Vinitaly 2014 Trade Panel Focuses on Optimizing Italian Wine Visibility at Top Restaurants
New York, NY (PRWEB) January 13, 2014 -- Prominent NYC restaurateur Gianfranco Sorrentino and TV personality / restaurateur, Vic Rallo Jr. will take part in a trade seminar entitled, Tips on Marketing Your Wines to Restaurants at the Vinitaly 2014 US tour event in New York City on February 3rd. Vic and Gianfranco will be joined by Giuseppe Rosati, sommelier at Lidia Bastianich’s Felidia, to discuss best practices by producers and US wine trade for getting their wines on top restaurant wine lists. Lana Bortolot, New York editor of the Tasting Panel and Sommelier Journal, will moderate the seminar. The Vinitaly event, including walk-around tasting and seminars, will be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion. Registration is free for press and trade at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vinitaly-us-slow-wine-tickets-9297247317.
“For an Italian fine wine producer, building US business typically starts in New York and at leading on-premise accounts,” explains Stevie Kim, Managing Director, Vinitaly International. “We’re happy to have been able to assemble such a great group of restaurateurs to offer our producers insights into how to successfully sell in their wines.”
Originally from Naples, Gianfranco Sorrentino carries over 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry including management positions at Quisitana Hotel in Capri, Dorchester Hotel in London, Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo, Bice Restaurant in New York City and Sette MoMA at The Museum of Modern Art. In September 2001 (inauspicious timing!), he opened the critically acclaimed II Gattopardo (http://www.ilgattopardonyc.com), now just across the street from MoMA in the former Rockefeller Mansion (former home of Aquavit), along with his wife Paula Bolla and his talented Executive Chef Vito Gnazzo. In 2011, they opened The Leopard at des Artistes (http://www.theleopardnyc.com) in the New York landmark, Hotel des Artistes. In December 2013, Gianfranco and Paula opened their third restaurant, a casual dining concept, Mozzarella & Vino (http://www.mozzarellaevino) down the block from Il Gattopardo on 54th St.
Gianfranco serves as wine buyer at all three of his restaurants and the wine lists leans heavily on southern Italian labels, a homage to his Neapolitan heritage. The restaurants boast over 200 different labels, all of which are Italian.
Vic Rallo is the host of the new Italian food, wine and lifestyle PBS television show Eat!Drink!Italy! (http://eatdrinkitaly.org/blog/tag/pbs/) and owner of two New Jersey restaurants, Basil T’s Brewery & Italian Grill in Red Bank and Undici Taverna Rustica in Rumson, both of which have received the Wine Spectator Wine List Award of Excellence multiple times. Undici Taverna boasts the largest all-Italian wine selection in New Jersey and Vic’s restaurants sell the most Italian wine on-premise in the state. Vic also has one of the largest selections of hard to find wines from some of the top small Italian family producers on his website, http://www.Rallowines.com. He is the author of 21 Wines, a wine glossary book he penned with show co-host and wine connoisseur, Tony Verdoni. The primetime show Eat!Drink!Italy! has been picked up for a second series and is sponsored by prominent national wine importers and distributors such as Kobrand, Banville & Jones and Martin Scott Wines.
About Veronafiere
Veronafiere is the leading organizer of trade shows in Italy including Vinitaly (http://www.vinitaly.com), the largest wine event in the world. The 2013 47th edition of Vinitaly counted some 148,000 visitors (+6%), of which 53,000 were international attendees (+10%) visiting from 120 countries. On 95,000 square meters, 4.200 exhibitors welcomed trade professionals, media and producers alike. The next instalment of the fair will take place on 6th- 9th April 2014. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine (http://www.OperaWine.it) “Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers”, will unite international wine professionals on April 5th 2014 in the heart of Verona. Veronafiere also created Vinitaly International in 1998 to develop a global platform for the promotion of companies in the Italian wine and food sectors.
Denise Finnegan, Colangelo and Partners Public Relations, +1 6466242885 Ext: 228, [email protected]
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