Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/611718
108 / the tasting panel / december 2015 ALUMNI THE "GRADS" OF BANFI'S CRU ARTISTAN COLLEGE REVIEW THE 2015 SCHOOL YEAR by Jessie Birschbach O h, you want to learn about the wine of Italy? Great, open up a can of spaghetti and try to isolate one noodle by staring. That's a horrible, albeit appropriate, analogy, but of all the wine regions in the entire world, none is as complicated as Italy. This is especially frustrating to even the sharpest of sommeliers, who are tested in detail on this great, big, beautiful country and its ever-changing rules and regulations while trying to ascend the steps of the Court of Master Sommeliers, or some other such wine accreditation program. Lars Leicht, National Director of Banfi's Cru Artisan wines, realized this a few years ago while squiring a lucky few chosen sommeliers about Italy on an enrich- ment trip via the Guild of Sommeliers. This gave him the idea for the Cru Artisan College (CAC): a traveling group of mostly Italian winemakers and proprietors represented from Banfi's Cru Artisan portfolio. Says Leicht, "It's a learning opportunity. If you want to learn about Italy as a wine professional, outside of paid wine educational programs, your options consist mostly of Consorzio round-ups (which are sort of like these moving circuses and there's just too much to absorb) and importers that have their tradeshows. But the Cru Artisan College is something that is unique in its educational scope in the way that you have feedback from the producers themselves, who aren't talking about their brands so much as they're talking about their appellations. They're simply using their brands as examples." The up-and-coming 2016 tour will make for the Cru Artisan College's third year in the running. The curriculum has evolved over these past few years, and the CAC has become a more efficient and focused educational machine, which now, says Leicht, comprises of, "four meaty seminars preceded by a reception and concluded with a reception." "Professor" Nicolas Quille, Winemaker of Pacific Rim Winery in Washington State, says, "I expect another top notch syllabus for the 2016 Cru Artisan College and I am especially looking forward to discussing one of the hottest trends in the country—that is, rosé wines." Last year, the school bell rang in Seattle, San Francisco, Orange County and New York; so let's visit a couple of those cities and hear from the Cru Artisan alumni. PHOTOS: JOANN ARRUDA Wine Buyer Shelly Fitzgerald, CS, CSW, stands proudly in the Italian section of Downtown Spirits, Seattle. From left to right: La Lus Albarosa, Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, Sartori di Varona Bardolino Chiaretto, featured at Downtown Spirits, Seattle.