The Terminal City Club was the host for the Italian Trade Commission this week for their “A Tasting of Wines from Italy” event. The event featured producers and vineyards from virtually every region throughout the country along with a detailed 200-page guidebook to help you navigate the room.
The Italians take their wine seriously and this trade show gave you a clear indication of how comprehensive this industry is in that country. It was an impressive array of wines including Prosecco, Chianti, Valpolicella and Amarone representing regions from Veneto and Fruili in the North to Sicilia in the South and made from the grapes we associate with Italian wine like Sangiovese, Trebbiano, Montepulciano and Nero D’avola and many more.
I personally come from an Italian family and in my younger days, the best Italian wine you could find in Canada was in my Grandmother’s basement. She might have had as much as 80 to 100 gallons in various stages of production at any moment. She was quite the woman! But at that time, Italian wine as far at what was carried in the local liquor stores was really a poor cousin to the French. Today, of course, all of that has changed and now you can find some truly spectacular wines that are second to none.
What was particularly great about this week’s event was being able to compare the subtleties of different varietals from the many different regions. It was an outstanding collection with so many fine wines available for sampling that the engagement was quite overwhelming.
The main purpose of the event was to introduce the wines to local agents, restaurateurs and distributors. Given the busy crowds and ongoing discussions, I expect we’ll see an increasing number of these fantastic wines around town in the near future.
Good article Fred. Too bad I didn’t run into you there.