Thursday, September 29, 2016

Bottega del Vini The Super Bowl of Wine





Bottega del Vino

aka Bottega Vini


VERONA, ITALY


One of the oldest and historical Osteria in Verona. Bottega del vinowas founded in 1890 and nowadays is one of the most renowned restaurant in town, especially for the huge wine selection it offers. More than 1500 labels and 40.000 bottles with rarities and exceptionally valuable vintages. A chance to taste and discover not only almost all the local Veronese, but also other Italian and world wines.
Antica Bottega delVino is an illustrious survivor of the hundred osterias that once dotted Verona, meeting places for guilds and corporations. This was where the local dialect poets hung out together with Berto Barbarani, the bard of Verona, joined by journalists from the L'Arena and Gazzettino newspapers. Painters such as Dall’Oca Bianca and Umberto Boccioni came here to down quinti and goti.Antica Bottega del Vino is the only restaurant in Verona to be officially recognised as a “historic establishment” and boasts one of the 10 best restaurant wine cellars in Italy.  




Inside The Bottega del Vini

VERONA




.


Me (R) with COUSIN ANTHONY BELLINO (L)

Cosuin JOE MACARI and FRANKIE

At BOTTEGA del VINO


During THE SUPER BOWL of WINE

Vinitaly 2003

ITALY





Me at The BOTTEGA del VINI

with Cousin Joe (Left)

VERONA

2003



.



The Board at BOTTEGA del VINO



I first went onto the Bottega Vini on a trip I made to Italy in 1995 .. I fell in love with the place immediately. What Italian Wine lover wouldn't, for the Bottega del Vini iw without quetion Italy's single most famous WIne Bar of all. Some have coined it a Shrine to Wine, and I attend to agree. Over the years I've coined a number of terms myself that no one else had ever thought of until I myself, terms like Meatball Parm Mondays and others including one I thought up for the famed Bottega d' Vini of Verona, Italy ... The term I invented pertains to the Bottega Vini for just 5 days of the year. These 5 days are during the great Italian Wine Expostion held every April in Verona which is known as Vinitaly, which happens to be the largets wine exposition in the world incuding the great one they have in Bordeaux. 
Vinitaly for an Italian Wine Freak like me is one of the highlights of the year. I usually go to Veron and the fair the last three days of the event, to see and taste wine at Vinitaly with my many friends who have vineyards all over Italy. Friends like Nadi Zenato (Zenato Amarone), Sebastiano Rosa (winemaker of Sassicaia & Barua), famed wine-maker and owner of Podere Scalette in Greve Mr. Vittorio Fiore, Marchese Ferdinando Frescobaldi, Luigi Cappellini of Castello Verrazzano (Chianti), the Columbini's of Fattori Barbi (Brunello) Raffaela Bologna of Giacomo Bologna (Barbera), The King of Barbaresco my buddy Italo Stupino of Castel Neive and others.
I see all my friends who have vineyards all over Italy, we tatse their wines ; Brunello, Barolo, Chianti and ??? We chi-chat and I make plans with some to visit their vineyards for 5 days after Vinitaly has closed. I wake up, have breakfast, head to the fiar grounds and taste wine for about 6 hours before heading back to my hotel to freshen up, take a shower and a nap for a couple hours before going out for dinner at one of my favorite osteria or trattoria in Verona. We have a splendid meal each night with antipasti, pasta, Amarone, Valpolicella and what-not. After dinner it's off to Bottega Vini which is packed to the gills with Italians, Japanese, New Yorkers and others in the Italian Wine and or restuarant business along with some hardcore Italian Wine Geeks. The place is packed and for a New York Italian Wine Guy (formely Wine DIrector of; Barbetta, Bar Cichetti, and Bar Stuzzuchini) it's pure heaven. After the Italians the second highest number of peoples ahppens to be New York Italian Wine Guys such as myself. These New Yorkers are made up of people who sell wine on either the wholesale level (Wine Distributors and Importers) or the retail level (mostly at Italian Restaurants in NY or wine stores) ... Yes it's great to be in this shrine to Italian Wine in the beautiful little Italian city of Verona during the greatest Italian Wine EVent of all, Vinitaly. We're here at this historical wine bar with our Italian friends who make wine along with our friends and fellow New York Italian Wine Peeps and it's pure Bliss, and thus when describing it one day to a friend who wanted to know a little bit about it, I gave him a description and then just told him that being inside the Bottega Vini during Vinitaly was like the Super Bowl and for Italian Wine Guys it was quite literally


The Super Bowl of Wine.




Priming a Grand Burgundy Glass

at Bottega Vini

VERONA

This is the preferred Wine Glass to Drink Amarone

in Verona and its surrounding wine towns






The BOTTEGA

VINI






With COUSIN JOE MACARI

at BOTTEGA del VINI

2003







Severino Barzan

Former Owner of the BOTTEGA Del VINO








.


Severino Barzan

longtime owner of Bottega Vini

has sold this famed Osteria 
to a consortium of Amarone producers




The Amarone Families

as They are Called

Who Now Own The Bottega Vini







ALLEGRINI

MASI

SPERI

MUSELLA

TEDESCHI

TOMMASI

VENTURINI

ZENATO




The BAR








MANGIA ITALIANO

MEMORIES of ITALIAN FOOD



.
me-gp-motta


Giampaolo Motta (owner La Massa ... Greve)
and Author Daniel Bellin Zwicke at Bottega Vini





TOMMASI AMARONE

One of The Top Producers





ZENATO AMARONE





Author / Italian Wine-Guy DANIEL BELLINO

with NADIA ZENATO



screen-shot-2016-09-29-at-9-29-11-pm


VINI






.
screen-shot-2016-09-29-at-9-28-35-pm


Inside The BOTTEGA del VINI


VERONA 

ITALY








Piazza San Marco


Sommetimes we ht Venice wehn going to Vinitaly


"You Can Never Get Enough Venice"






Me on The Grand Canal

Venice, Italy

2001





Traghetto on The Grand Canal

VENICE


" A Traghetto is the way to get from one side of the Grand Canal to the other.
There are only 3 Bridges that cross the Grand Canal, so if you want to cross in-between those three bridges, then you take a Traghetto across the canal. The fare is only .50 Cents each way."






Me and Cousin Joe Macari

Enjoying a Prosecco

at a Bacaro in VENICE

2003





SUNDAY SAUCE


SUNDAY SAUCE

When ITALIAN-AMERICANS COOK




.
.
me-joe-tony-giofolnari



Joe Macri of Macari Vineyards Mattituk, New York

with Giovanni Folnari of Nozzole

Author Daniel Bellino Zwicke

and Anthony Bellino

Vinitaly 2003, Verona, Italy











JOE and TONY

and AMARONE


VERONA , ITALY


2003






Having a CAMPARI

Me and Cousin Tony


PIAZZA SAN MARCO


VENICE


.
.




.





No comments:

Post a Comment