WINETASTING AND PORCHETTA DRAWS BIG CROWD
The AMHS annual wine-tasting and porchetta lunch once again turned out to be an outstanding success, with 120 members and friends attending and 15 winemakers participating. Much credit must go to Joe Novello, who outdid himself with a delicious porchetta made from a recipe he developed himself five years ago for family and friends. Romeo Sabatini did his usual superb job organizing the winemakers.
There were many varieties of wines to taste this year, made by Bill Berl, Michael and Robert D’Onofrio, Nick Ferrante, Guy Ferro, Vince Marinucci, John Paul Maye, Joe Novello, Tony Ricci, Joe Ruzzi Jr., Romeo Sabatini, Domenico Santini, Darren Sobin, and Wayne Witkowski. Lucio D’Andrea also brought his limoncello. After the wonderful lunch of porchetta, root vegetables and some delicious desserts, we had a short business meeting.
AMHS President Maria D’Andrea thanked the three outgoing members of the Board of Directors - Bruno Fusco, John and Eileen Verna - for their many contributions to the Society. Then Lucio D’Andrea, chair of the nominating committee, introduced the slate of candidates selected by the nominating committee - Ennio DiTullio, Ray LaVerghetta and Rosina Brienza Schacknies. All three were then elected by acclamation. Meanwhile, right before the winetasting began, Raffaele DeGregorio gave us a talk on wine culture in Italy.
You may recall that Raffaele was one of our speakers at the July 27, 4 2014 AMHS meeting at which he told us about his career as a painter and muralist which began when he was growing up on the island of Capri. This time, Raffaele wore another hat as he told us about the importance of wine in Italian culture down through the ages. Raffaele asked us to use our imagination to picture a town in Abruzzo on a cold November evening, looking inside the window of a warm home with a table set for dinner, with a bottle of Montepulciano on the table (and a TV set on, showing a soccer game between Juventus and Napoli).
The way he described the scene, you could easily feel transported to another place. Raffaele went on to give us a brief history of wine in Italy, noting that it all started with the Phoenicians, the master navigators and traders of present-day Lebanon, who brought wine to Greece and from there to the Roman Empire. Raffaele noted that at first, the Roman Empire was too busy fighting wars to pay much attention to wine-making, but later on, the Romans took winemaking to another level, even adding honey and salt, for example.
Anyone listening to Raffaele’s talk would have to agree that he was able to summarize centuries of winemaking in a relatively short talk, and he left us with an appreciation of the importance of winemaking in Italian culture. So in a couple of hours, we enjoyed good food, good wine and good information - in other words, a great way to spend an afternoon. And it’s safe to say, no one went home hungry or thirsty.
Our thanks to all whose hard work made for such a successful event: to Joe Novello and as always to his wife Joann Novello, Romeo Sabatini, Raffaele DeGregorio, all the winemakers, and everyone who helped make the event a success, including Nick Ferrante (one of the earliest and staunchest supporters of AMHS), Ennio DiTullio and Rocco Caniglia who helped carve the porchetta; Lynn Sorbara, the hospitality committee chairperson who also provided desserts; and Lynn’s team, including Peter Bell, Lana Nardella, and Maria D’Andrea who helped with the root vegetables and so much else. And thanks to Dora Leo-Santacroce who sold the raffle tickets, and all those who donated items or bought tickets. The raffle brought in a record $341 for the scholarship fund. The winetasting and porchetta lunch netted the AMHS Annual Scholarship Fund a total of $1,397.04. Now the fundraising bar has really been raised high!!