Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/471637
24 / the tasting panel / march 2015 NEW YORK CITY SIPS I taly's valentine to New York, as it is each February, is a bevy of Italian wine-centric events. We got around to a few of them, also made the rounds to other global visitors who brought bottles through sleet, snow and a month of blizzards. Gambero Rosso's annual Tre Bicchieri World Tour arrived with six inches of snow, bringing more than 170 award-winning producers to show off grape varieties new and old. "Italy is a very old and a very new wine culture and we are all looking for lost varieties," said Marco Sabellico, the very dapper Editor-in-Chief of Gambero Rosso. "Italy is where people come when they are ready to move beyond the classics." While Tre Bichiarri travels to four cities (NYC, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago), Sabellico said, "We are everywhere there is an interest in Italian wines." The San Felice wine team landed with Francesco Bracali, the estate's Michelin-starred Chef, who hosted dinners at the James Beard House and at Manzo in the Eataly food emporium. Winemaker Leonardo Bellaccini presented three pairings from the Tuscan estate: San Felice Vigorello 2010 (an early Super Tuscan), the 2009 Brunello and the 2010 Il Grigio da San Felice Chianti Gran Selezione. The last bottle was a sample from a new category of wine, tasted by special commission before its election into the Gran Selezione. Of 400 producers entered for consideration, only 33 were so honored. Bellaccini said he created the wine because "we understood that Chianti is confusing in the mind of the consumer and that 'Reserve' doesn't represent the quality of our territory." Sommelier Keri Levens and Chef Jared Stafford-Hill hosted a family- style dinner for journalists featuring the young winemakers from the Union des Côtes de Bordeaux, an association created from the lesser- known vineyards of Blaye, Cadillac, Castillon and Francs. The appellations formed as a collective brand in 2007 to unofficially market well-made and approachable wines as a sort of "Bordeaux in blue jeans." Patricia Zabalza, Director of the group, which received official recognition in 2009, said, "I think the American consumer is right for our wines—affordable and easy and no tra-la-la." She noted all the wines are made by small family-owned estates—"people really engaged in what they do, who make the wine they personally think is the best, which is why you have such diversity from neighbor to neighbor." NY story and photos by Lana Bortolot The San Felice team (left to right): Winemaker Leonardo Bellaccini; Francesco Bracali, the estate's Michelin-starred Chef; Achille Di Carlo, General Manager of Hotel Borgo San Felice; Alessandra Zacchei, Executive Chef; and Nazareno Zacchei, Pastry Chef. Representatives from the Union des Côtes de Bordeaux (left to right): Director Patricia Zabalza; Yasmina Asseily, Château Biac; Jonathan Ducourt, Famille Ducourt; and Nicolas Carreau, Vignobles G. Carreau & Fils. Gambero Rosso's annual Tre Bicchieri World Tour brings more than 170 award-winning producers to show off grape varieties new and old. Pictured: Gambero Rosso Editor-in-Chief Marco Sabellico.