In order to “eat my wine”, I chose to prepare a pot roast marinated and slowly simmered in a Barolo wine.  Why pot roast?  Why Barolo?  This is a specialty entree from the Piemonte region of Italy.  It has a French influence and is known as “Brasato al Barolo” (braised beef with Barolo).

Barolo is a hearty red wine which is necessary to stand up to the 3 hours in the oven required for a rump roast.  Forget the veggies being used as a side dish. They will cook up to a mush. However, I suggest to puree the veggies with the liquid sauce after taking out of the oven to help thicken and enhance the taste of the reduction to apply over the meat when it is served.  YUM!  OK, so I spent $45 on the bottle of Barolo, but a friend had recommended it.  You see, he had been traveling through the Piemonte region of Italy a year ago and enjoyed a fabulous lunch where several bottles of the 2004 bottle of Ceretto Zonchera Barolo were served. Et voila, there was that exact wine staring at me from the shelf of the wine store!  I decided to bite the bullet and pay the rather expensive (for me anyway) price tag.

The Ceretto winery:

Here are the tasting notes for the wine which scored 90 points:

“Zonchera is Ceretto’s more affordable base Barolo and it offers an excellent taste profile for those who are new to Nebbiolo. The wine opens with a dark, garnet-brown hue and segues to aromas of ripe berry, apple skin, vanilla, licorice and ginger. It’s a fruit-forward wine with tight tannins and a polished mouthfeel. It’s ready to drink now with fondue or grilled meat.”

Here is the recipe for the Brasato Al Barolo.  There are many variations, so you can look for the one that suits you best!

Perugia is located in the Umbria area of Italy.  Tuscany is just to the west.  The capital of Umbria, Perugia is a picturesque city of just over 160,000 residents. Like many towns in the region, Perugia’s history spans many eras. The city wall and arch are Etruscan; the sixth-century Sant’Angelo church was built atop a Roman temple; the town’s cathedral is both Gothic and Renaissance. The excellent National Gallery of Umbria has the largest and best art collection in the region. For sweets lovers, Perugia is also home to the famous Perugina chocolate factory.

The geographical location may not mean much to you or me, so let’s look on a map, shall we?

From Rome in Central Italy, Perugia is about a 4 hour bus ride.  From Milan in Northern Italy, Perugio is about a 6 hour train ride.  As I live in Dallas, I know that American Airlines fly into Milan, but not to Rome in the winter, FYI.  No worries, right?

Umbria is an upcoming wine region of Italy, so an excellent place to hold the 2012 International Wine Tourism Conference and Workshop.  The conference is being held over 4 days – Janurary 30th through February 2nd.  The conference consists of over 40 talks, presentations, panel discussions and workshops, oh, and of course, plenty of wine tastings.  This is a totally awesome way to network and co-create alliances with wine lovers, culinary tourism operators/agents, and bloggers.  There is a Study Tour  offered to top bloggers who will be writing regularly through social media about the experience.  This trip is scheduled before the conference and sure to be awe-inspriring.  There also is a Study Tour offered to top culinary tour operators to network even more and will last for 5 additional days after the conference.

If you are already in the wine tourism industry or want to learn more about it, this is the place to be!