VITIGNO ITALIA, first day

The first day of the Fifth edition og VITIGNO ITALIA is going to finish and its closing will be a gala dinner at Città del Gusto by Gambero Rosso magazine.

We particularly enjoyed three pink wines: Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio DOC made by the winery SANNINO, Rosinella DOC made by the winery TORRE A ORIENTE and the DUBL Aglianico Rosato made by the winery FEUDI DI SAN GREGORIO.

The first one is a blend of Aglianico and Piedirosso, where Piedirosso is 90% and enables this pink wine to be kind and polight but not weak thanks to the strong stroke of 10% of Aglianico.
We will enjoy to taste it on mussels with black pepper and some first course with red tomatoes sauces.
The second one is 100% Aglianico and it is immediately evident at the nose and in the mouth, as it is strong enough; it hates to be smooth and invites you to play with it pretending it is a young red wine. Good enough for a whole meal until strong meat.

The third one is a very elegant pink wine whose process is the same process of the French champagne. The grapes are Aglianico and, really, rather than an aperitif wine, I will enjoy it almost for a whole meal.

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Mandetta, where to dine and sleep in Paestum

I am very lucky !
Thanks to the organizer of Salone della Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP (so, Barbara, I thank you very much) I could know a very lovely place where to sleep is nice and comfortable and to dine is a very fine experience.
A whole family is at work and their smiles tell you the best "welcome".
Ask for a room whose small balcony enables you to see the beach and the sea. At your left hand Cilento, at your right hand the Amalfi Coast.
And, by the way, few steps and we are in the heart of the archeological area of Paestum, one of the most interesting archeological area in the world.
Well.
Mr. Pino will tell us what about the dinner.
He is the provider of fish and vegetables.
When the sea is flat he is the fisherman; otherwise, as his boat is small, he goes to the fishermen in Agropoli and / or in Acciaroli.
He is very proud to show you in the very clean kitchen room the fishes still alive !
But the Queen of the restaurant is the wife of Mr. Pino, Lady Enza.
She is a very clever chef and thanks to her cleverness and expertise, the fishes become the core of very delicious courses.
Every ingredient is excellent and, of course, here you cannot miss the true Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP. Their olive oil is excellent, too.
The offering of the wines is smart and wise.
Very good wines from Cilento and from the other areas of Campania.
The breakfast is rich and the cherry on the pie is their yogurt made by bufala milk: oh, my God !
Very good is the rate price / quality.
Yes, Mandetta: a smart and sweet place in Paestum !

Salone della Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP

The fourth edition of Salone della Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP was successfull and gorgeous.

The location, first of all: very close to the archeological area of Paestum, where the history shares with us its past, feeding our days and giving us the holy happiness to enjoy every moment of our short life.

And, really, we enjoyed very much the four days of the festival.

We met six young chefs whose challenge was to cook flambè a dish focused on the match between Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP and Carciofo di Paestum IGP.

These were the six young and very clever chefs: Andrea Cuomo by Sporting Hotel Villa Blu in Cortina d'Ambezzo, the queen town of Dolomiti; Orlando Di Poto by Hotel Capital in Campagna; Francesco Grimaldi by Ristorante Le Trabe in Capaccio, the hill town of Paestum (he won, by the way); Roberto Longobardi by Il Papavero in Eboli; Davide Rotondi by Solone Residence Hotel in Ascea Marina, a beach town in the paradise of Cilento.

And Cilento was a big actor of this edition of the Festival as we tasted some excellent wines made in Cilento and its Fico Bianco DOP del Cilento, too.

About the wines, we appreciated particularly the Donnaluna 2007 Aglianico Paestum IGT made by the nice winemaker De Conciliis in Prignano Cilento and Aglianico Cilento 2007 DOC by I Vini del Cavaliere.

As we enjoy particularly the pink wine when it is well made, we appreciated very much also Paistom 2008 Aglianico Rosato Paestum IGT by I Vini del Cavaliere and Denazzano 2008 Aglianico Rosato Paestum IGT by Maffini.

And Mr. Maffini leaded a guided wine taste of his excellent Fiano Pietraincatenata in two years: 2006 and 2007.

