L'Insieme

L'Insieme was founded in 1997 by Elio Altare. The project includes 6 other wineries: Mauro Veglio, Gianfranco Alessandria, Corino, Grasso, Morando, Caviola and Revello. Each winery chooses their best crus and makes the L'Insieme wine with those grapes. 

For every bottle produced, 5 euros goes to the fund. And each year on November 11, the fund is given to a charity. The beneficiaries include many types of charities, and the fund has given to over 42 different causes so far. 

What is the significance of November 11th? It's St. Martin's Day. St. Martin is the patron saint of warriors and winemakers, and a guardian of the unfortunate. He symbolized charity and compassion.

Altare L'Insieme. 
Revello Fratelli L'Insieme. 
Gianfranco Alessandria L'Insieme.
Silvio Grasso L'Insieme. 
And check out the L'Insieme website! 

If you want to learn more, Dan Gorge wrote about L'Insieme on his blog.

Barolo and Friends Oslo

February 23rd, there is a wine event for Wine Enthusiasts in Oslo. This event took place last year as well, and was so successful it's happening again this year! 
If you are not in the wine trade, don't worry! There are events open to the public, so anyone can go!
There are tastings, seminars and dinners, so there is a lot to choose from! 
If you are interested, check out the event here!

Me and Elio Altare

Some of the producers that are attending include Elio Altare (http://www.elioaltare.com/) and Cordero di Montezemolo (http://www.corderodimontezemolo.it)

New Year 2014: Felice Anno Nuovo

It's been a good year, with lots of good wine, great food and incredible people.
I've tried more new wines this year than the year before, met new people in the wine industry and tried different types of winery work. Safe to say it's been an amazing year "wine wise". 

Hopefully next year will be equally great or perhaps even better. Maybe I'll get to try Harvest, something I always miss due to school. Since I graduate in May, I hope that I'll be able to go to Harvest, even though I'll have to go to the gym everyday if I want to be any help at all. 

 

Thank you to everyone who made this year great! Especially my friends in Italy! I miss you guys and hope to see you soon!

Felice Anno Nuovo!

Elio Altare Dinner

Fantastic. Just fantastic. 
The Elio Altare Winemaker Dinner overcame all expectations. First of all, it was great to see Elio again. Second of all, the restaurant La Pizza Fresca in  New York, was quite nice. I have never been before, but I was quite impressed and their wine list is quite impressive.

We sat at our own table, was served a four course meal and had 7 glasses of wine.
Dolcetto
Barbera
Barolo (La Morra) 2004 and 2010
Barolo Arborina 2004, 2007 and 2010.

Elio looked great as always, was modest as always and still believes he can't speak English. He still made a speech, in Italian, and one of his Skurnik representatives translated. 

If you want to know more about La Pizza Fresca, check it out here.

Cinque Terre

Elio Altare is famous for his Barolo's, Barbera's and hi Dolcetto's. What fewer know about, is his project on the edge of Cinque Terre. 
Altare produces white and red wine on the edge of a cliff along the ocean in Cinque Terre. The work is hard, the hills are steep, but the final product is very good. His white from this area is one of my favorites.

The project interests me for many reasons. He is, of course, Elio Altare. His passion for wine is contagious and it was on that cliff in his vineyard along the coast that I first started to love wine; and that was before I had even tasted it. 

A more practical aspect of the project: it helps keep the earth in tact and prevents mudlsides. Mudslides have been a problem in the area, and Altare's vineyard is part of preventing future ones.

Wine production is expensive and hard work, but this little adorable man eagrly runs up and down those hills. And there are no machines. I repeat, there is no tractor or car or anything. They carry the grapes on their backs. 

You can check out the project on their website here.

Toni Fadnes, author of How To Wine Travel wrote a wonderful article about Altare's project in Cinque Terre. You can find the article: here.

Read about Cinque Terre and Elio here: TheVipTable

Winemakerselfie

 

 

Summer 2014 in Wine

 

#tbt

#tbt: Summer 2013

 

The Beginning

Summer 2011, I went to Cinque Terre, Italy, with my family. There I met Elio Altare, the winemaker behind Altare wines, and it was one of the most memorable moments in my life. Señor Altare showed me the love he has for his wine, and it sparked something in me. Interest, curiosity, passion, love; call it what you want, but this initial meeting has started me on a sort of journey, a journey that evolved the next summer.

Cinque Terre

Summer, 2012, I had the pleasure of experiencing a wine tasting for the first time, in Piemonte, Italiy. My Dad has long been interested in wine, and finally I had the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. Because to me, wine was just wine. Alcohol. Some tasted good, some tasted not so good. But in the end, to me, it was just a bottle with alcoholic content. After last summer, I no longer see it that way. And I will tell you why.

I am not sure where to begin. But I soon figured out that the bottle sitting in front of me had more to it than first meets the eye. The people I met, the farmer who produce the wine, they are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. Their passion for what they do is contagious. They tell their story, using their whole bodies, explaining and elaborating on the long process behind the bottle sitting in your home. These people care for their grapes, they care for their wine, and they treat the whole process with lots and lots of love. They light up when talking about their wines, and it is clear they really love what they do.

After meeting some of the winemakers in person, it makes all the difference, at least to me. When I open a Vietti wine, not only do I enjoy the taste, but I recall all those incredible moments I had with Elena, one of makers of Vietti wine. And I think maybe that for me, that is the point. I’m not that interested in all the details of the actual process of making wine. I am interested in the people, the story, and the passion.

Rejoice.