Il Concorso Enologico Internazionale “Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme” nasce in seguito ad una serie di incontri dedicati al Taglio Bordolese nella realtà produttiva Bergamasca, svoltisi a Bergamo nel corso del 2004.
Oenological Competition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" was born in 2004 following a series of workshops dealing with Merlot and Cabernet Blends in Bergamo wine history and tradition. At the end of one of those meetings, oenologist Sergio Cantoni suggested to expand the fileld of analysis and to explore Merlot and Cabernet Blends production on a larger scale.
He wanted to create a worldwide moment of comparison and an occasion of meeting and exchange that would involve all the countries producing Merlot and Cabernet wines. In order to realize his idea, Cantoni searched for local organizations that could (and wanted to) make this event happen. Vignaioli Bergamaschi s.c.a. and Consorzio Tutela Valcalepio showed interest in creating such a worldwide appointment and both these associations have been taking charge of the organization and realization of the competition with Cantoni playing the role of supervisor and director.
The first step is choosing the format of the event: the Oeanological Competition format is the winner.
2005 is the firs edition of the Oenological Competition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme".
La scelta del nome non è casuale: si sceglie di inserire all’interno del titolo della kermesse un elemento, all’epoca ancora sottovalutato, il valore emozionale intrinseco legato alla degustazione.
The name of the competition has not been casually chosen. Back at the times of the birth of the competition the 'emotional' impact of wines was still underestimated by many in the wine industry. In Bergamo, Cantoni and his partners decided to underline this factor and to bet on it choosing such a strong name literally meaning Emotions from the World.
The Oenological Competition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" has been lawfully recognized by OIV (Organisation International de la Vigne et du Vin) since its very first edition. We are deeply proud of this patronage: OIV is, in fact, the international organization supervising Oenological Competition worldwide and it has the chance to guarantee its patronage only to one competition worldwide for any wine category. This means that the Oenological Competition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" is the only Oenological Competition focusing of Merlot, Cabernet and their blends recognized by OIV worldwide. As far as Italy is concerned only 5 Oenological Competitions obtained the OIV patronage and "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" is one of those five.
The Oenological Competition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" also have the official authorization of Italian Ministry for Agriculture. In order to guarantee the maximum transparency and reliability, Oenological Competition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" found in Centro Studi Assaggiatori di Brescia its perfect match. It is Centro Studi Assaggiatori that is in charge of supervising and certifying the correct development of the tastings and the accuracy of the results. Universita' Cattolica degli Studi di Piacenza is another relevant and fundamental partner of the competition. The Oenological Competition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" has been recognized as the international competition showing the highest rate between the number of the samples and that of the judges. Since its first edition "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" focused on the international representativeness not only for what concerns the samples but also the judges.
"Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" format is unique in the Oenolgical Competition panorama: we decided to take advantage of this relevant international appointment to promote the Region, its oenological production, its touristic landscape and its cultural panorama. This is the reason why "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" does not have a fixed location. Every year "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" moves to a different part of Bergamo region in order to show to the world something new and unexpected of Valcalepio and its country.
During the three days the schedule of "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" is full of touristic tours, guided visits to both cultural and historical sites and wine cellars and wineries. The format of "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" is quite a demanding one but it's aimed at resuming the variegated and multifaceted panorama of Bergamo region.
"Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme" takes place on a three days time: Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The international guests get to Bergamo on Wednesday. Thursday is the Welcome Day with a touristic tour of the region during the afternoon and a Welcome Dinner at night.
The most important (and full) day is Friday. The day starts with the tasting committees summoned to judges the samples of the competition early in the morning. Friday afternoon focused on visiting the region again and the guests have the chance to choose between a touristic route and a technical visit to local cellars and wineries. The day ends with the Gala Dinner. On Saturday morning a technical-scientifical conference foreruns the proclamation of the awarded wines of "Emozioni dal Mondo Merlot e Cabernet Insieme". During the afternoon those same awarded wines already tasted by the committees are available to the public for a tasting.