Delights Of Sweet Whites, Italian Wine tasting, matching and comparing, Prosecco, Champagne, More

 

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.amazon.co.uk/Castello-Albola-Santo-Chianti-DOCG/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=zonin

https://www.bottledandboxed.com/product/6697_zonin-prosecco-brut-millesimato-doc-75cl

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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If you love sweet and/or sparkling wine try these

I like sweet wines, semi-sweet, late harvest, Muscat grapes. 

Gewurztraminer is a grape variety, from Germany and many other places where it is known unofficially as one of the four noble (i.e. best) grapes of Alsace, alongside  Riesling, pinot gris and muscat. The name, gewurztraminer, means spicy. 

The sparkle in wines distracts the drinker and disguises the dry taste. But Champagnes come in a range of dryness to passably semi-sweet.

For sparkling wines, the expensive French wine is from the region of Champagne, the bottled Champagne from the Loire valley, places near Paris in the North, are favourites for Christmas Dinner (actually mid-day lunch), New Year's Eve and weddings.

Cheaper in price, but increasingly catching up in quality and price,

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

is Cava from Spain. Barcelona region, mostly. 

Finally, my favourite, Italy's cheap and cheerful Prosecco, for everyday prices.

From Italy, Prosecco marketing and popularity has apparently overtaken the 1960s favourite, Asti spumante (sparkling) and Asti Gancia. Asti is the place name. Spumante means sparkling.

From France:

In France you can tour the Champagne cellars. Wine with bubbles not from the Champagne region is called cremant (creamy - becasue of the white froth). I have a few more favourites from further south.

Beaunes de Venise - the older the better.

From the south

It is very expensive to make, picked grape by grape.

Port wine with dessert.

Perfect Prosecco? - Perfect Price!

From Tesco

Small bottles of Prosecco. A reduction if you buy three.

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Casanova Prosecco and More Fun Foods, Drinks and Stories From Imbibe

At the Imbibe exhibition at Olympia I had the chance to try tasting many drinks and a few snacks and hear talks about wines and spirits.

Beef jerky comes in more than one flavour. The original. Or sweet and hot. 

Crisps from Tyrrell's. Who would have thought there were so many flavours of crisps. Ham and cranberry crisps.

After all the gin, vodka an whisky, although you get small tastes at shows, and at events you are supposed to spit, you still soon need water or a soft drink. 

San Pellegrino flavours include Clementina, or Limone e menta. You can probably translate the Italian. The pictures of the fruit helps. Clementine. Leman and mint. 

Perrier water. Not just still and sparkling. Lemon. Or try Green Apple.

Problem

Prosecco? Which one?

What to snack on when I'm drinking beer, wine or spirits? What do add to reduce the alcohol content of spirits and make a colourful cocktail.

Answers

At the Imbibe exhibition at Olympia on July 3rd and 4th I tried a selection of wines and spirits and foods from around the world. Alas, the next show is not until this time next year. It's a show which is informative and fun, for doing deals with the on trade, where you drink on the premises - attracting sommeliers, more than the buyers from off licenses - shops selling alcohol for customers to take home.

Stories

My eye was caught by Prosecco. Something new. Casanova Prosecco. The basic Prosecco is the classic. The more expensive one is the pink one. Oddly, I liked the less expensive one. Jolly good. I am a cheap date.

Tips
More information from:
https://www.jacklinks.com
https://www.tyrrellscrisps.co.uk
https://www.sanpellegrino.com/uk/en
https://www.perrier.com
https://www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk
http://www.belvoirfruitfarms.com (Their USA website. You can switch from the US website to the UK website when logging in from the UK.)
https://www.proseccocasanova.com
http://www.tequila.net/tequila-reviews/extra-anejos/san-matias-tequila-extra-anejo-gran-reserva.html
imbibe.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Imbibe, wines, restaurants and hotels and attractions worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts. 

