Welcome to
VOLUME VI,
NUMBER 6 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).
May is gone and so is the ninth Italian Flavor Forum, held the 14th at the Museo ItaloAmericano, at San Francisco's Fort Mason. We are already thinking about the 10th edition, which will be held in November, as we want it to be very special. We believe that having reached the tenth event calls for a celebration.
In addition to the Italian Flavor Forum IX report, this issue includes the first piece of a new column entitled Incontri, which means 'meetings' in Italian. In this column we feature protagonists of the wine and food world, especially Italian and European, focusing in particular on young rising stars, rather than on the well known names of the established Ital-European enogastronomy gurus.
A couple of other articles dealing with the scandal of the mislabeled Brunello di Montalcino, the prized wine from Tuscany which is currently under investigation because some producers allegedly blended different grape varieties with the Sangiovese Grosso, the only grape allowed in making this superior wine. The matter is keeping the honest and not-so-honest producers in the small Medieval Tuscan town awake at night. In addition, the US, which imports one quarter of the total production, has threatened to block all imports of this wine starting June 23, 2008.
On a different note, the well known business school of Bocconi University in Milan, is introducing a new 'Masters in Fine Food & Beverages' starting January 2009, with the goal of training young managers in this important field.
That's all for now, so I'll close here and let you enjoy the articles.
Loris Scagliarini, WineCountry.IT President |
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Articles |
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Washington's Festa Italiana 2008: 10th Anniversary |
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 Festa Italiana 2008, or Italian Festival, which happen to be Washington D.C.'s only street festival, encoiurages everyone to have a taste of Italian culture and, of course, Italian wine and food. The Festa will be held on Sunday, June 29, from 11:30 to 5:30PM, in the vicinity of the Holy Rosary Church and Casa Italiana (Italian Home) at 3rd and F St. NW.
Residents and tourists alike are welcome to celebrate Festa Italiana's 10th Anniversary!
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US Postpone Brunello Ban To June 23, 2008 |
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The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) gave Italy two extra weeks to identify and release the list of labels of what is arguably the most noble among Italian wines which have been mislabeled, as juice from grapes different than Sangiovese Grosso, the only variety allowed to produce the famed Brunello di Montalcino DOCG was added.
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Laura Martelli, Maître Sommelier Conseil |
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 With the current presentation of signora Laura Martelli, Maître Sommelier Conseil associated with AIS (Italian Association of Sommeliers), FISAR (Italian Federation of Sommeliers, Hoteliers, and Restauranteurs), AMIRA and AMS, we are introducing a new series entitled Incontri (Italian for 'Meetings'). In this section we will present the protagonists of the wine world, especially Italian and European, focusing in particular on young rising stars, rather than the well known names of the established Italian enogastronomy gurus.
"I can testify that the Italian wine industry is currently in a prominent position both in Europe and the world market," states Laura Martelli, "providing products whose quality is ever more excellent. What this industry needs is only a marketing strategy that matches the quality of the wines."
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Masters in Fine Food & Beverages at Milan's Bocconi University |
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 The SDA Bocconi, or the School of Management of Milan's Bocconi University, is introducing the new 'Masters in Fine Food & Beverages', directed by Massimiliano Bruni and Giorgio Lazzaro. The goal of the new course, which will start January 2009, is to train young managers and contribute to the international success of companies working in these hot, important fields.
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| Italian Flavor Forum IX |
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 The staff of WineCountry.IT had the opportunity to get to know the wine buyers and distributors who visited the show better. In addition, the event was honored by the visit of the new Italian Consul General, Fabrizio Marcelli, who recently took office and is responsible for the West Coast consular jurisdiction, which includes an area many times the size of Italy, expanding from California to Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.
We had a long chat about the current state of the import business, which has been hit badly by the drop in value of the dollar, making everything imported more expensive, at a time when the US economy is in dire straits.
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Baciamolemani Restaurant in Marina di Ragusa |
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 Try to pronounce the following three words as if they were one: OceanBeachRestaurant.
This may convey the image of a small eden-like location in Marina di Ragusa, in Sicily, with the Mediterranean about 60 feet away and the restaurant on a beach graced by a series of small dunes, an environment which gives the serene sensation of being encompassed in peaceful culinary paradise.
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US Takes On Brunello Imports |
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 It all started with the sensational cover of the Italian weekly, L'Espresso, which came out the opening day of Vinitaly, the huge five-day wine trade show held in Verona, Italy, from Thursday, April 3, 2008 to Monday, April 8, 2008. "VELENITALY" (or "POISONITALY"), screamed the cover in a play on words which blended the word Veleno (poison in Italian) with Vinitaly, the name of the world famous wine fair.
Now, it has gotten to the point that the United States has threatened to block all imports of Brunello di Montalcino starting June 9, 2008. The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) instructed the US Embassy in Rome on the matter with a letter dated May 9, 2008.
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Italy Wine Tourism: an €2.5 Billion-a-Year Business |
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 According to data released in Serralunga d'Alba, in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, on May 9, and 10, 2008, during the international wine and food tourism fair entitled BITEG Forum 2008, there are close to 5 million Italian companies working in the wine tourism sector, which generates an average annual turnover of €2.5 billion (see current value in other currencies). That said, experts believe that the wine and food tourism movement is operating at around 20% of its potential, thus the overall Euro amount could easily double in the near future.
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Open Contest to Lease Vineyards in the Todi area of Italy |
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 Dr. Bruno Severi, president of the Consolazione ETAB, located at 6, Piazza Umberto I in Todi, in the province of Perugia, announced the intention of the company to lease some agricultural property cultivated with vineyards in the municipalities of Todi and Duesanti, through an open public contest procedure.
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WineCountry.IT
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WineCountry.IT Producers |
Ten kilometers from Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma hills in the municipality of Scansano, is the Azienda Agricola La Carletta, an organic commercial farm associated with and guaranteed by the Consorzio per il Controllo dei Produttori Biologici (CCPB, or Consortium for the Control of Organic Producers).
The estate was founded in the 19th century by the grandparents of the current owner, Sante Massini, who focused their agricultural production on grape growing and winemaking. La Carletta includes 60 hectares (around 148 acres) of hilly countryside. Sixteen hectares (40 acres) are cultivated with vineyards, five (about 12.5 acres) are dedicated to the olive groves, and the remaining 39 hectares (around 96 acres) are used for pasture and grain cultivation.
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This month we present two cold cuts whose roots date back to the 14th century: the Jambon de Bosses DOP from the Aosta Valley region
and the Mortadella di Bologna IGP, known in many part of the world simply as 'Bologna', from its place of origin.
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