rosso overlooks the hamlet of Costigliole Saluzzo, in the province of Cuneo, and its massive structure is visible from afar, thanks to its distinctive red color, from which it takes its name. 
Still in Emilia, the second restaurant is located in the lower foothills of the Bolognese Apennines, in downtown Savigno, a historic small town where in the early 1900s, Amerigo Vespucci opened an 
Inside the thirteenth century fortress which characterizes the historic downtown of Rubiera, a town in the province of Modena, in the heart of the Emilia Romagna region, Roberto Gobbi created a one-of-a-kind restaurant, the Osteria del Viandante. 
