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A Slow look at Italian Wine by Rosi Hanson
50 Italian producers brought their wines to London for a tasting this month to launch an ap., a digital version of a new guide to Italian wines, Slow Wine 2011. It evaluates wines taking into account ethical and environmental factors. The idea of scores has been dumped. Instead there are three categories symbolized by a Snail, a Bottle and a Coin – Slow Wines, which exemplify “the character of their terroir, history and environment in the glass”, Great Wines, a title which speaks for itself, and Everyday Wines chosen for excellent value for money. There is a plan for this latter category to be available free for downloading.
Slow Food, which publishes the guide, mobilized a team of 150 throughout Italy to help the editors arrange visits to over 2000 wineries to taste and evaluate a very broad range of wines, 1800 of which are here reviewed. Contact details, number of hectares cultivated, information on vineyard and cellar practice are given, arranged in three sections: Life gives the stories of the leading winemakers, Vines profiles the vineyards according to their characteristics and way they are managed, and in Wines you will find straight forward descriptions.
You might think that an organization whose logo is a snail would not embrace modern methods like aps. But Slow Food is quirky but effective in the way it gets its message out. The grass roots movement champions “eco-gastronomy”, sustainable farming, biodiversity and small-scale production. There are 100,000 members in 130 countries, including some 1200 in Australia - people who think it is worth fighting the agri-business cartels they see putting profits before quality. It is anti Fast Food and all that that implies, hence the name. Above all, the members want to consume unadulterated products with flavour and ensure their children and grandchildren can do the same. They believe that if you like food and wine, you must look further than your plate or glass - you must also be a bit of an ecologist.
If all this sounds a bit earnest, then I am giving the wrong impression. Slow Food has its roots, and its headquarters, in the small Italian town of Bra, in Piedmont, which is a convivial sort of a place. The area is perhaps best known as the home of red wines Barbero and Barolo, and also the sparkling white Asti Spumante. La Morra, a charming hilltop place with pretty vineyard slopes, is celebrated for its hazelnut groves - local recipes using the nuts abound. Alba is famed for its truffle market; in autumn, as the vine leaves are turning red, every little village trattoria or cantina has a basket of precious truffles on show, ready to grate over fresh pasta or risotto. The best soup I ever tasted was made from an obscure egg-shaped mushroom found in the woods here. Visit a wine-maker and, after tasting, the conversation will surely turn to food. This local tradition of eating and drinking among friends, of making time to relax and enjoy meals is at the heart of the international movement, founded in 1986.
The office in Bra is the hub of a network of enthusiastic volunteers who stage events, debates, and tastings of regional wines and food in their own countries. “Convivia” as these groups are known, bearing in mind the original impetus of conviviality, promote the Slow Food movement and feed back information to Bra.
These activists strive to come up with new initiatives, including imaginative ways of introducing children to the sensual enjoyment of food combined with knowledge of how it is produced. They know they must convert and teach adults too. It has to be explained that you have to put your hand in your pocket for good products. Slow Food events are lively and fun in order to demonstrate why it is worth it.
The visionary behind this is Carlo Petrini. He first made his mark as a wine and food journalist, writing for Italian periodicals and newspapers. In the cellars of Italy his name comes up regularly. His strong opinions about the need to improve quality influenced many of today’s best winemakers. He is never afraid to criticise.
I talked to Alessandro Barosi, who makes wine in Dogliano. Previously he worked for Petrini, for four exciting years. “Carlo is a sort of volcano! Every night when he goes to sleep, it is very dangerous – the next day there is an explosion of new ideas.”
Those ideas have included Salone del Gusto, a vast bi-annual food and wine fest in Turin, a University of Gastronomic Sciences, and the Ark of Taste “to catalogue and safeguard animal species, plant varieties and agricultural techniques in danger of extinction”. As well as recording the endangered, it provides a mechanism for marketing products. Tailor-made local initiatives are created, which may help a single cheese-maker making a rare mountain cheese to earn a living, or a group of farmers to cooperatively purchase a piece of equipment which will help them sell their product directly. The Ark of Taste has successfully worked with producers of Malaysian rice, Indian mustard seed oil, Polish sheep’s milk cheese, Irish smoked wild salmon, UK Somerset Cheddar, Moroccan argan oil, Mexican criolla corn, Peruvian fruit, Guatemalan hehuetenango coffee, and the list continues to grow.
For 20 years Slow Food co-published the Gambero Rosso guide to Italian wines which awarded Tre Bicchieri, (three bottles), to the best wines. Slow Wine goes the extra mile and assesses wines in a broader context. Talking of extra miles, anyone who has got lost driving up hill and down dale on little roads winding through Italian vineyards will welcome the digital guide’s help in exploring; GPS allows you to see the closest wineries to your current location. I speak from experience here – affable locals have a way of assuring you that you cannot miss the turning if you look out for the big chestnut tree, forgetting that the area is thick with them. But don’t let’s get stressed about getting lost. Slow down, drink a bottle of wine with friends, nibble a piece of aged Parmesan, have a chat with a winemaker…..be convivial!
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