Wine News - September 2, 2007 |
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Welcome to
VOLUME V,
NUMBER 8 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).
While in the US we are enjoying the long Labor Day weekend, many Italians are in a somber mood as they are getting ready to leave the tourist destinations where they have been spending their two-, three-, or four-week vacations. Though this seem an awfully long time to a US citizen, in most of Europe this is simply the norm.
Also, in many parts of Italy the earliest harvest in 30 years has already started, while in much of the rest of Italy, vintners are getting ready to start. The same is true across much of Europe as well because of the exceptionally long, hot summer.
On Saturday, September 1, 2007, Assoenology (the Association of Italian Enologists) said that the national wine production is expected to be one of the lowest in 50 years, totalling some 43.2 million hectolitres, or 13% down compared to the 2006 vintage. The organization also predicted that quality will be mixed, with some wines nearing total perfection, and wholesale prices expected to rise between 5% and 20%.
While the Italians were lying on exotic Mediterranean beaches, strolling in Alpine meadows, or shopping in exotic marketplaces, our writers and editors have been busy at work to provide our readers with the wealth of information that they have come to expect from our newsletter.
WineCountry.IT strongly suggests producers interested in exporting their wines to Europe for an elite market, consider participating in the first ever Monte-Carlo Wine Festival. The deadline for sign-up is September 30, 2007.
So, let me cut it short right here and wish you pleasant reading. To all the producers among you, please accept the best wishes for a top quality harvest, to make up for the lower quantity. We can drink less, as long as it is better.
Loris Scagliarini, WineCountry.IT President |
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| Italy's Wine Production to be Among Lowest in 50 Years |
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 Assoenologi, the Association of Italian Enologists, on Saturday, September 1, 2007 said that Italy's 2007 wine production is expected to be among the lowest in the last 50 years, totaling around 43.2 million hectoliters (over 1,141 million gallons), or 13% less than 2006. Quality will be high, though mixed, and wholesale prices are expected to rise between 5% and 20%.
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Third Annual Dolcetto&Dolcetto |
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 From September 3 to 5, 2007, at the Ampelion building, owned by the municipality of Alba and located next to the Enology School of Corso Enotria, the Enoteca Regionale Piemontese Grinzane Cavour (Grinzane Cavour Chapter of the Piedmont Regional Wine Bar) presents the third annual Dolcetto&Dolcetto, an event dedicated exclusively to this Piedmontese native vine and its terroir.
This year brings some innovation to the set up of the Dolcetto&Dolcetto event, which is as always focused on promoting this product and the Piedmont region. Two thirds of the 2007 tasting panel will be made up of international wine buyers and one third of Italian professional tasting journalists.
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CNA Imperia: Self-promotion at MOAC and the Adoption of Internet as Marketing Tool |
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 The Food Department of the CNA di Imperia (Imperia chapter of the Confederazione Nazionale dell'Atigianato e della Piccola e Media Impresa, or National Association of Artisans, Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises) contributed to the organization of the debate entitled: "L'artigianato nel sistema turistico locale", or "Artisanal Products Within the Local Tourism System", organized within his year's MOAC (Mostra Mercato Nazionale dellArtigianato, or National Market Exhibition of in Sanremo. Nicola Caprioni, CNA regional secretary, Alberto Biancheri, Sanremo business councilor, and Dario Biamonti, new councilor of Sanremo's Casino.
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European Scientists Decoded the Wine Grape Genome |
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 According to a study published Sunday, August 26, 2007, in the advance online publication of the British journal Nature, Italian and French scientists have deciphered the complete genetic code for Vitis Vinifera, the plant which produces wine grapes. These findings could pave the way for gene-based manipulations to boost flavor and improve resistance to disease.
Vitis Vinifera is one of only four flowering plants, and the first among fruit crops, whose complete genetic sequence has ever been produced. The other three plants are rice, poplar, and Thale Cress, a species of wild plant related to mustard and cabbage.
