Category: Articles

Italy’s largest Wine Museum to open in Verona

A few weeks ago, it announced that the city of Verona has the approval to develop a wine museum “Museo del Vino (MuVin)”, with support from the Italian Ministry of Tourism and various Italian tourism agencies. Verona is also hosting Vinitaly, one of the world’s largest wine fairs, a wine museum seems to be a good fit.

“I was in Edinburgh, Scotland, years ago, and there I had the opportunity to visit the popular Scotch Whisky Experience”, said Enrico Corsi of the Veneto Regional Council, who promoted and developed the idea behind the project, to wine news platform Decanter. “I wondered why something similar could not be done with wine in Italy. I realised that we did not have anything comparable in our country, apart from a bunch of smaller private initiatives.”

Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia was pleased with the promotion. “The real innovation here is that, with the MuVin, Verona will become a hub for the whole country and in particular for the Italian wine tourism sector. This project has the capacity to go far, and we’re 100% behind it”, Italian food news platform Foodtop reported.

MuVin is now a €50 million project that will feature a museum, visitor and exhibition centre located in Verona’s Gallerie Mercatali. The venue will be opposite the city’s exhibition area, which hosts a number of popular shows all year-round, including Vinitaly itself. MuVin will also feature an ‘experiential path’ that will show visitors the history of wine, viticulture, wine production, the impact of climate change on wine production, and wine and food pairing.

The museum wants to offer educational activities as well, with wine lovers welcomed to learn wine-tasting techniques as well as to conduct virtual visits to wineries and UNESCO heritage vineyards in augmented reality rooms. According to Corsi, the project should be finished in four years. “We expect MuVin to be ready by 2026, when Northern Italy will host the next Winter Olympics.”

Sources: Decanter, Euronews, Foodtop (Italian), L’Adige (Italian)

 

#wine #winenews #winetrade #winetourism #winemuseum #verona #MuVinVerona
#italianwine #italianwinelovers #Vinitaly #wineandfood #MuseodelVino #MuseodelVinoVerona
#winelovers

Washington Wine Allocated Almost $1 Million to Wine Research

The Washington State Wine Commission (WSWC) was awarded almost $1 million in research grants for the upcoming year through the statewide grape and wine research program, along with its own grant program. The broad research projects aim to improve wine quality by tackling high-priority vineyard and winery issues.

The WSWC Board of Directors approved 24 projects totaling $994,184 for the upcoming fiscal year (July 2022-June 2023). Research grant awards have grown by 30% since 2015.

The research theme for the coming year is sustainability. WSU is working to develop cutting-edge, sustainable management strategies and tools that wine grape growers can use in the newly launched Sustainable WA certification program.

Scientists will evaluate innovative techniques to control pests and diseases, such as combining attractants with drone aerial release of beneficial predators, using pheromones to disrupt the mating of grape mealybug, trialing UV light in vineyards to control powdery mildew, and growing cover crops to trap or trick nematodes that feed on grapevine roots. A long-term research vineyard will be planted in 2021 to study the effects of traditional and novel viticultural practices on soil health.  Winery projects will include developing a predictive model of Raman spectroscopy and machine learning to make wine analysis faster and easier, mitigating potential impacts on grapes from smoke exposure, and using native yeasts to reduce wine alcohol concentrations.

Through the WSWC’s own research grant program, research teams from WSU and University of California, Davis are collaborating to better understand condensed tannins and develop a novel approach to analysis of tannins in wine. The WSWC also awarded one-year demonstration grants to study acid timing on sensory perception of wine and fund evaluation of different irrigation sensors in a WSU Smart Vineyard.

Wine research in Washington is funded through several competitive grant programs. A statewide program administered by WSU combines public, private and industry monies to support viticulture and enology research at WSU. Four entities fund the statewide program: the Washington State Wine Commission, Auction of Washington Wines, WSU’s Agriculture Research Center, and state wine liter taxes (1/4 cent per liter of all wine sold). Additionally, the WSWC administers a competitive grant program to support short-term, demonstration research at Washington community colleges and studies beyond state borders.

Return on investment from previous research has helped growers and wineries improve wine quality, reduce pesticide inputs by up to 80 percent which saves the industry $35 million annually, conserve up to 50% irrigation water from deficit irrigation strategies, and make informed frost and cold protection decisions using a cold hardiness model. Current research projects have significant potential for economic benefits, including sustainable nematode management tools for replant situations to protect an estimated $44 million in annual replanting costs, helping growers assess risk for phylloxera to prolong replanting with rootstocks, which costs $25,000 per acre.

Learn more about the research projects at Washington State Wine Commission website.

#wine #winelovers #wineresearch #winescience #wineries #winegrowers #wineeconomics #vineyards #sustainability #USWine #wawine #washingtonwine #washingtonstatewine #winenews #USwineindustry #winetrade@wa_state_wine

 

Sicilia en Primeur 2022…. It’s a Wrap!

What an amazing experience attending Sicilia en Primeur 2022!  Assovini Sicilia has certainly set the bar high for its eighteenth edition, and I believe the attending journalists will attest that this.

By the Numbers

This year is the 18th edition. In attendance were 80 national and international journalists. There were 7 wine tours, over 500 wines tasted, and 1 Masterclass.

After two years, the itinerant event organized and produced by Assovini Sicilia, was held in Erice, in the historical venue “Centro di Cultura Scientifica Ettore Majorana.” The medieval town of Erice has previous welcomed journalists, scientists, scholars, institutions, and enologists.

Inaugural Conference – some highlights 

The conference and opening of Sicilia en Primeur 2022 was held on April 30 with renowned Journalist Massimo Giletti as the host and various guest speakers giving their technical-scientific presentations on the theme “Back to the roots. Sicily experiencing the future.” Including a presentation by Professor Antonio Zoccoli, (President of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics) “Wine is also physics, and neutrino detectors are useful to unmask wine frauds” and he further states that “There is no wine without neutrino.”

