Aperitivo is a cultural ritual in Italy that involves enjoying drinks and food before a meal. It is a time to socialize with friends and strangers in bars, restaurants, or cafes. It was also the first event organised by the Indo Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IICCI) under its newly launched ‘Il Dolce Vino’ Project reminiscent of ‘La Dolce Vita’ –the sweet life that Italy was known for during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Il Dolce Vino is the project launched by IICCI last year and is perhaps a Relaunch of ‘Italics Wine Club’ many chapters of which were established in many cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai.  Bengaluru and Pune successfully till they became a victim to Covid.

New Italian Star

Delhi was the first city where it was official launched with the head of the project Seema Chari organising an Aperitivo evening at the all-Italian Diva Restaurant in GK 2 with Alessandro Giuliani, President of IICCI present along with Claudio Maffioletti, it’s Secretary General who had the honour of starting the Italics Wine Clubs in the earlier Avatars. Cav. Subhash Arora who has been also involved in the earlier project, was invited to select and present wines for the evening. It was a full- house that had many novices who seemingly thoroughly enjoyed the Italian wines served with cheese and various aperitifs to pair with.

Late but auspicious start

One can understand the late arrival of most attendees who came late-it was a miracle many did not cancel due to the horrific traffic jam on the way to the restaurant, with clogged roads traditionally from 6 PM onwards in the Greater Kailash- 2 with the snarling traffic, reminiscent of Mumbai. But once the inflow started, there were nothing but smiling faces, busy conversing and meeting some old friends and making new ones, with the whole second floor filled with the guests.

Giuliani and Maffioletti talked briefly about the Project-it was a privilege for Delhi to be chosen as the city where it was launched; Satinder Kapur, President of the Northern Chapter of IICCI was also present at the event.  Mumbai where IICCI is headquartered, will have the next event on 17 January.

Italian wines selected for the evening

Arora had selected 4 wines from different parts of Italy. Including a sparkling and a white from Veneto, the biggest wine producing region and sparkling wine (the ubiquitous Prosecco). One was from the most popular and the biggest Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) grape Barbera and the fourth being from the biggest region Sicily with the largest wine surface area.

As Arora explained to the audience, the common thread in today’s event was relatively low alcohol in all the wines-ranging from 11-13%. With the rumble of harmful effect of alcohol getting louder in the past decades since  global warming, the message conveyed by Arora was to drink moderately and enjoy Italian wines which he has been promoting unabashedly due to the unique indigenous grapes, good quality and relatively low prices and high PQR (Price-quality ratio) wines with one of the oldest traditions and culture in Italy.

Bottega Brut Millessimato DOC 2022

One cannot talk about white wines from Veneto without mentioning and serving Prosecco, one of the spearheads of this region. Made from the local Glera grapes (minimum 90%), Arora opined that with affordable price and lightness on the palate with fruit forward flavours and zingy bubbles , it was no surprise that it had crossed the sale of 650 million bottles- double that of Champagne and making it the largest selling sparkling wine in the world.

Casa Bottega, the producer selected today, was a dominant player in the market, known for its Bottega Gold and 21 Prosecco Wine bars spread over many airports of Europe and Istanbul and Abu Dhabi. Bottega Brut Millesimato 2022 Prosecco (most Proseccos are non-vintage, implying that the grapes and juice may be from different harvests. Some special bubblies are crafted from grapes harvested in the same year like the Prosecco presented this evening. It was an excellent aperitif wine, and it was no surprise that they were a delicious match with the cheese platters centering on Cheddar and Brie with condiments, which were emptied in minutes. The bubbly was a delicious blend of softness and acidity and a harmonious wine with pleasant sweetness-it tasted like 10 gms/liter Sugar for the Brut which can have 0-12 gms of sugar.

Scaia Garganega Chardonnay IGT 2023 from Tenuta Sant’ Antonio, a winery near Lake Garda, was a winner with 12.5 % alcohol.   This dry unoaked wine with a 50-50 blend of the 2 grapes was bursting with aromas and flavours of tropical citrus fruits like pineapple, grapefruit and orange, apple, pear and even a light note of mango that won the heart and palate of many a novice and connoisseur. The Sicilian Arancini cheese balls paired well with the sparkler too. It was a great example of the winemaker using Chardonnay with the plebian grape of Soave and making an excellent IGT wine.

https://tenutasantantonio.it/en/

Barbera d’Asti DOCG 2021 from Cantina Povere was intense ruby red wine with notes of cherry, plums and orange peels and a low alcohol of 12.5% ABV (Alcohol by Volume) It was refreshing and pleasant wine with low tannins and vibrant acidity. A versatile wine, made from the most produced grape in Piemonte-and third in Italy after Sangiovese and Montepulciano,  would be an excellent match with a pepperoni (or the Italian sausages) pizza and even Indian dishes. As Arora explained, during the last couple of decades, there has been a wider range of styles with many single vineyard age-worthy wines that will take on the globally popular high-end Nebbiolo-based Barolo and Barbaresco wines in future, costing a fraction of their expensive cousins.

Collezione Sensi Terre Siciliane Shiraz IGT 2019 – The Tuscan producer Sensi has expanded its reach and added this IGT wine known as Terre Siciliane, using Shiraz that grows well in Sicily and has been a popular international grape with Sicilian terroir. This deep red colour wine also had an alcohol of 12.5%, quite low for a red wine. The dark colour wine had aromas of plums and red berries with spicy notes that continued well into the flavours as well. Presence of chocolate flavours in the wine made it an interesting wine.

By all means, it was a very successful, well-organised event with Diva chipping in rather well. The food quality and service were excellent. Diva continues to be an excellent popular destination for Italian food and wine. It would be worthwhile to explore it for future wine dinners for Il Dolce Vino too.

Also read:  Italics Wine Club: Three Barberas and a Masterclass

Subhash Arora