Italy's top wines will toasted coast to coast when they go 'on tour' in the United States next month and will be toasted from coast to coast.
The tour has been organised by the Italian Food and Wine Institute and the Italian Foreign Trade Institute (ICE), with the support of Italy's Ambassador to the United States, Gianni Castellaneta.
The first stop will be in New York where the leading producers of the so-called Super Tuscan wines will headline a tasting of some 50 top Tuscan wines.
The tasting will be accompanied by an array of fine foods prepared by some of the finest Italian restaurants in Manhattan.
This will be followed, again in New York on February 15, by the Italian Wine and Food Gala which will showcase the specialities of over 60 Italian food producers along with more than 400 premium wines.
Organizers said the event would to present a panorama on Italy's many wine regions and offer an opportunity to discuss the wines with the experts who produce them.
The gourmet and Italian regional foods will be offered by leading Italian food companies and restaurants.
The wine tour will then cross the continent to Los Angeles for the February 21 Italian Wine Gala at the Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica.
Here over 150 top Italian wines from 25 leading producers will be presented and again be accompanied by a selection of Italian gourmet food prepared by Valentino's chef Piero Selvaggio.
All three events will be reserved for journalists, restaurant operators and professional buyers.
Italy is the biggest wine exporter to the United States for both volume and value and Italian wines last year represented more than 30% of wine imported there.
Last year saw a benchmark for the exports to the United States of Italian sparking wines, spumante and prosecco, which leapt 12% and broke the threshold of 100 million bottles for the first time ever.