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First DolceVi: Dedicated to the Best Italian Dessert Wines |
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 The appointment with the best Italian dessert wines is set for an fall Venetian weekend in a splendid Palladian villa. The first ever DolceVi (another of the beloved Italian play-on-words: Dolce=Sweet, Vi, first two letters of Wine [Vino] and Life [Vita]) will take place Saturday 20, and Sunday 21 of October 2007, at Villa La Favorita di Monticello di Fara, in the small town of Sarego, in the province of Vicenza, just three kilometers (around 1.86 miles) from the Montebello Vicentino ramp off Highway A4 between Verona and Vicenza
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New Zealand Wine Exports Up |
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 New Zealand's wine export sector is enjoying a very successful 2007 after posting record annual exports for NZ$700 million (see value in other currencies), marking a 36% increase over the previous year, for the twelve-month period ending June 30, 2007. According to the latest annual report by the association of the country's wine growers, the sector is on track for achieving the projected export sales of NZ$1 billion (see value in other currencies) by 2010.
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Thirty First Puegnago Festival |
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 From August 31, to September 3, 2007 at Puegnago del Garda, in the province of Brescia, by the shore of Lake Garda, the 31st Fiera di Puegnago (Puegnago Festival) will take place. This represents a traditional appointment with the wine and food from the Riva del Garda area.
Established by the community which wanted to showcase the perfumes and flavors of the local products, the festival offers the opportunity to appreciate and further the knowledge of its typical quality products.
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Italian Wine Fraud in Europe |
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 German and Italian police forces have broken up an international counterfeit wine racket involving top Italian wines. The cross-border scam involved common table wine from the region of Apulia and Piedmont sold as top priced Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, Amarone, Barbera and Chianti.
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European Court Says No to Swiss Champagne |
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 A group of winemakers from the Swiss village of Champagne, located on the French border and around 400 kilometers from the more famous wine growing region of the same name. have lost a legal battle to call locally-produced wine by the name of the village.
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US Wine Sales Up 7% in the Quarter Ending June 30, 2007 |
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 Italian and Australian wines keep struggling against each other for the top import position. For the quarter ending June 30, 2007, Australian wines claimed a 9.8% market share against the 10% registered by Italian wines, however, both countries are at an identical 10% market share in the 52-week data ending the same period.
For the last several months, the value of Australian wine sales have grown from 3% to 4%, while Italian wine sales have grown about 7% to 8% over the same period, thus, should this trend continue, Italian wines are set to establish themselves at the top for sales value.
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At Lugano there's piłgusto! |
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 From December 7 to 9, 2007, the Lugano Exhibition Center will host piłgusto, the Swiss International Taste Exhibition, a lively and elegant trade show, which is unique of it's kind in the Swiss Confederation. The event will be dedicated to the promotion of the best local and international typical products available on the market.
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Custoza - Manzoni Bianco: This Union Must Happen |
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 Just a few days before the beginning of a historic harvest, the Manzoni Bianco is added to the grapes allowed to the Custoza DOC wines blend.
Starting with the 2007 harvest, the 611 wine estates producing DOC Custoza wines will be allowed to add Manzoni Bianco grape to the Custoza DOC white wine blend. The Manzoni Bianco grape has a characteristically high sugar content and good acidity.
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XIV Festival of the Ancient Flavor from the Ocean and the Land |
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 Eventi 3000, the group organizing the event, is pleased to announce the upcoming XIV Fiera degli Antichi Sapori di Mare e di Terra (XIV Annual Festival of the Ancient Flavor from the Ocean and the Land), which will take place along the lungomare (boardwalk) of Spadazzi, at Miramare di Rimini. This is a perfect location for such an event, as it allows a large number of foreign tourists to join the numerous Italians who usually participate in the festival.
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2007 Grape Harvest Could Be One of the Greatest Ever |
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 There's a mood of growing expectation across the European vineyards as the vendemmia (Italian), vendange (French), vendimia (Spanish), vindimadura (Portuguese), Ernte (German), συγκομιδη (Greek), that is, the harvest, is about to begin.
From Italy to Spain, from France to Greece, and all the other wine producing regions of Europe activity is getting frantic, as vintners all over are getting everything ready for the vital work to begin. Where needed, the bottling plants are working full time to get last year's wine bottled, cased and stored in warehouses, out in the field vintners are busy uprooting old worn-out vines and getting the field ready to plant new ones in spring. All this needs to be done before the early harvest of 2007 can get started.
