Tag Archives: Elisabetta Foradori

Dressner pre-Oscar Italian party in Hollywood

Posted on by

When Lou (center) wrote “Examine and fondle real winemakers tonight at Lou!” yesterday on his blog, brother Anthony (left) and I were intrigued. Within minutes, we had devised a plan to crash the Dressner pre-Oscar Italian party in Hollywood.

It took a little coaxing but I finally managed to get Lou to step out from behind the bar for this photo op with Elisabetta Foradori (right), who only recently joined the Dressner Impeccable Academy of Natural Wines, Arts, and Sciences (she also appeared, you may remember, in the debut episode of the Italian Grape Name Pronunciation Project).

I was completely stoked to see Saša Radikon (right). Sasha is such a cool dude and his family’s wines entirely rock my world.

I also got a chance to talk to Alessandra Bera and Francesca Padovani, both of whom make fantastic wines (in Canelli, Piedmont and Sant’Angelo in Colle, Montalcino, Tuscany, respectively).

For many of them, it was a first trip to Los Angeles. I’m so thrilled to see these wines and winemakers here and it was WONDERFUL to hear Italian spoken last night at my favorite wine bar in the world, Lou on Vine.

You can taste all of their wines and many, many more at the Dressner magical mystery traveling road show event today in the City of Angeles.

Teroldego: Italian grape name pronunciation project

Posted on by

CLICK HERE FOR ALL EPISODES TO DATE.

After I read a — how can I put this gently? — not flawless transliteration of the ampelonym (grape name) Teroldego in Eric the Red’s recent article devoted to the grape variety, I felt that something needed to be done (and because Eric is a friend and a blogging colleague, I knew he wouldn’t mind).

My first thought was to record my own voice speaking the grape name and post shortly videos on YouTube. After all, I do possess a Ph.D. in Italian, I lived for many years in Italy, I travel there 3 or 4 times a year, and my Italian colleagues acknowledge that I speak Italian with native-speaker proficiency (however with a Padua accent).

But then it occurred to me: wouldn’t it be cool if I could get native Italian grape growers and winemakers to record themselves pronouncing the names of native grapes?

My first call was to Elisabetta Foradori, arguably the most famous producer of Teroldego and the subject of Eric’s article. I have never met her but she was kind enough to take my call and she laughed warmly when I described my idea to her. A few weeks later, she sent me a recording of her enunciating the ampelonym. The video above is the first in a series of the “Italian Grape Name Pronunciation Project” that I will post on YouTube and archive here at Do Bianchi.

I hope that this project will serve as a useful tool to wine professionals and wine lovers all over the world.

IF YOU ARE AN ITALIAN GRAPE GROWER OR WINEMAKER AND WOULD LIKE TO APPEAR IN THIS SERIES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AN MP3 OR ANY OTHER KIND OF AUDIO FILE (OR VIDEO) OF YOU PRONOUNCING THE NAME(S) OF NATIVE GRAPE VARIETIES.