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Wine News - February 01, 2006
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| ANNOUNCMENT |
Speaker Wanted on Heraldry in Italian Wine Labels
European vintners, including many Italian ones, display colorful coats of arms on their labels. Why is this and what do the armorial displays say about the wines, the producers and the country where the grapes are grown? The College of Arms Foundation, is seeking a knowledgeable individual to"
a) select a number of distinctively Italian coats of arms featured on wine labels and
b) describe their history and notable features at a presentation in New York City in 2006.
The Foundation promotes appreciation and knowledge of heraldry. Interested parties please contact John Shannon, President, at john.shannon@coaf.us. |
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WineCountry.IT
Columns
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Italian Native Vines
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As a result of the re-qualification and re-evaluation process of the unique Apulia region vitivinicultural legacy, promoted by local producers and public administrators, the regional wines have met with the favor of the Italian and international markets in recent years.
In addition, the current trend has attracted attention and investment from Northern Italian entrepreneurs. This is a true rebirth for the wine producing sector, one which was unimaginable just 20 years ago. Back then just a very small amount of wine was bottled and most product was shipped up north, where it was used in several quality blends.
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For the February 2006 Company of the Month, we will visit once again Piedmont, the Italian region which is already in the news a great deal these days because of the Winter Olympics.
This time we will go to Calosso, a small center in the province of Asti, to visit the Azienda Vitivinicola Colledoro di Clara C. Ambrosio.
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More...
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Italian Flavor Consortium |
Premiere of
Italia Gourmet Show /
Italian Flavor Forum IV
March 14 - 15, 2006
Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, California, Usa
A unique trade show in California and the US West Coast. Two days dedicated exclusively to Italian food and wine dedicated to professionals only.
Workshops, conferences, tasting and pairing of regional wines and food, many of which brought to the US for the first time. An opportunity to taste, compare and purchase the best of Italian gourmet food and wine by the Bay.
By invitation only!
Wine and food professionals and writers interested in participating, may request invitation by filling out this form. |
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YOU ARE HERE >>
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Welcome to
VOLUME IV
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NUMBER 2 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).
Dear reader, this beginning of 2006 has been extremely busy for us. In fact, we decided to forgo the mid-month issue of the e-letter.
Exciting events included the Italian Flavor Forum III at the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco on January 11. The event, dedicated to San Francisco Bay Area restaurants, wine bars and fine wine resellers, took a lot of energy wnd time to prepare. As usual, it had a great turnout and the wines presented were generally extremely well accepted.
No sooner had we wrapped up than event that we had to start getting our ducks in a row for the Italian Flavor Forum IV, which will be part of the premiere of the Italia Gourmet Show, the new Italian wine and food show organized in collaboration with Project4U that will take place on March 14 and 15 at Fort Mason Center's Landmark Building A.
Wine and food buyers and members of the press interested in participating in the premiere of the Italia Gourmet Show / Italian Flavor Forum IV must request their invitation. As usual the event is by invitation only and not open to the general public. No walk-ins will be allowed, so be sure to ask for your invitation in advance or risk being left out.
That's it for now. Enjoy the articles and toast with us to a gratifying and successful 2006, the Year of the Dog in the Chinese horoscope.
Loris Scagliarini,
President
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Articles
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Bologna: Excellent toasts at the 2006 Great Carnival Dance
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 "Femme Fatale e Gentiluomo", or "Femme Fatale and Gentleman", is the title of the fourth Gran Ballo in Maschera 2006 (Grand Masquerade Ball, 2006), which takes place on Friday, February 17, at the wonderful Palazzo Isolani, in downtown Bologna. This year's theme is the color yellow. From the clothing, either in costume or evening clothes, which must be yellow or include yellow accessories, to the entertainment, whose storyline will be a thriller or mystery, and will feature well known Italian mystery writers. (Translator's note: a mystery novel is called "libro giallo", or "yellow book" in Italian. This is because when Italian publisher Mondadori started printing the translation of US and British thrillers after WW II, including Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie stories, the monthly books had yellow covers).
