Today's newspaper articles

Two articles today (both from “The Telegraph”) talking about that great Italian dessert – tiramisu.

Did you know that the literal translation of the word tiramisu is “pick me up” ??

Last orders at restaurant that invented tiramisu

The dessert is said to have been invented in the 1970s by the mother of the current owner of Le Beccherie, a restaurant in the northern Italian town of Treviso

“Tiramisu” means “pick-me-up” in Italian Photo: ALAMY

By Nick Squires, Rome

6:32PM GMT 27 Feb 2014

The Italian restaurant credited with inventing tiramisu – one of the country’s most loved and imitated gastronomic exports – is being forced to close down because of the economic crisis and Italians’ changing eating habits.

“Tiramisu” means “pick-me-up” in Italian but the seductive concoction of mascarpone, coffee, sweet Marsala wine and sponge biscuits has failed to prevent the trattoria, Le Beccherie, from falling into financial difficulties.

The restaurant, in the northern town of Treviso, opened in 1939 but will serve its last bowl of the creamy dessert on March 30, when its doors will be closed for good.

Carlo Campeol, 60, the owner of the restaurant, blamed the closure on “a collapse” in the number of customers, as Italy endures its worst recession since the Second World War.

Cash-strapped Italians are opting to eat more cheaply in bars, grabbing a snack on the run rather than sitting down to white table cloths and waiter service, he said.

Although there are competing claims from other restaurants in other towns, it is generally recognised that tiramisu was invented at Le Beccherie in the 1970s by Mr Campeol’s mother Ada, who wanted to create a dessert that would give her an energy boost after the birth of her son.

The impending closure of the restaurant was met with dismay by Luca Zaia, the president of the surrounding Veneto region.

Just a few months ago he spearheaded a bid for Treviso to be officially recognised by the

European Union as the home of tiramisu in the same way that Naples has been recognised as the home of pizza.

“This is the end, not just of a piece of Treviso’s history, but also marks the closing of a page in the gastronomic culture of the world,” Mr Zaia, a member of the right-wing, protectionist Northern League, said. “Le Beccherie is where tiramisu was born.”

------------------------------------------------------

Tiramisu claimed by Treviso

It is imitated around the world, but tiramisu is now being claimed exclusively by the Italian town of Treviso, which claims it is the birthplace of the creamy dessert.

Treviso, near Venice, is demanding to be recognised as the creator of the tiramisu dessert dish Photo: ALAMY

By Nick Squires, Rome

3:23PM BST 23 Aug 2013

Treviso, near Venice, is demanding to be recognised as the creator of the popular dish, saying it was invented there in the 1970s.

The move comes as regions and countries becoming increasingly protective of their signature food and drink, with Naples promoting itself as the home of pizza, France guarding Champagne and the EU telling Croatia that it can no longer use the name prosek for one of its wines because of the similarity to Italy’s prosecco.

The regional government of Veneto will draw up the dossier about tiramisu's provenance and lodge it with the European Union in Brussels.

They will seek to have it given Specialità tradizionale garantita (Guaranteed traditional speciality) status, as was achieved for Neapolitan pizza in 2010.

The campaign for official recognition of the dessert’s provenance is being led by Luca Zaia, the president of the Veneto region, which includes Treviso.

 “It’s like pizza in Napoli,” he said. “We are going to present a dossier to obtain a declaration that tiramisu is a typical Treviso dish, to combat the many imitations that you find elsewhere.”

Traditionally, a dash of Marsala sweet wine is added, but the recipe has been bastardised and altered around the world and Marsala is often substituted for brandy, rum, Madeira or Bailey’s.

The sponge fingers are layered with a mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone cheese and dusted with cocoa powder.

Treviso claims that it was invented in the 1970s by Ada Campoel, the owner of a restaurant in the town called “Alle Beccherie”, who supposedly wanted to create a dessert that would give her an energy boost after the birth of her first child. A young pastry chef, Roberto “Loli” Linguanotto, also reportedly had a hand in the recipe.

But its exact provenance has never been proved beyond doubt, and there are claims that it was invented in the 17th century in honour of a Grand Duke of Tuscany, or in Turin in the 19th century as a gift to Camillo Cavour, Italy’s first prime minister, or even as an energy-giving treat for prostitutes working in an Italian brothel in the 1950s.

