Forum: News and lifestyle

After street food, now its wine's turn to be served in the street

In USA the best wineries begin selling their wines on the street, and in Italy we have Caràvin that offers great wines by young wine makers

Caràvin

Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In Portland in Oregon, Ryan Harms (owner and winemaker of the  Union Wine Co. Winery born in  2005,and producing at present 1.300.000 bottles has transformed  a 1972 Citroën van into an itinerant chrome  tasting room . He began his activity in June  2014 offering his Pinot Noir’s while they were being tasted also at the International Pinot Noir Conference. A serious provocation if there ever was one!

His plan was very simple << we are always on the lookout to find a way of introducing wine to the public…>>.

I find this approach extraordinary, and very modern and fun. In Italy it would be a real blow for a brand ….imagine  Sassicaia being tasted in the street! Yet our boring old ways can change. And searching on the web  find WineStreet from Asti who last September organized itinerant tastings. A very modern style, an audience of young wine lovers but the locations were actually buildings.

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.