Durello & Friends: the awards 2022

The Durello 2022 Journalist Award was presented Saturday, November 12, at Villa Cordellina, Vicenza, as part of the 20th edition of Durello&Friends. 

The prize is divided into three sections: one with a more journalistic scope and dedicated to writing, and two with a more popular slant, one of which is dedicated to the restaurateur who has best succeeded during the year in promoting the consumption of Lessini Durello, and another dedicated to the Durello Ambassador, that is, to the person whose professional activity has played a key role in spreading the values of Lessina and Durello in particular.

The award consists of a Magnum of Durello millesimato 2016 and stems from the desire of the Consorzio di Tutela del Lessini Durello to reward the journalistic reports (paper, radio-TV, new media) and the personalities who during the year have distinguished themselves in highlighting the salient features of Lessinia and its productions, first and foremost Lessini Durello, the sparkling wine symbol of this production area.

The Magnums that were delivered were hand-decorated on glass with gold leaf.

Award recipients

• Sissi Baratella - Durello 2022 Journalist
• Corinna Gianesini - Durello 2022 Ambassador
• Hosteria del Durello (VR) - Restaurateur Durello 2022
• Antica Osteria al Castello (VI) - Durello Restaurateur 2022

The award "Journalist Durello 2022 - press section" goes to Sissi Baratella, oenologist, journalist for Doctor Wine, Beverfood, Bubble's, and contributor for La Gazzetta dello Sport (VinoPOP) and Corriere della Sera (wine guide editing) for "having been able to tell Lessini Durello, its history and its growing success, with the competence of the oenologist and the narrative ability of the good journalist, accompanying the public to the entire world of wine with an elegant and recognizable style."

Also thanks to Sissi Baratella's commitment and professionalism, Lessini Durello, a wine with an ancient tradition, is today experiencing a moment of growing popularity: undisputed is the class of this sparkling wine and its innate ability to express in a unique and singular way the territory in which it has deep roots.

The "Durello Ambassador 2022" award goes to Corinna Gianesini, a professional sommelier, wine communicator and trainer, responsible for the Veneto region of the Slow Wine Guide and deputy regional delegate of the Women of Wine of Veneto. "Always an admirer of bubbles, with a particular predilection for native wines," reads the motivation, "Corinna Gianesini plays a decisive role in the dissemination of the territorial values of the Lessini Durello DOC in the course of her organizational and popularization activities. Thanks to her professionalism and passion in telling about wine, Corinna Gianesini has been able to approach expert and novice consumers by illustrating them the oenological riches born on the hills between Verona and Vicenza."

This year's Durello Restaurateur 2022 award sees both the Verona and Vicenza sides of the river awarded. 

In the Verona area, Chef Claudio Burato's Hosteria del Durello won the Ristoratore Durello 2022 Award. "The Hoteria del Durello is an innovative project," reads the motivation, "and here, welcomed in a not too formal environment, it is possible to appreciate a local cuisine that follows seasonality, with traditional ingredients and recipes, revisited also in a modern key. All this, accompanied by Durello wine, in its different declinations. A project, the one realized by Claudio, who strongly believes in the extraordinary potential of the local food and wine offer and who confirms himself as one of the main protagonists of the Berico-Scaliger restaurant scene."

In the Vicenza area, Antica Osteria al Castello, led by chefs Walter Smittarello and Paola Fabris, won the Durello Restaurateur Award 2022. 

"Antica Osteria al Castello," reads the motivation, "is a family-run restaurant that has been serving local cuisine since 1950 and that still today, faithful to tradition, reinterprets it in a modern key, with an eye to the territory. The gastronomic proposal is wisely accompanied by a wine list in which the unfailing Berico-Scaligera bubbly par excellence finds ample space: the Lessini Durello."