Immerse Yourself in Italian Drink, Food, and Ambiance at this year’s La Vendemmia - Ottawa’s Italian Wine & Food Celebration, September 17-23, 2007

PRESTON STREET, OTTAWA, ON – Your Italian neighbours invite you to join them in celebrating La Vendemmia (The Harvest) – it’s your behind the scenes pass to taste, feast and stomp with the city’s most established Italian families all week long.

Now in its 11th year, La Vendemmia is Ottawa's Celebration of Italian Wine & Food held in the heart of Little Italy; Preston Street. In addition to expert guest chef and sommelier personalities, the real players are our Ottawa-based Italian families and the operators of some of Ottawa’s greatest Italian restaurants.

"Gathering with friends and relatives to celebrate with a glass of wine and a dish of homemade fettuccine, around a simple table, gives you a unique feeling that you'll never forget. La Vendemmia allows us to share this unique experience with new friends. It is very special," explains Ottawa sommelier Antonio Mauriello of DiVino Wine Studio Inc.

La Vendemmia is a series of Italian wine and food seminars, dinners, cooking demos, wine tastings and a charity grape stomp. For an entire week, this unique cultural community in the heart of Ottawa opens its doors to those interested in experiencing a true taste of Italian gastronomy.

An intimate community event hosted by the Preston Street Business Improvement Association, La Vendemmia tickets are still available for a number of the week-long events, which include chef demonstrations, wine seminars, featured dinner menus at a variety of Ottawa’s best Italian restaurants, and signature dining events marrying the best of Italian wine & food. And don’t forget the ever-popular Charity Grape Stomp in support of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation on Sunday at 11 a.m.

We invite you to join us as we go behind the scenes of one of Ottawa’s oldest close-knit communities to experience the sounds, the tastes and the celebration of the bounty of harvest time. Full details are online at www.prestonstreet.com/lavendemmia.

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