Giovanni Pasquero-Elia of Paitin, at Tria in Philly Next Tuesday

To be filed under a little help for my friends... I just wanted to let all of my Philadelphia-area readers know that Giovanni Pasquero-Elia, vigneron (to borrow from the French) and current head of the wine growing family at the storied Barbaresco estate, Paitin di Pasquero-Elia, is coming to town. Next Tuesday, November 9, 2010, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM, Giovanni will be leading a tutored tasting of his wines, from Arneis, Dolcetto and Barbera, on through Nebbiolo and Barbaresco, at Philly's Tria Fermentation School. As of this moment there are still eight tickets remaining, so jump on board if you'd like a chance to taste and learn about some excellent Piemontese wines under the guidance of the man who helped bring them to life.

The Sorì Paitin vineyard, at the heart of the Paitin estate in the hills above the village of Neive, as it looked in February 2006.

If you need a little more convincing or would like to brush up on a little background before jumping in, check out the winery profile of Paitin that I wrote last year based on my visit to the estate back in early 2006. For those that place themselves firmly on one side or the other of the old-school/new-school stylistic divide when it comes to the wines of Piedmont, Giovanni's wines are neither devoutly traditional nor extremely modernistic. Rather, they draw tools, techniques and ideas from both sides, with excellent results.

If you go, be sure to tell them I sent you. And please do stop back to let me know what you thought of the wines and the experience.