Delicious the match between the Withe Figs of Cilento and the fresh ricotta di bufala: a very mediterranean breakfast. Important the role of the marmelades made by Madia: excellent products coming from Cilento whose actors are Francesco and Fabrizio Vastola, dad and son.

The charming lady Silvia Imparato leaded the guided taste of her famous and expensive wine: Montevetrano. A full immersion in a very well made wine whose grapes are not local.

Very nice marriage between the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP and some Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2007.

We had to taste 13 wines. In my memory and in my personal opinion, the best match with Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP was with the wine made by Raffaele Troise, the patron of the winery Vadiaperti. The winner, anyway, was the Vigna Perella 2007 Paestum IGT by De Conciliis.

How delicious and interesting was the guided olive oil taste leaded by the very clever Marco Oreggia and, really we tasted a masterpiece among the very good olive oil made by Madonna dell'Olivo.

Every day the lunchs were focused on the cleverness of very famous chefs: Alfonso Iaccarino, a dear friend of mine, Pino Lavarra by Ristorante Rosselinis in Ravello, the terrace of the world on the Amalfi Coast and Raffaele Vitale by Casa del Nonno 13 in Mercato San Severino.

Well, we tasted also the delicious Maiale Nero Casertano and we enjoyed it very much.

What else ? Oh, I want to say again and again that this edition of the Festival was gorgeous and my thanks to the sweet and clever couple of the organizers: Barbara Guerra and Albert Sapere.

By the way, the next edition will be international and I wish we can have a small group of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP lovers coming from USA. I am ready to lead this small group !

Salone della Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP

Do you know what is the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP ?

Well, the best and charming way to learn to know it, taste it and therefore appreciate it, is to attend at this 4th edition of the most important exhibit exclusively focused on the queen of the Italian fresh cheese, the only one obtained using the milk of bufala.

This exhibit is Salone della Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, and for this 4th edition and the location is the Archeological Area of Paestum, a treasure of the world, one of the most important area of the ancient Magna Grecia.

The period is excellent to enjoy the area and the whole region, Campania.

We're talking of the days April 30 and the fisrt three days of May, of this current year, of course.

Every day you can taste the true pizza, just made and cooked in the wood oven, whose topping is the true mozzarella di bufala campana dop. Then, you will understand the big gap between the frozen pizza in the shelves and this pizza !

The program is very rich and for sure there is no time to become bored.

Do not miss it !

On Thursday April 30, at 7:30pm, do not miss the event "Looking for white".

Looking for White is a guided wine tasting where the focal point is the match between the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP and the different areas of Fiano, the white wine made with the grape named fiano.

Among these 10 wines, 4 of them are DOCG, as recently Fiano obtained the DOCG.

They are:

Fiano di Avellino 2007 docg by Donna Chiara

Fiano di Avellino 2007 docg by Picariello

Fiano di Avellino 2007 docg by Vadiaperti

Fiano di Avellino 2007 docg by Feudi di San Gregorio.

Then, on Friday May 1st at 6:30pm we will sip and taste again the Fiano di Avellino 2007 DOCG Donna Chiara during the event "La Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP incontra il Maiale Nero Casertano" meaning the match between the mozzarella with a very particular breed of pork: the black pork located in the area where mozzarella is the queen and, therefore, this pork is the king.

Saturday morning, at 10:30am, a delicious event where the "ricotta" made using buffalo milk marriages the White Fig DOP from Cilento and the excellent products by Madia.

In late afternoon, at 6:30pm there is the very interesting event focused on the match between the mozzarella di bufala campana dop with the Prosciutto di Parma DOP.

Sunset at the Faro in Capri

Yes, if you are in Capri and, please stay there at least one night (four is quite better), you cannot miss its famous Piazzetta and even, I'm sure, you will appreciate it.

Nevertheless, the deepest charm of Capri is in its hidden corners, particularly the corner of Punta Carena with its gorgeous lighthouse, the blinking eye on the Southern edge of the Gulf of Naples.

You're alone and the only friends are the sea, the moon and the sky whose colors are magic.

