By: The Drink Wine and Giggle Gals
Dove regna il vino non regna il silenzio. (Where wine reigns, silence does not reign.)
Italian Proverb
The second stop in our linguistic tour of the world’s top wine-producing countries is Italy. Whenever the Drink Wine and Giggle Gals think about Italy, we think about the Italian philosophy of living referred to as la bella figura—“the beautiful figure”—that is about much more than dressing well, looking good and admiring all forms of physical beauty. La bella figura is also defined by behaviour, specifically how one comports oneself when ordering wine.
Our first Italian phrase is the proverb that we always recite as a dramatic prelude to ordering a bottle of Italian wine…
It. Una bottiglia di vino fa più miracoli di una chiesa piena di santi.
(A bottle of wine works more miracles than a church full of saints.)
Italian wines are like Italian dialects: impossible to master in all their diversity but each exquisite and a wonderful experience to discover. The Drink Wine and Giggle Gals would like to think that one day they could…
It. Con la nostra pizza Le Ragazze che Bevono Vino e Ridono vorrei una bottiglia di Damiano Ciolli Silene Cesanese Olevano Romano, da Lazio, un morbido vino rosso delicato da una azienda vinicola di famiglia 35 miglia ad est di Roma soffusa con profumi e sapori di erbe e in bottiglia nel modo silene che coinvolge un breve periodo di affinamento in rovere.
(With our pizza the Drink Wine and Giggle Gals would like a bottle of Damiano Ciolli Silene Cesanese Olevano Romano, from Lazio, a soft delicate red wine from a family winery 35 miles east of Rome suffused with scents and tastes of herbs and bottled in the silene fashion that involves a brief amount of oak aging.*)
*Our thanks to Addie Greco-Sanchez who helped translate the unintelligible.
Here are a couple of our favourite Italian beverages:
Montenegro Amaro Bitter Liquore Italiano, Italy 601484 24% Medium 750ml $25.30
Drink Wine and Giggle Gal Score: 91/100
The Drink Wine and Giggle Gals aren’t sure if they are allowed to review Amaro Montenegro since it is not a wine or even a dressed up fortified wine, but we can’t resist singing the praises of this Italian herbal liqueur that is the perfect denouement to an evening of drinking wine and giggling. Although it was named after Helen of Montenegro the second Queen of Italy, the Drink Wine and Giggle Gals prefer to think it was named after Montenegro the movie in which Susan Anspach abandons her life of demented domesticity to join a band of lusty Yugoslavs. Made from over 40 different herbs from around the world, Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio called it the “liqueur of the virtues.” The Drink Wine and Giggle Gals call Amaro Montenegro bottled bohemia.
Villa Sandi Cuvée Di Valdobbiadene Prosecco, Italy 738542 11.5% D 750ml $18.95
Drink Wine and Giggle Gal Score: 90/100
Villa Sandi is a great bubbly for people who don’t like bubbly wine. At least that was the feedback the Drink Wine and Giggle Gals received when they served this prosecco at a reception. The unrestrained effervescence of our guests and the number of empty bottles at the end of the evening attest to Villa Sandi’s appeal.
