GOOD ITALIAN FOOD ACROSS THE BORDER? IN LONDON, BRUNELLO “5 CIRCLES” AND MR. MARONI’S “NATIONAL TEAM” OF ITALIAN WINES ACCOMPANY THE ITALIAN TEAM TO THE OLYMPICS, THE REAL SURPRISE FOR GOURMETS IS OUTSIDE THE GAMES ... EXCEPT FOR VINO (POLIS)

Made in Italy at table, on one hand, and sport on the other, each champions in their own disciplines, have decided to play doubles for the general public, as the international symbols of Italian success and style which are appealing to all: so is the highly anticipated 2012 London Olympics (July 27-August 12), where it has become a tradition for the team of Italian wine & food to accompany the athletes. But in gourmet and “melting pot” London, the real surprise for the gourmet is outside the Games. In the multiethnic English capital Italian restaurants, with chefs from Italy and of Italian descent, passionate about our food or ready to experiment, find some of its best expressions: starred restaurants, slow food, temporary restaurants, even in the bustling markets. And the Olympics become a wonderful opportunity to disprove the saying “never eat Italian out of Italy” and break down all taboos.
For a very long time, thinking of eating good Italian food outside of Italy was virtually impossible. Today it is no longer so, because there are very good Italian restaurants across the border - a sign of the times, perhaps, and of an increasingly global society in continuous movement from one country to another. And, the great potential of Italian wine & food and the know-how of Italian or Italian-inspired chefs, emerge.
London is a case history, as it has managed to forge ahead in culinary skills, as the British know how to do, to learn new cultures: here Italian chefs have opened more quality restaurants (with a lot of investments), shaking off, with the "blessing" of the Anglo-Saxon critics, the so old-fashioned “pasta & pizza” and giving back to Italian food the role of ambassador of Made in Italy, next to the wines - Antinori, Argiolas, Gaja, Castello Banfi, Frescobaldi, are the most frequent names on wine lists of gourmet addresses, as WineNews found recently on a tour of London - of which the English capital has always been a key market.
And there's something for every taste: Daniel Boulud and Heston Blumenthal, multi starred chefs in the kitchen of the luxury "Mandarin Oriental"; the Corinthia Hotel in Trafalgar Square with the seafood cuisine of Massimo Riccioli; Heinz Beck at the '"Apsleys" of Lanesborough, an all-suite Hotel in Hyde Park Corner, is replicating its Roman success with Massimiliano Blasone in the kitchen; among the seven Italian cuisine restaurants awarded with a Michelin star, next to the famous "Locanda Locatelli" (whose owner, Giorgio Locatelli, is a true icon of quality Italian food), the famous "RiverCafé" and the "Murano" by Angela Harnett in Mayfair.
But not only, because Italy is really around every corner. "Franco Manca" in Brixton, where the owner Giuseppe Mascoli enchants with his pizzas, and in Milan, "Princi" is known as a bakery, while in Soho as a brasserie, both places are winners of the Oscar “best new cheap eats”. And, the Frescobaldi wines have their corner bar at Harrods, while the "roi" of French cuisine Alain Ducasse at the “Dorchester” employs the pastry chef from Naples Angelo Ercolano, of the Iaccarino family on the Sorrento peninsula. At the Japanese restaurant “Roka”, Matteo Duri curates wine. And then there is “Polpo”, the Venetian style bacaro (tavern), the “Bocca di Lupo”, where the specialty is light capon while at the “Latium” Maurizio Morelli has nothing to do with spaghetti, and at the “Dolada” of Belluno, in Mayfair, Riccardo De Prà focuses on guaranteed organic products and Slow Food, which surprisingly, are also among the stalls at the Borough Market, London's most famous local market.
True Italian gourmet dining then, which at the Olympics, will be even more glamorous. Starting with the symbols of top quality Made in Italy in the world, the great wines: Brunello di Montalcino with the "5 circles" from Castello Banfi, which will represent Italy in wine, officially selected by the UK wine merchant “Bibendum” and the “Official Team of great Italian wines” - the “11” producers Farnese, Feudi di San Gregorio, Cevico Group, Antica Casa Vinicola Scarpa, Colle Manora, Feudi di San Marzano, Argiolas, Barbanera, Azienda Agricola La Corsa, Cavit, Carpenè Malvolti - selected by “Mister-critic” Luca Maroni, the star at “Casa Italia”, in front of over 290 athletes, journalists and guests, and dishes from a "team" composed of star chefs like Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana, Modena, 3 Michelin stars), Massimo Spigaroli (Antica Corte Pallavicina Polesine Parmense, 1 Michelin star) and Pier Luigi Diego (Don Giovanni in Ferrara, 1 Michelin star).
But not only: at "Casa Nike" which boasts more than 70% of the athletes who compete in the Olympics sponsored by the U.S. giant as "guests", chef Nicola Batavia, owner of the restaurant "L’Birichin” in Turin, will be in the kitchen and the “Olympic" menus will be strictly from Piedmont, but not the accompanying wines: of the many Italian wines the chef selected first Barolo and Barbaresco and also, once again, Brunello di Montalcino.

Highlights - London 2012: WineNews visited "Vinopolis", the “wine town” (closed for the Olympics...).
It started over 10 years ago, from the intuition of a wine merchant, Duncan Vaughan-Arbuckle and the support of then Premier Tony Blair, a few steps from the Thames, the “Financial Times”, the Tate Modern, the Shakespeare Globe and the wonderful Borough Market, under the arches of an old Victorian railway, 3.000 square feet of space and investments for over 30 million euros. The idea was to have a real “wine town” where one could learn about, discover and taste the best wines in the world, all together in a unique venue, the heart of London, one of the capitals of the world, visited annually by millions of people, who do not consider “wine” one of their top reasons to come to this marvelous city by car, train or (more often) by plane. This is "Vinopolis", an idea outside the box, typical of the trend setting city par excellence, curious about everything that is not British, where this can happen, and where there is and always has been a historic and close relationship with wine, not on the production level, but certainly as a central market for this age-old beverage.
It’s a fact that the British have always played a key role in trade and commerce of wine, just as it is true that in many cases these merchants made the fortune of certain territories and their products, often “inventing” them from scratch for their needs.
The myths of Bordeaux, Port, Jerez, but also our Marsala, for example, such as the birth of modern wine marketing, have fathers often with a very British accent. There's no doubt about that. That's why the British should be taken seriously when it comes to innovations or new projects related to wine, which is why we did not think twice about taking a trip over the white cliffs to see “Vinopolis” first hand. Our tour was a sort of wine festival of banality and the journey to discover this fascinating world moved in stereotypical steps, far from a serious educational formation, with frequent drifts toward a style that we would call almost Disneyesque. And so we went from the arena where the wines are presented in mini-lessons to showrooms dedicated to different terroir of wines from around the world. Needless to say, France plays the leading role and Italy has only a room full of clichés, stereotypes and symbols of an approximate Made in Italy.
The actual wine tasting was not much better, with wines that almost never measured up (the New World takes the lion's share). But as we know, when it rains it pours, so we found very poor quality restaurants (both the service and the dishes), not only for the gourmet that the structure says they cater to, but also for anyone who has a minimum of good taste.
What was surprising visiting “Vinopolis” (whose winery will be closed during the Olympics in London in 2012 until august 23rd, but not the expo and restaurants) was that it shows its age - a sort of old fashioned “wine Museum” - it represents a huge missed opportunity and an investment that has not exactly been successful. At least in a city like London and the great British tradition associated with wine, its trade, and the spread of its culture and the legitimate expectations of an educated and knowledgeable public.