Wine News - November 04, 2006 |
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Welcome to
VOLUME IV,
NUMBER 11 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).
Wow, this has been a busy month at WineCountry.IT!
On October 12 we celebrated Columbus Day with the the Aldersly residents with an Italian wine tasting followed by an excellent Italian dinner prepared by Chef Hugo Salazar.
On October 20, my wife and editor-in-chief of the English version of our network of web sites, Brigit, and I, drove down to LA for a business meeting with an Italian delegation. We organized it so that we could take a brief 'Sideways' vacation, celebrating, with a delay, our birthdays. As it turned out, it was not much of a vacation, but wine-related anyway, and you may read all about it.
In the meanwhile we have had our hands fairly full organizing our participation in the November 8 Uncorked, organized in San Francisco by Don Davis, and a presentation at the Procissi Cellar and Art Gallery, in Folsom, California, Sunday, November 19. This, of course, in addition to our Italian Flavor Forum VI, scheduled for November 21st, at the Golden Gate Yacht Club.
Well, November promises to be even busier, so let me stop complaining and get back to work.
As usual we have a nice selection of articles for you, including Rosa D'Ancona's introduction to the Italian native vines, among others. Please enjoy and, next time that you uncork a nice bottle of Italian wine, drink one glass while sending us good toughts. We'll do our best to keep you informed.
Loris Scagliarini, President |
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Articles
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Eat, Drink and Help the Ritz
A unique Italian dinner in Centerville, Iowa |
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 A special dinner sponsored by Project Pride and prepared by Marzia Corni-Benson and her husband, Rob Benson, will be served at the Beck Mansion on November 11, 2006 starting at 6:30PM.
In addition to being a delicious visit to authentic Italian cuisine, the dinner will also benefit the community by raising funds for completion of the Ritz Theatre.
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| Partially Aborted 'Sideways' – First Day |
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 We, that is, Brigit (my wife, best friend and editor-in-chief of the English version of our network of web sites), Maya, our 19-year-old Roman cat, and I leave San Anselmo, CA, at around 11AM, on October 20, 2006. We head south, for a business appointment in LA the next day. This appointment gives us an excuse to take our delayed birthday 'Sideways', this time actually hitting some of the spots that Miles and Jack visited in their imaginary journey north from LA to Paso Robles.
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| Second Day |
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 We share a delicious appetizer of Grilled Artichoke, compliments of the Colonial Beach Inn. Brigit then has a small clam chowder followed by Chuck's Special Fresh Alaskan Halibut. I order a Caesar Salad and the Crusted Fresh Alaskan Halibut and we wash everything down with a bottle of Viognier, a type of wine that we discovered last year during the first of 'Our Own Sideways' and which has since become Brigit's favorite California-produced wine. The fairly extensive list offers just one Viognier, the local Carina Cellar 2005. The wine is aromatic and has all the perfumes expected from this variety and, at 13.7%, is fairly low on alcohol content, compared to other such wines from the Central Coast area.
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| Third Day |
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 The white wine list does not excite us but the Ostini family, who owns of the restaurant, produces its own wine and is especially well known for their Pinot Noir, as a lady sitting at a nearby table lets us know. We break some rules and order the Santa Barbara County denomination Pinot Noir Cork Dancer 2005 (14.5% alc. by vol.). In Sideways the movie, the characters at the bar can be heard asking for a "Highliner", which is another Pinot Noir produced by the Ostini family.
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| Fourth Day |
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 The wine is the 2005 vintage of the Central Coast Voigner from Alban Vineyards, the brand that introduced us to this kind of grape. Last year we tasted the 2003 and 2004. The 2005 is just as good, but the alcohol content has dropped from 16% (2003) to the current 14.5%, which, in my humble opinion, makes it a lot better for pairing it with food.
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| Fifth Day |
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 We beat the traffic and avoid going through Oakland. At the San Francisco airport we take the 280 to 380, exit at 19th avenue, cross Golden Gate Park and the bridge to find ourselves once again on 101, which takes us to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and, finally, home to San Anselmo.
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Sixth Master del Sangiovese di Romagna 2006 |
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 The Romagna region is wine country, and especially Sangiovese country. The Trofeo Consorzio Vini di Romagna – 6° Master del Sangiovese (Romagna Wines Trophy – Sixth Sangiovese Master), returns once again to honor the local tradition while promoting the region and its most important vine. The appointment is for Monday, November 20, 2006 at the Centro Fieristico Provinciale di Faenza (Faenza's Provincial Trade Fair center), during the last day of the trade show entitled Enologica e Salone del Prodotto Tipico dell'Emilia Romagna (Showroom of the Emilia Romagna Enology and Typical Products).
