Walter Scheel Medal 2018 for the Culture of pleasure and Lifestyle to Giannola Nonino and the Nonino Distilleries
We are happy to communicate that Giannola Nonino and the Nonino Distilleries were awarded the “Walter Scheel Medal 2018 for the Culture of pleasure and Lifestyle” which, since 2014, the committee for the awarding of the prize that bears the name of Walter Scheel, the 4th President of the German Federal Republic, now presided by Dr. Christoph Wirtz, has been awarded to personalities who have distinguished themselves for the attention towards the culture of European taste and have given an extraordinary contribution to the idea of “being united” in the spirit of the of the work of unification of Europe. In virtue of this “union”, until today, the Walter Scheel Medal has been awarded to Angelo Gaja, Georg Riedel, the Haeberlin family – Auberge de l’Ill-Illhaeusern, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger – Champaigne Taittinger and Eckart Witzigmann – Chef of the century.
The committee wants to “highlight how from ‘apparently’ simple products like cheese, ham, shellfish or aquavitae delicacies can be born thanks to the care, devotion, experience and attention to tradition, from tradition to tradition, which for their quality and exclusivity remind great art masterpieces and bring Europe to the limelight in a world marked by great variety”.
Held together by strong ties of steadfast values and marked by unique, millennia-old cultural wealth, contemporary Europe is united in diversity. This diversity is reflected, inter alia, by the continent’s culinary heritage. “Food and drink bring us together. They unite nations and establish a deep connectedness between humans”, … good food has encouraged breakthroughs in many negotiations between nations … To break bread with guests, be they friends or foreigners, is an unambiguous sign of friendship” (Walter Scheel, 1991). This “connectedness” represents the spirit of the European project supported by President Scheel.
Together with Giannola and the Nonino family, the symbol of the Art of Distillation of Grappa and within the tradition of European distillation, this year’s medal has been awarded to José Gomez, the owner of Joselito “the best ham in the world” special prize of the Real Academia de Gastronomia 2018, to Bernard Antony Maître affineure, the cheese selector known all over the world as the alchemist of cheese, and to the Gillardeau family, one of the most important brands in French oyster breeding, a company established 110 years ago, which produces only “specials”, the oysters most required by European chefs.
The prize was awarded in Bensberg, Köln, in the elegant setting of the Grand hotel Schloss Bensbergal Vendome with a dedicated Menu by Joachim Wissler, three Michelin stars, a very important representative of the “Neue Deutsche Schule”, he is the chef who has been awarded several times as the top in Germany by Der Feinschmecker, Gault &Millau and Lo Mejor de la Gastronomia, a dinner crowned by the toast to Europe with Grappa Nonino Cru Monovitigno® Picolit and Grappa Riserva Nonino 8 years in barriques and small casks!
Find out more at: www.grappanonino.it e http://walter-scheel-medaille.de
