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The new tavern goes by the name wine bar
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| The popular taverns that sold wine from the cask, and the ancient wine shops and Venetian mescite wine bars have made way for fashionable venues where one can try out the best wines. They are cosy and welcoming wine bars, where one can meet up with friends to sip a glass of good wine, try some cured meats and cheeses and learn to sample wines with courses organised by passionate and competent owners. The latest evolution in wine bars that were fashionable about ten years ago is now a successful formula which is starting to take hold abroad as well as in Italy. |
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IN THE EARLY DAYS THE TRANI BARS WERE POPULAR TAVERNS |
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In the Sixties, Giorgio Gaber sang about the "Trani a gogò", namely the atmosphere of cheap and modest taverns selling wine from the cask in the suburbs of Milan. A habit which started in the Twentieth century when the shops offering tastings by the glass for just a small cost started displaying signs with "Trani e Barletta", or just "Trani" to indicate the origins of the cask wines which came from precisely those cities in the south of Italy. One would think that it was precisely these taverns which were the nearest predecessor to the modern wine bars, if it weren't for the existence of an even more illlustrios forebear: the Venetian "bacaro". In these taverns, often four centuries old, even today the renowned "chicheti" are served: glasses of local wine accompanied by a sample of flavoursome Venetian rustic dishes from baccalà to croutons.
These were popular meeting places but which also retailed bottles. In the Seventies and Eighties the "trani" and "bacari" were joined by the wine bars which mushroomed mainly in the big cities and near the most important wine producing areas such as Tuscany and Friuli. These were simple wine shops which in time have become increasingly refined boutiques where rare and quality labels are to be found.
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THE WINE BAR, THE PLACE TO MEET |
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The fashion for American bars and large venues has been and gone, and now Italy seems to be rediscovering its origins with a new trend that increasingly favours the more welcoming bars where it's the atmosphere and quality that count more than the sophisticated appearance. And what could be more traditionally Italian than a glass of good wine? In this way, the first wine bars were born, furnished with large bars and small tables for unhurried savouring of the best Italian labels, accompanied by snacks and most important of all, the recommendations of the owners who are often passionate oenologists. The success of these meeting places has soared in the last two years, transforming them into the trendiest meeting venues in Rome and Milan, where new ones are opened up every month. Affordable prices, a large selection of wines and the possibility to attend oenology and wine tasting courses are the secrets of the new wine bars, which are also taking over other Italian cities.
Italian wines are also being discovered abroad in the same way: the Gallo Nero consortium, which guarantees the quality of the classic Tuscan Chianti, after having successfully experimented with its single-brand wine bars in Tuscany, has decided to export the same formula to New York, opening its first Italian-style wine tasting spot in the United States.
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