Next month - in honor of International Women's Day - I am inviting the Wine Pairing Weekend writers to look at women in wine. In 2025 International Women's Day - Festa delle Donne in Italy - is celebrated on March 8th.
This is a flexible topic. Let's shine the spotlight on women in the wine industry; it can be any females in any country in any part of wine production from the farmer to the winemaker.
How to Participate
Details for participation
Are you ready to jump in and participate in the March #WinePW event? Here are the details. Feel free to post anytime during the week, but do have your post live by Saturday, March 8th at 8am Pacific time.
Send an email to tell me you're in or post in the Facebook event group: Include your blog url. If you know your blog post title now, include that...but you can send me that a bit closer to the event, I'd like to get a sense of who's participating and give some shoutouts and links as we go. The email is culinarycami[at]gmail[dot]com.
Send your post title to me by Saturday, March 1st at noon to be included in the preview post. I will do a preview post shortly after getting the titles, linking to your blogs. When your post goes live, the published title should include "#WinePW" but it doesn't need to be included for the title list.
Publish your post anytime during the week, but please no later than 8am Pacific time on Saturday, March 8th You can always schedule your post in advance if you will be tied up that week.
Include a link to the other #WinePW participants in your post, and a description of what the event is about. I'll provide the html code you can easily put in your initial post--which will link to people's general blog url--then updated code for the permanent links to everyone's #WjnePW posts.
Get social! After the posts go live, please visit your fellow bloggers posts' to comment and share.
Sponsored posts OK if clearly disclosed. Please be sure to disclose if your post is sponsored or if you are describing wine or other products for which you have received a free sample.
That's it! I can't wait to see what you pour and pair. Cheers!
To get you in the right frame of mind, I'm starting us off with Gluten-Free Crystal Skin Lamb Dumplings plus Basilicata Rosato IGT "Titolo - Pink Edition."
The Wonderous Wines of Elena Fucci
One of our favorite Italian restaurants shuttered this year. After twelve years, they decided to close and go back to Italy to be closer to family. I get it. I am just grateful that we have gotten to know them and they have watched our boys grow up. So, over the final weeks, they hosted wine tastings and offered their cellar contents at steep discounts. And because Anna holds several Italian wine certifications, I asked her for suggestions to fit the theme.
Serendipitously, one matched the wine suggestion from Diaspora Spice Co. to go along with one of their recipes. More on that in a second. But that is how I ended up with this bottle: Basilicata Rosato IGT "Titolo - Pink Edition: by Elena Fucci.
The Fucci family has lived on their estate in Basilicata since 1960. That's when Elena’s grandfather acquired six hectares of vineyards at the highest part Contrada Solagna of Titolo, at the foot of the extinct volcano Mount Vulture. Before that her great-grandfather, Nicola Salvatore, had worked vineyards as a laborer when they were part of a latifondo, a system of large agricultural estates owned by landlords living in the north.
In 2000 - she was born in 1981 - Fucci was on the cusp of finishing high school and heading into a career in genetic engineering. Her parents, who are both teachers, were considering selling the land and the 16th-century casa colonica (‘farmhouse’) in Barile. She decided she couldn't allow that to happen. So, she went to the university in Pisa and obtained her degree in oenology and agronomy in 2005 before returning to Basilicata.
Now Fucci is at the epicenter of the renaissance of the Aglianico grape for the region which is one of Italy's smallest with just over half a million inhabitants. The regional consorzio (like a co-operative) for Aglianico del Vulture has over five dozen members, but less than half of them export their wines. Fucci is one of those. During her first harvest, she produced 100 cases and sold the rest of her grapes. Fast forward 17 years, she is now making nearly 3000 cases and has added olive oil to her production.
On to the wine, a single varietal made from 100% Aglianico grapes that were farmed organically and grown using the Guyot system (it's a system of head-training the vines) with legumes in between. The grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed before macerating in steel tanks for four days.
This is truly a pink wine for red wine lovers. It pours an intense, dark fuschia color. On the nose the wine smells of red fruit and white flowers with just a tinge of tart citrus. On the palate the wine is beautifully balance with a pronounced minerality and savoriness. And Diaspora Spice Co. was correct: Rosato was the perfect match for Asha's Cumin Lamb Dumplings! But first a bit about why I am making these for this invitation.
On the Plate
I have long been a fan of Diaspora Spice Co. - not just because their products are amazing, but because the premise behind the company is worthy of support and the founder, Sana Javeri Kadri, is a force of nature. I use her spices almost everyday. When I listened to The Splendid Table podcast that featured her - Episode 789: World of Spices with Sana Javeri Kadri and Ethan Frisch - I knew I wanted to create some recipes to go along with my women in wine series.
Listen to the whole interview (it's worth it!) or, long story short, Kadri gave her self a goal of making the best turmeric in America. That entailed going back to India (she is a Mumbai-native who currently lives in Oakland), visiting turmeric farms, and revamping the spice supply chain. She is committed to quality, equity, sustainability, and community.
I started with Asha's Cumin Lamb Dumplings, on the Diaspora Spice Co. website and adapted it to use more spices and make them gluten-free so Jake could enjoy them as well. For those dumpling skins I started with a recipe from Lisa Lin. You will need a kitchen scale for this; weight is a much more accurate measure than volume!
Ingredients
Dumpling Skins
160 grams potato starch
30 grams tapioca flour/tapioca starch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Pragati Turmeric (on the Diaspora Spice Co. website)
150 grams boiling hot water
1-1/2 teaspoons canola oil
Filling
1 pound ground lamb
1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, finely chopped
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 inch knob fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon coarsely ground Jodhana Cumin (on the Diaspora Spice Co. website)
1 teaspoon Pragati Turmeric (on the Diaspora Spice Co. website)
1/2 teaspoon Basiya Ginger (on the Diaspora Spice Co. website)
1/2 teaspoon Pahadi Pink Garlic (on the Diaspora Spice Co. website)
Procedure
Dumpling Skins
In a medium mixing bowl, add the potato starch, tapioca starch, salt, and turmeric. Pour in the oil and the boiling water. Stir the ingredients together until a shaggy dough forms, then turn it out onto clean workspace. Start kneading the dough by hand. Knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes, until it is completely smooth. The dough should feel moist but not sticky. Cover the dough and let it rest while you make the filling.
Filling
Place all of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon to mix until well-combined. Set aside until ready to assemble dumplings.
Assembly
I weighed out 15 gram portions of the dough to make about two dozen dumplings. You can eyeball that if you like; they are about walnut-sized.
Use more tapioca starch to dust your work surface and on the dough if it gets too sticky. Use a rolling pin to roll each ball out to about 3-1/2 to 4-inches in diameter. Scoop or spoon in about 2 teaspoons of the filling in to the center of your dumpling skin.
Now I will describe my process though my dumplings are a little klunky! Regardless, they tasted amazing.
Pinch the center together, then starting on the right and make pleats about every 1/4 inch, pinching the dough together, until you get to the opposite end. Place the finished dumpling on a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with a dry clean tea towel. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.
To Cook
Place dumplings on a piece of parchment paper on a steaming rack over boiling water. Cover and steam the dumplings for 5 to 6 minutes over high heat. The skins will be translucent.
The cooked crystal dumping will be chewy, similar to mochi. Eat them immediately! If you are eating them later, pan-fry them before serving.
That's a wrap on my invitation to the March Wine Pairing Weekend event with a focus on women in wine! I hope the group will be inspired to join me and shine a spotlight - or two or three - on female winemakers, grape growers, or otherwise involved in getting wine to market. My mind is awhirl with so many women I want to include that I will be posting multiple times. Stay tuned!
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