Italian Zonin1821 History
I went to the Zonin1821 portfolio tasting 2026 event. Zonin1821 is an Italian company, in the wine business, founded by the Zonin family in 1821, long before I was born. They started in the Veneto area, famous for the port of Venice, and Prosecco wine, and the Zonin bottle label is associated with this region.
They set up Zonin UK in 1998. How come I had never heard of them? This event aimed to put that right and it did.
They now have wines from Europe, France, Spain and Italy, and the Lebanon, South Africa, Chile and Argentina, and going south, from South Africa and New Zealand.
At a walk around tasting, I started with my favourite, Prosecco. From Italy. I compared a couple of them.
Then I went on to Asti, from Italy.
A couple of sweet Moscatos, muscats, sweet, of course.
Then a couple of Champagnes, from France, of course, to compare with Prosecco.
Wine Tasting
The walk around wine tasting of their wines had the usual arrangement of a good event, spittoons scattered about, because you could not drink many wines without ending up dancing on the table, falling asleep, or, as the old joke goes, under the table or under the host.
Some people like to taste wines without food, the better to isolate and concentrate on the aroma and savour the flavour of the wine. Others say, to be healthy, sober and sane, they prefer to taste wine with matching food. For them, a treat was to come. A chance to sit down, contemplate the colour of the wine in the glass, sip the wine and take tiny bites of flavoursome food with each wine.
The Zonin1821 Pairing Atelier: An Interactive Tasting Experience
A rare novelty, a sit down event, a masterclass, not just the usual sipping of half a dozen or more wines, whilst listening to an expert and watching slides, but this time tasting seven wines with assorted small plates of food, savoury - and sweet.
We took the glass of each wine in turn, nibbling something from each plate of food, deciding which food went best with the wine.
The fanned pear is on the left. The glasses are numbered on the paper sheet below. But we changed the order, putting the sweet wine last. We had letters, for the food? But sometimes one wine went with more than one food.
Practical Problems - Cutlery
At first I did not know how to divide up the food using spoons and a pastry fork. But the meat proved to be soft so you could tear it apart with fingers or the fork and spoon.
Practical Problems - Losing Your Catalogue
I had already lost my programme which had my marks out of 7 of all the wines I had liked at the walk around tasting. When you put down your programme book, beside a dozen others, to taste the wine, then look for your programme, where is yours?
Luckily I had taken photos of my favourite wines, so the bottle labels were my memory aids.
Next time I go to a wine tasting or event, I shall take a sticker with my name and phone number to put on my programme. That way I can see at a glance that a programme on the table is mine, before I leave. If I drop it, the finder can call me to let me know.
Note Taking Problems
Next, where should I make notes about food pairing?
The slide show, early on, included a slide with a list of the foods, and a list of the wines. Very good.
I reckoned it would be easier and quicker when making notes for members of the audience to have the slide copied onto a handout. The food on the left of your tasting page. The wines on the right. Then draw a line between the wine and the food it matched.
Or a list of all the matches. Circle your favourite.
Or a tick box for each pairing. Give it marks out of 7. From 1 for not good to 7 for heavenly.
My effort to write down the name of the wine, three to six words, then the names of the food, each of which had three ingredients, meant I needed to see the slide with the names of food, and missed commentary whilst I was trying to list the names of the food and wines.
I spoke to Federica afterwards, and she agreed that each time they held the event they could incorporate changes and improvements which would make it better and better, even better.
Solution - A Food and Wine Pairing Sheet
Meanwhile, I am thinking about printing off my own pairing sheets. I would carry them around on my red clipboard.
Fabulous Food - And Wine Matching
The food was fabulous. My favourite was the fanned pear, with stilton cheese in a creamy mousse. The name of the chef was not mentioned. The chef or supplier deserves a mention.
