Friday, March 11, 2011

Avola from New York, chasing dreams

There are days in New York when the rain seems not to have to go on forever. And with the rain, the wind that strips away the tenth umbrella of a winter that will not become spring. It should then, if it's street, finally stopping to greet an old friend, one of the few Italian restaurants in which, although rarely, I like to eat.

And so Ivan introduced me to George (beef), manager and sommelier, whose fate has been marked from birth: Avola is what it says on your passport. From handshake to the comparison on the reasons that led us to New York, the pitch is very short. Growing up "in the middle of the wine and, above all, his grandfather introduced him as a child, George decides soon to become a sommelier, but not any one good, indeed excellent, indeed" exceptional quality ".

With the first certified as a sommelier in your pocket, in 18 years, George began his wandering between Italian and European restaurants. After five years, the first major turning point with those important jobs on cruise ships, such as the Princess and the Queen Elizabeth 2. In one of those trips, Giorgio finds its home: New York.

System is not easy but the will is there and the quality as well. And the stubbornness of seeing his name alongside that of the great gurus of the cooking apple such as Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich and Donatella Arpaia and Sirio Maccioni, makes him swallow even the melancholy of the past years and never set foot at home.

It 's a difficult challenge but galvanizing. "I was alone - George tells me - I do not yet realized. New Yorkers are wonderful people, open, ready to welcome you and make you feel at home. " Over the years, George has become "extraordinary" as desired, so as to win the award for "Best Sommelier in New York" in 2007 and the luxury of becoming a pilot of Piper, as a hobby.

Today, its daily life is divided between the activity of the sommelier and consultant for restaurants across the United States, in addition to the numerous wine tastings and wine seminars at which he is invited. Meanwhile, he also published three books, all about wine and its secrets. "It took time, but I'm where I wanted to be - says George, who is also working on a television project - and, though retains a strong bond with Italy, I do not stay there this would have been possible." Speaking to both, the story comes to mind, is dall'autobiografia of Chris Gardner, Muccino told in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, that pursuit of happiness here is even written, as an inalienable right of man, in the Declaration of Independence .

And in Italy, it seems, too often, as a mortal sin or an 'illusion inveterate dreamers.

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