The second seminar we sat in on  was "Traceability  & Regulation of Italian D.O.C wines, with focus on Franciacorta: One territory, Three Denominations".
     This was conducted by Riccardo Curbastro, one of the owners of the  winery and vineyards, some located in the towns of Caprilo and Isee.   Here we tasted both red and white wines starting with a remarkable sparkling wine, Franciacorta D.O.C.G Brut made with Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir.  Another sparkler was Franciacorta D.O.C.G Rose Brut made with Chardonnay and Pinot Nero.
     Riccardo devoted much of this seminar to how wines are chosen to be labeled D.O.C or D.O.C.G.  He likened Italy's wine production as a pyramid with five sections, all  generic production at the base, then generic with identity of vineyards, vintages and varietals.  The top three, as the pyramid narrows in size are reserved for wines with distinctive appellations and a known  consistency in quality   Next D.O.C and finally at the top the D.O.C.G designation for wines with protected designation of origin. 
      Four of  the five wines we tasted were either D.O.C or D.O.C.G.  The three red wines included Curtefranca D.O.C 2013 RossoVigna Santella del Grom, a blend of Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Barbera.  We gave this wine high points.
   Another red was one hundred percent Pinot Noir, 2011 Serbino IGT.  The wine we liked best was Rontana - Sangiovese Colli di Faenza D.O.C 2016 with one hundred per cent Sangiovese grapes, but then we have a particular fondness for this Grape varietal.
   At the walk around tasting first we dived into the food table which included cheese stuffed ravioli and pasta in a mushroom tomato sauce. 
   The wineries represented were from all the famed Italian appellations, Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto, Campania, Marche and Lombardy
   At the walkaround we directed our first visits to wineries from Italy's famous islands, Sicily and Sardinia.  We have a special interest in wines from Sicily since our mother was born there, coming to the U.S. as a three year old with five year old sister.
    The wineries in Sicily recently began looking  at some of their native varietals like Nero d'Avola, Eughenes Syrah and Nerekki Mascalese.  The same is true in Sardinia with local varietals like Isula, Lakana and Mamuthone
   The seminars were well attended with not an empty seat to be found and the walk around was a full house as well.
   Simply Italian may have been the wrong name for the event since the seminars proved there are no simple Italian wines.