Italian Food Lovers

For those Italian food lovers who live in Los Angeles or Southern California area, today Friday June 6 there is an LA event you simply cannot miss, TASTE Italy.

Organized by Academia Barilla partners Learn About Wine, TASTE Italy just found new event locations where food culture merges with architecture and design, Los Angeles’ A+D Museum (Architecture and Design Museum) and LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

TASTE Italy is one of the few wine events in the US where the selection of Italian wine producers and wineries not only is excellent, but also very consistent, with more than 50 premium and super premium wines to explore and discover each particular wine region or style in Italian wine making. Here is a partial list of the wines you can taste this evening at TASTE Italy:

Michelle Chiarlo, Barbera d’Asti, Piedmonte, Italy 2006
Pighin Estate, Pinto Grigio, Grave, Italy 2006
Nozzole, Chianti Classico Reserva, Tuscany, 2005
Guidalberto, Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia producer), Toscana, 2004
Tenute Silvio Nardi, Rosso di Montalcino, Tuscany 2005 
Tor Calvano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Tuscany 2004
Saia, Feudo Macari, Silicy 2004
Livio Felluga, Pinot Grigio, Grave 2007
Castello di Monsanto, Chianti Classico Riserva, Toscana 2004
Capezzana “Carmignano” 2003
Il Poggiale Morello Toscano Rosso 2005
Lasorda Pinot Grigio del Veneto 2006
Abbazia Prosecco Spumante Gold 2007 
Santi Valpolicella Ripasso 2005
Ca’ Bianca Gavi 2006
Rapitala “Campo Reale” Nero D’Avola 2006
Nino Negri Sfursat Valtellina 2004
San Leonino Chianti Classico 2004
Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico 2005
Castello de Volpaia Borgianni 2006
San Felice, Tenuta Perolla Vermentino 2007
San Felice, Tenuta Perolla Rosso 2006
San Felice, “Il Grigio” Chianti Classico Riserva 2004
Villa Jolanda, Moscato Rose’ NVMaioli, Dolcetto di Ovada, Piedmonte 2003 (LearnAboutWine Cellar)
Antinori, Santa Cristina, Sangiovese, Toscana, 1999 
Vietti, Barbera D’Asti “La Crena”, Asti/Piedmonte 2001 
Santa Martina, Rosso, Toscana, 2005
Canalegrande, Daniela Rigamonti, Barbera & Bonarda, 2005
Gaia, Ca’Marcanda, Promis, Toscana, 2004
Il Poggione, Brunello di Montalcino, 2001
Serpico, Dei Feudi Di San Gregorio, 2003
Palazzo Della Torre, Veronese, Allegrini, 2004
Terredora Greco
Terredora Falanghina
Terredora Aglianico
Argiano non Confonditur (Tuscan blend)
Ceuso Scurati (Nero Avola)
Maso Poli P Grigio 2006
Cantele Negroamaro Rosato 2007
Castrelvero Cortese 2007
Colosi Rosso 2006
Cantele Primitivo 2005
Castelvero Barbera 2006
Taburno Falanghina, Taburno 2007 
Caggiano Tari Aglianico, Campania 2006 
Molletieri Aglianico Cinque Querce, Campania 2005 
Bisol Prosecco
Lasorda GM Chianti Classicoadd
Val di Suga - Brunello di Montalcino Spuntali 1999
Ermacora Tocai Friulano 2006 
Rocca di Montegrossi Chianti Classico 2005 
Tenuta Garetto Barbera d’Asti Superiore”Fava” 2003
Vigne e Vini Schiaccianoci Negroamaro del Salento IGT 2005
Ca Berti Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro “Amabile” sweet

How can you taste all this great wines and not get drunk? Well, here is some great advice from the wine experts at Learn About Wine: you shouldn’t actually drink the wines you taste and, after visual, olfactive and mouth tasting, wines should be spit, as professional sommeliers and wine tasters do. Then, at the end of your tasting round, you can focus on the one or two wines that appealed most to your personal taste, and have a glass of them to fully enjoy the experience.

Other good advice is to actually get some food in between wines, and this is where Academia Barilla gets in at TASTE Italy. Italian Culinary Specialist Francesco Zimone will be at the event with a food tasting booth where you can explore Academia Barilla’s Italian regional food selection that matches the wine regions, with traditional gourmet specialties from Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Tuscany, Sardinia and Sicily - the best way to taste Italy (and balance the drinking)!

Other appetizers and desserts will be also provided by Angeli Caffè, one of LA’s best Italian restaurants, and Acadie Crepes, who will offering Mediterranean crepes both sweet and savory, another good way to match the different wine styles.

TASTE Italy opens today June 6 at 7:30 PM, and will close at 9:30 PM. The address to the A+D Museum is 5900 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90036 (right across from LACMA). Admission is 55$ advance purchase, 70$ at the door, with proceeds benefiting both A+D and LACMA Museums. For more info call Learn About Wine at +1 (310) 451-7600.

We provide here a Google Map for driving directions but allow us to suggest not to drive, so you can indulge (responsibly) in the wine tasting experience and don’t worry about going back home safely. Or, you can always have a designated driver who won’t be tasting wine, and still enjoying the event hanging out at the Academia Barilla booth for a great gourmet food tasting!