The Best Sweet Riesling From Corney & Barrow

I love sweet wines. I like muscat grapes, dessert wines, cocktails such as vodka and orange and Baileys. I enjoy Prosecco and cava and Champagne as an aperitif. Most reds are strong and dry and bore me, so I am always looking for a medium sweet, a sweet, a sparkling a pink wine.

I was in heaven when I went to a wine tasting hosted by Corney and Barrow. First the venue is a delight, and easy to find. It's a hidden gem. We walked from crowded Liverpool Street station, which has McDonalds, a Caffe Nero with no toilet, and a large Wetherspoons pub (later you can read my previous post on the station). From the busy street outside we disappeared into a pedestrian alley, into a tree lined square with a view of the Gherkin, then through lanterns bordering the stairs with heaters overhead which looked like torches, reminiscent of a Roman stage set.

In the secluded, elegant candle-lit darkness was the Corney and Barrow Restaurant. Beyond that the private room with four wines. At the start was a table of Rieslings from 2015, only a year ago, the new wines, and already Corney and Barrow are running out of their allocation.

I'd had Riesling before. I have studied about 20 hours and then a day at WSET (Wine and Spirit Eduction Trust) taking the level one exam which is roughly equivalent to an NVQ (vocational qualification for people serving wines in shops or restaurants). My husband has taken levels two and three and is studying for the diploma which consists of about nine exams taken over two years or longer. So I am forever hearing, "You can smell the petrol in Riesling".

In the Sixties and Seventies, like the rest of the British wining and dining world, I was into sweet wines and drank Mateus Rose, Black Tower, and had no idea of any regions nor any grapes.

Later, it must be the case that most of the Rieslings I have tasted in my short knowledgeable era of wine tasting have come from Alsace. I have now, thanks to Corney and Barrow, discovered the Rieslings from the Mosel region. I am told that the Mosel region consists of blue slate banks on three rivers, and the region was known by the names of the three rivers and areas, until somebody decided to simplify the name to make it more memorable. So now the region and the wine growing area are called simply Mosel.

I must have tried a dozen wines, started with the driest ending with the sweetest, and every one of them was delicious. Just to see whether I was simply in a good mood, I went over to the other three sets of wines, dry reds. Did I like all of them? No. Not one of them.

I was most interested to hear about wines grown on the side of Mount Etna. Fascinating.

However, if I had to choose a wine to drink or buy it would now be a Riesling from the Mosel.
Corner and Barrow have several restaurants and attached bars with extensive wine lists. You can also buy wine from them. They have offices in London, other parts of England, Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Singapore. You can also find them on Facebook, twitter and Instagram.
www.candbscene.co.uk is their blog.
www.corneyandbarrow.com
More about the restaurant and bar in my next post.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Lambrusco wine: what is it and where d'you get it?

Lambrusco is both a grape and a wine, made mainly from that grape. Lambrusco wine from Italy is found at Italian restaurants in the UK and many Uk supermarkets as well as in Italy and Italian restaurants worldwide.

Lambrusco was originally a dry red wine from the region of Italy where you get a lot of preserved pork meat, Parma ham from the city of Parma (I once went on a travel press trip sponsored by the factory and was taken on a tour). The Parmesan cheese is also from this region. Also salami. These strong meats and dark coloured meats go well with dark red wine which is slightly acidic which cuts through the fat of the meat in your mouth.

Lambrusco was exported to England as in addition a pink or rose colour wine, often sweetened with sparkle added. The Brits are famous for their sweet tooth. In the Sixties and Seventies sweetened Mateus Rose from Portugal was also sent to Britain and was very popular.

Now you can still get red, white or rose coloured and still or slightly sparkling Lambrusco wine in supermarkets and on many menus. Because the wine was produced in large quantity, sweeter and sparkling for the mass market, those wanting dry dark red, expensive wines tend to reject it and instead go for something recherché.

Not me. Sorry, I am with the majority, especially of women wine drinkers, and still young at heart and watching my wine budget. I am very glad if that makes Lambrusco more available as sweet, pink, sparkling wine at a good price, as well as Lambrusco red and Lambrusco white.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambrusco

Angela Lansbury