Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Castello di Montepò, Sassoalloro IGT

Sassoalloro IGT by Vito Donatiello blog

Castello di Montepò (Jacopo Biondi Santi), Sassoalloro 2005, IGT Tuscany Red

Region: Tuscany
Grape: 100% Sangiovese Grosso
Alchol: 14%
Ageing: 14 months oak barrique

AIS Tasting Sheet
Visual Analysis: ruby red, limpid, consistent
Olfactory Analysis: intense, fine, quite complex: fruity, spicy, ethereal
Taste-Olfactory Analysis: dry, warm, soft; quite fresh, tannic, quite sapid; balanced, quite intense, quite persistent, fine; mature to old, quite harmonious
[Read More…]

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Pope Francis and Fidel Castro

Great moment in the history, 2 men who have changed history and will further influence for years to come. Admiration and respect!

Friday, September 18, 2015

Rings from Pfalz (Germany) wine tasting

Jorg ans Wsana invited to a nice and informal German wine tasting. The very first 4 bottles in China (hand-carried) of Weingut Rings - the 200th and newest addition to VDP members - showed 4 rieslings from the same winery with very distinctive taste.

Since 1 June 2015, Weingut Rings in Freinsheim/Pfalz has been accepted as a new member of the VDP national association, the 200th estate to be ranked. The VDP.Pfalz now has a total of 26 member estates.

“In order to guarantee a constantly high level of top-quality products and estates, new members are only accepted after a stringent examination. Not only is continuous wine quality a decisive prerequisite for membership, but also a commitment to sustainable viticulture and the preservation of great sites.”

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Barolo Boys - The Story of a Revolution

Barolo Boys @ vito donatiello blog “Barolo Boys - The Story of a Revolution” is a 2014 documentary film about the story of a group of young winemakers who in the 80’s and 90’s dramatically changed the world of Barolo wine, in the Langhe, north-western Italy.

After almost 30 years, what is left of that experience? As one of the film’s characters (Marc De Grazia) asks, “what revolution has ever been successful?

Thanks to The Wine Guy for organizing the event: movie broadcast and Marchesi di Barolo wine tasting.
(Sep 15th, 2015 at YunCai Cafe on 260 ChangShou Rd, Shanghai)

Thursday, July 30, 2015

The world currently enjoys a two-billion-cup-a-day habit

The world currently enjoys a two-billion-cup-a-day habit by Vito Donatiello blog

How can we ensure that we get that caffeine fix in a turbulent climate?

BBC News article

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Understanding Cholesterol

Understanding LDL and HDL Cholesterol by Vito Donatiello blog

Cholesterol is an organic molecule. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a lipid molecule and is biosynthesized by all animal cells because it is an essential structural component of all animal (not plant or bacterial) cell membranes that is required to maintain both membrane structural integrity and fluidity. […] In addition to its importance within cells, cholesterol also serves as a precursor for the biosynthesis of steroid hormones, bile acids, and vitamin D.

[from Wikipedia]

What Is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is naturally present in cell walls or membranes everywhere in the body. The body uses cholesterol to produce many hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids that help to digest fat. Too much cholesterol in your bloodstream can lead to narrowing of arteries in the body that cause heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral artery disease.
[Read More…]

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Test your website speed

Test your website speed by Vito Donatiello blog

How fast your website is in China?

There are plenty of online tools to test your website load time from USA, UK, India but very few have options to test your page load time from China. If you are running a business in China or expecting visitors and if your website hosted out of China then most probably your website load time would be poor.

Before you start optimizing you should check the page load time from multiple cities in China.

  • Website Test behind the Great Firewall of China: Websitepulse
  • Instantly test your website speed, in real browsers from 23 locations worldwide: Dotcom-tools
  • Run a free website speed test from multiple locations around the globe using real browsers (IE and Chrome) and at real consumer connection speeds: Webpagetest
  • Analyze your site’s speed and make it faster. GTmetrix gives you insight on how well your site loads and provides actionable recommendations on how to optimize it: Gtmetrix
  • Web Site Performance Test: you can conduct a real-time Instant Test for an individual Web page to test its performance from an external node location: Gomeznetworks
  • Full Web Page Test. Analyze web page and optimize website performance. Optimize website by checking impact of scripts, images and other resources loaded via sub-domains on this web page: Site24×7
  • Pingdom Website Speed Test: enter a URL to test the load time of that page, analyze it and find bottlenecks: Pingdom

Monday, April 13, 2015

Pasta: Italy is worldwide market leader

pasta.jpgWith 26 kg consumption per capita per year - at least a daily portion of 70 gr - Italians are the biggest pasta lovers. Venezuela is second with 12,3 kg and Tunisia third with 11,7 kg.

Not only consumption, Italy is also leader in production figures with 3,3 millions of tons annualy, second is USA with 2 millions of toms and third place goes to Brazil with 1,1 million tons.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Shanghai labor cost is increasing reflecting the cost of living

SHwage.jpgShanghai has raised the monthly minimum wage for full-time employees in the city from 1.820 to 2.020 RMB. The hourly minimum wage for part-time employees increased from 17 to 18 RMB.

The minimum wage was first introduced in 1993 when it was just 210 RMB per month to ensure basic quality of life for citizen with low incomes.

Shanghai’s over 60’s reach 4.14 million

The number of Shanghai resident aged 60 or more reaches 4.14 millions, or 28.8% of the permanent population.

SHover60.jpg

Friday, February 27, 2015

She made my day

Many many years ago I had big dreams, revolutionary dreams I would say. Later I still thought I could change the world and contribute to build a better world. On the second half of the journey I considerably lower the bar, struggling for a decent and honest survival. Have to admit that “legacy” have always obsessed me, an alone man living somewhere far.

Today I received a lovely email form a girlfriend I had in the years 2002-2003. We both were younger, our lifes were lighter. Every time we met was no longer than 6 or 7 days at a time; despite of that still have great memories of these days and I still think she was one of the best women I have met.
More than 10 years are passed: we live in different cities from then, she had a lovely baby girl, and somehow we managed to keep in touch time to time.

Knowing that I meant something in her life makes me happy and fulfilled. I reckon this is the kind of legacy I aspire.

mshanoiemail.jpg

Friday, January 23, 2015

Bella Ciao

BellaCiao.jpgToday I have read a nice article on La Repubblica newspaper about Bella Ciao song, which makes me search about it.

The song Bella Ciao was sung by the anti-fascist resistance movement active in Italy between 1943 and 1945. It is worldwide used as a hymn of freedom and resistance.

The author of the lyrics is unknown. A version of this song was recorded for music researchers by Italian folk singer Giovanna Daffini in 1962.There are versions by Yves Montand, Giorgio Gaber, Renato Carosone, but they lack the last part which say ”this is the flower of a partisan dead for the freedom”.

play_sound_20_15px.gif Bella Ciao (by The Black Cat Orchestra)

play_sound_20_15px.gif Bella Ciao (by Manu Chao)

Una mattina mi son svegliato,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
Una mattina mi son svegliato
e ho trovato l’invasor.

O partigiano, portami via,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
O partigiano, portami via,
ché mi sento di morir.

E se io muoio da partigiano,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E se io muoio da partigiano,
tu mi devi seppellir.

Mi seppellirai lassù in montagna,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
Mi seppellirai lassù in montagna
all’ombra di un bel fior.

E le genti che passeranno
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E le genti che passeranno
Ti diranno «Che bel fior!»

«È questo il fiore del partigiano»,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
«È questo il fiore del partigiano
morto per la libertà!»