Donnafugata Music&Wine conquers the heart of New Yorkers by offering a multi-sensorial wine and music experience Made in Sicily.

Deafening applause at the Blue Note in New York for Josè Rallo and her band in “Donnafugata Music & Wine” show. The world-renowned temple of jazz cheered the double concert of wine and music on Monday, November 7, raising the roof on the world’s most famous jazz club. The program scored a hit, drawing sold-out crowds for two consecutive shows.

Under the Statue of Liberty, the formula for binding wine with music hit the target, arousing the enthusiasm of an audience that willingly surrendered to an original and unique multi-sensorial experience in which musical notes blended with aromas and flavors expressed in the goblet. Josè Rallo, wine entrepreneur and the group’s vocal soloist, sang “Branquinha,” a sweet and sensual ballad by Caetano Veloso, and offered Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria to the beat provided by her percussionist husband Vincenzo Favara. Other combinations include Chiarandà and “Horses” (by Diego Spitaleri), a piece that can evoke the energy of the nocturnal harvest, and the duet of red Tancredi and “Novembre ’64” (by Giuseppe Milici), both intriguing and enchanting.

“The universality of music,” the Sicilian entrepreneur explained, “overcomes linguistic barriers and can become a prodigious and innovative instrument of communications that can make our wines known and appreciated. The success in New York assumes an extraordinary significance and not only because of the importance of this market. We are in the homeland of marketing. Here, everyone communicates, creating events and making major investments to capture the attention of consumers. We have focused on our passions for music and for wine, on the color and spontaneity of our culture and on involving and entertaining the public. The response was truly superb.”

Enzo Capua, journalist and music critic who is U.S. contact for Umbria Jazz, made a fundamental contribution to the insertion of the band’s appearance on the Blue Note’s calendar in New York. Impressed by the group’s impact on the sophisticated New York public, Capua is already envisioning for 2006 a series of new programs in major U.S. cities. “An atmosphere of real participation, of liveliness and passion, has been created,” he said. “This is the Italy that pleases and convinces. Wine and music are a new and not overworked key to communicating “Made-in-Italy” quality.”

In the audience, many American journalists but also a good representation of Italian correspondents in the United States, who accepted Donnafugata’s invitation, and members of leading Italian institutions operating in the “big apple.” Among others: Consul Antonio Bandini, Amelia Carpenito Antonucci of the Italian Cultural Intitute and Giovanni Mafodda of the Italian Trade Commission of New York.

Public Relations:

Baldo M. Palermo [email protected] tel. 0039 0923 7242267

Laura Ellwanger [email protected] te. 0039 0923 724258