Bibenda Day 2012

I haven’t had much time for wine tasting lately.  I am studying for the Rome Guide Exam and it is more or less taking over my life.  I’ve attended a few tastings with our ladies tasting group and, recently, Bibenda Day at the Hotel Cavalieri.  I’ve posted about other tastings and events hosted by AIS on this blog, so I’ll spare you the details on what they are about.  These tastings are a great way to taste a great amount of wine in one space and get to know the regions and producers you really like without having to travel 100s of kilometers.

This years 46th Bibenda Day was a 2 day celebration of the organization in Rome with 430 produces of wine and food from all over Italy.  They also had special conference with winemakers in Italy and abroad.  I signed up for two, but due to a transportation strike and a mistake on my part I could not attend the Valentini tasting.  I did have the pleasure of not only taste some of the wines of Josko Gravner, I was able to spend two hours listening to him speak about his life, his approach to wine and his dear father.  You can read in more detail here at Katie Parla’s blog

The Tasting Room

Some of the delicious foodBenanti pour-beautiful wines with tons of mineality and very livelySkerk ,)Josko GravnerCopper wines of great complexity and intensityBreg 2005 (blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Riesling)Why this color?  Even though they are made with “white” grapes he ferments with the skins which not only extracts color but tannins, which give these wines longevity.  Conventional wines differ because red wines are fermented with the skins of dark grapes white wines are white because they are fermented without skins.  The also extracts intense aromas and flavors.
When you go to an AIS tasting,don’t forget your suit.