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Calici di Stelle 2007: Great Success in the Apulia Region |
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 "To draw tourists close to the wine culture has always been our objective", commented Vittoria Cisonno, president of the Movimento Turismo del Vino Puglia, with satisfaction, "and events such as Calici di Stelle are an open invitation to the discovery of local art and regional culture, all the while tasting excellent wines in moderate quantity, to understand the commitment and passion that each producer puts in his/her work."
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Looking Forward to Fall: Bread, Speck, Apples and Chestnut Perfumes and Flavors of the Valle Isarco |
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 In the Isarco Valley, autumn is but another season with gastronomic appointments in store for the visitors who take hikes in the woods and chestnut tree groves, enveloped in the warm and golden season's colors.
The first seasonal appointment is with the Mercato Storico del Pane e dello Strudel Altoatesino di Bressanone (Bressanone's Historic Market for Alto Adige Bread and Strudel), which takes place from September 28 to 30, 2007, from 10AM to 7PM. Those who think that bread is either black or white, will have the opportunity to discover that each type of Alto Adige bread around 100 different varieties has a unique history, color, and specific geographic origin.
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2007 Napa Valley Wine Grape Harvest Begins at Mumm Napa |
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 The Napa Valley's wine grape harvest began early this morning at Mumm Napa winery, one of California's top producers of sparkling wine. Picking began in the cool, pre-dawn hours at the Rodgers Vineyard, located just north of the town of Napa in Yountville. The first grapes entered Mumm Napa's Rutherford winery at about 10:00 a.m., where the occasion was marked by winemaker Ludovic Dervin's traditional toasting of the grapes, the winery's celebratory ceremony commemorating founding winemaker Guy Devaux, and a 100-bottle cork-pop salute by the winery's team.
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At the Historic Rocca di Bazzano Exhibition and Tasting of the Colli Bolognesi Wines |
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 For two weekends, September 8th & 9th and 15th & 16th, 2007, over 100 wines will be tasted.
The majestic Rocca dei Bentivoglio in Bazzano, overlooking the small town of the same name in the province of Bologna, will host the Sixteenth Exhibition and Tasting event organized by the Consorzio Vini Colli Bolognesi (Consortium of the Wines from the Bologna Hills) for two weekends in a row, from 6:00PM to midnight.
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Italy: Early Harvest and Good Quality Production Expected |
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 This year's wine harvest in Italy could be the earliest on record. According to the Italian farmers' associations, because of the heat wave that has taken over in the past few weeks the harvest is expected to be small, however the vintage should range from high to exceptional quality.
The Unione Italiana Vini (UIV, or Italian Wine Union) said the harvest might start four or five days sooner than in 2003, the year which set the previous record.
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Sent to 7,105 Subscribers
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Monte-Carlo
Wine Festival 2008 |
Don't miss it!
Mark your calendars:
February 23, 24, 25, 2008
Wine producers interested in participating, please fill out the request form. Remember, the deadline is September 30, 2007.
US wine producers may contact WineCountry.IT for a special WineCountry.IT 5% discount.
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WineCountry.IT
Columns |
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WineCountry.IT Producers |
The Azienda Agricola Montalpruno is located in the heart of the Chianti wine production area, half way between Florence and Siena, along the ancient Cassia Road, just a few miles from the medieval centers of Monteriggioni and San Gimignano.
The commercial farm consists of 43 hectares (around 106 acres) of vineyards and olive groves located atop a beautiful hill overlooking the medieval city walls of Staggia Senese.
- Read More...
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This month we are presenting two types of cold cuts, the Capocollo di Calabria DOP, made with pork meat,
and the Bresaola della Valtellina IGP from Lombardy, made with the muscular mass of veal and, sometimes, horse.
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The Basilicata menu introduced by Rosa D'Ancona was prepared by Chef Federico Libero Valicenti, author of articles and other printed materials featuring regional products.
In addition, Valicenti is president of the Association Le vie del Pollino (Pollino's Roads), and owns the Luna Rossa (Red Moon) restaurant, located at 18, Via Marconi, in Terranova di Pollino, in the province of Potenza.
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The sixth annual I Piatti della Bilancia (The Plates of the Scale), will take place at Campogalliano, in the province of Modena, in the Emilia region of Italy, from October 1 to 31, 2007. The aim of this month-long event is to overturn the paradigm which pits the pleasure of fine dining against the scale, which judges us 'heavily'.
The oldest Italian restaurant in the US is 
