José Rallo’s musical tastings communicate quality in a unique way and win over the China that adores the Italian lifestyle.
China is near. José Rallo, owner of Donnafugata, is convinced of this. In launching her wines from March 20 to 26, she personally saw how great is the allure of excellent Italian-made products is in this great Asian country. A business environment of due respect, with enormous potential for growth and for putting down roots.
On a tour, organized in synergy with ASC Fine Wines—one of the most prestigious importers, with a decade of experience behind it on the Chinese market—José Rallo went from Shanghai to Beijing, giving audiences of selected guests (journalists, opinion leaders and dealers) highly engrossing experiences. In fact, the Donnafugata musical tastings aroused great interest and were enthusiastically applauded.
Glass after glass, Ansonica, Nero d’Avola and Zibibbo, the great indigenous grape varieties of Sicilian wine tradition, were stars of the entertainment because of the intensity, harmony and elegance of the music-and-wine combinations.
José Rallo, vocalist, accompanied by Sicilian pianist Diego Spitaleri, a member of the “Donnafugata Music & Wine” band, presented the wines, matching them to different pieces of music. Anthìlia 2004 was tasted to the strains of “Si maritao Rosa,” a jazz arrangement of a traditional Sicilian song. Pino Daniele’s “Sicily” was chosen for the Sedàra 2004, while the ballad “An Older Man Is Like an Elegant Wine” was dedicated to Mille e una Notte 2003. Concluding the program, the sweet and sensual “Branquinha” by Caetano Veloso accompanied the tasting of Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria 2004. José Rallo thus became the ambassadress of fine Sicilian wines.
At Jazz 37 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Shanghai and at the China World Hotel in Beijing, music and fine wine enchanted and seduced the guests, offering a wholly original communication key able to guarantee participants a multi-sensorial experience with great emotional impact, in the spirit of a conviviality that is uniquely Sicilian. Passion and seduction in a crescendo of wine, food and music combinations that were also enjoyed in an unscheduled live performance of “Donnafugata Music & Wine” during a showing of the spring/summer 2006 collection in one of the loveliest boutiques among the 60 opened in China by Ermenegildo Zegna, a historic trademark of Italian men’s fashions.
“China,” says José Rallo, “is a great opportunity for Italians passionately turning out products of fine quality. The Chinese, positive-thinking, loaded with energy and inheritors of a millennia-old culture, can discover and appreciate the identity of excellent Italian products, guaranteeing important market outlets. Growth is tumultuous, new needs are being created and a middle class is forming that wants to improve and internationalize its purchases and lifestyles. Fine Italian wines can win large segments on the market room, but companies must organize and constantly supervise the effort. Italy has to invest in these aspects, using communications and marketing methods more attuned to the special characteristics of this highly refined and ancient society.”
Baldo M. Palermo [email protected] phone +39 0923 724226
Laura Ellwanger: [email protected] phone. +39 0923 724258
Nando Calaciura [email protected] mob. +39 338 3229837