Professor Marco Moriondo (Institute of Bioeconomics of CNR in Florence) states “Wine-growing Sicily is less exposed to climate change thanks to its soils, terroir, biodiversity and microclimates.”

Enologist Mattia Filippi and founder of Uva Sapiens states “Sicily is nowadays enjoying a privileged condition and its viticulture structure is so strictly connected with its traditions that a series of productive variables are extremely relevant also with regard to climate change.”

The Mayor of Erice, Daniela Toscano, along with Lorenzo Zichichi, both hosts of the “Centro di Cultura Scientifica Ettore Majorana”, mentioned the historical and scientific vocation of the medieval town of Erice.

Laurent de la Gatinais, the President of Assovini Sicilia, spoke of Sicily as “a miniature continent. Its diversity will be the key of our future. Therefore, we need to focus on vine, its study, its development. It has always been said that the human factor is fundamental in the production cycle, and today I strongly believe that it is more and more actual and understood as science, knowledge, and know-how. This is the only way we can tackle important issues, such as that of climate change. Assovini Sicilia wants to be the advocate and pioneer in leading the future of Sicilian viticulture following new models.”

“Sicily is today the largest organic wine area in Italy” comments Antonio Rallo, the President of Consorzio di Tutela Vini DOC Sicilia. It is a territory that by its very nature identifies sustainability as the keystone of the Sicilian viticulture system. This is the direction to where the industry of the island is moving, towards quality wines, authentic and recognizable in their identity and sustainable throughout the whole production process.”

Sicilia en Primeur is not only an important event for the Sicilian wine industry. It is also a perfect opportunity to showcase Sicily’s viticulture and historical-archaeological heritage through its wine tours. Stay tune for my updates on the wine tour.

#winesofsicily #sicilianwines #italianwines #travelsicily #siciliaenprimeur2022 #siciliaenprimeur #DocSicilia #ViniDocSicilia #SiciliaDoc #Sicilia #Sicily #SicilyWine #WineofSicily #DrinkSicily #sicilianwine #sicilianwines #vinosiciliano #vinosicilia #vinisiciliani #winelovers #wineexperience #travelling #instadaily #winetravels #winetourism #traveler #travelgram #winetasting #wineinfluencer #wineadventures #traveldiary #traveling #italianwine #italianwinelovers #AssoviniSicilia #erice2022

I’m so happy I just received 2 bottles of “Platinum Jubilee Sparkling Wine” from my Son and Family in London!

Queen Elizabeth as Britain’s longest-reigning monarch will officially be reaching the 70th anniversary of her ascension to the throne on February 6, 1952. Her Platinum Jubilee will officially be celebrated in June of this year, and Britain plans a four-day fête to mark the occasion on what will be the 69th anniversary of her coronation.

Queen Elizabeth has released “Buckingham Palace English Sparkling Wine” to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee.  The Sparkling wine is available in Royal Collection Trust shops around the U.K. and online for £39.  Monies raised will benefit the Royal Collection Trust (RCT), a charitable department of the Royal Household that is “responsible for the care of the Royal Collection and manages the public opening of the official residences of The Queen.”

The label features a design based on the embroidery of Queen Elizabeth’s Robe of Estate worn during her coronation, and the “EIIR cypher is surrounded by golden olive leaves and ears of wheat to symbolize peace and plenty.” The wine is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier grapes grown in Kent and West Sussex.  Tasting notes: “has enticing aromas of rich and honeyed citrus fruit, white peach and hints of sweet spice.” Apparently, it pairs well with British seafood, fish and chips, and, of course, mature English cheddar.

#englishsparklingwine #sparklingwine #wine #winelovers #englishwine #royalfamily #fizz #england #London #britishmonarchy #queenelizabeth #queen #buckinghampalace #PlatinumJubilee PlatinumJubilee2022 #royalcollectiontrust

UC Davis Library Acquires “Le débat du vin et de leaue” the first wine book written in French [dated 1515]

The UC Davis Library, Archives and Special Collections recently acquired Le débat du vin et de leaue with help from a $38,000 gift from the B.H. Breslauer Foundation. The book, a debate between wine and water by Pierre Jamec (or Japes), is the first known book about wine published in French. This edition was printed around 1515 and was bound later by Antoine Bauzonnet, one of the great French bookbinders of the early 19th century. It is the only known copy of its printing.

The book’s topic, a debate between water and wine personified, is an offshoot of the classical-era poems and fables that were used to define virtues and dictate how people should live. The debate between water and wine, which initially appeared in Greek, was popular among the Goliards, wandering medieval scholars who frequented taverns. The text of Le débat first appeared as Denudata veritae in the 12th century. The French version of the poem dates to the 14th or early 15th century.

The library’s earliest item on wine is a 12th-century bifolium from the library of the legendary wine merchant, gourmand, wine writer and bibliophile André Simon (1877–1890). The earliest printed item about wine in the rare book collection is the text of a complaint printed in 1500 on behalf of the City of Nuremberg, against a Brandenburg official who levied a wine duty on shipments for the city. Until now, the library’s earliest French book on wine was Deuis sur la Vigne, Vin et Vendages (1549). Le débat du vin et de leaue is now the library’s earliest French work on wine and the only record of the popular, historical debate in the library’s collections.

Sources:
Gary Price UC Davis Library – Archives and Special Collections

#winebooks #winebook #library #winelovers #frenchwinebok #ACdavis #historicbook #winebookcollectors #winenews #winereading #books #winelife #winereaders #wineeducation