Wine, wine, wine. The delicious on the palate type, not the moan, moan, moan complaining kind.  The other day I was graciously invited to attend a trade and press Italian wine tasting and education in Tribeca co-hosted by Vinitaly International  and Slow Food.

The full-day event was complete with seminars, special master-class tastings, over 75 different wineries showcasing over 250 different bottles of red, white, rose and sparkling wines from Italy and a very tasty lunch spread of Italian fare: meats, cheeses, and nuts.

After starting off my late-morning with some Proseccos, Italian sparkling wine, I was then able to taste some deliciously-sweet Limoncello, served in a lemon-colored milk-chocolate shot glass, a great complement to each other.

A few reds with lunch is how every midday meal should go, especially with a prosciutto and mortadella sandwich on fresh Italian bread … too bad there wasn’t anything there to satisfy my sweet tooth or maybe I was too busy in my amazing Vistorta Merlot vertical master-class to notice. My favorite wine of the entire event was their 1997 I had while listening to the owner of the winery, Brandino Brandolini d’Adda, talk about his 20 years heading up Vistorta. “Vistorta is a small ‘borgo’ within an agricultural estate in the heart of Western Friuli, which has belonged to the Brandolini family since 1780.”

That evening the event turned into a for-the-public wine tasting, scaled down a bit as far as the selection of wineries, but people definitely had more Italian wines to choose from than their local wine store would have to offer.  Combine that with a pop-up wine tasting bar on-site, endless pizza, Italian cheeses and focaccia breads and people were having a great time well into the night.

“Vinitaly is the largest wine fair in the world with over 4,500 producers and 150,000+ visitors ( including 45,000 attendees from foreign countries). The event takes place every April in Verona, Italy. The 47th edition of Vinitaly will be held April 7th to 10th, 2013.  Vinitaly is the ambassador of Italian wine, and Vinitaly International has organized a series of events in many cities around the world such as New Delhi, Chicago, San Francisco, Moscow, Stockholm, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and right here in New York, to facilitate trade and communication with key local players in the wine sector.  The Vinitaly Tour format combines boh B2B ( business-to-business ) and B2C ( business-to-consumer ) events to optimize the exposure of Italy’s best wines.”

“The Slow Food Italy editorial team released a new edition of their English wine guide to the U.S., The 2013 Slow Wines Guide 2nd Edition. The publication is a compilation of 400 Italian wineries and 3,000 wines that fit the Slow Wines philosophy and standards for eco-sustainability, affordability, and superb taste.”

Veni, vidi, vino.

-Mike J

Images via Vinitaly International and by Mike J.