Elise Wiggins was the winner in a special wine/food pairing competition
- Elise Wiggins
One of my recent disappointments is that last week got away from me — too much work, too little time. I had been invited to a terrific-sounding culinary event. Four leading Colorado chefs went head-to-head in a competition requiring them to pair Italy’s Allegrini Palazzo della Torre wine with a signature dish. I planned to go. I wanted to go. And in the end, I very reluctantly had to cancel. My loss.
I just learned what I missed as the chefs competed in front of an audience and panel of judges at Mise En Place Cooking School. The judges, made up of food and wine media, members of the trade and winery executives (including Marilisa Allegrini, sixt- generation owner of the Allegrini Winery and owner of a cooking school in Italy selected Elise Wiggins’ confit rabbit with gnocchi as the entrée that paired best with Allegrini Palazzo della Torre.
Generous Allegrini is donating money to each chef’s chosen charity, based on place in this competition:
1st place: Chef Elise Wiggins from Panzano
$5000 donated Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender equality.
2nd place: Brunella Gualerzi fromil Bistro Italiano, Grand Junction
$2,500 to Cooking Matters, which empowers families at risk of hunger with the skills to make healthy, affordable meals.
3rd place: Scott Parker from Table 6
$1,000 to Hope for Haiti, which has been working for more than 20 years to improve the quality of life for Haitian people.
4th place: Tyler Wiard from Elway’s Cherry Creek
$500 to ProStart, an educational fund for those in the foodservice industry, and Project Angel Heart, which works to ensure those with life-threatening illness receive proper nutrition.
About Allegrini Palazzo della Torre
Here’s the way Allegrini describes itself: “Allegrini is a historic producer of wines from the northern Italian region of Veneto that has garnered international acclaim. Marilisa and Franco Allegrini, owners and active in winery management, are benchmark producers of some of the region’s most famous wines including Amarone, Valpolicella and Soave. Allegrini Palazzo della Torre is created from grapes grown on an estate in Fumane di Valpolicella, just north of Verona in northeastern Italy. The wine is made using an innovative RIPASSO method. 70 percent of the grapes are vinified immediately after harvest. The remaining 30 percent are dried for several months, then added to the fermenting wine. Allegrini Palazzo della Torre is deep ruby red in color, has a wild berry perfume and a flavor of raisins.”
Thanks for the post Claire!
It was a really great series of events… over 30K to local charities, 10 recipes for the perfect pairing with Palazzo della Torre, and dozens of bottles consumed… it would say it was a success! Thank you for being there!
robin