“It is right that we ask for recognition for this regional dish, in order to raise the profile of Treviso and the Veneto region in terms of food,” said Mr Zaia, who served as minister for agriculture during the last government of Silvio Berlusconi and is a member of the Northern League, which once campaigned for the secession of northern Italy.

“It’s a product that is at risk of being imitated in many different versions, which do not do justice to the place where it was born. He added that there was “ample documentation” to prove Treviso’s claim.

The initiative would “pay homage to a speciality that has conquered the world”. 

Today's newspaper article

Today’s newspaper article is from Reuters but listed in the “Sydney Morning Herald”. It talks about how Panettone sales continue to defy the Italian financial crisis:

 

Panettone sales defy Italy's crisis

 

Date: December 23, 2013 - 9:54AM

Isla Binnie

The iconic panettone. Photo: Steven Siewert

Milan: Cash-strapped Italians are refusing to let recession stop them enjoying their iconic panettone Christmas cake, and are even embracing variations on the tightly regulated recipe.

Italians ate about 38,000 tonnes of the dome-shaped cake last Christmas, according to industry association AIDEPI, and the two biggest producers are confident this year's sales will hold up.

With a few days to go until Christmas, market leader Bauli said this year's orders could still outstrip 2012 and Maina, the second biggest producer, expects its sales to rise more than 20 percent in 2013.

"Panettone is holding on despite economic difficulties, showing the Italian consumer does not intend to give it up," said Marco Brandani, chief executive of Maina.

Alberto Bauli, Bauli chairman, said his company expected to make about 500 million euros ($765 million) from all its baked goods this year, up from 483 million euros last year.

Italian consumers, shopping for Christmas during the country's longest recession for 60 years, are still choosing expensive panettone, which can cost €5 ($7.65) in the supermarket but sells for upwards of 28 euros in upmarket bakeries.

"People are being careful about what they spend, but they want quality," said Antonio Cipriani, standing behind the counter at his cafe and bakery in central Milan. "They might buy one panettone instead of two, or a smaller one."

The traditional panettone weighs 1 kg and takes 30 hours to make from a precise mix of flour, butter, eggs and sugar that has been enshrined in Italian law since 2006.

Mr Cipriani said variations on the traditional product, such as a lighter "focaccia" version reminiscent of the Italian loaf, and containing pieces of pineapple, had been popular this year.

Cakes that stray from the regulations cannot be labelled panettone, but this does not deter dessert enthusiasts, according to Giovanna Casale, whose company Olio Carli makes a "sweet Christmas cake" using olive oil in place of butter.

"I would say sales have been rising," Ms Casale said.

Mr Maina says sales of its panettone filled with goodies such as chocolate or coffee cream have risen by 35 percent this year. It has also introduced a savoury version.

To appeal directly to foreign markets, it has also developed new flavours, such as peanut butter for the United States and Grand Marnier orange liqueur for the British market.

"We have tried to adapt the traditional recipe to their tastes," said Mr Brandani. Maina made 13 percent of revenue from exports last year, more than the average of less than 10 percent of turnover made by Italian panettone makers from sales abroad.

The classic panettone accounts for just under half of all Christmas cake sales in Italy, according to AIDEPI.

Mr Bauli says its significance goes beyond the pleasure of a tasty treat for families at Christmas.

"These products also have a religious connotation," Mr Bauli said. "Breaking bread together has a special meaning." 

Reuters

This article was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/world/panettone-sales-defy-italys-crisis-20131223-hv6qr.html

The Etiquette of Italian Cooking

Here’s an interesting set of articles I found on “The Independent” and “Daily Mail” websites talking about certain etiquettes when dealing with Italian food.

Ketchup on your pasta? Basta! Italian food institute issues a list of rules for foreigners to follow

James Hanning

Sunday 08 September 2013

E

We've all committed them, but now, at last, we have no excuses. A respected food institute has listed those culinary no-nos that make Italians wince inwardly but which they are too polite to tell you about. The Parma-based Academia Barilla, which aims "to defend and safeguard Italian food products made by reputable artisans and certified denominations against poor-quality imitations", has listed ten kitchen faux pas, in order to "teach foreigners how to avoid culinary horrors" in confronting Italian food.

