The NEW YORK ITALIAN FOOD & WINE GUY Blog is dedicated to many things, but mainly to three very GREAT ONES being NEW YORK, ITALIAN FOOD, and ITALIAN WINE. What's greater than these?
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Dinner at Bar Pitti NYC
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Chianti Grand Tasting New York 2022
Join Chianti Classico at this Grand Tasting as they introduce the newest vintage as well as the new Additional Geographic Unit System.
About this Event:
***The Chianti Classico Grand Tasting on Monday February 28th is currently sold out.***
*If you are still interested in attending please email chianticlassico@colangelopr.com*
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Celebrate one of the world’s most prestigious wine denominations, Chianti Classico, at a Walk-Around Tasting with over 50 wineries and educational seminars by renowned wine cartographer Alessandro Masnaghetti at The Altman Building in New York City on February 28, 2022.
In June 2021, Chianti Classico approved the project of the UGA system (Additional Geographic Units) to differentiate and highlight the differences in climate and soil type of 11 villages of the region. The introduction of the UGA system marked a milestone for Chianti Classico and will help define and better explain the unique taste profiles of its wines.
The New York event will offer a fully immersive experience to attendees who will be able to viscerally experience the unique landscapes that make Chianti Classico wines so sought after.
During the event you'll be able to taste Chianti Classico wines and speak with winery representatives, from small boutique wineries to some of this region's more established producers as well as learning about the UGA system from Wine Cartographer Alessandro Masnaghetti.
Monday February 28, 2022
CHIANTI GRAND TASTING ... New York
Yes, the Grand Chianti Tasting is today. Having my morning coffee, and getting ready to head up to The Alman Building for the tasting. Well, two down and one to go, for this latest barrage of Italian WIne Tastings that started with the Brunello Tasting on Wednesday, followed by Tre Bicchieri on Friday, and now the CHiant Tasting today. Quite something. After two years of no tastings at all, due to the Pandemic, we now see a concentration of the 3 biggest Italian Wine Events of the year, all in a short 8 days time.
I'm looking forward to tasting some great CHianti and other wines made in the CHianti Zone. There will be a lot of wonderful Chinti wines to taste among the 50 participating estates, but I always have my sentimental favorites, which include Castello Verrazzano in Greve, from my good friend the Cavalier Luigi Cappellini, always some real authentic ( no Merlot, No Cab) Chianti wines, along with the estates great example of Vino Santo. Also in Greve, and along with Verrazzano as my two favorites are the wines from Villa Calinaia and my friends Conti Capponi, Sebastiano and Nicola Capponi, two brothers of the noble Florentine Family of Capponi. Villa Calcinaia is one of the most and important estates in all of Chianti Classico. The Capponi Family have been making wine in Greve for more than 500 years. Quite a pedigree.
Third on the list, and along with Villa Calcinaia, the estate of Fontodi from Giovanni Manetti in Pnazano, the next town south of Greve on Chianti Classico'S Chaintigiana Road that runs sout from Florence in the North, to Siena on the southern end. On the first day that I ever visited a wine estate in Italy, and was given a private tour and tasting by the owner of the estate, the first estate was Villa Calcinaia and The Conti Capponi, and after we took a tour of Villa Calciania and had a wonderful lunch with the two Counts, we left and made our way to Panzano and the Fontodi Wine Estate to meet up with Giovanni Manetti, who took us on a tour of the cellears and the vindeyards, before bringing us inside for a tasting of Fontodi's wonderful Chainti, Vin Santo, and Super Tuscan (Flaccinella) Wines. It was quite a day, and one I cherish to this day,
Well, Boys and Girls. It's time to go. Up to 18th Street and the Altman Builing where all the wonderful Chianti, Vin Santo, and my Tucan Friends await. I will taste the fine wines, visit and chit-chat with friends, and I will report back to you tomorrow to let you know about the wine and how the day went. So Ciao for now.
Daniele Bellino Z "Teh New York Italian Food & Wine Guy"
Basta !
CASTELLO VERRAZZANO
With GIOVANNI MANETTI of FONTODI (R) in Panzano
From VILLA CALCINAIA
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Tre Bicchieri 2022 New York
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
The BRUNELLO Tasting
LIVIO SASSETTI
Angelo Sassetti has been producing Brunello from the Pertimali estate in Montalcino for over 35 years. Based in his farmhouse, he hand manicures his vineyards and controls crop levels vigorously.
This, combined with his unfiltered winemaking techniques, not only preserves the quality of his harvest and his land, but maximizes the beauty and ageability of his wines. Together with his wife, Rosie, with each vintage Angelo produces a Brunello that is truly in a class of its own.
Monday, February 21, 2022
How to Make NEGRONI Recipe Bellino
Note: Orsen Wells after discovering the Negroni while writing a screenplay in Rome, wrote in a correspondence back home thathe had discovered a delightful Italian Cocktail, “The Negroni.” Welles stated, “It is made of Bitter Campari which is good for the liver, and of Gin which is bad. The two balance each other out.”
The BELLINO NEGRONI
Best Selling Italian Cookbook author Daniel Bellino Zwicke has been drinking Negroni's since he had his first in Rome, Italy, way back in the Summer of 1985. Daniel loves his Negroni, and it gets him just a bit perturbed at the cocktails over- popularity of late (the past 6 Years), as he feels it cheapnes his beloved Italian Cocktail, as Daniel says, "Now everybody and their Grandmother drinks them" When not so many people drank them, and very few ever even heard of the Negroni at all, it made drinking them, that much more special. Now? Well you can't stop progress as they say.
The BELLINO NEGRONI
Bellino, who knows a thing or two about Negronis, says he likes his own specail way, deviating slightly for what is the standard recipe of equal parts of Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Campari on the rocks, with a fresh slice of Orange. Daniel says, he likes his Negroni with 1/3 Campari, with the other 2/3 of his Negroni made up of a bit less Gin (less than a third), and a bit more than a third of Sweet Vermouth over ice, with a splash of Club Soda, and of course an Orange slice. That's "The Bellino Negroni" Basta.
PS ... Bellino says "Tucci has the Negroni all Wrong." Shame on you Stanley. In his book, Tucci calls for half of the drink to be made with Gin, and the other half, with equal parts of Campari and Sweet Vermouth. ONG Stanley? This would make a horrible Negroni with so much Gin, overpowering the Sweet Vermouth and Campari.
Bellino says, while it is OK to tweak the Negroni just a bit, such a drastic change with half the cocktail made with Gin, would completely destroy the drink, and turn it totally "out of balance" unlike the Bellino Negroni, with just a minor change (less Gin), making for a superb cocktail.