I keep publishing articles I find about Sicilian wines here and there. Beppi Crosariol reports his experience at an Italian wine showcase in Canada.
One of the defining moments of this year’s Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, at least for me, involved Pinocchio.
Not the mendacious marionette of the Italian fable, but something else with an impressive nose, a wine by that name made from the almost-famous Sicilian grape nero d’Avola.
“I lo-o-o-ve this wine,” declared a woman displaying the Valley Girl legato tones and denuded midriff of someone in her mid-20s.
Seeing as supplies had sold out at the festival’s temporary liquor store in the waterfront convention centre, would the visiting Italian exporter sell her a bottle under, ahem, the table?
Her ample charms notwithstanding, the woman failed to persuade Alessandro Costantini to break the rules. “Sorry,” said the co-founder of Milan-based Wineoclock SRL, with a smile. “Cannot.”
Emerging Mediterranean grapes, catchy modernist labels and dulcet Italian accents were everywhere at the 30th-annual festival, a week-long downtown blowout that culminated on Sunday and featured Italy as its theme.
Read more at the GlobeandMail.com