So now, we can be free of that feeling that the waiter is laughing up his sleeve at us. The list is compiled with a degree of self-mockery and lacks the seriousness of, say, the Académie française's strictures on the French language. Nonetheless, that's us put in our place. The rules are as follows:

* Never, ever, sip a cappuccino during a meal. (Espresso) coffee and cappuccino are Italy's pride. The first is to be consumed after a meal, and a cappuccino is for breakfast, ideally with something sweet. You can order a one after a meal but you should know an Italian would never do so.

* Risotto and pasta are not meant to accompany other dishes (apart from specialities such as l'Ossobuco alla milanese). Pasta served as if it were a veg is "a mistake committed in many other countries, but in Italy is considered sacrilegious". Gennaro Contaldo, author of several books on Italian food and Jamie Oliver's mentor, agrees. He told The IoS: "I used to see this combination of everything on a plate in Italian restaurants in the Seventies when I first came to England – I'm glad to say this has died out."

* Don't put oil in the pasta water. Any addition should be made after the pasta has been cooked.

* Ketchup on pasta. This really shocks Italians. Barilla calls it "a true culinary sin". Contaldo agrees: "I do like good ketchup, but only with chips."

* Spaghetti Bolognese? No! Probably Italy's most famous dish, yet there isn't a restaurant in Bologna that serves it. The famous sauce is traditionally cooked with tagliatelle, not spaghetti. But Contaldo thinks the report is a bit picky. Where he is from, near Naples, spaghetti is fine, though what we call "Bolognese" is generally simpler and less of a "soup" of ingredients.

* Pasta with chicken – never in Italy. Americans regard this as "typically Italian", says the report, "but we have to tell you: no one in Italy would serve such a dish". The nearest, says a conciliatory Contaldo, is chicken broth which is then cooked with tiny pasta pieces ("pastina"), eaten as a soup and followed by a chicken main course.

* "Caesar salad": unknown in Italy, even if its inventor, Caesar Cardini, was Italian.

* Red and white checked tablecloths. They don't exist in Italy, even though countless Italian restaurants abroad use them.

* "Fettuccine alfredo", a dish of noodles with butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano, celebrated in the States as being characteristically Italian, is, says the report, "completely unknown" in Italy. Invented in Rome by Alfredo Di Lelio, it never took off in Italy, at least with that name.

* Respect tradition and a mother's advice, namely that Italian food is to be shared with those you love. Love and family are "tutto".

@independent.co.uk

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you put ketchup on your pasta or have a cappuccino with your supper? Worst Italian food faux pas revealed

• List of 10 kitchen no-no's released by Academia Barilla in Parma
• Putting ketchup on your pasta is 'a true culinary sin' according to report
• Other mistakes include risotto as a side dish and putting oil in pasta water

By Ruth Styles
PUBLISHED: 11:31 GMT, 8 September 2013| UPDATED:07:10 GMT, 9 September 2013

If you like your pasta covered in ketchup or think risotto is a side dish, then you haven't quite got the hang of Italian cooking, it has been revealed.

The two culinary mistakes have been included on a tongue-in-cheek list released by the Academia Barilla in Parma - an institution dedicated to defending 'Italian food products made by reputable artisans and certified denominations against poor quality imitations'.

The list of kitchen no-no's, as the Independent on Sunday reports, has been released in order to 'teach foreigners how to avoid culinary horrors' when making Italian food.

Along with putting ketchup on your pasta, described by the Academia as 'a true culinary sin', the list also includes treating risotto and pasta as a side dish, sipping cappuccino during a meal and using red and white checked tablecloths in a bid for authenticity.

'Pasta served as if it were a vegetable is a mistake committed in many other countries but in Italy is considered sacrilegious,' Gennaro Contaldo, food author and mentor of Jamie Oliver told the Independent.

'I used to see this combination of everything on a plate in Italian restaurants in the Seventies when I first came to England - I'm glad to say this has died out.'

Those who like to sip a cappuccino while enjoying their supper have also got it wrong, as according to the Academia, Italians have the milky coffee only at breakfast and will not drink it at any other time of day.

