Groppello Wine Wins Confraternita Award at Manerba Event
The Groppello produced by Azienda Agricola Monte Cicogna of Moniga del Garda will accompany the social year of the Confraternita del Groppello 2001. The official appointment took place the other evening, on Friday, October 6th, during the organization’s official evening held at the charming restaurant Belle Rive, located in the enchanting, despite the heavy and incessant rain, gulf of Romantica in Manerba del Garda, with Renato.
The selection and the award ceremony
The officials who announced the appointment were the confratelli themselves, who had been called upon to choose among three champions, selected from previous votes. The decision was difficult, but according to the voting results, the victory of Groppello della Monte Cicogna dei Fratelli Materossi unequivocally confirmed the value of this wine, as the three selected wines embodied all those incomparable characteristics of this variety.
The other two companies in the running were La Guarda by Luigi Negri from Muscoline, represented by the same owner Luigi, who had previously won the Palio del Groppello in the years ’91 and ’92, and Berardi Angelo e Fratelli of Molinetto di Mazzano, represented by Pietro Berardi, who is also president of the Provveditoria del Novello.
The recognition and traditions
For Materossi, this is the first time in the thirty-year history of the confraternita that they have received the prestigious Palio del Groppello, a large, perpetual porcelain cup that will be prominently displayed at the organization’s headquarters for one year.
The previous winner, Masserino, of Alberto Pancera, was presented with a smaller copy of the Palio by Diego Pasini, which will remain definitively at the Azienda that won the previous selection.
The celebration and traditional dishes
Unmatched in accordance with the ancient Brescia tradition, Renato’s spit-roasted meat was served, preceded by the famous minestrina sporca and followed by another delicacy, the Sbrisolona, specially prepared and offered by the sector’s expert, Angelo Bottoli of Mantova.
Bottoli arrived in Manerba with four enormous cakes, each nearly one meter in diameter. Pasini, in his greeting to the many present, recalled the main milestones of the organization in 2000, the year in which its thirty-year anniversary was celebrated, having been founded on October 27, 1970, at Casa Bosatta in Padenghe del Garda.
Upcoming events and appointments
Among the milestones of 2000 were upcoming visits to the city of Bergamo and its underground sites, celebrations with the presentation of the new silver collar, and participation in the gastronomic week of Gardone Riviera, Groppello a tavola.
The confraternita also actively participated in the recent Puegnago Fair, engaging with other confraternities from Lombardy. In the near future, as stipulated by the statutes, the pre-Christmas greeting party will be held on December 1st.
The winning winery of the Palio will now have to produce about 5000 bottles with the official label and the confraternity’s seal. These bottles will be present the following year at each official gathering, as well as at those of the Priorato del Lugana, presided over by Renzo Furlanis, with whom an agreement has been made to display the two wines at all official events according to their statutes, for the aperitifs of the Confraternita del Groppello and the Priorato del Lugana.