And Which One Is The Horse?

Italy's largest wine show takes place every April in the gorgeous city of Verona. Imagine the largest state fair that you have ever been to and multiply that by 10 and you may get close to the size and scope of this world of wine. Every one of Italy's regions, and I believe that there are 17 of them, are represented at this show. Many regions, like Tuscany for example, have buildings the size of 767 aircraft hangars to house all of Tuscany's wine producers. Each producer has a booth and they are all serving samples of their wines. I have absolutely no idea how they pull this event off. The logistics have to be stunning. In addition to wine, VinItaly also showcases Italian olive oils and while they are presented on nowhere near the scale as the wines are, the olive oil building is huge. Amy Jo and I visited the show three years ago and last month, while researching sources for a new Oilerie project I decided that I would need to return to Verona. Amy Jo's a real trooper and while not happy, she accepted the fact that I was going to go alone. This trip was all business and I would arrive in Verona on a Thursday afternoon and depart early the following Monday morning. Just four nights would be spent on the ground.

Verona has a remarkably well preserved Roman arena in the heart of the old city and my hotel was less than a block away from it. In fact the main walking/shopping street lay between the hotel and the arena so I was right there in the middle of it all. I checked into the Hotel Bologna on Thursday afternoon and was given the key to my room on the fourth floor. I stepped into the tiny elevator and searched for four. It turns out that I would have to exit on three and walk up the stairs up to the fourth floor (like standing in the longest, slowest line in any grocery store, this came as no surprise to me whatsoever) to find my room. I showered, took a quick nap and then strolled around the old quarter looking for a suitable restaurant. Dinner would be early and then back to the hotel so I could get 12 hours of sleep to make up for a night spent in economy class on United Airlines. When choosing a restaurant in Europe I always try to seek out one that serves primarily locals and does not have a "tourist menu" written in English. I considered myself lucky to find an Osteria in a quiet piazetta just a block off of the walking street. As I approached the tables outside, two men standing on the stoop both enthusiastically greeted me. "Geez, that's a good sign" I thought to myself. I sat down and promptly ordered a red wine. Their hand-written menu board indicated that they served several varieties of local red and white wines so my second and subsequent selections (please keep in mind the research value of my work) explored other varieties of local grapes. By the third glass, the outdoor area had gone from just me and three elderly gentlemen to a full piazetta featuring a broad spectrum of humanity and as each table started ordering food I was getting quite interested in the plates that were paraded past my table. This little Osteria featured foods from the Verona area and specialized in small plates. They seemed to have a good, better, best selection so I summoned the young waiter and I ordered all six of the house crostini "Tartine extra", each at 1.5 Euros. Soon a round wooden plate was delivered with six pieces of fresh bread, each topped with a tablespoon or two of a particular food group. Prosciutto crudo, Arvedo (prosciutto crudo e caprino), Blue Stilton con miele tartufato, Salsa tartufata e Brie, Bon-Ton and lastly Sfilacci di cavallo e caprino. I could make out many of the words and of course "prosciutto" was an easy one. I figured "miele" to be honey and I was pretty sure "tartufato" had something to do with truffles but the rest were just so many vowels and consonants waiting to be eaten.

I asked the young waiter to tell me what was what on my plate and as he finished pointing, and talking very fast in really broken English, I looked up at him and asked "and which one is the horse?" I won't lie to you (especially since more than one of you would tell Amy Jo that I was, if I did), this was very good food and drink. As I polished off the last morsels from round one I took delivery of two more pieces of crostini; Baccala mantecato & Baccala alla Vicentina. I knew that Baccala was salted Codfish as I have, on more than one occasion in Italian markets around the world, picked up a whole dried fish by the tail and waved it around wondering how anyone, could make anything, from such a thing. How!?! Well I still don't know; but I can tell you that the Baccala all Vicentina that I had at Osteria Mondod'oro in the heart of Verona was one of the best foods that I have ever put in my big mouth. Simply, superbly, stunning. I had three more nights in town and it looked like they would all finish at this restaurant. Afterwards I found a gelateria on the walk back to the hotel and I made sure that their products were up to snuff. That's me - all quality control all the time.

Friday morning I went to the show and started my search. This is one huge event and it seemed that everyone and Luigi where all trying to get through six turnstiles at the same time to enter the grounds. Once through the gates the crowds thinned out but only due to the enormity of the fair grounds. After walking for nearly three hours I needed a break and studying my pass I noted that I had also somehow qualified to enter a "Taste Italy" exhibit. Wandering over to the designated building I found a room which was open by invitation only to foreign retailers. I was given a credit card of sorts and allowed to enter. There were dispensing machines lining the walls and each machine held 6 or more bottles of wine. All told there were 100 wines in total and representing each region in Italy. By inserting the card into any one of the machines I could hold my glass under a spigot and then press a button above the bottle of wine that I wanted to try. A 1 ounce portion was then dispensed into my glass. I found an empty table and sat down with my wine. You know - most folks will tell you that if something seems to be too good to be true, then it usually is. But this simply was too good to be true. One hundred fine Italian wines and a free pass to try them all.

I looked at my glass. I looked at the little card. I looked around an almost empty room and I thought to myself - "O.k., so what's the catch". The room had two porters and two sommeliers. The porters were quick to bring a plate of flat bread and a small spit bucket to my table. "Ah so there's the catch, they want me to spit it all out!" I studied the other 3 folks in the room and they would swirl, sniff, taste and spit. Then with all seriousness they would write down their observations. "Well, this will never work" I thought as I sipped my wine. I just could not bring myself to waste perfectly good wine. Through hard work and determination I dug in and managed to drink more than waste. As they say "It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it".

I left the fair on Friday afternoon but it was still a little too early for dinner so I began the hunt for a small place that Amy Jo and I had found three years earlier. With tables outside on a busy alley it is the perfect spot to sip a Compari spritz and people watch until dinner time. That night at the osteria I had a plate with the most amazing fried sardines and a grilled cipollini onion as a starter and since I had been told that this was the best place in all of Verona for horse I ordered the Tartara di Cavallo. While I was waiting for the dish a local patron told me that the horse is one of the cleanest animals. "A horse will not drink dirty water nor will he eat dirt like a cowwww" the man said loudly, putting as much disdain into the word cow as he could possibly inject. The plate arrived with a huge portion of minced meat, some finely minced onion and a wedge of lemon. Asked later what raw horse tastes like I could only come up with the words "fresh and clean" to describe it. It was fabulous and as I finished my meal I told Paolo the proprietor that for my last meal on earth I would ask for those sardines, that grilled onion and Paolo's Tartara di Cavallo. I was a very happy man.

Saturday night's meal was grilled radicchio, a plate of sumptuous prosciutto and a grand assortment of local cheese. Sunday's dinner was an assortment of salumi, a bowl of silky polenta spiked with bits of Baccala alla Vicentina and the finale was a plate of all of the cheeses that I had not yet sampled including a black pepper studded number that Paolo unwrapped just for the occasion. And that's pretty much how the three days in Verona went; walk the fair, visit the wine room, sit and "spritz", dinner at the osteria and gelato before bed. With a stiff upper lip I put on a brave face and endured what can only be described -in the presence of Amy Jo - as "hell on earth". The trip was a huge success and you will see many new and exciting products introduced this year under the Oilerie brand. I can't tell you just yet what's coming but I can tell you that it will be worth the wait! And I'm not just horsing around......

Ciao Curt

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