Spring Wine Seminar: Veneto

Most people who love Italian wine cite Piedmont and Tuscany as their favorite regions. And while it’s impossible to deny the prodigious merits of a well made Barolo or Brunello, the stylistic charms of Italy’s other wine regions are worth exploring. The Veneto is Italy’s most productive wine region and one of its most beautiful, stretching west to Lake Garda and north to the Alps and the Austrian border, from the lagoons and land behind the city of Venice, which for centuries wielded great power in the local wine trade and whose legacy reverberates in the region today. The bacari that line the city’s streets could rightfully be called humanity’s original wine bars, ideal watering holes providing a quick glass of vino for all those who could not afford the time or the money to sit and enjoy a meal. And the multitude of people who stood at their counters throughout the years and ordered quick glasses of vino or apertivi fueled the growth of some of the most popular wine styles in Italy, from Soave to Prosecco to Valpolicella—to say nothing of the virtues of the Veneto’s more serious red wines, such as Amarone, or even the rise in popularity of the aromatized wines and amaros that would have enormous impact on craft cocktails around the world.

In Venice, people still say andar per ombre, which means literally “going for shadows” a poetic term for hitting the various wine bars during the mid-day morning break or for aperitivi at night. It refers to the old practice of wine sellers who set up their stalls in the shadow of St. Mark’s bell tower, where the wines would stay cold for the longest time possible. So join us on Saturday for a walk in the shadows, where we will explore some of the most beloved wines the northern Italian countryside has to offer.

• Bisol, Prosecco Brut DOCG ‘Crede’, NV
• Adami, Prosecco Superiore Valdobbiadene DOCG ‘Bosco di Gica’, NV
• Inama, Soave Classico DOC, 2017
• Pieropan, Soave Classico DOC ‘La Rocca’, 2015
• Tenuta Sant’Antonio, Corvina Veneto IGT, ‘Scaia’, 2015
• Allegrini, Valpolicella DOC, 2017
• Musella, Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso, 2015
• Le Salette, Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, 2014

The Seminar begins promptly at 2pm, please arrive a few minutes before.
Includes an appropriately paired snack
Seating is very limited.
Reservations are required, by email or phone 505.983.2100
$20 Seminar Fee, credited with a $200 purchase.