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Coldiretti: Extra-EU Trade Up in 2005
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 The Italian food product trade balance with non-European countries increased 3.4% in 2005. This is what emerges from an analysis by the farmers' union, Coldiretti, on the basis of the ISTAT (Italian Institute of Statistics) figures on trade with countries outside the EU in 2005, compared to 2004.
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Wine in Italy: Sales +62% in large-scale retail
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 The growth of large-scale retail wine sales in 2005 exceeded 62% in volume, or over 5 million hectoliters. By adding discount markets, the percentage reached 75.4%. Sales in specialized wine shops, or particular distribution channels where consumption counts as much as sale, increased 6.5% in volume and 16.5% in value.
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| Vinitaly' in India |
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 For the first time ever 'Vinitaly' travels to in India. The most important Italian wine exhibition opened its doors in New Delhi and Mumbai from January 11th to the 21st, with more than 60 producers presenting some of the best Italian wines to the Indian market.
The opening ceremony of the three-day exhibition, organized by ICE, the Italian Institution for Foreign Commerce and Veronafiere, was held by the Vice-Minister for Production Activities and Foreign Trade representative Adolfo Urso.
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| Piedmontes Icewine |
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 The Comunità Montana dell'Alta Valle Susa (Mountain Community of the High Susa Valley), in collaboration with Donna Sommelier Europa (Women Sommeliers Europe), launched an experimental project to produce the first 'Vino del Ghiaccio' (Ice Wine) in Piedmont.
With this initiative the Alta Valle Susa wine area joins the exclusive world wine zone where the Eiswein are produced.
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The Mayor's Recipe: The Mayors in the Kitchen Challenge
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 Vincenzo Zacchiroli, mayor of Castel San Pietro Terme, in the province of Bologna, won the second Enogastronomy Challenge entitled "Il Piatto del Sindaco", or "The Mayor's Recipe", that took place on Sunday, January 15, 2006 in Forlì, on the occasion of the SAPEUR trade show.
The Castel San Pietro Terme administrator competed against the mayors from five nearby cities with the recipe Tortelloni Castellani in Crema di Zucca e Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (Tortelloni [stuffed pasta] with Pumpkin and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena Sauce).
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VIP Wines
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 "Anche Madonna si dà all'alcol'! This is the play on words that means something like "Even Madonna gives in to the booze" that appeared as title of an article in the Italian newspaper La Stampa (The Press). The piece announces that Madonna is the latest star to add the title of wine producers to her list of accomplishments.
In fact, in the past few days the label 'Confessions', the title of the material girl's latest CD, has hit the wine market. This is in addition to a line of wines produced in Michigan by the singer's father, Silvio Ciccone. The most expensive of these wines is a Cabernet Sauvignon that sells in Europe for €33.50, while the least expensive is a non-alcoholic wine (sic) called 'Un Wine', which sells for €20 (see up-to-date value in other currencies.)
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| Italian Flavor Forum III |
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 When I awoke the morning of Wednesday, January 11, 2006 the rain was drumming down on the roof of our wooden bungalow and I felt my heart sink. Nonetheless, always the positive thinker that I am, I told myself that that was just what the weather report had said: rain at night and into the morning, by noon turning to cloudy and, by 3:00 PM, the sun would actually show up. Looking out the window at the little stream running through our backyard, I saw the muddy water was running fast and was close to overflowing. I had to make an effort to keep my spirits up.
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French Government Announces New Wine Strategy
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 French winemakers are planning more protests as Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, announces proposals to tackle to the current French wine crisis in the next two or three months.
According to Villepin the national strategy would help French wine to recover lost markets, among other things.
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According to Assoenologi the Enlarged Europe is Not Positive for the Wine Market
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 "The three Baltic republics which used to be part of the former USSR" said the chairman of Assoenologi, Mario Consorte, "have a good purchasing power, but their overall population amounts to just 8 million people. As for the other newcomers, they total 67 million inhabitants, but account for low wine consumption, due to their reduced economic development. Moreover, most of them produce wine themselves."
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Domaine Select Wine Estates (DSWE), the US importer and wholesaler of wines from around the world, has acquired Wave Imports, an Italian wine portfolio, from The Charmer Sunbelt Group.