The great culture of wine in Matera European Capital of Culture (with Assoenologi)

“Wine is the son of culture: scientific, historical, artistic. And for this reason we wanted to embrace the “sanctuaries” where wine has always been made at levels of absolute excellence, such as Champagne, Burgundy, and Langhe, but also looking at the new frontiers, from Japan to Russia, to reiterate the message that through culture and knowledge, even new areas and territory in the world can make quality wine, and winemakers must know and tell it”. So, to WineNews, the president of Assoenologi Riccardo Cotarella, announces the Congress of Italian Oenologists, which will be staged from October 31 to November 2, in Matera, European Capital of Culture 2019, with the contribution of the Enoteca Regionale Lucana led by Paolo Montrone, and that among the guests of the opening conference in the afternoon of October 31, led by Federico Quaranta, in addition to the Minister of Agriculture and Tourism Gian Marco Centinaio, will see the presence of the President of the Council Giuseppe Conte. “I met him first at Vinitaly, then at the International Forum of Wine Culture organized by Franco Ricci's Italian Sommelier Foundation, and I invited him to our Congress saying that it is an important event in which no less than a thousand people participate. He immediately accepted the invitation, underlining that he would have come even if there had been 50. As well as being an extremely kind person, I believe that our  Premier is well aware of the importance of wine not only as an economy, but as an element of culture in the Belpaese, and that is very important. He is already an honorary sommelier, and we will certainly also nominate him an honorary oenologist”.
From November 1 onwards, two days of speeches, talk shows and tastings. In the first session of the conference, there will be three wine cult areas, considered the ”sanctuaries” of viticulture and world enology: Champagne, Burgundy, and Langhe. Alberto Lupetti, one of the greatest experts and connoisseurs of Champagne in Europe, will talk about the king of bubbles, by explaining the climatic and productive characteristics of this region, and introducing three products chosen from among the most representative: a Perrier-Jouët Blason Rosé, a Vilmart Grand Cellier d’Or 2014 and a Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2007 by Taittinger.
Then there will be Burgundy, which will be told by Armando Castagno, an expert on the French territory to the point of also being named “Chevalier du Tastevin in the Château du Clos de Vougeot”, which will shed light on one of the most prestigious wine regions in the world, with wines such as Saint-Romain Aoc Rouge 2017 by Alain Gras in the glass; Vosne-Romanée 1er cru Aoc Les Beaux Monts 2016 by Bruno Clavelier and Meursault 1er cru Aoc Perriéres 2016 by Ballot Millot.
Gianni Fabrizio, one of the editors of the Gambero Rosso wine guide, will examine the Langhe, with wines such as Roero Docg Srü 2015 from Cantina Monchiero Carbone, Barbaresco Docg Bernadot 2015 from Ceretto and Barolo Docg “Le Vigne” 2013 from Luciano Sandrone in the glass. In the afternoon, however, under the spotlight will be the territory of Basilicata, described by journalist Luciano Pignataro, with the contribution of the consortia Qui Vulture, Agliano del Vulture, Matera Doc, Grottino di Roccanova and Terre dell’Alta Val d’Agri, while at the end of the show will be the traditional talk show led by journalist and producer in Puglia, Bruno Vespa, and where are expected characters such as actors Nerì Marcorè and Rocco Papaleo, and is invited the king of cultural and scientific disseminators of the Belpaese, Piero Angela, “which I invited already last year during an event in Venice. And to highlight the cultural value of wine, there will also be an exhibition of high-level paintings dedicated to wine, selected for us by art critic Philippe Daverio, as well as a selection of the rarest and most important finds from a Wine Museum of Georgia,” says Cotarella.
Saturday, November 2, to open the work will be the general director of Ismea, Raffaele Borriello, who will talk about the dynamics of the wine industry with a focus on the competitiveness of companies in the south, and then the journey through the “new frontiers”, three particular regions of the world wine scene, which have unique characteristics for terroir and production techniques. Starting from Japan, with Nobuo Oda, president of Camel Group - 7.000 employees and 400 wine shops in the country - accompanied by the general manager of the Cellar Camel Farm, Masayuki Kinoshita, who will introduce the region of Hokkaido, where during winter there are less than 30 degrees with two meters of snow, and where a new era has begun for Japanese wine, with the Japanese North that, after Great Britain, explain the Winemakers, has become the last frontier of sparkling wine, an eastern run after Champagne. In the glass, the Camel Brut Méthode Traditionnelle 2014¸ a Kerner Private Reserve 2018 and a Regent 2016.
Maxim Troychuk, son of Valery Troychuk, owner of the Vedernikov Winery, 160 km from the city of Rostov on the Don, in one of the coldest areas of wine production in the world, where very special production techniques are applied, such as burying the vines before winter to protect them from frost and then unearthing them in spring, which will be told in the glass with a taste of Tsimlyanskiy Cherniy 2016 and Krasnostop Zolotovskiy 2014. Finally, in Portugal, there is Pedro Ribero, winemaker director of Herdade do Rocim and consultant for several wine producers in Alentejo and other regions, who will talk about wine in the amphora and his personal project “Bojador” Vinho de Talha (amphora), at the top of the rankings of the best Portuguese wines, with the tasting of Herdade do Rocim Amphora White and Herdade do Rocim Amphora Red, both of 2018. While the closing will be in one of the most symbolic places of Basilicata, the Castle of Venosa, with the gala dinner with the excellence of the territory signed by the Enoteca Regionale Lucana. An opportunity, the Congress Assoenologi in Matera, also to shed light on the production of Basilicata, a region where viticulture is present since 1.300 before Christian, told in the testimonies of the historians Romans Pliny and Stradone, with peculiarities such as the “Grottino”, one of the 4 Doc of the Region (Aglianico del Vulture, Grottino di Roccanova, Matera and Terre dell'Alta Val d’Agri, while the only Docg is the Aglianico del Vulture Superiore), which takes its name from the caves used for the production of wine that are located in Barile or among the same “Sassi” of Matera. A region of great history, but with a small productions, both wine (on the whole less than 90,000 hectolitres divine, 90% red), and in its gastronomic excellence Dop (such as the Pecorino di Filiano and the Fagioli Bianchi di Rotonda) and Igp (from the famous Pane di Matera to Peperoni di Senise, for example), and that also the virtues of its size, must focus on niches and excellence, and not on quantities, as Paolo Montrone explains to WineNews, at the helm of the Lucana Regional Wine Shop (and the WineRy King Manfredi - Terre Giv-Group Italian Wines, ed.).
“It is an opportunity that we cannot miss, and I am sure that it will increase the importance of the wine sector and not only that of the Region, which will certainly stand out. The Basilicata is growing a lot, but our products - explains Montrone - are little known and we still have to work hard. Matera, European Capital of Culture, has brought a flow of tourists from all over the world”.
The Aglianico del Vulture is already a very appreciated wine, it is going well with the producers who work to achieve quality. For food, there is still work to be done to promote excellence such as caciocavallo podolico, podolica meat and cold cuts. These are all excellences linked to small businesses that are difficult to find on the market. These small companies must remain of this size and focus only on quality. Niche products and we must also not become industrial. We must focus all on quality, we are a region of small designations, the largest is the Aglianico del Vulture, but we talk about a few million bottles altogether. A focus on quality is the only way we can emerge ”.