Merano – a preview in Milan

This year the Merano Wine Festival will crowd the Kurhaus on November 9-11th with a programme full of events. We had a tasty preview yesterday at Paola Jovinelli’s Convivium Lab-Arte del Convivio in Corso Magenta in Milan. «We’re proud», co-host Claudio Ceroni of MagentaBureau said «because we’re tied to Helmuth Köcher by a solid friendship. Before letting him speak, let me say that the collaboration between us and Merano continues and it will keep on growing in 2014: Milano Food&Wine Festival and Roma Food&Wine Festival but also an important event in October, during the fifth edition of Identità New York and, a few days later, at the Chicago Food & Wine Festival inside Eataly’s new location».

Köcher, curator and founder of the Merano Wine Festival, says: «For the 22nd edition, we’ve selected 320 among the over 900 Italian wineries that have sent their samples. All the country will be there, from North to South, and every region is represented. There will also be a strong international component, with a large presence of Georgia, the cradle of wine with over 8thousand years of history. And large space will also be given to the Club Excellence inside Hotel Terme, on Sunday 10th and Monday 11th: the distributors of great foreign wines, from France to Australia. And for the 17th year we will also host Culinaria, with a large range of great and typical Italian products, with 15 chefs participating in cooking shows». And something new: «On November 8th, during a gala dinner, we will present the Dialogues 2014 manifesto, the result of the work of 10 experts on current themes in the wine sector, which we will then present to the Minister of Agricultural Policies».

Among the ten experts, together with Joe Bastianich and Attilio Scienza, there’s also Paolo Marchi, the gastro-alter ego of all the Food & Wine events organised by Köcher: «It may seem banal, but eating without drinking and drinking without eating is restricting. This is why we are happy of all the partnerships that link us, and will continue to do so, to Helmuth». The food part during yesterday’s preview was signed by Alessandro Negrini and Nicola Dell’Agnolo, respectively chef and sommelier of Aimo e Nadia. «Why them?» Marchi explains his choice «Because no one defends Italian values like they do and for such a long time. Nicola, besides, also offers a menu in which first you are guided by the wines, and then the dishes are chosen accordingly». «These are five dishes», Dell’Agnolo points out, «that we have paired to the wines each time following a theme-menu: those tied to Piedmontese wine, or to the concepts of minerality, freshness…».

Meanwhile, the Tortelli filled with Piedmontese Fassone ossobuco and marrow with Sardinian saffron and Bonati parmigiano finish in a second: this is great dish that was moved from Via Montecuccoli to Corso Magenta: «This is our tribute to Milan». And there’s a cake that replicates another classic from Aimo e Nadia: Me-le mangio: renetta apple from Tirolo, Granny Smith, annurca apple, azzeruola juice and pulp and a brittle made with Italian style meringues». They are paired with the wines selected by Köcher: Cason Hirschprunn by Alois Lageder (pinot grigio-chardonnay-viognier, with important spicy notes), Atteindre l’Excellence by Zymè, from Valpolicella (mostly oseleta, marzemino and teroldego) and a 1999 (!) Moscato d’Asti by Marco Bianco. These are all «passionate» producers and chefs, says Köcher. The perfect state of mind.