Wine
Italian wine producers bring their best wines to Zurich
Yesterday forty-five Italian wineries were in Zurich for a workshop at the Marriott hotel. They had come from all parts of Italy like Veneto, Tuscany, Umbria, Piedmont and even Sicily to present their best wines. Professionals in the wine business, hotels, gastronomy and media representatives visited the stands for free wine tastings and spontaneous talks with the producers. The well organized workshop was sponsored by the International Wine Traders, the Italian Chamber of Commerce, Iron3 and World Wine Center.
Wine workshop at the Marriott hotel in Zurich
Gianmatteo Rizzi from Fortuna Vini’s winery came with some Proseccos, produced on the hills in the province of Treviso near Venice. His family has been making Prosecco for four generations but he wanted to innovate and give people a new taste, a new wine, he says. After two years of research, mixing grapes and tasting again and again he started producing his Proseccos three years ago. He offers Fortuna Vini Gold, Fortuna Vini Scent of Angel and Fortuna Peach and Passion.The grapes he uses are only dark grapes and left for fermentation for 45 days.
Fortuna Vini Proseccos
The bottles are in various colors, gold, pink and blue, each appealing to a different crowd. Prosecco Gold with its strong peachy flavor, tastes as good as it looks! It has been commercialized only for one year but cannot be found in Switzerland at the moment. Gianmatteo Rizzi hopes his Proseccos will hit the Asian market really soon and other places such as England. It would make ideal gifts for the holidays or special occasions.
Another good Prosecco at the wine workshop was the Spumante Extra Dry from the winery De Pra in Veneto. The Cantina De Pra Giuseppe has been in the wine business for three generations.
Montelio Mueller Thurgau La Giostra
At the same stand stood a representative from the winery Montelio in Lombardy. She was there presenting her white and red wines, Montelio La Giostra (Müller Thurgau) & Montelio Solarolo (a mix of three grapes). Her family has been doing this for 200 years and she uses bottles with the design of 1870 Champagne bottles. Montelio La Giostra, a dry white wine had a nice fruity taste.
The young winery Malavasi in Lombardy also had a good white wine, Lugana. Made with 100% of Trebbiano di Lugana on the Garda lake, it has a surprising taste of mint and mandarin. The owner Edoardo Freddi started in 2009 but his family has been in the wine business for three generations. The winery grew a lot in the last two years. In 2011 they only sold their wines in Italy but now they expanded to Germany (their main business), to Europe and can be found in York in England. At the fair you could taste their two sparkling wines, their white, red and rosé.
Wines and Prosecco from the Malavasi winery
Silvia von Dellemann, export manager and sommelier represented Seiterre at the workshop. Seiterre is a group of six men located in various places of Italy (Trentino, Piedmont, Tuscany, Veneto) and one in Romania, who came together to offer the best wines. In total they offer twenty-five wines.
The Bardolino Superior is produced on the San Leone vineyards in Veneto. It was put in barrels in 2009 and is only on the market since this year. “Try it”, says S. Dellemann “it is smooth,velvety and round with soft tannins and some white chocolate flavors”.
Bianco di Custoza Passito from Seiterre
The Masa Bianco farm near the Adige River in Trentino produces four types of wine with beautiful labels looking like Inca designs. One of them is the Marzemino D.O.C., a red wine which grapes are macerated a long time, explaining its ruby color.
One more amazing wine from Seiterre is the 2007 Bianco di Custoza Passito. Like the Bardolino Superior it is produced on the San Leone farm in Trentino near the Mincio river. The grapes are harvested and let dry for 3 to 4 months and then pressed. This explains its amber/apricot color, adds Silvia von Dellemann. It would be just perfect with blue cheese, continues another wine taster nearby. What a delicious dessert wine!
If you missed the workshop here is another good reason for a trip to Italy!
