Forum: News and lifestyle

More than 10 million tourists visit Italian wineries

As everyone knows data regarding wine tourism in Italy is uncertain but Wine Monitor by Nomisma makes us think that wine tourists might be double what we thought up until now

Castello della sala barrel ageing area

Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

This research has been carried out by Denis Pantini from Nomisma and financed by the Consorzio vini del Trentino. This is what they say: 9% of foreign tourists and  4,7% of Italians travel thanks to a prevalently gastronomic interest. Out of caution, regarding especially the figures to follow, it must be said that Bankitalia indicates on the other hand in 730.000 (2012) so 1,5% of the total the foreign visitors attracted by wine and food. More similar to the Nomisma percentages are though those that come from the Osservatorio Nazionale del Turismo that however regard 2010.

Valpolicella wine store and restaurant

Going back to the percentages indicated by the research centre in Bologna these are the figures available: 16 million foreigners and 7,8 Italians considering all our compatriots, children included, as the wine and food tourism is made up mostly of “day trips”, (86% of the total according to WineNews) so a journey with a radius of less than 100 km from home.

This information seems to increase the number of visitors of Italian wineries. In if fact if it is true that the number of visitors for wine and food go to visit the “mysterious underground Bacchus locations” there is however a quota of them that visits more than one winery during the year.

Giorgio Dalla Cia, an Italian wine man in South Africa

The Italian winemaker who has divulged wine to be cellared in South Africa. Giorgio Dalla Cia from Friuli to Meerlust

Giorgio Dalla Cia

Seen for you by Carlo Gardini 
South Africa: wonderful beaches, incredible nature, and a simple lifestyle although full of incredible refined things… I remember a meal in a resort in the savannah, in a small restaurant that seats about 20 guests, furnished like a Victorian home. In front there is an artificial lake full of birds and wild geese which was lit by torches, in the background the Drakensberg mountains …. At the table we were served delicacies apt for a starred restaurant matched with exquisite wines ……..there is only one thought in my mind: when will I be able to come back?

My wife Donatella (Cinelli Colombini) and I began visiting South Africa 15 years ago, and for 6 years we went really often. We were so fascinated by this nation that we tried to create a wine project in the Cape region.

We visited practically all of the important wineries at that time, we met the owners and the winemakers, and we made friends, people with whom still today we are in contact regardless of the distance and the time passing. One of the first people we met was Giorgio Dalla Cia < if you go to South Africa and you love wine you must meet Giorgio > we were told. And so we met him. He is a wine maker from Azzano Veneto, expert in mushrooms and with a passion for archaeology and metal detectors. He is a traditionalist, perfectionists, and like all intelligent people he is unconventional and courageous.
Giorgio is always kind and smiles a lot, he dresses in an informal manner as the South Africans do, and he always has a hat with him.  Simonetta his wife is a splendid cook organizes Italian cookery lessons and has divulged our cuisine in South Africa. Their home is like a Friuli house with garden and pool, transferred to Cape Town.  Furniture, books lifestyle even the TV programs give one the impression of being in Italy.

What a scandal! Prosecco on tap

In London they sell it as  “Sparkling Italian wine” and it’s all the rage: Pizza Pilgrims in Soho, Tozi in Victoria and the Covent Garden restaurant

prosecco on tap

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

It all started just before Christmas when a pub in Leeds promoted via Facebook Prosecco on tap. This news was then picked up by the Daily Mail and got a hashtag on Twitter that was very successful #proseccoontap. At that point the Veneto producers our out for blood soliciting the intervention of the Ispettorato centrale della tutela della qualità e repressione frodi.

commonprosecco

In fact the European rulings impose the sale of Prosecco only in bottles. So the name of the wine was substituted and became  “Sparkling Italian wine”  but the type of wine has remained the same both in its aromas and in its taste. And the pub landlords use the “said and unsaid” to commercialize it as Prosecco even without specifically writing it.

The 10 most expensive whiskies in the world

The bottle of whisky that costs the most fetches 121.451 Dollars but the first 10 give an average price between  32 and 10.000$ and they are all single malt Scotch

the-macallan-lalique-60-year-old-single-malt-scotch-whisky-speyside-highlands-scotland

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Think of a hall in a castle with a lit fire in the fireplace, carpets on the wooden floors and book cases which reach the ceiling, think of after dinner time in the smoking-room … think of a butler who serves you with white gloves, on a silver tray, a bottle of The Macallan Lalique that is 60 years old containing a single malt Scotch Whisky  Speyside –Highlands.  And now imagine the sensual aroma coming from the amber coloured liquid in your glass. Well, you have in your glass 2.700$ of the most expensive whisky in the world!!!

