Gerry Scotti tells his story to the Knights
“My relationship with food and wine began at birth, it is written in my DNA: I was born on the kitchen table”
On Sunday 23 March, in the Hall of Masks of the Grinzane Cavour Castle, the Knights of the Truffle and Wines of Alba opened the 2025 season of events with the 322nd Chapter of Spring in Langa.
During the Chapter, the Grand Master Tomaso Zanoletti, together with the Ruling Council, welcomed the famous and beloved television presenter Gerry Scotti, now owner of the Gerry Scotti Line of Cantine Giorgi, into the ranks of the Order, awarding him the Collar of Honorary Knight.
“We were very pleased with the presence of Gerry Scotti. He proved to be a profound connoisseur of the world of food and wine and the values of peasant civilization. We are pleased to be able to include him among our Honorary Knights – says the Grand Master, Tomaso Zanoletti -. 11 Postulants have also become Knights, people who are particularly passionate and expert in our territory and who will certainly give an important contribution of ideas to our Association».
The cultural part was dominated by the sympathy that has always distinguished Scotti, who also told the audience about the summers of his childhood, spent in his grandparents’ country house in the Oltrepò Pavese.
“In my time, families helped each other, gathered around bonfires, around small, rural ceremonies of the time and I remember that as a child we were given scissors, instead of big scissors, and if the adults had the cavagna, we had the cavagnino, a small one. For us children, taking part in the grape harvest was one of the most beautiful moments of the year, so these things were in my DNA,” Scotti said. “I was born on August 7 and the night before, when my mother warned them that I was about to be born, my father and grandfather were in the vineyard to check if the grapes were ready to be harvested. Back then, the harvest was in early September, today, thanks to climate change, the times have moved forward. This is the sign that binds me to the land, to wine and to the toil of man to cultivate it. But I’ll tell you more: during labor, the midwife didn’t feel like making my mother climb the steep stairs that led upstairs and said: “Let’s make it happen here”. And do you know where “here” was? It was on the kitchen table. If there is an imprinting, this is what generated my love for cooking and wine. Over the years I have felt a strong desire to produce wine and I have carefully chosen the company with which to collaborate. A reality on a human scale, familiar and, at the same time, professional”.
The food and wine part of the Chapter, with the aperitif and lunch, was entrusted to the chef of the Ristorante del Castello, Alessandro Mecca who proposed a traditional menu with the famous Plin alla curdunà served in a napkin. As usual, the menu was accompanied by wines from the Selezione dell’Ordine dei Cavalieri which this year will reach its 50th edition.
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Ph. Credits:
Maurizio Milanesio Photography
