Bottega del Vino
aka Bottega Vini
VERONA, ITALY
One of the oldest and historical Osteria in Verona. Bottega del vinowas founded in 1890 and nowadays is one of the most renowned restaurant in town, especially for the huge wine selection it offers. More than 1500 labels and 40.000 bottles with rarities and exceptionally valuable vintages. A chance to taste and discover not only almost all the local Veronese, but also other Italian and world wines.
Antica Bottega delVino is an illustrious survivor of the hundred osterias that once dotted Verona, meeting places
for guilds and corporations. This was where the local dialect poets hung out together with Berto Barbarani, the bard of Verona, joined by journalists from the L'Arena and Gazzettino newspapers.
Painters such as Dall’Oca Bianca and Umberto Boccioni came here to down quinti and goti.Antica Bottega del Vino is the only restaurant in Verona to be officially recognised as a “historic
establishment” and boasts one of the 10 best restaurant wine cellars in Italy.
Inside The Bottega del Vini
VERONA
The Board at BOTTEGA del VINO
I first went onto the Bottega Vini on a trip I made to Italy in 1995 .. I fell in love with the place immediately. What Italian Wine lover wouldn't, for the Bottega del Vini iw without quetion Italy's single most famous WIne Bar of all. Some have coined it a Shrine to Wine, and I attend to agree. Over the years I've coined a number of terms myself that no one else had ever thought of until I myself, terms like Meatball Parm Mondays and others including one I thought up for the famed Bottega d' Vini of Verona, Italy ... The term I invented pertains to the Bottega Vini for just 5 days of the year. These 5 days are during the great Italian Wine Expostion held every April in Verona which is known as Vinitaly, which happens to be the largets wine exposition in the world incuding the great one they have in Bordeaux.
Vinitaly for an Italian Wine Freak like me is one of the highlights of the year. I usually go to Veron and the fair the last three days of the event, to see and taste wine at Vinitaly with my many friends who have vineyards all over Italy. Friends like Nadi Zenato (Zenato Amarone), Sebastiano Rosa (winemaker of Sassicaia & Barua), famed wine-maker and owner of Podere Scalette in Greve Mr. Vittorio Fiore, Marchese Ferdinando Frescobaldi, Luigi Cappellini of Castello Verrazzano (Chianti), the Columbini's of Fattori Barbi (Brunello) Raffaela Bologna of Giacomo Bologna (Barbera), The King of Barbaresco my buddy Italo Stupino of Castel Neive and others.
I see all my friends who have vineyards all over Italy, we tatse their wines ; Brunello, Barolo, Chianti and ??? We chi-chat and I make plans with some to visit their vineyards for 5 days after Vinitaly has closed. I wake up, have breakfast, head to the fiar grounds and taste wine for about 6 hours before heading back to my hotel to freshen up, take a shower and a nap for a couple hours before going out for dinner at one of my favorite osteria or trattoria in Verona. We have a splendid meal each night with antipasti, pasta, Amarone, Valpolicella and what-not. After dinner it's off to Bottega Vini which is packed to the gills with Italians, Japanese, New Yorkers and others in the Italian Wine and or restuarant business along with some hardcore Italian Wine Geeks. The place is packed and for a New York Italian Wine Guy (formely Wine DIrector of; Barbetta, Bar Cichetti, and Bar Stuzzuchini) it's pure heaven. After the Italians the second highest number of peoples ahppens to be New York Italian Wine Guys such as myself. These New Yorkers are made up of people who sell wine on either the wholesale level (Wine Distributors and Importers) or the retail level (mostly at Italian Restaurants in NY or wine stores) ... Yes it's great to be in this shrine to Italian Wine in the beautiful little Italian city of Verona during the greatest Italian Wine Event of all, Vinitaly. We're here at this historical wine bar with our Italian friends who make wine along with our friends and fellow New York Italian Wine Peeps and it's pure Bliss, and thus when describing it one day to a friend who wanted to know a little bit about it, I gave him a description and then just told him that being inside the Bottega Vini during Vinitaly was like the Super Bowl and for Italian Wine Guys it was quite literally The Super Bowl of Wine.
Priming a Grand Burgundy Glass
at Bottega Vini
VERONA
This is the preferred Wine Glass to Drink Amarone
in Verona and its surrounding wine towns
.
Severino Barzan
longtime owner of Bottega Vini
has sold this famed Osteria to a consortium of Amarone producers
The Amarone Families
as They are Called
Who Now Own The Bottega Vini
ALLEGRINI
MASI
SPERI
MUSELLA
TEDESCHI
TOMMASI
VENTURINI
ZENATO
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.
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Giampaolo Motta (owner La Massa ... Greve)
and Author Daniel Bellin Zwicke at Bottega Vini
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.
TOMMASI AMARONE
One of The Top Producers
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Author / Italian Wine-Guy DANIEL BELLINO
with NADIA ZENATO
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Joe Macari of Macari Vineyards Mattituk,
New York with Giovanni Folnari of Nozzole
Author Daniel Bellino Zwicke and Anthony Bellino
Vinitaly 2003, Verona, Italy
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Most wouldn't know, but for those "In The Know" The Bottega del Vino in Verona is Italy's Greatest Wine Bar .. Yes it's a restorante as well, but this place is historical and in the 5 days every year in the begining of April when the World's largets Wine Expostion Vinitaly is held in Verona the Bottega del Vino becomes what I alone have coined "The Super Bowl of Wine" for there is nothing like it in the entire World of Wine . I've been in the Italian Restaurant Business in New York for more than 30 years and with being a a Wine Director of some of New York's top Italian Restaurants for the past of those years I have gone to VinItaly in Verona 5 times ... During Vinitaly you go to the Fair Grounds where the WIne Exposition is held, you go there in the morning, taste a lot of great Italian Wine as you see your Italian friends that own Vineyards all over Italy. You leave the fair in the late afternoon, go back into the center of town to take a nap and shower at your hotel. After that you go to have dinner in one of Verona's many wonderful restorante / osteria .. After dinner you go to the famed Bottega del Vino and The Super Bowl of Wine, which is packed to the gills with Italian Wine Producers, Sommeliers, Wine Directors and Italian Restaurant People from around the world and with a large faction from New York. yes the place is filled with Italian Wine lovers celebrating the Italian grape to the Wee Hours of The Morning (5 AM) and there is nothing like it, that's why I've coined it the Super Bowl of Wine .. If you're an Italian Wine Lover the Bottega del Vino is an absolute must! Basta!
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