Ep. 1148 VIA Taormina Gourmet & Mt. Etna 2022 Pt. 1 | Gita Scolastica 2022

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. This episode has been brought to you by the wine to wine business forum twenty twenty two. This year, we'll mark the ninth edition of the forum to be held on November seventh and eighth of twenty twenty two in Verona Italy. This year will be an exclusively in person edition. The main theme of the event will be all around wine communication. Tickets are on sale now. So for more information, please visit us at wine to wine dot net. Welcome to the special Vine Italy International Academy twenty twenty two, Taormina Gourmet, and Mount Aetna Giteskolastica series. The last week of October took a team of our staff and fifteen international Academy ambassadors to the annual Taourmina Gourmet event hosted by Cronakadigusto, and then on to explore several vineyards and wines on Mount Aetna. Of course, we documented the whole experience. Listen in as Cynthia Apland narrates her travel adventures. And remember, if you prefer written content, just go to our blog on Italian wine podcast dot com, now onto the show. It was an early start as three members of the Via team flee from Verona to Catania kicking off the Via Giteskolastica Tower Mina Gourmet and Mount Aetna addition for twenty twenty two. A little sleepy, but raring to go. Elena Voloshina, Victoria Cache and I took off into the dawn skies full of excitement. We were enchanted by the stunning drive to our hotel Villa Diadora. The sea sparkling in the sunshine on our right and mount Aetna rising majestically on our left with wispy plumes of smoke drifting from its peak, but it was straight down to business once we arrived. We met up with our excited and enthusiastic group of Italian wine ambassadors. Many of whom had braved the challenges of an Italian air traffic control strike and fought their way through travel hell to get to Sicily, a mad dash to get to our first master class, six Grilos presented by Jeff Porter and Antonio Rallow of Donna Fugata and president of the Cecilia Doc consortium. There's been a greelow explosion all over the island and these wines showed the depth and breadth the two bio types of greel can produce. All showed great levels of fresh acidity with Fayudo Arancho twenty twenty one for Magooza. Giving great balance between fruit, minerality, and acidity with notes of sage and sea salt. Five months on leaves and a lovely long finish, all wrapped up in a sustainable recycled bottle made with one hundred percent sicilian glass. Dgiovanna's Voria twenty twenty one from Agrigento grown on limestone and volcanic soils and made using soft press was almost fume in style, savory, tropical, tangy, and full of wet stone notes with an almost tannic grip. Fayo Dicisa twenty twenty one from Monreale on clay soils, used leaves to give an amazing texture with sophisticated citrus and saline notes that sat comfortably on the palate, sure to become even more interesting with a little aging. Everyone ran for the pizza at the cooking master classes before our next tasting. This time, Nero Davala, again, with Jeff Porter and Antonio Ralo. Nero Davala is the most planted red grape in Sicily in recent years have shown care and quality with vineyards now down to four million hectares from their hay day of ten million in the nineteen seventies. Great aging potential and rootstocks that are resistant to drought are making this grape shine. Stiles went from light bodied wines made in steel with floral notes and zingy black raspberry fruit with good acidity all the way to wines from twenty eighteen that saw maturation in oak. Of note, were Princhebe debutera, Amaira, twenty nineteen, grown on clay, and sand at three hundred and thirty meters above sea level. Giving a very pretty nose with black cherry, black tea, violets, and lilac, ending with a savory finish and one year in oak. Planeta Santa Chichelia, twenty eighteen from Notto at thirty five meters above sea level, Long maceration and one year in oak of various sizes presented with blood orange and blonde tobacco leaf notes, velvety soft tannins, and a seductive lingering soft fruit finish. Italian wine podcast. Brought to you by mama jumbo shrimp. The most fascinating tasting of the day in my opinion was orange wines much more than a trend. Ten wines from all over Italy in all shades of orange gave a wonderfully complete snap shot of this winemaking technique, using Zimbabwebo, Falangina, Grillo, and Vitolfska grapes. Most customers are looking for clean wines nowadays, using a closed natural cycle, not too extreme in nature. Various lengths of skin contact time, maceration, and differing winemaking vessels all contributed to the wines we found in our glasses. A stand out was Barako Altomare twenty nineteen, Abrillo from near the sea. The wine was a gorgeous sunset color, bright peach with hints of rose gold. A long skin maceration with whole bunches for one year produced an elegant, restrained, delicious wine with savory, sap ed, Salmastre, or salt bush, as Jill Gordon Smith remarked, on top of fleshy orange, green almond, and citrus oil, with the mirror's zip of cinnamon. Dry and fresh with good acidity, this one was a winner for sure. Last but not least, Reaseling without frontiers took us through a whopping thirteen wines, starting at seven thirty pm. I can't tell a lie. There was a lot of fidgeting in the room as the speaker from Cronique de Gusto rambled off in Italian recounting personal stories about the producers and losing his place from time to time in the slides of maps showing wine regions all across Europe. Luckily, sitting with Coron Kenny, m w student, and Andrea e b, m w student and head of Italian wines Gollar, made this a much more interesting tasting than it otherwise might have been. The range of wines from basic screw caps, steel made styles, all the way to the sweetness of cabinet, spot lazy, and Baronous lazy examples was a great way to run through the world of riesling and get a feel for this grapes versatility. An interesting wine from Alice Hartman in Luxembourg, with ripe citrus, grapefruit, benzene, and a textural finish, as well as an earthy, mushroomy, tropical, and sour citrus one from Demaine Jossmeyer in Alsace, were both unusual and fun to discuss and ponder. The final three sweeter versions also showed some interesting earthy notes with saffron, dried autumn leaves, apples, and blossom, as well as all well balanced by retained acidity. Dinner time. Thank god. We all needed food and lots of it. A nighttime stroll down the road, we were treated to beautiful bites of modern Italian cuisine cooked up by well known chefs at buffet stations scattered around the beautiful outdoor terrace. A great opportunity to mingle with speakers, producers, journalists, and of course our own via Italian wine ambassadors. Top dishes for the night, an unbelievable risotto with sea urchin, and toasted hazelnuts, and a divine dessert of sweet and savory white chocolate and capers, almond biscuit and olive oil dusted with dried tomato powder, a piece of art to end our incredible first day in Sicily. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, email ifm, and more. 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