This is only a dream obviously, only English Lords, sheiks, petrol tycoons and the likes can afford such experiences, but we remain curious so we discover a list of the 10 whiskies for the super rich proposed by Wine

Charlie-Whitfield-The-Macallan-2011

Searcher the portal that collects the prices from 47.000 stores from all over the world. The list of the 10 most expensive whiskies is built on the average prices but the most impressive thing is the maximum prices, there is someone selling Glenfiddich ‘Rare Collection at 121.451 Dollars
• The Macallan Lalique 60 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside – Highlands
• The Macallan Lalique 62 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside – Highlands
• Gordon & MacPhail Generations Glenlivet 70 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside
• Glenfiddich 50 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside
• Glenfiddich ‘Rare Collection’ Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside
• Glenfarclas John Grant 60 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside
• The Macallan Fine & Rare Vintage Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside – Highlands
• The Macallan Select Reserve Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside – Highlands
• Highland Park 50 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Orkney
• Ardbeg Special Release Double Barrel 33 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Islay

How much does a super sommelier earn?

Bloomberg presents the 5 professions which are well paid which nobody expects to be such and among them are the Master Sommelier, 214 great experts who work all over the world

Curt-of-Master-Sommelier

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In North America there are 135 Master Sommelier among which only 19 women. To get this title one must succeed in 4 formative levels each with an exam. A 12 year experience and a 4.000$ investment but in the end you can earn as much as 125.000 dollars per year. The starting point for my post is an article in Intravino which I suggest you read.

In Italy thing are not so bright. The average salary of a full time sommelier is about 1.500$ per month, to which tips are to be added, and sometimes percentages on sales. It’s not bad, considering the moment, but certainly a lot less than the salaries quoted by Bloomberg.

A mystery regarding Italian wine we import South African bulk wine by the litre

The worldwide wine market for 2013 will reach 35 billion Dollars with an increase of more than 5% with respect to 2012, due to the massive increase in prices for cask wine   [caption id="attachment_8510" align="alignleft" width="271" caption="bulck wine shop"][/caption] Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini The scarce productions from the 2011 and 2012 vintages have created a great increase in prices which in the exportation of wines has originated 5 billion dollars more business. InItaly, after the surprising increase in the 2012 harvest foreseen of 40 million hectolitres and then resulted in 45,6 there is another surprising fact:South Africahas sold 14 million litres...

The wine killer does not come only from the cork and it is not a smell

WRITTEN BY DONATELLA ON OCTOBER 7TH 2013. POSTED IN FORUM  From the cork but also from furniture or chlorine based soaps, and in the University of Osaka they have discovered that it is not a smell but the absence of odour   [caption id="attachment_8462" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Wine corks"][/caption] Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini This news regards the under standing of the motive why the “smell of cork” impedes the smelling of every wine aroma. This discovery arrives from a group of scientists under the direction of Hiroko Takeuchi  from theuniversityofOsakaand that has been published in the  PNAS  “Proceedings of theAmericanAcademyof Sciences” . The...

How a journey can destroy wine in just a few days

In a container left under the summer sun the temperature can reach 75°C, it goes below 30-35°C only once in the hold of the ship. In the winter on the port dock it goes down to -15°C [caption id="attachment_8389" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="containers-at-the-harbur"][/caption] Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini A wine tasting organized by Professor Gerbi from the Università di Torino had demonstrated how easy it was to distinguish an Asti Spumante transported at 22°C from that which is kept in the cellar. Let’s consider the wine that is held in a container on the port docks or at sea with the sun...

Online, the most expensive wine costs 135.299 $

The Grand Cru Richebourg by Henri Jayer, is the wine with the highest average price of 16.193 $ , but actually it seems quite reasonable compared to the maximum price of a Lafite Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini [caption id="attachment_8319" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Chateau Lafite"][/caption] An article by Wine News is the starting point for a curious search in Wine Searcher, the web site that supplies the best price for all the wines on the market picking them out from 42.000 e-commerce addresses. In the list of most expensive around the world the prices are really extraordinary. A glass, not even full of the...