Ferrari never misses a grand occasion. And at the football world cup being held in South Africa, the Trentino bubbles are among the protagonists at the home of the Italian team, the showcase of Italian Style excellence. Ferrari is represented by two of its labels: Brut and Rosé. And it was with a magnum of Ferrari Brut that the Azzurri - the Italian team - celebrated on the pitch of the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid after winning the World Cup in 1982 and again in Germany in 2006 when Italy celebrated its fourth world cup title.

Where hospitality par excellence meets sparkling wines per excellence. This is, to put it briefly, the spirit of the partnership between Ferrari and Relais & Châteaux Italia, or rather between the leading Italian metodo classico winery and the most prestigious association of luxury hotels and gourmet restaurants, that includes among its collection fantastic residences from the north to the south of the Italian peninsula, from Hotel Gardena in Ortisei to the Grand Hotel San Pietro in Taormina via three star restaurants such as Enoteca Pinchiorri, Da Vittorio and dal Pescatore Santini. Ferrari will be the exclusive Italian bubbles at all the grand events of Relais & Châteaux Italia, from the Golf Tournament of the same name to the annual congresses. And it was at the meeting held on 17th May in Milan, attended by the Association’s International President Jaume Tàpies, that the partnership between the two organisations was officially announced.
“Gourmet dining has always been the ambassador par excellence of our sparkling wines” says Matteo Lunelli, vice chairman of the Ferrari Winery, “and it is therefore a great pleasure and honour for us to accompany Relais & Châteaux, which represents the elite of luxury hotels and restaurants”.
''We share with Ferrari the values of excellence and the philosophy of art de vivre that has always characterised the spirit of Relais & Châteaux hospitality. We are sure that this collaboration will enhance us both substantially'' stated Aurora Lamperti, Director of Relais & Châteaux Italia.

Ferrari Perlé 2004 and nobody else. It was with these bubbles that the journalists of Decanter wanted to accompany the opening cocktail of the Decanter Italian Fine Wine Encounter, which was attended by the most important restaurateurs, connoisseurs and institutions, starting with the Italian ambassador Alain Giorgio Maria Economides. Decanter is the most influential British wine magazine and the Decanter Italian Fine Wine Encounter is a biennial showcase, held in London, of the most prestigious Italian wineries. The showcase is a wine-tasting to which the Lunelli family’s Gruppo Lunelli brought the Ferrari Perlé 2004, Ferrari Maximum Brut, Ferrari Rosé and the elegant Tuscan red produced in the Tenuta Podernovo, Aliotto.

 

What do you toast with at a vintage car rally? With sparkling wine from a vintage winery. And so at two of the most glittering gala dinners held for the historic Mille Miglia, the inauguration dinner at Villa La Tassinara in Desenzano and the one in Castel Sant’Angelo for the arrival in Rome will begin with Ferrari bubbles.
The 2010 edition of the historic Mille Miglia is expected to be particularly spectacular. From 6 to 9 May on the Brescia-Rome-Brescia course, 375 vintage cars will participate in the race preceded by 130 Ferraris of the “Ferrari Tribute to Mille Miglia”. The drivers include aces like David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Jacky Stewart and Jochen Mass, past ski glories like Alberto Tomba and, for the first time in the history of the race, two government ministers actually in office, Stefania Prestigiacomo, in charge of the Environment and Franco Frattini, Foreign Minister.

In 2010 as in 2009. ITAS Trento are confirmed European Volleyball Champions and celebrates with Ferrari. In the afternoon of Sunday 2nd May in Lodz, Poland, the scene was repeated of one year ago in Prague when the Trentino volleyball players beat the Greek team Iraklis Salonicco by 3-1 and celebrated with a lucky Jeroboam of Ferrari that had followed them to Prague. This year, after an even bigger victory of 3-0, against the Russian team Dinamo Mosca, the ITAS Trento players, in front of millions of TV viewers, celebrated their winning the European Championships with Ferrari yet again. The same bubbles have accompanied the team during all their many victories over recent years.

Guinness was the topic of conversation on Friday 26 November 2007 at the Arena in Pesaro, when, to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Gruppo Mediolanum, 9,000 bottles of Ferrari were popped. And this extraordinary toast actually ended up in the Guinness World Records, as attested by the certificate awarded recently to Mediolanum and Ferrari. In the certificate however the 9,000 bottles became 2,778. This was a drastic reduction owing to the meticulousness employed by the Guinness adjudicators, present in Pesaro at the attempt, when verifying whether a record has been broken. The number of corks that popped at the exact same time, at the Arena in Pesaro, was, according to the Guinness judges, 2,778. The other 6,222 popped just a fraction of a second before or after. But 2,778 is still a record. A Guinness World Record.