And there was bad news for fans of a savoury Spaghetti Bolognese supper, after the dish was slammed by the Academia as inauthentic, while dishes that combine pasta and chicken were also revealed to be a foreign invention.

Expert: Gennaro Contaldo (left, pictured with Antonio Carluccio) mentored Jamie Oliver

In Bologna, bolognese sauce is traditionally served with tagliatelle and not spaghetti says the Academia, while pasta with chicken - although regarded as typically Italian by Americans - is never eaten in Italy.

'Americans regard this [chicken and pasta] as typically Italian,' says the report, ' but we have to tell you: no one in Italy would serve such a dish.'

Along with Bolognese and chicken and pasta, another favourite revealed to be inauthentic was the Caesar salad.

Although invented by an Italian, Caesar Cardini, it has never been classed as an Italian dish and isn't known in the country in which it is usually thought to originate.

COMMON CULINARY FAUX PAS: THE ACADEMIA BARILLA'S LIST IN FULL

NEVER DRINK A CAPPUCCINO DURING A MEAL

A cappuccino is for breakfast and ideally should be drunk with something sweet. Although the Academia concedes it can be ordered afterwards, it points out that an Italian never would.

RISOTTO AND PASTA ARE NOT SIDE DISHES

Unless you're serving it as part of a specialty dish such as l'Ossobuco alla milanese, it's a faux pas.

DON'T PUT OIL IN THE PASTA WATER

Oil should be added after cooking.

DON'T PUT KETCHUP ON PASTA

'A true culinary sin', says the Academia.

SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE DOESN'T EXIST IN BOLOGNA

They eat their Bolognese sauce with tagliatelle and not spaghetti.

PASTA WITH CHICKEN IS NOT ITALIAN

'No one in Italy would ever serve such a dish,' says the report.

CAESAR SALAD IS NOT ITALIAN EITHER

Its inventor was but the dish is not.

RED AND WHITE CHECKED TABLECLOTHS ARE UNKNOWN IN ITALY

Although that hasn't stopped every 'Italian' restaurant not in the country from using them.

FETTUCCINE ALFREDO: ALSO NOT ITALIAN

While it was invented in Rome, the dish is entirely unknown in Italy.

FOOD IS FOR FAMILY TIME

Eating alone in front of the TV is not the Italian way. Instead, says the report, you should respect tradition (and your mamma) and share supper times with those you love.

Today's newspaper article

Today’s article is from “The Telegraph” (UK) and talks about the plans to replicate the Roman method of wine making:

Do as the Romans do: ancient winemaking techniques revived

The techniques that the ancient Romans employed to make their beloved wine are being revived in a sun-baked corner of Italy.

The techniques that the ancient Romans used to make their beloved wine are being revived in a sun-baked corner of Italy Photo: ALAMY

By Nick Squires, Rome

6:52PM BST 22 Aug 2013

Italian historians are drawing on 2,000-year-old Roman texts in an attempt to replicate the type of wine that would have been guzzled by the emperors, legionaries and plebeians of the empire.

They are using tools once used by the Romans, such as a wooden cross with a lead weight on a piece of string, known colloquially as "the stork", which was used to check that the holes dug for new vines were the correct depth.

Instead of using modern twine to bind young vines to poles, they are using strips of cane and twists of wood from broom bushes, as Roman farmers once did.

Without mechanisation, pesticides or fertilisers, the ancient Roman wine will be similar to the organic wines that have become so popular in the last decade.

They are using eight varieties of wine that are thought to have been cultivated by the Romans and will store it in terracotta pots rather than the wooden barrels that vintners use today.

The varieties, seven red and one white, include little known grapes such as Nerello Mascalese, Visparola, Racinedda and Muscatedda.

The scientists have established a vineyard at Mascali, near Catania in Sicily, using technical know-how gleaned from the writings of the poet Virgil, whose lengthy work, the Georgics, describes Roman viticulture methods including advice on grafting, when to plant vines and the dangers of goats munching through vineyards.

The researchers have also drawn on the works of Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, the Roman Empire's best known writer on agriculture.

