Last week I was in Milan meeting the S. Pellegrino team. Milan has a great reputation for restaurants like Cracco, where Carlo Cracco produces some original dishes like baked veal kidneys and sea urchins, and goat's milk ravioli. In contrast, my trip to the pretty wine area of Oltrepò Pavese in the Lombardy region just south of Milan was full of stunning scenery, excellent under-rated Pinot Nero spumante wines, fruity Moscatos and the local, family-run Ristorante Belvedere which produced the largest antipasto I have ever had and delicious ravioli.
At S.Pellegrino we had an informative and intriguing tasting of various dishes, a range of wines which were light, fruity, oaked, unoaked, tannic and mellow with the still Acqua Panna and sparkling S.Pellegrino mineral waters. This was fascinating in terms of realising the importance of storing and serving mineral water correctly, how the style of Acqua Panna harmonises with different food and wine dishes and how S.Pellegrino works with others. The examples were obvious and made me grasp the importance of water, food and wine matching and how, with little effort on your part, you can really make this work.
The popular 30 minute Wine Tasting Tables which were so successful at Taste of London in 2010 are back again this year - plus new for 2011, guests will have the opportunity to take part in The S.Pellegrino Trilogy Masterclass , which covers pairings and tastings of water, food and wine.