Barboursville, VA Crashes the Book of Records (Again)
With Oklahoma having legislated the official State Meal -- chicken-fried steak is front and center -- and the Grand Prix of the City of Paris having designated the daily bread for the President of France, it isn’t surprising that the Republic of Italy has lent its recognition to a distinguished society, which confers the rank of Sommelier and Sommelier Professionista only upon the successful completion of an intensive and inter-disciplinary curriculum in the analysis of wine and food. With the support of the Italian Embassy in Washington, this training was brought this Fall to the United States -- and among its first graduates were winemaker Luca Paschina and Palladio Maître d’ Alessandro Medici (Sommelier Professionista) and associate winemaker Francesco Baravalle (Sommelier). As they say in Rome, “When in Barboursville...“
The Associazione Italiana Sommeliers emphasizes the culinary evaluation of wines, not merely the recognition of their distinctive qualities as beverages. The curriculum adopts innovative models of analysis for appraising food and wine pairings, much beyond other established systems for training masters in the profession. It would be bizarre not to hold a Commencement from this training, without a proper Italian feast, for which the Associazione booked Palladio Restaurant on December 14th, the new graduates remarking that they’d been served the finest Italian food they had ever tasted away from home.
With Oklahoma having legislated the official State Meal -- chicken-fried steak is front and center -- and the Grand Prix of the City of Paris having designated the daily bread for the President of France, it isn’t surprising that the Republic of Italy has lent its recognition to a distinguished society, which confers the rank of Sommelier and Sommelier Professionista only upon the successful completion of an intensive and inter-disciplinary curriculum in the analysis of wine and food. With the support of the Italian Embassy in Washington, this training was brought this Fall to the United States -- and among its first graduates were winemaker Luca Paschina and Palladio Maître d’ Alessandro Medici (Sommelier Professionista) and associate winemaker Francesco Baravalle (Sommelier). As they say in Rome, “When in Barboursville...“ 
The Associazione Italiana Sommeliers emphasizes the culinary evaluation of wines, not merely the recognition of their distinctive qualities as beverages. The curriculum adopts innovative models of analysis for appraising food and wine pairings, much beyond other established systems for training masters in the profession. It would be bizarre not to hold a Commencement from this training, without a proper Italian feast, for which the Associazione booked Palladio Restaurant on December 14th, the new graduates remarking that they’d been served the finest Italian food they had ever tasted away from home.