Those that have followed my blog over the last few years, know how much I love Southern Italy. It is the basis in which we founded Mondo Imports, to highlight to those in Australia just how great Southern Italian wine can be.
Old Primitivo vines in Puglia.
Via Mondo Imports we represent many wineries from Southern Italy (ie from Rome south, even though many now in Italy think that anything under Florence should be considered Southern Italy!!). Our aim this year is to add a high class white wine producer from Puglia and hopefully we find one during our travels to Italy this year.
See below the producers we represent into Australia. Click on the link to visit each wineries website:
Tropea, Calabria. One of the many beautiful towns we visited on our family holiday in July this year.Pasta alla Norma at Restaurant Porta Marina, Siracusa
Well with Christmas done and dusted it is good to finally sit back and reflect on a fantastic 2013. The year though up many highlights, with my trip to Italy for a month with my family definitely on top of the list. We did nothing but eat, drink see some great sights and most importantly, spent a month together away with only each others company to enjoy. Even now, months after the trip, my children still talk about our time away. Something that for me is priceless.
Dinner in Puglia with Pasquale from Fatalone during our trip to Italy in April. Stefano on the left and Matt on the right.
Also my trip to Italy in April for business with my good mate Matt and younger brother Stefano was a real highlight. Whilst we pounded out the kilometers, how can you not enjoy eating and drinking your way around the whole of Italy in 14 days?
Birranova: Artisan beer from Puglia
We did lot’s of firsts. Australia was the first export country for artisian brewer Birranova from Puglia via @mondoimports. We also imported our first container of Prosciutto and Italian hard cheeses with the second container due to us any day now.
Deli and meat display cases to be used in the redevelopment of Boccaccio
Our planning for the redevelopment of Boccaccio has continued and on track to start in the first few months of next year. Two years of planning and approvals and we are slowly edging closer to our dream.
We also drank some great wines in 2013. Too many to name especially when you consider some of the dinner held during the year. If I had to pick one region, it would have to be Montalcino with so many great bottles from all the legends, Biondi Santi, Soldera, Fuligni and Costanti plus beautiful wines from new producers like Il Palazzone.
My Stefano Ferrara oven from Napoli.My backyard pizza’s with an ode to Napoli.
On the personal front, my pizza oven shipped all the way from Naples is in and ready. It took the good part of six months to get it done but was definitely worth the wait. Now I just need some spare time to use it and have all the people I have promised over for a pizza!!
Whilst there is still some work to do for 2013 (with our last container on Monday) the year is quickly drawing to a close. I hope everyone has a great break with their family. I am taking some time off with my family and will back at the back half of January. I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year.
Last week, my regular wine group (we have been meeting roughly once a month for over ten years) got together at one of our favorite venues, Scopri for a dinner focused on Tuscan Sangiovese.
We looked at all styles (Brunello, Chianti Classico Riserva, Vino Nobile and Supertuscan). Whilst most of the wines I had drunk before, it again highlighted to me just how good this grape variety is and importantly how much times it needs to open up.
A perfect example was the Biondi Santi Brunello do Montalcino 2006z this wine was opened 8 hours before dinner and even after it was poured, it was only in the last glass or so did it really start to shine. In the last hour, it opened up to show complexity, structure and tannin. I would have loved to keep a glass to drink the next day.
So it shows that great wines need time. I love watching a wine evolve. However if your are drinking top line Italian varietals, they need any hours, if not a day to really open up if you decide to drink them before they enter their drinking windows.
The late Franco Biondi Santi always opened the bottle the night before with one glass always taken out to let the wine breathe. After drinking his 2006, I could not agree more with this great man.
Ten containers in ten days. Sure keeps you fit. This time of year, the amount of Italian beer that is drunk is unbelievable. Thankfully we are fully stocked for summer…
il vino da tavola 