Expo 2010 is expected to be the event to end all events. Why? Because it is being held in Shanghai, because around 70 million visitors are expected, which is about 400 thousand visitors each day during the Expo’s first six months, and because for many Chinese it will be the very first opportunity for them to see, albeit indirectly, what the world is like outside of China. And could Ferrari bubbles miss the event to end all events of 2010? Of course not! In fact Ferrari labels will be the stars in the Italian pavilion, until the end of October when the Shibohui ends, this is the name of the Expo in China, among the best wines selected for the occasion by the Enoteca Italiana. “The city of man, Italian-style living” is the theme of the Italian pavilion and it is an exaltation of the Italian Style, Ferrari bubbles included, that visitors will find on the third floor, next to the restaurant where chefs will propose combinations of Chinese dishes and great Italian wines.

A restaurant, a cuisine, two proposals. And both a triumph of excellence and bubbles.
This is Locanda Margon, the restaurant owned by the Lunelli family which will reopen its doors on Thursday 22 April under the expert guidance of a new chef, Alfio Ghezzi, considered one of the new rising stars of Italian cuisine.

Locanda Margon has a natural terrace of breathtaking beauty, nestled among the vineyards just outside Trento, and it takes its name from the nearby Villa Margon, a splendid 16th century estate which is Ferrari’s representative office. The Villa, the Locanda and the Ferrari winery all express that path “of Beauty and Goodness” which is the essence of the Lunelli family’s desire to marry art and nature with bubbles and cuisines at the very highest levels.

Alfio Ghezzi, 39, Trentino, with experience matured in Italy and abroad, has developed his expertise with two masters of the calibre of Gualtiero Marchesi and Andrea Berton, and until recently he was the right hand of Andrea Berton at the Trussardi Restaurant at the Scala in Milan. His cuisine is one that sees the territory not as a fetter, but as an opportunity and a stimulus for creativity. “My objective”, Ghezzi explains, “is to enhance the raw materials, with a cuisine that is an ordered whole of product, execution, object and expression. The raw materials are a direct expression of the territory, and therefore, from a Trentino like me passionate about my land, I try to get my supplies in particular from local producers”.

Unlike the past, Locanda Margon will reserve its guests two possibilities, in two separate areas: the Salotto Gourmet and the Veranda. The Salotto will be a celebration of gourmet cuisine in à la carte and refined tasting menus, including “The Evocative Power of Bubbles” and “One dish for one wine”, a proposal which makes the wine the protagonist of the menu. With a reversal of roles: the guest chooses the wine, and the chef has the task of proposing the best combination. And the wine menu is truly rich, because in addition to old vintages of many Ferrari labels, includes unobtainable bottles from the Lunelli family’s private collection. In the Veranda, the proposals are more simple and quicker, able to combine the chef’s talent and the quality of the raw material with the needs of a clientele which is increasingly more attentive to price and speed of service. This is why the new Locanda Margon will be “a restaurant, a cuisine, two proposals”.

“We are proud,” says Matteo Lunelli, “to give an authentic talent like that of Alfio Ghezzi back to the Trentino. And we are sure that, with his creativity, he will make the Locanda Margon an unmissable destination for gourmets, as well as a place for experimentation for innovative combinations with our bubbles.”
 

Take one of the most beautiful cars in the world, place it on a refined stage, such as the Grimaldi Forum in Montecarlo and you have Top Marques Monaco, better known as the Luxury Car and Supercar Fair. Ferrari bubbles were at the seventh edition of Top Marques a couple of days ago in Montecarlo. And as exclusive partner of a new and innovative US motor car manufacturer there was, Fisker, founded just three years ago by a man who knows more than just a little about luxury cars. We are of course talking about Henrik Fisker the man behind the stunning bodies of the latest Aston Martins and the BMW Z8. Fisker will debut in a couple of months with the first top-of-the-range ecological car, a plug-in hybrid. Karma is its name and it is a hybrid car with totally electric traction, characteristics that easily explain why the Ferrari bubbles accompany every presentation of Karma in the world. “It is the first high performance ecological hybrid car”, says Marcello Lunelli, vice chairman of the Ferrari company. A car that offers the performance of a supercar (0-100 km/h in 5.8 sec) with a lower consumption than a small car (3.5 l/100 km) and extremely low CO2 emissions (which smashes the 100 gr limit with just 83gr CO2/km), a car which is therefore authentically ecological. “Companies like us that create sparkling wines cannot but be concerned with defending the integrity of the environment. This is why we have become partners of Fisker” emphasises Marcello Lunelli. The working prototype of Karma was presented at Montecarlo and the stand was overrun with visitors, including a visit by Prince Albert of Monaco, a great supporter of ecological cars and more specifically of the Karma project. Karma will be available on the Italian market early 2011. 

There is no doubt that the trade fair in Milan is the Salone del Mobile (the International Furniture Fair), but there is also a touch of Salone del Ferrari because at the most important events, particularly those of the Fuorisalone, the Ferrari bubbles are never far away. They were present, for example, in the Versace showroom in Via del Gesù 12. More specifically, the bubbles were Perlé bubbles. The same label was also present for every toast in the showroom of the prestigious brand Boffi in Via Solferino 11. And it was Ferrari again in the Fuorisalone of another great brand - Dada-Molteni, and in Elle Decor Caffè, a refined temporary restaurant furnished by the well-known Gruppo Hachette magazine, in Via Tortona, in the heart of the Fuorisalone.