Wine News - December 06, 2006 |
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Welcome to
VOLUME IV,
NUMBER 12 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).
November has just flown by! It seems not more than a few days since I was here writing how busy October had been when instead, it is slightly over a month ago. I guess the more things we have to do the faster the time passes. Still, working in the world of Italian enogastronomy is not without its rewards.
First we had the tasting of the prize-winning Proseccos Valdobbiadene DOC produced by young rising star winemaker Maurizio Favrel, of Azienda Agricola Malibrán, and the Lambrusco presented by Matteo Buffagni of Cantina Barbolini, at the Procissi Cellar in Folsom. The following Tuesday, just two days before Thanksgiving, we had our sixth Italian Flavor Forum at San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club.
Both events were successful and we were pleased to notice that the evaluation of wines and other Italian products had started to level, evidencing less marked differences between the highest and lowest scores assigned to specific products. These differences are justifiable by personal preferences, and do not suggest a refusal of unfamiliar flavors. This tells us that our educational tasting / marketing events are having the desired eddect of educating the American palate. Thus we are compensated for our effort.
Please enjoy the articles and the upcoming holidays. Drink well, but responsibly. Eat well, but don't overdo it. Happy holidays to all from WineCountry.IT. Stay well and join us again in 2007.
Loris Scagliarini, President |
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Articles
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Confcommercio: Italian Holidays Expenses Over €15 Billion |
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 Italian families are sticking to Christmas traditions this year, spending an extra €15 billion in December, on items such as food and gifts.
In announcing this estimate, Confcommercio, announced also that the traditional New Year's Eve dinner will be mostly 'made in Italy'. In fact, compared to last year, 4% more spumante, that is, Italian-made sparkling wine, will be sold, while the French champagne sales will decrease 6%. Salmon and caviar are down 5% as well.
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| Vinitaly China 2006 |
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 Vinitaly China 2006, held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center from November 23, to 25, 2006, opened with a ceremony, in the presence of the Italian Minister of Agriculture, Paolo De Castro, the chief representative of the Italian Trade Committee in Shanghai, the deputy mayor of Shanghai, the leader of the Council for the Promotion Of International Trade Shanghai (CPIT SH), various Italian wine exhibitors, representatives of the Chinese and international wine industry media, and professional buyers.
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| Italian Flavor Forum VI |
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 The Italian Flavor Forum VI, or our sixth invitation-only trade show organized in the San Francisco Bay Area, took place on November 21, 2006 at the Golden Gate Yacht Club, located at the end of the pier at One Yacht Road, in the heart of the Marina district. The weather was gorgeous and it was a pleasure looking out the windows at the bay, with the rock of Alcatraz to the right and the glowing orange structure of the majestic Golden Gate Bridge to the left. Actually, it was so hot through the glass windows that poor Lionello Rosso, owner of Poderi Rosso and producer of the excellent Barberas d'Asti DOC, as well as of the gorgeous Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon Monferrato Doc Infinito (Endless), had to ask for some kind of shading, as his back was to the west on thisbright sunny afternoon.
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Prosecco DOC: Time to Protect the Brand Name |
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 Starlet Paris Hilton, just a short while after having been arrested in California for driving under the influence, flew to Italy to promote the launch of the 'Rich Prosecco', by German producer Rich Sales & Marketing. The German marketer announced the production of four million cans of the watered-down product which is sure to generate confusion among the less sophisticated wine drinkers. Most likely, the not-so-savvy consumers will neither understand, nor be able to distinguish the real Prosecco DOC from Conegliano e Valdobbiadene from this new, cheap, disposable product that bears the same name.
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Bulgari: From Jewelry to Wine |
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 From jewels to wine the distance is short when the family name is Bulgari.
Paolo Bulgari, president of the famous jewelry company, together with his son, Giovanni, and with the help of Riccardo Cotarella, arguably the most well known and 'international' among Italian winemakers, launches the family into the winemaking business in Tuscany. Here, near the Valdorcia wine zone, Bulgari will produce, not surprisingly, high end, expensive wines.
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Novello, or Nouveau Wine, 2006 Released at 12AM on November 6 |
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 On midnight Sunday, November 5, 2006, Italians started opening bottles of Novello wines 'made in Italy'. The release comes 11 full days before the release of the competing French Beaujolais Nouveau, which can be tasted only starting the third Thursday of November (the 16th).
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We will close 2006 by honoring a producer from the northeastern region of Friuli, the Azienda Agricola Mosolo Gleni, which produces various quality wines, both red and white, soon in distribution in the US in the early months of 2007.
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Find out more about the native vines from the Lombardy region of Italy.
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Here we continue our introduction of Italy's 155 Protected Designation of Origin (PDO, or, in Italian, DOP, Denominazione di Origine Protetta) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI, or IGP in Italian, Indicazione Geografica Protetta) products.
This month we are introducing two typical prosciuttos (hams): the Prosciutto di Carpegna DOP from Marche, and the Prosciutto di Norcia IGP from Umbria.
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We received and are now publishing a multi-language executive summary of the study commissioned by the European Parliament, entitled The Reform of the Common Market Organization for Wine, concerning the European Union wine production.
The day is dedicated to tasting Malibrán's "
"It is with great honor that I accept this award, presented by my home county," said Axel Heinz, "but I am even more proud of contributing to the success of the Ornellaia estate, one of the best Italian wine producers, which brings honors to products 'made in Italy' from all over the world."