A former soldier who served as a tribune in Syria in the first century AD, he took up farming after leaving the army and wrote a twelve-volume study of agriculture called De Re Rustica.

He recommended planting vines two paces apart and said they should be tied to wooden stakes about the height of a man.

"The Roman sources are very precise and we want to see what happens when we carry out their instructions to the letter," Mario Indelicato, a researcher from the University of Catania, told The Daily Telegraph.

"Many of these tools and techniques were still in use in Sicily and other parts of Italy until the end of the Second World War, so there was a great deal of continuity with the Roman era. "Then came mechanisation and modern chemicals, and everything changed. We think we can recover the old techniques and that they could applied to modern winemaking."

Daniele Malfitana, the director of the Institute for Archeological Heritage and Monuments, who is overseeing the project, said: "Step by step, by reading and interpreting the Latin sources, we are learning how the Romans managed their vineyards.

"The scope of the project is twofold – on the one hand to check the feasibility of the Roman techniques, and on the other to understand if this knowledge can be used in modern viticulture."

The first vines were planted in March and the first harvest is expected in four years.

The wine has yet to be given a name and the researchers have not yet decided whether to sell it commercially.

The Romans are thought to have picked up winemaking from the Etruscans and ancient Greeks and it became one of the Empire's most important trade commodities, shipped around the Mediterranean in clay amphorae.

Roman merchants sold their wine to the farthest-flung corners of the Empire, from Carthage and Spain to the lands inhabited by Germanic tribes.

The principal source of wine for Rome was the area around Pompeii, where vast vineyards were cultivated.

Today's newspaper article

Here’s an interesting article I found on “The Australian” website.

I think I feel like a roast right now !!!

Sunday roast kitchen's most dangerous meal, insurance study shows

• by:Valentine Low
• From: The Times
• July 30, 20132:47PM

Sharp knives, hot fat and pans full of boiling water combine to make a roast meal the most perilous thing one can do in the kitchen Source: Taste.com.au

THE Sunday roast is the cornerstone of British culinary tradition, a meal whose origins may lie obscured in the annals of gastronomic history but which is guaranteed to evoke nostalgic feelings about childhood weekend joints with all the trimmings.

It is, however, also the most dangerous meal that can be prepared in the kitchen, according to a report carried out by an insurance company. Sharp knives, hot fat and pans full of boiling water combine to make a roast meal the most perilous thing one can do in the kitchen (apart, that is, from a man telling his wife that his mother's roast potatoes were really so much better).

The next most dangerous dishes, according to the report, are chicken tikka masala, a full English breakfast, fish and chips and bangers and mash. The least risky dishes are said to be beans on toast, followed by boiled egg and soldiers.

The report said: "The elements that put the Sunday roast top of the ranking include the risk involved with simultaneously cooking a variety of ingredients, the number of knives needed for peeling and chopping, the potential for pans to boil over and the severity of burns which could be caused by hot oil, spitting fat or heat from the oven."

One of the surprises in the report is that it does not put making chips - with its attendant risk of a chip pan fire - at the top of the dangerous list. It is also curious that chicken tikka masala is second. While the dish is undoubtedly popular, it could be argued that it is not often cooked at home.

Perhaps the survey was referring to the hazardous activity of opening a takeaway container or the painful consequences of not pricking the top of a ready-meal container before putting it in the microwave.

Food safety experts would also argue that there are plenty of dishes that would involve far more danger to the individual, such as anything reheated, or mayonnaise made properly with raw egg yolks. Perhaps, however, the survey did not include salmonella poisoning in its list of undesirable outcomes. As for beans on toast, its risk rating of 2 out of 100 (compared with 73 out of 100 for the Sunday roast) presumably does not include the possibility of the tin having to be opened with an old-fashioned can-opener, one of the more risky kitchen practices.

Shelina Permalloo, winner of Masterchef 2012, added: "Given the number of elements and crucial timing involved in cooking a Sunday roast dinner, it's not surprising it's the riskiest to prepare. It's important to give yourself plenty of time - running around like a headless chicken will undoubtedly lead to an accident.

