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Italian Flavor Forum VI
Loris Scagliarini – November 24, 2006
Photos by C. Lepori, S. Valerio, L. Scagliarini

Introduction • The Event • The Buyers' Feedback • The Blind Tasting • The Drawing • Thanksgiving

The Best of Show product resulted the delicious Pitted Olives in Extra Virgin Olive Oil by the Azienda Agricola Frezza, from the shores of Lake Garda, with an average score of 95.10 points on a 100-point scale. The runner ups, with an equal average score of 95/100, turned out to be the Amarette di Trani olives in brine and the gourmet pasta, both by the Industria Alimentare Capobianco. The top wine resulted the Barbera d’Asti DOC Superiore Vigna del Carlinet 2003, by Poderi Rosso Giovanni from Piedmont, with 93.39 points.

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 in the bright sunny afternoon.

The Event

Lionello Rosso, of Poderi Rosso, in the Monferrato mountain area of Piedmont, answers the questions of a guest about his prize-winning Barberas and Monferrato DOC

Notwithstanding the fact that the event took place just two days before Thanksgiving, some wine and food buyers were out of town or state visiting with their family, and still others could not afford to let any personnel go as they were busy with the pre-holiday shopping, the turnout was very satisfying. The first guests arrived as usual just as we opened the doors at 2PM, and continued more or less steadily until closing time, at 6 PM.

This time around we introduced 82 wines, including four white sparkling and four red sparkling, 18 dry whites, 49 dry red and 7 dessert wines, from 8 different regions: Piedmont (22 wines), Tuscany (17 wines), Campania (11 wines), Veneto (10 wines), Sardinia (6 wines), Emilia Romagna (5 wines), Apulia (5 wines), Umbria (3 wines), and Marche (3 wines). In addition, we presented five intriguing liqueurs from Emilia Romagna, 12 extra virgin olive oils from Apulia, Veneto, Tuscany, Campania and Sardinia; traditional balsamic vinegar and balsamic vinegar fruit sauces from Modena; tomato sauce, multi-colored pasta, and preserved vegetables from Campania, tasty black and green olive spreads from Veneto, and gourmet coffee from Molise.

For the first time, we also introduced a line of olive oil-based body products and a new wine accessory which we believe will be a great success in the near future: the Centellino, or, a new concept decanter which fits on top of the bottle, in place of the stopper. The Centellino decants the next glass of wine while one drinks what's already being poured, and offers you and your guests the great advantage of seeing what you are drinking. This is totally missed when a wine is poured into a traditional decanter.

The Centellino attracted a lot of attention and admiration. Look forward to seeing it available online at Emporio-Italia.com. European residents may contact Table Top s.a.s., located in Via Longo, 18 at Sesto Fiorentino, in the province of Florence (Tel. +39 055 4206005
Fax. +39 055 4204526).

The feedback sheets filled in by a large number of guests testify that the majority of them widely appreciated the wines and food products presented. Abundant praise was given to the cold and hot pasta recipes prepared on the premises of the Yacht Club kitchen by our own Italian marketing manager, Christian Lepori, who in the past owned, managed and directed restaurants in Italy.

The Buyers Feedback

I am pleased to notice that the gap between maximum and minimum score is not as huge as it used to be, in some cases there is actually almost an agreement across the board. I would like to think that our Italian Flavor Forums have contributed to familiarizing some San Francisco Bay Area professional tasters with Italian wines. In addition, though there is a lot more interested in red wines compared to white wines, I am pleased that the 18 white selections presented, generally speaking received what I consider a fair score.

The Best of the Show

• Best Overall Product:
  Pitted Olives in Extra Virgin Olive Oil produced by Azienda Agricola Frezza, from Veneto
• Best White Sparkling Wine:
  Gorio – Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOC Spumante Brut, produced by Azienda Agricola Malibrán, from Veneto
• Best Red Sparkling Wine:
  Penisola Sorrentina Gragnano V.F.Q.P.R.D. 2005, produced by Vini Iovine s.n.c., from Campania
• Best Dry White Wine:
  Aurora DOC Monteregio di Massa Marittima 2005, produced by Fattoria Coliberto, from Tuscany
• Best Dry Red Wine:
  Barbera d’Asti DOC Superiore Vigna del Carlinet 2003, produced by Poderi Rosso Giovanni, from Piedmont
• Best Dessert Wine:
  Moscato di Sorso Sennori DOC , produced by Cooperativa Vinicola Romangia, from Sardinia
• Best Liqueur:
  Rubino del Bosco – Wild Berry Liqueur , produced by Distilleria Caselli, from Emilia Romagna
• Best Balsamic Vinegar and Other Condiments:
  Black Olive Spread, produced by Azienda Agricola Frezza, from Veneto
• Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil:
  Olivolo – Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil IGP Toscana, produced by Azienda Agricola Buccelletti, from Tuscany
• Best Other Food Product:
  Pitted Olives in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, by Azienda Agricola Frezza, from Veneto
• Best Body Product:
  Antirughe Viso – Anti-wrinkle Face Cream, by Azienda Agricola Frezza, from Veneto
  

The Blind Tasting

Three Italian and three US experts participated in the blind tasting face-off between three California and three Italian wines of roughly similar value and similar types. This time we presented two whites (Viognier 2005 from the US and a Gavi di Gavi DOCG 2004 from Italy) and four red wines (Zinfandel 2003 and Pinot Noir 2005 from the US, and Merlot 2004 and Barbera 2003 from Italy). The experts who kindly accepted to be part of the jury are David P. Jones, wine writer, Raphael Knapp, wine expert, and Raul Gallyot, producer and radio host of the 'Pleasure in Taste' radio show, for the US team. The Italian counterpart was represented by Christian Lepori, WineCountry.IT Italian marketing manager, Paolo Tazzioli, sales person, and Maurizio Barilli, wine broker.

Strangely enough, given the fact that red wines are generally preferred, the winner turned out to be one of the two white wines, the Gavi DOCG di Gavi Rolona 2004, by Castellari Bergaglio from Piedmont, with a total score of 503 points (253 from the Italian team and 250 from the US team), or 83.333/100 average, followed by the Barbera d’Asti DOC Superiore Vigna del Carlinet 2003, or the top scoring wine in the general feedback, with a total score of 491 (230 from the Italian team and 261 from the US team), or 81.833/100 average. It is interesting to note that, with the exception of the two top wines, the scores assigned differed widely between the Italian and US team. In addition, the US team resulted far more generous than their Italian counterpart.

Splitting the two sets of scores, the US team would have assigned the victory to the Barbera d’Asti DOC Superiore Vigna del Carlinet 2003 produced by Poderi Rosso Giovanni, while for the Italian judges the best was the Gavi DOCG di Gavi Rolona 2004.