The new museum at The Italian Cultural Centre was set up with a wonderful display dedicated to the bicycling world, some beautiful historical pictures and an amazing display of Italian racing bikes. Well worth swinging by to check it out.

We tasted some incredible wines from the southern part of Italy; a land with an amazing mythological history. Even before the Roman Empire started to dominate these regions, the islands and the south of Italy benefited from a cultural cocktail during times when Greeks, African and Persian roamed in Mediterranean waters bringing their know-how and culture; making the southern part of Italy the true great-grandfather of Italian viticulture.

A couple of centuries ago the Spaniard and French introduced new grape varietals and winemaking techniques to these lands. Wines of the south offer an array of indigenous varietal, unfortunately many are still unknown, but they truly offer character and uniqueness.

Wines tasted…….

Our first wine was a Falanghina Sannio D.O.C Vesevio from Campagna, made with 100% Falanghina grapes, a good example of a varietal already worked by Ancient Romans; clean, dry, yet floral and soft making it a great wine for summer salads and light seafood dishes.

From the island of Sardegna Nuragu di Cagliari D.O.C S'elegas from Cantine Argiolas. Wine from Sardegna always brings interesting and clean flavours with a mineral finish. This one well represents that style. A great wine for any grilled fish and white meats.

Puglia is probably the most connected region in Italy to Greece, with just a ferry ride separating the two countries. Puglia viticulture goes back to ancient times; however the later trend is in modern style wines. From Puglia, we tasted an interesting Primitivo I.G.T A-Mano produced by an American winemaker living in Italy. Primitivo grape is the grandfather of American Zinfandel. A great wine for roasted lamb and grilled red meats.

Sicily took centre stage with three wines, a Nero D'Avola I.G.T Cusumano bringing to the table a soft and fruity wine, yet with the typical earthiness of the Nero d'Avola grapes. This wine is perfect with some cheese and spicy salami.

Our second Sicilian wine was a Passito di Pantelleria D.O.C Carlo Pellegrino. This wine is produced in the tiny island of Pantelleria, south of Sicily, a late harvest style wine produced in a warm climate with 100% Moscato, one of the first grapes imported by the Greeks into the Mediterranean islands. Candy fruit and nutty aromas. This wine proved very popular and we opened a second bottle.  Dip some biscotti in this one or try it with some almonds, best served a little chilled but not cold.

We could not taste wines from the south without including Marsala; one of Europe's most celebrated fortified wines. Marsala is one of the top ten D.O.C wines sold globally and is best known to most for international dishes such as Scaloppini al Marsala and Zabaglione.

This sherry style wine also makes a great after dinner wine. We tasted Marsala Fine D.O.C Carlo Pellegrino; one of the best producers on the island.  Try this with some smoked cheese and dry fruit.

As always, I'd like to thank Giulio Recchioni, assistant director of the Italian cultural Centre for helping co-ordinate the event. Luciano Loi, for his help keeping all the glasses full and answering some of the questions.

Remember, September 23, 2009 we will discover the wines from the north west, Piemonte, Lombardia and Emilia Romagna.

I suggest you book your space early.

Call The Italian Cultural Centre to reserve your spot at 604-430-3337.