TASTE Italy is the first appointment of this new Friday Night Wine Tasting series at A+D, the next scheduled events will be TASTE Paso and BBQ on July 11th, TASTE Sonoma on August 1st, and TASTE ABC and Tango (Argentina, Brazil, Chile) on September 5th. Save the dates!

Final non-culinary suggestion? If you plan to attend the TASTE events at A+D, try to get there a few hours in advance, so you can also enjoy the great exhibitions at both the A+D Museum and LACMA.

The A+D Museum currently features “After the Flood“, an architecture exhibition presenting proposals for replacement housing and redevelopment in New Orleans Louisiana in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art features several parallel exhibitions and events, such Phantom Sightings, a selection Chicane video art, the photo exhibition of LA artist Philip-Lorca Dicorcia (through September), or the painting exhibition of artist Ernst Ludvig Kirchner.

Over the last couple of weeks Academia Barilla partnered and sponsored a couple of gourmet events in New York and in Tuscany, and will participate to a third event in Los Angeles, California, scheduled for the month of July.

The fil rouge that connects the three events is Italian wine, at its more elevated expression.

The first event has been the presentation of a book by author Sergio Esposito at the Italian Cultural Institute in NY. The event, held on May 5 in collaboration with Italian Wine Merchant, of which Sergio Esposito is Owner and funder, was centered on the recent release of the book “Passion on the Vine - a memoir of food, wine and family in the heart of Italy”, and had a few gourmet tasting moments on the side, to which Academia Barilla’s Italian Food Specialist Rosario Procino participated with a gourmet food tasting moment in favor of the event participants.

Last week Academia Barilla took part of an high-profile charity gala event at Corte del Vino, an event held at Fattoria Le Corti in San Casciano Val di Pesa (in the countryside outside Florence) to fund research on children’s tumors (through the Milan-based Association 7° piano and the Meyer Children Hospital of Florence) through a charity gala lunch and auction of very precious items.

Among the items on auction donated by top Italian collectors were precious Italian wine bottles with more than 20 years, a 6-liters bottle from 2005 serigraphed in gold (auction base: 5,500 Euros), the famous 3-liters bottle of Sagrantino 1997, awarded as one of the 12 best bottle of the historical last decade of the 20th century, or the famous 9-liters bottle of Apparita 2004 (both auction base: 1,500 euro), the 5-liters Zonin Acciaiolo, with the label engraved in gold by a Venetian glass master, or the Contini Bonaccossi Vin Santo di Capezzana 2000, awarded as best dessert wine in the world by the International Wine Challenge, in a 3-bottle box created specifically for this charity auction.

Beside the top section of the wine auction, other prizes has been part of the Corte del Vino charity auction. Four Seasons Firenze donated a spa treatment weekend at their location among the Franciacorta Vineyards in Chianti, and another signed by Henri Chenot in a resort previous residence of Prince Corsini in Maremma, southern Tuscany.

Academia Barilla supported the charity event by donating for the auction two days of dedicated cooking classes at the Academia Barilla Culinary School in Parma, Italy. Other top auction items as jewelry pieces and fashion exclusive clothings were donated for the auction by private donors.

From Chianti hills to Hollywood hills with the LA Wine Festival, scheduled in Los Angeles, California for the next month of July. The LA Wine Festival, today at its third edition, takes place at the Raleigh Studios right in the heart of Hollywood, and is organized by wine expert and celebrity Joel M. Fisher, PhD.

Professor Fisher, among other top wine expertises and qualifications, is wine columnist for the Culinary Connection of the Chefs de Cuisine Association of California, professor at Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, wine instructor for the Culinary Arts Department of the Art Institute of California, sommelier for the Escoffier Association of Southern California, and wine host for CRN’s What’s Cooking Show.

We will be blogging more about the LA Wine Festival, as Academia Barilla’s Italian Culinary Expert Francesco Zimone already scheduled his presence at the Los Angeles event; so save the date if you live in southern California: July 12 and 13 at the Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, LA. See you there!

Remember to drink wine responsibly and, most of all, to make sure to pair good wines with good gourmet food - we will surely talk soon about the wine and food pairing subject.

The Academia Barilla Culinary Center in Parma, Italy is being featured on GreatEveryDayItalianWines.com in the Turismo del Vino in Italy section under cooking schools for being one of the best Italian culinary schools to attend during trips to Italy.

Great Everyday Italian Wines provides an authentic, unique and exciting way for consumers and wine collectors to discover Italy’s hottest wines, wine makers, wineries, regions, importers, travel companies, wine shops and restaurants that feature great Italian wine selections.

Since the Academia Barilla Culinary School features also wine tasting and wine pairing classes, the guys at Great Everyday Italian Wines decided to review and list our culinary school in their web directory.

Quoting the notes from GreatEverydayItalianWines.com on the Academia Barilla Culinary Center:

“School is back in session. This is a wonderful professional equipped cooking school, in the center of Parma on a breath taking campus.

Think of the Culinary Institute of America in Italy where you can go to learn the art of Italian cooking, see the sites and keep thinking to yourself I hope this class never ends.

They have all types of classes, one-on-one training, day sessions to a whole week. Their website is very informative and will make you want to be their best student”.

Well, our website is very informative indeed; we invite you to browse it for more details about our Culinary School, which of course you can find also on our blog.

We will publish soon also more information about our culinary classes and other learning, touring and tasting activities at the Academia Barilla Culinary School - stay tuned!