November 2018 at #ItalianFWT will be all about Gaglioppo and Calabria. We will talk about wine in Calabria with a focus on the elusive and sometimes not well-understood Gaglioppo grape. As I have many friends from Calabria, it was also one of the regions except for Tuscany that I travelled to already during my first years in Italy around 2000.
However, it was only years later in 2014, that I started getting more curious about the Gaglioppo grape. I went to the Ciró area with my friend Savina (from Lamezia Terme) where I was introduced to Francesco Maria De Franco, the owner of ‘Avita winery. Thus, started my more in-depth exploration of wine in Ciró Marina and Calabria at large. By better understanding the grape and its potential, I fell in love with this hidden gem of a grape and the wine. Therefore, I suggested Gaglioppo and Calabria as a monthly theme in the Italian Food, Wine, and Travel group to better be able to share my passion for this region and its wine.
Wine from Calabria
For this months theme, I asked my friend Vincenzo Ippolito of the Ippolito 1845 winery that is a historical winery in Ciró if he was interested in helping get some wineries to send Gaglioppo wine to my fellow wine writers. He said yes, and thanks to Vincenzo the Gaglioppo and Calabria November theme will thus be sponsored with wine from five wineries in Ciró, namely Ippolito 1845, Librandi, Scala, Cataldo Calabretta, and ‘Avita. Now it seems like not all the wines arrived on time so the list of articles will be somewhat limited. When the wines arrive more articles will be published.
There are so many other fantastic smaller and bigger wine producers in Ciró also. Many of the smaller ones have gotten more visibility lately such as Cote di Franze, Tenuta del Conte, Ducropio winery, Vini dell’Aquila, Cataldo Calabretta, Sergio Arcuri, etc.
Learn more about Gaglioppo wine in Calabria with the #ItalianFWT writers:
Jennifer at Vino Travels will share “Cirò: The Ancient Jewel of Calabria”
Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Cam will share “Braised Beef Cheeks over Garlic Gnocchi + Statti Calabria Gaglioppo 2015”
Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm will share “The Food and Wine of Calabria”
Lauren at The Swirling Dervish will share “Exploring Calabrian Wine: The Du Cropio Estate in Cirò”
Jeff at Food Wine Click will share “Exploring the Toe of Italy’s Boot with Ciro Rosso”
Rupal at Syrah Queen will share “A Taste of Calabria: Librandi Wines of Ciro”
Katarina at Grapevine Adventures will share “A New Golden Age for the Gaglioppo in Calabria”
How to participate
On Saturday, November 3, at 11 am ET / 17.00 CEST the Italian Food, Wine, and Travel group explores Gaglioppo & Calabria – Hidden Gems in Italy in the #ItalianFWT chat on Twitter. All those of you who are interested in wine, food, and travel in Italy and Calabria are very welcome to participate in the chat on Saturday. It is always great to have new fellow Italian wine and food enthusiasts to join and add new perspectives to the discussion.
Join us on Twitter on Saturday by typing in the hashtag #ItalianFWT in the search field and click Enter, thereafter, you click Latest which will show you all the live tweets. In that way, you can take part in the live discussion. After the chat, you can also head over to read and comment on the article writers’ blog posts. It’s always nice to get feedback on the articles.
As you have noticed in this pre-article we will look deeper into the Gaglioppo wines of Calabria and learn more about local food and travel on Saturday. Come to give your personal contributions about Calabria.
