I Vini del Centenario

door | 24 okt 2013 | Internationaal, Nieuws

Sartori

The Veronese wine sector takes its project in support of opera to Hong Kong, with bottles signed by great names in the worlds of music, art and sport

The initiative entitled “I Vini del Centenario” (“The Wines of the Centenary”), created by the Verona Arena Foundation, Sartori and the four Veronese consortia – Bardolino, Custoza, Soave and Valpolicella – makes its international debut

“I Vini del Centenario” – the project created by the Verona Arena Foundation, the Sartori Wine Company and the four Veronese Wine Producers’ Consortia of Bardolino, Custoza, Soave and Valpolicella to contribute towards spreading appreciation of Italian opera around the world – is crossing the borders of Italy and coming to Hong Kong. And this time the Emergency charity will also benefit.

This initiative, which was previewed at the Vinitaly fair on 7th April 2013 with the participation of T.V. celebrity Antonella Clerici, was officially launched on 1st June on the occasion of “Arena di Verona 2013 – the show is about to begin”, the opening event of the celebrations for the Arena’s Centenary: this featured a performance on the largest stage in the world by Spanish operatic superstar Plácido Domingo together with the equally famous tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Now the “I Vini del Centenario” project is about to become even bigger and will soon arrive in Hong Kong, thanks to the efforts of the Sartori Wine Company, the Domani Restaurant and the Verona Arena Foundation. The proceeds of the evening will be donated to Emergency.

The event will take place on 18th October, from 7.30 p.m. onwards, at the Domani Restaurant (Level 4, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong). In this refined venue, pride of place will be given to the large-size bottles signed by some important artists and well-known celebrities in the worlds of opera, sport, culture, food and wine and other sectors. Among them are Plácido Domingo, Renzo Piano, Gino Strada, the Inter Milan footballers Diego Milito, Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso and Formula 1 Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.

Also attending the dinner will be Andrea Sartori – who will conduct personally the charity auction on behalf of his family’s company – Cecilia Strada, the President of Emergency International, and Italian Consul General Alessandra Schiavo. The founder of Emergency, Gino Strada, will thank the guests in a video message. Famous wine critic James Suckling – who has signed one of the bottles – will send greetings via video as well. Also in attendance will be the photographer, journalist and war correspondent from Trieste, Marino Sterle, who will present his work entitled “Angeli”, a unique and original celebratory collage of photographs which will be on display during the evening and will be sold at auction with a reserve price of HK$ 25,000.

This event will therefore give an international debut to the three wines that are made (conceptually, at least) from the grapes of the 4,900 vine growers of the four Veronese denominations (Bardolino, Custoza, Soave and Valpolicella). From these – with the purpose of supporting Italian opera – lots have been selected and blended to create two special bottlings, the white Garganega Verona I.G.T. and the red Corvina Verona I.G.T., accompanied by the Amarone Classico della Valpolicella 2009 from Sartori. The man who created the blends and put his name to the wines is internationally famous oenologist Franco Bernabei, one of the best-known winemakers in Italy. The bottles thus produced have been rendered unique by their three labels, inspired by the most famous posters of the last century, starting off with that of 1913, when the Arena hosted an opera for the first time with the première of Aida. These are real collectors’ pieces, therefore, the revenue from which will be donated in part to the Arena Foundation for the promotion and dissemination of music and opera around the world.