"Make sure you have all the preparation, such as peeling and chopping, done before you start on the cooking - trying to do everything at once is tricky to manage. Don't be distracted because pans on the hob can easily boil over and roast potatoes in oil can get dangerously hot. Preparation in advance will also allow you to relax and enjoy your Sunday roast with your friends and family."

Phil Ost, home insurance expert at Zurich, said: "The modern kitchen is a feast of gadgets and gizmos which can easily become a recipe for disaster.However, our 2013 risk assessment shows that it's the more you have going on at once when cooking which is likely to result in an accident, with the greatest danger being a fire."

The Times

Copyright 2013 News Limited. All times AEST (GMT +10).

 

How's this for a culinary tour ??

I found this article in "The Sydney Morning Herald" about a food tour of ALL the 3 Michelin-star restaurants located around the world – all 109 of them !!

All you need is a very healthy appetite and $300,000 !!

World's top nosh tour departs at $300k

Date: July 22, 2013

·(0)

Jane Holroyd

If anyone can spare the cash to go on the Michelin 3-star holiday, they'll be eating at Fat Duck in Bray, England - and at 108 similarly extravagant restaurants. Photo: Supplied

If the organisational headache is the only thing stopping you from booking a meal at every one of the world's 109 three-Michelin starred restaurants, then rest easy.

A British-based online travel agency and a company specialising in creating one-off luxury experiences have joined forces to take the hard work out of it. All the food-loving couple will need is about $300,000 and a spare six months to travel the globe to visit the culinary temples.

The "world beating three Michelin star holiday" was launched last week and promises prospective travellers a table at each of the restaurants now accorded the highest ranking by the Michelin Guide, spread though they are across 12 countries.

Massimo Bottura, the chef patron of Osteria Francescana, a three Michelin star restaurant in Modena, Italy. Photo: Jim Rice

Louise Cheng, a marketing executive at www.holidaysplease.co.uk, told Fairfax that interest in the Michelin holiday had been high. But as of Friday no one had booked.

"There has been a lot of interest in the trip and we hope to secure a booking shortly," Ms Cheng said.

From a starting price of £182,000, Holidays Please will book restaurants and organise business-class travel and luxury hotel accommodation across Europe, Asia and the United States where the restaurants are located.

El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain, will be on the itinerary of the $300,000 holiday for the ultimate foodie bragging rights. Photo: Supplied

"Couples will go to a restaurant every other day and in their free time can explore the local sites and interests of the country they are in," Ms Cheng said.

Those with the inclination to book will be spending most of their time in Japan, where about 30 of the three-Michelin-starred restaurants are located, and in France, which plays host to about 25 of them.

The tour will also take customers to Girona in Spain, home to El Celler de Can Roca, recently named the world's best by Restaurant magazine. They'll spend about two weeks in New York where seven three-starred restaurants are located.

The fee for the tour allows individuals to spend an average of £250 ($416) at each restaurant, so there should be change leftover after eating at Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck (Berkshire, England) where £180 buys a 14-course degustation. The lucky foodies may have to punch a few extra holes in their belts.

Sadly, Australia won't be on the itinerary with the Michelin organisation yet to send its restaurant reviewers our way.

This article was found at: http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/food-news/worlds-top-nosh-tour-departs-at-300k-20130721-2qca2.html

 

 

Today's newspaper articles

Here is the first of what I hope, will be regular posts.

Today’s articles are from “The Australian” and “The Telegraph” (UK) discussing recent archaeological evidence suggesting that French winemaking actually had its origin from the Etruscans.

Gotta love those Etruscans:

French find their wine's Italian

• From: The Times
• June 05, 201312:00AM

THE French have little doubt that they produce the best grapes and finest wines. It will come as something of a blow, therefore, that they learnt the art of winemaking from their Italian neighbours and their first vines were imported from Tuscany.

The latest archaeological evidence suggests that the French began importing wine from the Etruscans in about 500BC. It proved so popular that they imported wine presses, starting 2 1/2 millennia of winemaking.

Winemaking dates back 9000 years to the mountains of Iran, but until now it was not known how viniculture was introduced to France.

Christopher Foss, head of wine at Plumpton College in southern England, said the news would not necessarily be well received in France. "The French are almost so sure of their superiority that they wouldn't even view the Italians as rivals," he said.

