Wine News - September 30, 2007 |
Welcome to
VOLUME V,
NUMBER 10 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).
The Italian harvest is pretty much over, all that remain are the special productions, such as late harvest picking for dessert wines. The latest forecast from ISMEA / UIV about the 2007 Production turned out to be accurate enough. The quality of Piedmont's Barbera, Gavi and other variety matches or improves on that of 2003 and 2004. Generally speaking, with very few exceptions, all across Italy the situation is fairly similar: low yield, but good to excellent quality.
September was also California Wine Month, so we dedicated space to this state's wines and AVAs, or American Viticultural Areas, which are the equivalent of the Italian DOC, or the French appellations.
In this issue Rosa D'Ancona takes us to Campania with a menu proposed by Chef Alfonso Iaccarino, owner of the restaurant Don Alfonso in Sant'Agata sui due Golfi, in the province of Naples.
This months we are also sending out the eLetter a little earlier than usual, as I'm getting ready for a quick Italian Sideways/working trip. When I return from Italy we'll take off for a US Sideways, on a quest to find three non-California quality wines, to face off with three Italian wines in a blind tasting at the next Italian Flavor Forum VIII, Fall 2007, at the Museo ItaloAmericano the 14th of November.
Enjoy the articles below and drink moderately, but well. Cheers,
Loris Scagliarini, WineCountry.IT President |
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Sitevi 2007 |
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From the 27th to the 29th of November 2007, at the Parc des Expositions (Exhibition Park) of Montpellier, in France, takes place Sitevi, the trade show dedicated to winegrowing, winemaking, wine technology, packaging, fruit and vegetable farming, and marketing.
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"Fragrance is in the Nose of the Sniffer" |
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 On September 17, 2007, a US team of scientists from Rockefeller University in New York, published the results of their research in the journal Nature which suggests that the experts who claim to pick up rich aromas from fine wines may owe more to genetics than to their superior expertise.
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CMO Wine Reform: Will it be Enough to Make the European Wine Sector Competitive? |
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 It's a fact that the European vitivinicultural sector needs competitive tools on the international market. In fact, the European wine sector is still based upon critical factors, such as small amd micro estates, higher production cost, and the lack of global marketing strategies: all facts which penalize the European producers compared to those of the New World.
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| Wine Labels with Nazi images Seized in Italy |
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 On Wednesday, September 19, 2007, a prosecutor in Bolzano, in the northern Italian region of Trentino Alto Adige, near the Austrian border, seized wine bottle labels bearing portraits of Hitler and other Nazi personalities at the Lunardelli winery, the company reported.
The 20 labels from the Der Fuehrer line show Hitler raising the Nazi salute, as well as some of his generals, including Hermann Goering, the Reich's Minister of Economy, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo, and Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, as well as other Nazis VIPs.
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| September is California Wine Month |
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 In addition to being harvest time, September is also California Wine Month. This is one of the most exciting moments to visit the wine grape production zones of the state, from Napa and Sonoma, to Santa Barbara and Paso Robles.
California grows over 100 different grape types, putting the state among the top producers in the world for types and varieties of vines cultivated. Though California produces wine blends, most bottled wines produced in the state are varietal, which, according to US laws, means that they are made from at least 75% of one particular grape.
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Part Two |
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 With the growth of the California wine industry, distinctive wine regions have emerged and been officially defined, allowing consumers to know the origin of the grapes used to produce specific wines.
The naming of the wine regions, which in the US are called American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), is managed by the TTB (Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau). Currently there are 107 AVAs in California, which are distinguished by their geographic, climatic and historic characteristics. In addition, counties or entire states, such as California itself, are considered appellations, as the AVAs are generically known.
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Italian Wine and Food Pairing in Marin County, California |
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 On Friday, September 14, 2007, a small group of Northern California wine lovers got together at the home of Frank and Jen Snodgrass, in San Anselmo, Marin County, to taste 10 Italian wines paired with five different courses.
All wine, extra virgin olive oil, and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena, were selected from the Italian Flavor Consortium portfolio of Italian quality products.
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| ISMEA / UIV 2007 Italian Wine Production Forecast |
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 According to ISMEA (Istituto di Servizi per il Mercato Agricolo Alimentare, or Service Institute for the Agricultural and Food Market) and UIV (Unione Italiana Vini, or Italian Wine Union) forecast updated to September 7, 2007 this year's vintage will be very lean: The two organizations foresee a record drop in wine production, with 43.5 million hectoliters (around 4,600 million gallons), or 12% less than 2006.
Regional production details:
- Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria and Aosta Valley,
- Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige,
- Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria,
- Latium, Marche, Abruzzo, Apulia and Campania,
- Molise, Basilicata, Sicily and Sardinia,
plus the Italian production of wine and grape juice in the last three years.
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'Cinque Rose di Negroamaro' |
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 The story begins with Piero, the grandfather of the current owner of the estate. Piero was a lawyer and an exceptional entrepreneur who succeed in turning the endless difficulties encountered in the production of quality wines during one of the bloodiest periods of Italian history: the armistice of September 8, 1943, to his advantage. A novel 'to be drunk' by Antonio Massara about the history of Leone de Castris' Five Roses rosè wine label.
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The Olivetto |
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 The infusion of the precious organic Garda olives in grappa lends the Olivetto an unmistakable character, along with beneficial proprieties. The digestive effect of the grappa, combined with the healthful properties of the olives, resulting in a unique product recovered from the legacy of a longstanding tradition.
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| Seventy Seventh Festival of the White Truffle from Alba 2007 |
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 We present the complete, day-by-day, program of the 77th Fiera del Tartufo Bianco di Alba 2007, or the Seventy Seventh Festival of the White Truffle from Alba 2007. The various events included in the traditional Alba festival (in the province of Asti, in the Piedmont region) starting Saturday, the 8th of September and ending Sunday, the 9th of December, 2007. The festival dedicated to the precious tuber, this year becomes international, with the launch of first ever Fiera Internazionale.
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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 that of 2006. Quality will be high, though mixed, and wholesale prices are expected to rise between 5% and 20%.
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WineCountry.IT
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WineCountry.IT Producers |
The Parco Artistico Naturale e Culturale della Val d'Orcia (Artistic, Natural and Cultural Park of the Orcia Valley), in the province of Siena, is a beautiful, bucolic area in the south of Tuscany, which become part of Unesco's World Heritage in 2004.
The Terre di Nano estate is located within the park, in a 19th century country residence surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and forests.
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This month we introduce two excellent Italian cheeses which are very different from each other: the Toma Piemontese DOP, a cheese aged covered under aromatic Alpine herbs from Piedmont,
and Mozzarella di Bufala DOP, a fresh delicacy from the Campania region which is at its best eaten within 24 hours. After that time it is considered good for pizza or other cooked dishes, where it melts deliciously.
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The Campania menu proposed this month was created by Chef Alfonso Iaccarino, owner of the restaurant Don Alfonso, who focused on three main factors in selecting the recipes: fresh Mediterranean-grown produce, innovation, and absolute quality of the ingredients.
Most fresh produce and ingredients used in the kitchen of the Don Alfonso restaurant come from Le Peracciole farm, owned by Iaccarino, which produces a superior quality extra virgin olive oil as well.
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