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Charity Sale on Behalf of the Institute of Masters of Wine |
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 On Wednesday, November 1st, in New York, Christie's will be hosting a unique charity wine auction on behalf of the Institute of Masters of Wine. The proceeds will be used to establish an endowment fund to finance future scholarships and grants and extend the educational program of the Institute, further improving the accessibility to Masters of Wine courses throughout the wine world.
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The Wines of Southern Italy: Indigenous and Modern |
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 The International Wine Review, a new publication for wine professionals and enthusiasts, will publish its first in-depth report on the Wines of Southern Italy, a region where indigenous grapes and modern winemaking are converging to produce some of the most exciting wines on the market today.
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Uva Fogarina |
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 The great enogastronomy expert, the late Luigi Veronelli, wrote that the Uva Fogarina, a native Italian vine deeply connected to the agricultural world of Reggio Emilia, in the Emilia Romagna Region, could easily have produced quality wines comparable to the top Tuscan wines.
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Columbus Day Celebration at Aldersly |
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 On October 12, 2006 Aldersly, a San Rafael, California, garden retirement community with a European heritage, situated in an intimate, setting near the Dominican University campus, celebrated Columbus Day with an Italian wine tasting followed by an excellent Italian dinner prepared by Chef Hugo Salazar.
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Amazing wines from Italy's Alto Adige
Part One of Three |
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 Vintners in Italy's Alto Adige suffer from an embarrassment of riches. Few regions anywhere in the world can match the dizzying diversity of this bucolic Alpine area's production. Winemakers there make first-rate wines from an amazing array of grapes. .
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| Part Two of Three |
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 Alto Adige's other important indigenous grape, Lagrein, is definitely worth trying. It produces truly compelling wines. Tasting something like Syrah, with rich, lush red and black fruit flavors, a spicy (but not peppery) undertone, and an uncanny ability to absorb oak without turning sweet, the top wines made from Lagrein are complex and concentrated but not aggressive or astringent.
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| Part Three of Three |
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 Many Alto Adige vintners are excited about Pinot Blanc ("Bianco" in Italian), arguing that it excels in their Alpine terroir. The best renditions do taste uncommonly good, displaying baked apple and fresh pear flavors, with an appealing underlying minerality. Look for Terlano Pinot Bianco 2005 ($20 – Check the value in other currencies) or St. Michael-Eppan Pinot Bianco "Schulthauser" 2005 ($28 – Check the value in other currencies).
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Italian Wine at Risk |
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 The European Commission pointed the finger at worldwide over-production of wine to justify the proposal of cutting Italian wine production by 25%. Worldwide overproduction of wine is blamed in part on the commercial exuberance of countries such as Australia and South America, that have assaulted the international market and, in just a few years, flooded it with cheap wine.
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DUEMILAVINI 2007:
Awarded the Cinque Grappoli (Five Bunches) |
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 Here we provide, region by region, the Italian wines which were awarded the Cinque Grappoli (Five Bunches) from the jury of professional sommeliers who, altogether, tasted over 15,000 wines. They first selected about 800 finalists, then assigned the Cinque Grappoli to 295 wines, produced by 265 different estates. The result is DUEMILAVINI 2007 Italian Wine Guide, presented to the press on November 3, 2006.
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Published DUEMILAVINI 2007 Italian Wine Guide |
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DUEMILAVINI (Two Thousand Wines), the Italian wine guide which, since its first publication eight years ago, has become arguably the most accepted unofficial authority in judging the best Italian wine production. It consists of 1,800 pages, presenting 1,434 estates and over 15,000 wines tasted, which resulted in around 800 finalists. Among these, 295 wines produced by 265 estates were awarded the coveted '5 bunches, or the highest score assigned by the jury of professional sommeliers.
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WineCountry.IT
Columns
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Italian Native Vines
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Though Lombardy is known worldwide as the Italian industrial and service hub, the region has a rich agricultural legacy, of which wine constitutes a sizable part.
The vitiviniculture tradition in this region has very ancient roots, reaching as far back as the Etruscans, the Euganei and the Romans. In fact, Roman writers such as Catullo and Virgil, among others, wrote about the quality of Lombard wines.
- Read More...
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The Company of the Month for November 2006 is the Industria Alimentare Capobianco, or IN.AL.CA., a company which selects Italian regional specialties produced according to ancient methods, respectful of local traditions.
Founded by Antonio Capobianco, IN.AL.CA. has its headquarters in Bari, in the region of Apulia, and a warehouse in the province of Benevento, in the Campania region, In addition IN.AL.CA. has a warehouse in Utah, from where it distributes the imported goods in various parts of the US.
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A new survey conducted by morefocus, an online research organization, revealed telling information about people's attitudes towards wine and health. An overwhelming majority of people believe moderate consumption of red wine is beneficial to health, and would drink it for health benefits even if they don't like the taste.
Good news for small wine producers who sell their product in the US: Americans are drinking more wine than ever in their history, and the trend is moving away from big brands, thus favoring small wineries. 
In 2006 the 