"The Italians should be proud though - they're wonderful, creative people and now we know they taught the French to make wine."

Patrick McGovern, an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, who led the research, said: "Now we know that the Etruscans lured the Gauls into the wine culture by importing wine into southern France. This built up a demand that could only be met by establishing a native industry, likely done by transplanting the domesticated vine from Italy, and enlisting the requisite winemaking expertise from the Etruscans.

"France's rise to world prominence in the wine culture has been well documented, especially since the 12th century, when the Cistercian monks determined by trial and error that chardonnay and pinot noir were the best cultivars to grow in Burgundy," Dr McGovern said. "But what we haven't had is clear chemical evidence, combined with botanical and archaeological data, showing how wine was introduced into France."

Jane Anson, the Bordeaux correspondent for Decanter, said that although the first vines were probably from Italy, Spanish vines were later imported to Bordeaux that could cope better with the colder climate. "I think winemakers now have to grudgingly admit that wine was originally imported from Romans," she said.

The latest archaeological evidence, described in the journal PNAS, was uncovered at the site of Lattara, an ancient port city in the south of France. During an excavation of a merchant quarters inside a walled settlement from 525-475BC, archaeologists recovered a number of amphoras. Their shape suggests they were made at Cisra - modern Cerveteri - in central Italy.

A study of the residue suggests that the ancient wine would not have met modern standards, with evidence that pine resin, rosemary, basil and thyme were added to the drink. At the same site, an ancient pressing platform, made of limestone and dated 425BC, was discovered. Masses of grape seeds and skins were excavated from a container near the press, confirming its purpose.

From that press flowed a juice that through centuries of refinement would delight the palates of the Western world. How galling it must be for the French that the Italians got there first.

Copyright 2013 News Limited. All times AEST (GMT +10).

----------------------------------------------------------------

Archaeologists find evidence French winemaking had roots in Italy

The earliest evidence of wine in France suggests that it came from Italy, and that it was mixed with basil, thyme and other herbs, according to new research.

1:33AM BST 04 Jun 2013

This early wine may have been used as medicine, and likely was imbibed by the wealthy and powerful before eventually becoming a popular beverage enjoyed by the masses, researchers said.

The artefacts found at the French port site of Lattara, near the southern city of Montpellier, suggest that winemaking took root in France as early as 500 BC, as a result of libations and traditions introduced by the ancient Etruscans in what is now Italy.

The analysis in the US journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is based on ancient wine containers and a limestone press brought by seafaring Etruscan travellers.

"France's rise to world prominence in the wine culture has been well documented," said lead author Patrick McGovern, director of the bimolecular archaeology laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

"What we haven't had is clear chemical evidence, combined with botanical and archaeological data, showing how wine was introduced into France and initiated a native industry."

Researchers studied three containers, known as amphoras, taken from an archeological site in Lattara where merchant quarters lay inside a walled settlement that dates to 525-474 BC.

The samples they chose were unbroken, unwashed and sealed, allowing for unhampered study of the residues inside.

Based on their shape, researchers could reasonably ascertain that the amphoras were made in the city of Cisra (modern Cerveteri) in central Italy.

Using state of the art chemical analysis techniques, researchers found tartaric acid, the biomarker of Eurasian grape wine.

They also discovered pine tree resin and herbs such as rosemary, thyme and basil in the wine residue, suggesting a medicinal use.

Tartaric acid was found on a nearby limestone pressing platform dating to about 425 BC, suggesting it was used as a wine press.

Together, the artefacts provide the earliest known bimolecular archaeological evidence of grape wine and winemaking on French soil, the study said.

"Now we know that the ancient Etruscans lured the Gauls into the Mediterranean wine culture by importing wine into southern France," said McGovern, who studies how wine culture originated in the Middle East some 9,000 years ago, and made its way to modern Europe.

"This built up a demand that could only be met by establishing a native industry, likely done by transplanting the domesticated vine from Italy, and enlisting the requisite winemaking expertise from the Etruscans."

The earliest known chemical evidence for wine was found in what is now northern Iran at the site of Hajji Firiz, and dates to about 5,400-5,000 BC.

Edited by Steve Wilson for telegraph.co.uk