Then, you deserve a great dinner at the restaurant Ziqù where the chef Mino Chiafele will prepare for you excellent meal, fall-out of the traditional cooking and his smart expertise.

Ziqù is the D part of the gorgeous D&B Villa Marina whose B part consists of 21 rooms whose labels are not desperate numbers but the names of 21 great names of the worldwide literature who deeply loved Capri and who spent here part of their life.

There is also a cute and well-done spa .

Enjoy it !

D&B Villa Marina

Via Provinciale Marina Grande 191

80073 Capri

http://www.villamarinacapri.com/

the black pork Casertano

We know that the best production of prosciutti and other pork meat come from the North of Italy, as very famous are Prosciutto di San Daniele and Prosciutto di Parma.

Only the happy few, anyway, know that in the South of Italy, in Campania, named Campania felix as it was a so happy land several thousands years ago, there is a very particular breed of pork, whose dark skin gives his the name of maiale nero (black pork) and, as its origin is in the area of Caserta, then casertano. So, maiale nero casertano.

I have to thank Mr. Coscia for the excellent dinner I had two weeks ago, before my departure for Savannah.

First course: paccheri lardiati with pancetta, small pieces of Caciocavallo Silano DOP in sauce made with pomodori San Marzano DOP.
The paccheri become lardiati thanks to the fat part of guanciale of maiale nero casertano.
We put this fat part, named lardo, in a large pot upon a very small flame and the lardo melts: a masterpiece !!
Then, we add the matchsticks of pancetta until they become crispy and then the tomatoes San Marzano DOP whose cooking time cannot be more than fifteen minutes.
The paccheri are ready to hug this rich sauce and after few minutes they are in the hot dishes.
Second course: cotechini of maiale nero casertano.
They cooked for fifteen minutes in the boiling water and then they slept for further fifteen minutes in the empty large pot used for the paccheri; a gimmick to give them a bit more of tomatoes with a very small flame. Only at last minute hot flame when in the pot fe drops of Aglianico del Taburno DOC fall.
Excellent dinner and, again, thanks to Mr. Coscia, the most important farmer of maiale nero casertano whose farm is also a pretty agritourism.
Look at its website: www.apegirasole.it .
We thank you very much, Mr. Coscia for your smart job focused on maiale nero casertano.

guided olive oil taste in Savannah (GA)

Yesterday evening, as planned, I had the guided olive oil taste in Savannah. 18 journalists coming from Canada and USA attended this small and interesting event.
I choose to lead the taste using a virtual map of Italy and, using this virtual map, the trip began from Romagna.
In fact, our first olive oil tasted was the Colline di Romagna DOP by PAGANELLI, in Santarcangelo di Romagna, the cute small town where I lived until last week. The two olives are correggiolo (60%) and leccino (40%). The color is a middle point between the golden yellow and the green. It has a medium fruity taste and, in my opinion, is a bit closer to strong.
The bitter flavor (in a good way) is funky and short-lived in the mouth. Very pronounced are the flavors of almond and artichoke. The best matches are with first courses focused on seafood.
Then, with the Adriatic Sea on our left hand, we arrived on the hills surrounding Ancona and we were very pleased to taste the excellent ASCOLANA by AZIENDA DEL CARMINE, whose patron is Antonio Roversi. It is fruity, strong and elegant and its flavor reminds me of the green leaves of tomatoes plants.
Seafood, first of all and overall, is the best match for this olive oil, particularly lobster and grilled white fish.
Then, still heading in the same direction with the Adriatic Sea on our left, we arrive to Abruzzo, among the wonderful hills behind Pescara, to taste a very excellent DOP olive oil: APRUTINO PESCARESE DOP by La Selva. The only two olives allowed to make this DOP olive oil are Dritta and Toccolana.
The color is in the best range between golden yellow and green. Its fruit is medium flavored trending towards strong. The best way to use this olive oil is on fish meals and upon rich first courses focused on beans.
Continuing from this area, where the mountains are the highest of the central part of Italy and where the Adriatic sea is not yet far away, we cross Italy and arrive to Sonnino, a cute hill town at South of Rome. The olive oil is by CETRONE, a very rich olive oil, whose fruitiness is at the edge between medium and strong. The flavors remind us of the freshly-cut grass and the green apples. It pairs perfectly with fish but will also compliment red meat.

