By Gary Hewitt, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CWE

Wasabi Sabi 3-1360 Taylor Avenue 204.415.7878

Happy hour at Wasabi Sabi means a choice of 4 delicious sample-sized items for only $ 16( Monday to Saturday, 3pm – 6pm). Choose from tuna nachos, spicy mango prawns, tuna goma ae, pizza sushi, assorted tempura or ginger crème brûlée, just to name a few.

Also enjoy Oyster Nights at Wasabi on Broadway every Tuesday night and Happy Hour at Wasabi Sushi Bistro every night starting at 10 pm.

For complete menus visit wasabigroup. com.

Co-operation

The United Nations has named 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives. What better time to highlight co-operatives as an overlooked segment of the wine industry? An issue dedicated to South Italy, a region with a strong history of co-ops, gives us the perfect opportunity to do so.

Co-operatives arose in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century European wine regions in response to hard economic times. Huge numbers of grape growers, each tending vineyards too small to support the cost of producing and marketing finished wines, had no buyers for their grapes. By pooling resources, they could build wineries and support marketing efforts.

Italy was a late adopter, but a convergence of favourable factors in the early 1960s— dominance of the Christian Democratic Party, the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic church, ample government subsidies, and thousands of struggling small producers— led to the emergence of co-ops as the dominant force in the Italian wine industry. Today, cantina sociali( coops) account for more than 60 per cent of Italy’ s wine production!

There are good co-ops and poor ones. Unfortunately, the image of weary growers lugging their overcropped grapes to ill-equipped wineries to be combined with their neighbours’ poor grapes for bulk production and marketing has some basis. Over-generous EU subsidies, low quality standards and payments based on quantity( not quality) of grapes discouraged ambition.

However, recent EU cutbacks, everincreasing international competition and falling domestic wine consumption are eliminating poor performers.

Today, as for all wineries, the success of a co-op depends upon quality and a strong commercial business plan.

Some co-ops, most notably from Northern and Central Italy, produce successful brands that are in many ways indistinguishable from estatebottled brands. Mezzacorona, Cavit and Cantina di Soave are a few of the big players on the international market. In our store, you may be surprised to learn that Terlan( Alto Adige), La Vis( Trentino) and Leonardo( Tuscany) are all coops. Cantina Terlan, in particular, is considered an elite producer. Established in 1893, this modestsized co-op of about 100 growers creates intense, layered, terroirdriven wines from a spectrum of typical Alto Adige varieties: Terlan wines can be bought with complete confidence.

South Italy, long a source of cheap blending wines, grape concentrate, and base wines for vermouth production, was fertile ground for the evolution of co-ops. Today in Apulia( the“ boot” of Italy, a region that vies with Sicily for the second most productive Italian wine region) co-ops make 60 per cent of all wines. Much is still inconsequential wine destined for bulk markets; however, falling demand for bulk wine and grape concentrate is forcing more co-ops to focus on quality over quantity.

Cantina Sociale Cooperativa Copertino from south Apulia is a great example, even if they were well ahead of the curve. Starting in 1935, this far-sighted group focused on quality regional wine made from indigenous grapes( Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera). Their Copertino Riserva DOC, a rustic but delicious wine redolent of warm sunshine, dried cherry and deli meats, pairs wonderfully with cheese, pizza, or

pastas with tomato or meat sauce.

Sicily and Sardinia are likewise dominated by co-ops, and the cream of producers is rising to the top.

At Banville & Jones, our duty as wine buyers is to find good wines of sound value. We prefer to deal with suppliers that we can get to know personally, and we have succeeded with co-ops and estate producers. Whether you have been unwittingly drinking co-op wines or your curiosity or social conscience have been piqued, we encourage you to explore the world of good co-operative producers. Today, the leading co-ops are every bit as good as top estates. Raise a glass. �

Cantina Sociale Wines to Try

North & Central Italy

La Vis Pinot Grigio Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT $ 16.99

Terlan Terlaner Classico Alto Adige DOC $ 21.99

Terlan Lunare Gewürztraminer Alto Adige DOC $ 49.99

Leonardo da Vinci Chianti DOCG $ 15.99

South Italy & the Islands

Cantina Sociale Cooperativa

Riserva Copertino DOC $ 16.99

Santadi Shardana Valli di Porto Pino IGT $ 45.99

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