Written by Vice Chargée de Presse Sue Geary PhD FWS IWS SWS
Who said we can’t travel during a pandemic? Our member event for September of 2020 was a tasting Tour of Italy provided by Adrianna Pachelli of Caputo’s Market and Deli. We were delighted that Balli Provencal Phil Kress and Ira Falk of Chaîne USA were both able to join us for this event. There are some benefits to our virtual gatherings.
The carefully-selected cheeses, salumi, olives, and chocolate were delivered to the homes of everyone who registered for this event (even those in California). Once again, we collected our wines from the home of Vice Conseiller Gastronomique Sammie Doyle. Sammie reports that, whenever someone comes to her home now, her three-year-old son asks, “Are you here for wine?” Clearly, we have a future Chaîne member!
Our virtual tasting tour began with Vice Conseiller Culinaire Jodie Rogers’ introduction of Adri Pachelli. Adri then began our journey with olives from both Liguria and Sicilia. Balli Sheral Schowe presented our first wine, Donnafugata Anthilia Sicilia DOC 2019. The first cheeses took us to Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna. Vice Charge’ de Presse Sue Geary introduced Scaia Rosato Veneto IGT 2019 to accompany our second cheese samplers, from Veneto and Sardinia, as well as a lovely prosciutto from Friuli. We traveled next to Toscana and Calabria for a tasting of salumi paired with Podere Conca Agapanto Bolgheri DOC 2017. Sheral Schowe instructed us to pop the cork of our Marenco Pineto Brachetto d’Aqui DOCG for our last stops in Piemonte and Tuscana for two exquisite chocolates.
Adri showed her knowledge of the diverse and unique artisanal foods of Italy. She also revealed her love of the country and respect for its many culinary customs. The tastings reinforced the critical role of terroir, not only for wines, but also for traditional foods. Adri gave us insight into the effort that Caputo’s makes to assure that the foods it imports from Italy and other southern European countries taste as they should. This attention to authenticity and quality was the motivation for Caputo’s to add a cheese cave years ago.
We are fortunate to have this local specialty market. Since its founding by Tony Caputo in 1997, Caputo’s has grown to three locations. Matt Caputo has taken the reins for a second generation of this local treasure. Matt continues Caputo’s tradition by showing leadership among Salt Lake City’s local businesses in promoting responsible environmental practices and taking action on issues of importance to our community’s under-represented populations. Thank you to Caputo’s and to Adri for providing an informative and enjoyable Tour of Italy!