Which came first, food or drink, when planning the pairing? I presumed the wine producers and promoters would have picked seven wines to promote and asked the chef to do a pairing. At very least they might have asked for food to match in colour, for the red wine, the red meat, for white wines, white savouries, and a sweet dessert.
In a restaurant the sommelier might be shown the dish of the day, or dishes of the day. The chef created or selected recipes using what he has found, fresh, seasonal and reasonably priced in the market. The sommelier then has to match up wines to the food.
Many restaurant diners would pick the food first, then ask the sommelier for a wine to match.
At home you might have bought a new wine from the Zonin list, then wondered, what food can I cook to go with this?
Buying Zonin Wines On the Web
After I got home I searched on the internet for Zonin wines. Up popped their wines on Amazon. Quite reasonably priced.
I also found their website. The group is very successful, an umbrella group, connected with wines all over Italy and other places. In addition to the bottles with their own label, their portfolio includes wines with other labels.
What if you or one of your group cannot drink wine. In addition to those abstaining for religious reasons, people could be driving, taking pills, and you could have youngsters or cautious drinkers. I liked Zonin's refreshing Limoneto Spritz, sparkling wine with lemon juice. You can buy it from Amazon in a 75cl bottle, or in a collection of cans 25cl.
Low and No Alcohol
Whilst their entire collection was new to me, they were excited about what is new for them. They have kept pace with the trend towards low alcohol wines, and non alcohol wines, and wine not only in bottles, small bottles, but also in cans.
Training Sommeliers
They are training sommeliers, and their own staff worldwide, as well as wine writers, wine educators and influencers on pairing their wines with food. I tried six wines, whites, a rose, and reds, with six different savoury and sweet dishes.
Denni di Rosa, left. Federica Zanghirella, Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association, centre. Christopher Burr MW, right.
Federica Zanghirella, Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association, left. Christopher Burr MW right.
Three Wise Wine Experts
Instruction and enlightenment came from three delightful personalities.
Federica Zanghirella Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association. Glamorous and efficient, explaining how we were to save the delicious food to have some with each wine. Reminding us how in educational sessions we were sometimes given salty and sweet morsel to demonstrate how wine tastes different with different foods.
Christopher Burr MW. A Master of Wine always has worldwide knowledge. A walking encyclopaedia of wine.
Denni di Rosa BA, knowledgeable on the Italian region, his homeland, Zonin's global ambassador, was an impressive presence in stature and knowledge. He explained each wine in detail.
They all emphasized that matching the wine with food, and picking our favourite pairing, comparing our choices with those of the producers and experts and the majority opinion, was not a test, but should be fun.
Matching Wine With Food
We all wrote down which wine we thought suited which food, the best match, not only on colour, red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat or fish, sweet wine with dessert, but the wines might complement or contrast in flavour. Though the recommendations are a guidelines, a consensus of popular opinion, the fun of wine tasting and wine pairing is finding what you like, for a one off enjoyable surprise, but ideally something to add to your internal recipe book and shopping list.
I am a vintage customer, stuck in the Sixties, liking sweet wines, sparkling, white and rose. So my favourite pairing was the pear dessert with the sweet wine, Castello di Albola, Vin Santo del Chianti. From Tuscany. The wine variety was Trebbiano Toscano, Malvasia del Chianti. Size 50 c.
Here is Denni di Rosa. Proudly holding the wine I praised as my favourite.
My favourite wine paired with the pear dessert was from label Castello di Albola, Vin Santo Chinati Classico DOCG, varietal Trebbiano Toscano Malvasia del Chianti, 50 cl, costing more than £20. From Tuscany in Italy. On Amazon you can buy red or white wines with the same characteristic grand house on the label.
Useful Websites On Zonin Wine
https://www.zonin1821.com/en/
zonin.co.uk
Sommelier Association
https://www.uksommelierassociation.com/
Wiki on wines - Vinopedia
https://vinopedia.org/wiki/Indication_G%C3%A9ographique_Prot%C3%A9g%C3%A9e_(IGP)
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