Among the highlights of 2009 was the opening of the Epicurean Center which also serves as a store for Alta Cucina’s premium Italian products, a dramatic increase in Alta Cucina’s web presence with an online store, a blog and facebook and twitter groups and a host of successful events and dinners throughout the year.
The Epicurean center, located at 22 East 38th Street, is home to wine tastings and cooking classes as well as corporate events and dinners. It is used to showcase small trade shows and walk around tastings as well as press conferences and the like.
Alta Cucina decided to offer its members a chance to celebrate the year with a sparkling wine tasting. The event was a success and was a chance for members, new and old, to meet each other and to taste some lovely wines which work well in this holiday season.
Alta Cucina tries to offer wines that are not all that common place and to offer its members the ability to taste new varieties and new wines as often as possible.
This tasting included four different white sparkling wines from four Italian regions including the Veneto, Campania, Fruili Venezia Giulia and Piedmont.
Each wine was made as a sparkling wine using the charmat method where the wine undergoes secondary refermentation in a large stainless steel tank before it is bottled. This is a different method than that used in France in Champagne. It tends to producer lighter, fruitier wines that are great for a toast or as an aperitif.
The four wines were made from indigenous grapes, or those native to Italy. These grapes, Prosecco, Aspirino, Ribolla Gialla and Moscato Bianco can all be made into sparkling wines and a few can also be made into dry still wines.
The Prosecco grape comes from the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene district, in the Province of Treviso. The wine which was offered was from the Serre winery, located at 300 to 500 meters. The winery has a favorable microclimate which produces healthy grapes with good acidity, a key to making good sparkling wine.
The second wine was made from Aspirinio, an ancient grape from the Campania region of Italy. It is grown in a city called Aversa and has a very particular method of cultivation. The grape vines are strung between poplar trees and create a huge wall of grape vines. Growers need 50 foot ladders to harvest the wines.
The third wine was from Azienda Agricola Colutta and hails from the Colli Orientali del Friuli and is made using the indigenous grape Ribolla Gialla which only grows in this region of Italy. , The firm was started at the beginning of the 1900s by the Colutta family. The winery has 18 hectares.
Lastly, Asti D.O.C.G. by Tosti was the fourth sparkling wine in the lineup. Asti DOCG is made from the Moscato Bianco grape. Asti comes from the Piedmont region of Italy and can be made in three different provinces. The wine is traditionally made as a low alcohol bubbly and never reaches more than 9.5% in terms of its alcoholic content.
The wines were accompanied by delicious snacks made Alta Cucina’s chef
Giovanni Sias, a native Sardinian. Sias’ combinations are always delicious, well prepared Italian morsels with a twist.
Guests were able to try different pairings of sparkling wines with cheeses and desserts and choose which match they liked best and which they thought worked well with which wine. The event was a perfect way to close out the year and to toast the holiday season with Alta Cucina members.
