I look forward to going to the Fancy Food Show every year especially in recent years since Italy has a much greater presence at the event. Walking down the aisles sampling so many different Italian food products is “almost” like being in Italy. But what is Italian food without Italian wine?

This year there were a number of wine producers from the different regions of Italy and I wanted to visit as many as possible.

Thought there were producers from Piedmont and the Veneto, most of them seemed to be from Southern Italy. Most of these wines are not imported to the U.S. and they were at the Fancy Food Show to find importers. What made it interesting to me was that I was able to taste wines I have never tasted before and to meet producers I did not know existed.

These are some of the producers I visited:

Roberto Sarotto (Piedmont) - they produce a wide range of wines including: Langhe Arneis, Dolcetto d’Alba, Barbera d’Alba, Barbaresco and Barolo. Their most traditional Barolo is the “Sarotto”. It is interesting to note that for the Barbaresco and Barolo they dry 5% of the grapes.

Azienda Vitivinicola Vicenzo Polito (Campania) produces a number of wines made from the Fiano and Aglianico grapes

Cantine Manimurci (Campania) They make a range of wines including Lacrima Christi del Vesuvio Bianco, Falanghina, Fiano di Avellino and Taurasi.

Pevin (Sicily) The make a large range of wines including Insolia, Nero d’Avola, Cerasuolo di Victoria and Frappato.

Palazzo della Vittoria  (Veneto) They make a number of wines including Pinot Grigio, Valpolicella Ripasso, and Amarone della Valpolicella.

I do not think that many people at the show knew that there was wine. It seemed to me that it was the Italian section that had most of the wine.  However I did see a few wine importers at the show.  But most people seemed more interested in the food than the wine. I guess that is why they call it the Fancy Food Show.