Our way to lead the guided taste went over the classic scheme and it was nice to pretend how to classify the four olive oils as if they were persons describing their genders, age, characters.
The journalists appreciated it very much and our agreement is to meet in late spring for a further guided taste.

Kresios in Castelvenere - Sannio

Yes, we know, Campania is a very beautiful region of Italy and it is very famous thanks to Capri, Amalfi Coast, Pompei, Naples.

But, listen, there is an hidden part of Campania, the inner areas far from the coast, whose charme is unique and whose plus, sad but true, is also the absence of crowd.

These two areas are named Irpinia and Sannio.

Well, we are talking about a very cute hill town: Castelvenere.

And, about Castelvenere, we discover a lovely and charming place to dine out: Kresios.

In the center of Castelvenere, Giuseppe Iannotti, so young, so clever, so far to imagine himself already a famous chef, enables his customers to enjoy unforgettable dinner.

His way to concept the cooking is to start with the right step in the recruiting of the ingredients: only high quality and very often only DOP ingredients.

Not necessary only local food when the best of this kind of food could come from different areas.

In fact we begun with Culatello di Zibello coming from Polesine Parmense, made by Massimo Spigaroli (Antica Corte Pallavicina).

Delicious first course was Paccheri with very fresh ricotta and a very particular and local breed of apple named annurca, upon a smooth bed made with pumpkin sauce; paccheri come from the pasta maker Vicedomini; some other pasta is from Setaro, one of the best pasta of Italy.

Then we went on with a delicious crispy rabbit with roasted potatoes.

Also cheeses are the fall-out of a strong and passionate competence and the match with composte was really excellent.

Wide and very well done the wine list with some of the best labels of Sannio.

Our choice was to begin with an elegant pink wine from aglianico grapes and go on with the same grapes in its born color: the strong red aglianico processed a bit as Amarone.

Giuseppe is also a very clever olive oil maker and really we tasted three great monocultivar olive oil, made by three local varieties: Spinosa, Ortolana and Raccioppella.

In my opinion, at least two of these can be considered among the best olive oil in Italy !

Really, I do believe it.

Kresios: an excellent restaurant in this cute and not yet well known area of Campania felix.

Bistrot Relais at Pescocostanzo, Abruzzo

Not only Alps, our mountains, but also the long chain named Appennini.
Alps in the North of Italy run along the West-East and Appennini from the Central part of Italy until its Southern part, run along North-South.
Well.
In the center of a gorgeous region, Abruzzo, in one of its hill towns on Appennino, Pescocostanzo, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Bistrot Relais.
A very smart mix between the steel and the wood, the new trend of the modern design with the strong path of a very ancient cooking tradition.
Until the first half of the past century in these places it was very usual the flow named transumanza meaning the sheep farmers walk from the flat to the mountains in late spring and come back to the flat in late summer.
Jonny and Marco, two brothers are the clever, nice and very kind patron of this restaurant.
A very lovely dinner in a very sweet place.

Vitigno Italia (typical wine)

The location is unique, Castel dell'Ovo, in the magical atmosphere of Borgo Marinari.
The month is, in my opinion, the best month in Naples; May; and even better is the middle of May, from Sunday 17 to Tuesday 19.




We're talking about the festival/exhibit of the Italian wines made using only local grapes, meaning grapes whose roots, whose seeds are deeply linked with a local ground.
A very smart and fun way to be introduced and to taste the best of the typical Italian wines.
The local grapes (vitigni autoctoni) are more than three hundred and if I were obliged, so to speak, to tell you the first three running in my mind, I say: Nero d'Avola, from Sicily, Sagrantino from Umbria and Coda di Volpe from Campania.

I suggest that you visit this festival if you're in Naples in those days or, better, arrange your trip to Italy so that you can sip some glasses of very good Italian typical wine.
I will be there and I will be glad to meet you and lead you on a visit in the exhibit.

17-19 May 2009
http://www.vitignoitalia.it/