Tales of the Italian food and wine – Trentino Alto Adige – Veneto – Friuli Venezia Giulia

Sea, hills and mountains follow one another in these regions rich in ancient culinary traditions.

TRENTINO ALTO ADIGE – VENETO – FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA

CHILI PEPPER

Cheese and speck are not the only delicacies that the mountains of Trentino can offer us.

Since 2013, in fact, there has been a cultivation of chili peppers ‘in the wild’, obtained from land that was once uncultivated but which has been recovered by Maurizio Zanghielli, the chili pepper man.

Few people know it, but the Trentino climate, made up of strong temperature fluctuations that see cold nights alternating with very hot days, is particularly suited to the cultivation of the much-loved little spicy devils. So Maurizio has as many as 30 different varieties in his ‘vegetable garden’, from the dreaded Habanero to the Hot Lemon Pepper, the citrus-scented chilies.

Creativity and resourcefulness have pushed Maurizio far beyond the simple sale of chili peppers as a vegetable: his flagship products are in fact small jars containing hot chili sauces, from the least spicy for sensitive palates to the most fiery for the real daredevils. And if you’re a true lover of spicy flavours, here’s a challenge for you: try ‘Inferno spread’, the sauce composed of 87% chili peppers and featuring 7 varieties of Habanero.

WINE IN ANFORA

As promised in the last issue, we return to the Veneto. And where could we go if not to the splendid Valpolicella? Already the ancient Romans more than two thousand years ago had intuited the oenological potential of these hills, starting to cultivate vines in order to transform the grapes into wine. With the protection of the Lessini mountains to the north, the beneficial influence of Lake Garda to the west, and the hills reaching up to 500 metres above sea level, the Valpolicella has a mild, almost Mediterranean climate, capable of accompanying the grapes to a high quality ripening. It is right in the heart of Valpolicella, in Sant’Ambrogio (in the area known as Classica, i.e. the area most historically dedicated to wine production) that the small Corte Bravi winery organically cultivates the indigenous Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinara varieties to make great red wines in a totally natural way. In addition to the great and timeless classics Valpolicella and Amarone, however, Corte Bravi often ventures into small experiments that often lead to pleasant discoveries: this is the case with their Corvina vinified in purity and aged for at least 5 months in terracotta amphorae. That of the amphora is an ancient technique, older than the classic maturation in wooden barrels we are used to, originating in Georgia, the country where the wine is believed to have originated. The amphora allows the wine to enjoy natural thermal insulation, all the more so if it is buried underground, with the added advantage, unlike wood, of not releasing aromas and tannins to the wine during ageing. Strawberries and blackcurrants, these are the overpowering aromas of Corte Bravi’s Corvina in amphora, endowed with the innate fruity and savoury sensations of the Corvina vine, left free to express itself precisely by the particular ageing technique chosen. 

In the next issue we will be catapulted into the lands of the sun: we will get to know the incredible products of Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia, three regions where the food… is worth the journey!