Report from - Annual Italian Tasting ... November 2, 2009
20 Nov 2009- Details
- Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
I stare into the abyss that is Roy Thompson Hall, sure the place is beautiful and an architectural wonder (or so the literature says), but I’m also looking at close to 100 Italian producers (someone says its actually ONLY 99) all pouring a minimum of 5 wines; for the mathematically challenged that’s easily 500+ wines they want me to try – hospitalization here I come. Thankfully there is a 10AM seminar to sit through, allowing me to wrap my head around the 212 page bible (listing all the wines and producers beyond the seminar walls) that lies in front of me. But I’ll get to that in a minute or two, first let’s listen in to Mr. Attilio Scienza as he talks to us about the Italian island of Sicily – and to David Lawrason, as he leads us through the wine tasting.
The day began with the numbers about Italian wine as presented by Paolo Ponti, director of the Italian Trade Commission – he provides the same good news every year: Italian wine is on the rise around the world and especially in Canada. I half expect him to pull a little Italian flag out of his pocket and wave it frantically in one hand while saying, “yeah Italy”, but then again if you ever met Mr. Ponti you would find that funny because he is such a serious looking man and he talks in a very serious tone, befitting of his look. Then it was off to Sicily with Attilio. I hear it mentioned that Mr. Scienza is “brilliant” and “really knows his stuff” when it come to the wines of Italy, to him it’s more than just wine, “it’s a science” – not surprising then to learn that the first five letters of his name are the same 5-letters in the word science … co-incidence? I think not. He refers to Sicily as its own “continent” the way it sits in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, with its good diurnal temperature (nice expanse between day time highs and night time lows), sometimes as much as 10-12 degrees. Harvest in Sicily is the longest of any region in Italy, lasting from the beginning of August to late October or early November – as long as 100 days from beginning to end. 85% of the grapes grown are indigenous, while the other 15% are international varietals like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. 75% of the grapes are white varietals (thus leaving 25% to be of the red persuasion). There are 650 wineries in Sicily.
Sicily is broken down into 3 macro areas : Western (the most important), South Eastern and North Eastern (aka: Etna) and two smaller micro areas, which are actually small islands. The soils of Sicily are African based, especially in the south, and different from all other European soils: “Sicily has it’s own genetic specificity which is unique,” Professor Science tells us; he also says that “Sicilian varietals never work out of this region because of their intimate link with the soils.” Other soils found around Sicily are volcanic soils and “calcarinite” soils (loaded with shells), each giving the grapes a certain flavour (even when made with the same grape), the word ‘Terroir’ should come to mind. Interesting to note: Sicily was the last stop for phyloxera on its march through Europe, thought to be because of the sharp shell make up of the soils – the shells cut the louse thus making it hard for them to take purchase and live in Sicily soils.
Best wines of the Seminar …(find out the 2 best of the seminar plus the 10 wines worth tasting)
