First-ever Slow Wine Guide debuts in New York, Chicago

Slow Wine Guide an eco-friendly way to look at wine

By Dwight Casimere

Wine tasting photos by Dwight Casimere

1- 3, A recent Italian wine tasting at the Metropolitan Pavilion, New York

4-5 Tasting Italian wines at Vinitaly 2011

6-Spiaggia, Chicago

7-The kitchens at Spiaggia

8-The beach at Fort di Marmi, Italy

9-10 Monsanto estate in Tuscany

11-Planeta vineyards in southeastern Sicily

12-13 Planeta winery in Sicily

Wine lovers will have two unique opportunities to indulge in their passion for wine and be exposed to a new philosophy of winemaking that encompasses a concern for the environment while engaging in methods that improve wine quality.

Slow Wine, an English guide to Italian wines, will be unveiled in New York at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18^th St. #804 in Manhattan, Monday, January 30 from 6:30pm to 9pm and at Chicago’s prestigious Spiaggia restaurant on the Magnificent Mile, at 980 North Avenue, Thursday, February 2, from 6pm-8pm.

More than 140 wines from 60+ slow Wine producers will be presented at the Slow Wine Guide Publication Party in New York. Tickets are $35 for members of Slow Food NYC/$40 for general admission. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Slow Food NYC. Admission includes a complimentary copt of the Slow Wine Gjuide and a commemorative wine glass. Tickets are available at www.slowwineguidenyc.eventbrite.com.

Over 100 wines from 44 winemakers and 12 regions will be featured at the Chicago launch. A complimentary copy of the Slow Wine guide, published in the U.S. by Chelsea Green, will be given to each participant as part of their entry ticket for the event, which costs $35. To register, please visit http://www.eventbrite.com/org/1354305237.

The Slow Wine guide is a completely new approach to wine criticism because it evaluates wine in its entirety, taking into account wine quality, its type, faithfulness to terroir, its value to price quotient and the sensitivity of its producers to the environment through the use of sustainable viticulture practices.

Slow Wine gives a realistic snapshot of the current Italian wine landscape. The guide contains reviews of 400 different wineries that were personally visited by Slow Food experts.

“We’ve changed the way of reviewing wine,” said Marco Bolasco, CEO of Slow Food Editore. “We want to create new ways of discussing and exchanging contents, ideas and projects among producers, readers and Slow Food members with this international version of the guide.”

Slow wine is a philosophy of winemaking that emphasizes techniques which make the best wine for a given region rather than using technique which are optimal for bring wine to the marketplace, such as pumping, filtering and fining. These methods may speed up the winemaking process, but the ultimately have a negative impact on the wine and the environment.

Slow Wine is a parallel to the Slow Food movement, which emphasizes a way of living and eating that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to the community and the environment. This community of eco-gastronomy extends worldwide with a network of 100,000 members in 1,300 local chapters, called convivia, in 153 countries.

Among the Italian wines participants will have the opportunity to taste are San Lorenzo Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Antares 2008, Isole Olena Chianti Classico 2009 from Tuscany, and Planeta Chardonnay 2009 from Sicily. For the complete wine list, visit www.slowfood.it/slowine/pagine/ita/parliamodi.lasso?id_edit=944.