Serving the Teesside Business Community | 9
/NEWS
Cafe Lilli owner Roberto Pittalis (left) with renowned
wine connoisseur Nicholas Tatham during the
restaurant’s annual wine tasting evening.
BUSINESS BITES
DELICIOUS WINES
ON THE MENU
T
eesside wine lovers dined in style during
Cafe Lilli’s popular annual tasting event.
More than 70 guests were treated to a
sumptuous five-course evening meal and five
wines from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of
North-Eastern Italy.
Diners were expertly talked through each
wine by Nicholas Tatham, master of wine
for Continental Quattro Stagioni, a specialist
food and wine supplier that represents about
50 Italian wine producers.
Cafe Lilli owner Roberto Pittalis, who hails
from the Italian island of Sardinia, prides
himself on personally visiting vineyards
during the summer before hand-picking a
different producer every year for his annual
event, which always sells out quickly.
This year he opted for Antonutti, a fourth-
generation family firm which has around 68
hectares of vineyards in the Friuli region, and
has recently started exporting to the UK.
“To have someone like Nicholas here is
quite a rare treat,” said Roberto, who opened
Café Lilli on Norton’s busy High Street 14
years ago.
“Although his knowledge of wine is truly
international, his expertise in Italian wine is
exceptional.
“You can put 10 or 15 different wines in
front of him and he’ll tell you the region, the
province, the vintage and the grapes. His
connection between memory and the palate
is unbelievable.
“The combination between food and wine
is very important, and some of our regulars
are wine lovers who travel the world to try
different wines.”
Wine connoisseur Nicholas, who travelled
to Norton from his Wiltshire home, said: “I’ve
never been here before, I’m sorry to say, and
it’s always great to find lovely places like this
with an appreciation of good wine. People
think wine-tasting is a southern thing, but
there’s great interest in it up here, too.
“We represent around 50 wine
manufacturers in Italy but Roberto is a big
fan of this producer, having visited them
personally, and Antonutti’s variety is modern
Italian wine-making at its best.
“We’re not talking ultra-expensive wines,
but they’re very true to their region and to
the grape varieties without all the bells and
whistles.”
For bookings at Cafe Lilli call 01642
554422 or visit www.lillicafe.co.uk
University unveils £300m Campus Masterplan
T
eesside University has launched an
exciting programme of investment that
will see £300m spent to transform its
campus over the next 10 years.
The ambitious Campus Masterplan
provides a blueprint for how the campus
will develop over the next decade. Phase 1
includes:
• A £10m Student Life Building to bring
all student-facing services together in one
location. The Student Life Building will also
include an employability centre and teaching
facilities.
• The first phase of creating a new home
for the Teesside University Business School
will see £6m spent to support the continuing
growth of the relaunched school. Phase two
will follow, with a further £15m investment.
• Significant transformation of student
accommodation. £83m will be invested to
transform the student accommodation offer,
including new purpose-built accommodation
on the Woodlands site, a full refurbishment
of King Edward’s Square, and refurbishment
and modernisation of Parkside Village.
• The £22.3m National Horizons Centre
(pictured), a biomedical research, education
and teaching facility at the University’s
Darlington campus, which will support the
industries set to transform the UK economy,
including biologics, industrial biotechnology,
subsea engineering and digital.
GLOBE WORK STARTS
Site hoardings have been installed around
the Globe in Stockton to secure the site
while major restoration work takes place.
The restoration of the Globe, costing
£15m, is being funded by Stockton Council
a nd a £4.5m National Lottery grant through
the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Heritage
Enterprise scheme.
Once restored, the neglected Grade II
listed Art Deco Globe will have a capacity
of 3,000, firmly positioning it as the largest
venue between Newcastle and Leeds,
bringing an estimated £18m to the local
economy each year and creating more than
250 jobs.
HALL’S SPA PLANS
Gisborough Hall has revealed detailed
plans for its new multi-million-pound spa
development.
Earlier this year, the family-owned hotel
became fully-independent for the first
time since it opened 15 years ago and
announced its intention to build a new spa
within its grounds.
Work will get underway later in the
near future and it’s hoped the extensive
woodland spa will be open by the end of
2018.
£20K CHARITY BOOST
Leading Tees businesses including
Cleveland Cable Company, AV Dawson,
Mandale Group, Bulkhaul and Endeavour
Partnership have banded together to donate
£20,000 to 15 local charities.
The donation was part of a Golden
Giveaway by charitable movement
Teesside Philanthropic Foundation, whose
supporters also include Cool Blue Brand
Communications, Devereux Transport,
Active Chartered Financial Planners,
Nicholson Group, Erimus Insurance
Brokers, CPD Bodies and Henderson
Insurance Brokers plus business leaders
such as Andy Preston, Bill Scott and Ian
Stark.
KATE’S UNBRIDALLED JOY
Local bridal designer Kate Fearnley,
who runs a bridal and prom business on
Middlesbrough’s Linthorpe Road, was a
finalist from hundreds of entries at the
prestigious Wedding Industry Awards, held
at Mansion House in Leeds.
Beating off competitors from the whole
of the North East and Yorkshire, Kate is now
through to the national finals, due to be
held in London in the new year.
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