Events

Taste on the stage
«Enoteka» №7-8 (65) 2008

Italian journalist and author of several books on wine and food Marcello Coronini held a new event called Gusto in Scena (Taste on the Stage) in Venice.

It was born from the idea to unite synergies of restaurant and wine spheres and to create a platform for meetings between restaurateurs of high cuisine and quality wine and food producers. It was decided to present the event in a conceptually new format with three main topics — Chef in Concerto (Chef in Concert), I Magnifici Vini (Magnificent Wines) and Seduzioni di Gola (Gastronomic Temptations).

An impressive list of participants was featured at Gusto in Scena. Top chefs of Spain and Italy were invited, thus instantly confirming a serious weight of a new event. The Spanish are world trend setters in the culinary movement today. Presentations by Juan Mari Arzak, Pedro Subijana, Martin Berasategui — with each boasting a reputation of a world class chef and a three Michelin stars restaurant — were most captivating and kept the attention of audience from start to finish.

Italian cuisine is known in the international circles as the one that defends traditions and is committed to local products — and it is indeed so. Yet, there is a group of Italian chefs who creatively interpret traditions and build a new, pure, emo-intellectual style of the country’s cuisine. Apart from Gualtiero Marchesi, now considered Italian classic, innovative ideas at the forum were presented by Norbert Niederkofler, St. Hubertus restaurant near Bolzano, Corrado Fasolato, Met in Venice, Mauro Uliassi, Uliassi in Senigallia, Herbert Hintner, Zue Rose near Bolzano and some others.

Over twenty Spanish and Italian chefs talked on the stage during the three days of the event. The main focus was given to issues of traditions and innovations and to vegetables and herbs. The highlight on vegetables and herbs, by the way, is in line with new preferences of leading chefs, and it was recently discussed at the main world culinary congress Madridfusion. Additionally, presentations by professor-pharmacologist Francesco Scaglione were given. He offered an analysis of substances and additives used in the kitchen, and also touched upon health issues.

Gastronomic topics were discussed at the back stage too, especially during dinners which were held in fine Venetian restaurants Met at Metropol Hotel and Grand Canal at Monaco & Grand Canal Hotel. In the former, chef Corrado Fasolato offered an extraordinary interpretation of cuisine from the Venetian lagoon — with such creative and brilliantly made dishes as anchovies with onion sauce and raspberries or dried salted cod with millefeuille of polenta and Savoy cabbage. Traditional Venetian dishes were served in Grand Canal restaurant — risotto with sea snails and cuttlefish Venetian style. After dinners many discussions continued in Skyline bar on the top floor of Molino Stucky Hilton hotel complex which was recently refurbished and served as venue for the enogastronomic forum. It was in the bar where maestro Arzak well past midnight talked emotionally about his philosophy, approaches and general evolution of modern culinary movement.

Returning back to the main programme. While chefs were speaking in the auditorium, I Magnifici Vini tasting took place in the adjacent halls. About a hundred quality Italian estates were invited to participate. The tasting’s full title was “Magnificent Wines of Sea, Mountains, Plains and Hills”. Organiser Marcello Coronini decided to move away from common wine classifications and offered a new category approach based on a local landscape. He singled out four dominant features which are most typical for Italy — sea, mountains, plains and hills. This division is, naturally, rather conditional as it doesn’t take into account other important aspects such as climate, soils and others, and many winemakers pointed that out. Yet, Coronini’s classification helps draw attention to the role of landscape in winemaking and find common features in wines from similar topographic conditions. This concept may also be attractive for final consumers as it offers a more understandable reference to a wine’s origin. Some wineries are already using it. For example, Nia Maro labels of a Sicilian producer Miceli have easily recognizable sea features. A small wine grower Guiliano Coutandin in Piedmont invariably presents his range as vini di montagna — mountain wines.

Tables of producers under “Wines of sea” category mainly featured collections from Sicily and Sardinia, as well as several wines from Lazio, Puglia and Tuscany. Wines of Sicilian estate Miceli and Puglian Schola Sarmenti made from local varieties offered a lot of individuality. As expected, a selection of mountain wines was dominated by Alto Adige including labels from well known Cantina di Terlano and Colterenzio. “Extreme” Valtellina in the Northern Lombardy was presented by Nino Negri and Serto Salis. One could also taste Benanti wines from Etna and Foradori from Trentino in this group. Wines of plains were small in number but good in quality from producers Podere Selva Capuzza and Tenuta Roveglia from the Lombardian Lugana zone. The collection of wines of hills was the largest. Its geography covered almost all Italy from Piedmont and Friuli in the north to Tuscany and Umbria in the centre and Campania and Basilicata in the south of the country. Many famous wines were offered for tasting — Tenuta San Leonardo from Trentino, Anselmi from Veneto, Felsina and Boscarelli from Tuscany, Feudi di San Gregorio from Campania and others. The main discovery, though, were Piedmontese wineries of once renowned, but now fallen into oblivion areas Lessona, Ghemme and Gattinara. Their best representatives, such as I Porfidi Bramaterra by Tenute Sella 1671 or Ghemme Riserva by Rovellotti have a full right to be presented as top Italian Nebbiolo wines.

Exhibition hall Seduzioni di Gola gathered premium food products of a great variety. They featured pink Himalayan salt, Iberian hamon, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fish, marmalades. Chocolate from artisanal producer Giraudi in Alessandria shook both the imagination and the palate.

In general, the innovative format of Gusto in Scena was well received by participants and guests. It hasn’t yet caught attention of international public due to the factor of novelty. Representatives of HoReCa segment, especially those from Veneto region, and general wine and gastronomy lovers were main visitors of the first forum. Winemakers noted that many visitors left tastings to listen to the chefs’ presentations, and that they mainly gathered in the evening, though the tasting was open from the morning. Also, despite all attractions of Venice and the comfort of Hilton hotel, the city makes logistics and access rather complicated. If these things are considered for future events, Gusto in Scena has a good chance to attain the status of an important enogastronomic forum both in Italy and in Europe.