In April 2025, Mitsukoshi's flagship store in Nihonbashi held its annual Italia-ten 2025 fair. At one of its most popular eat-in counters, run by Fabio (host of the YouTube channel 'Fabio Meshi / The World of an Italian Chef', with over one million subscribers), SWIRL's wines were chosen as the pairing wines for the collaboration.
Fabio is a chef known for blending the fine-dining techniques he honed in Italy with a Japanese sensibility. Each year he visits top restaurants across Italy, exchanging ideas with their chefs and continually sharpening his palate. This was his first time taking part in an Italia-ten fair.
Fabio tasted a great many of our wines. To match the very best bottle to each dish, we held two separate tasting sessions before finally settling on the line-up: three wines from Bosco del Merlo, an accomplished winery in Veneto, northern Italy.
The collaboration menu ran to three plates, from pasta to dolce (Italian dessert), each paired with a Bosco del Merlo wine and also poured by the glass at the venue. The pairing that drew the most comments, both at the fair and on social media (X and others), was the Sauvignon Blanc 'Turranio' served with the octopus chitarra.
The Collaboration Menu and Its Pairings
1. Chitarra with octopus and zucchini, aglio e olio, scented with citrus × Sauvignon Blanc 'Turranio'
A smooth, fragrant garlic sauce, made by blanching domestic garlic and finishing it with a shellfish dashi. Springy, thin chitarra (pasta with a cross-section like guitar strings) is tossed with live octopus (first boiled in tomato dashi, then marinated aglio e olio, meaning garlic and olive oil) and zucchini for a textural accent, then finished with Italian parsley and bergamot zest for a bright, fresh aroma.
Turranio's green, vegetal aromatics lift the parsley and the creaminess of the oil-and-chili sauce beautifully, while the wine's body harmonizes with the pasta. It was the talk of the fair: the true star of the pairings.
2. Rigatoni alla carbonara with Azumino pork, green asparagus and fresh Kampot pepper × Syrah 'Seduzione'
No cured pancetta here: Azumino pork is flash-marinated into an instant pancetta to draw out its umami, then bound with a rich Marigold egg yolk. Two cheeses, Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano, balance the salt, while charred green asparagus evokes the charcoal-makers that carbonara is named for, and fresh Kampot pepper adds lift. A deep, satisfying plate.
Seduzione, whose name means 'seduction', is gentle in acidity, with cherry-like fruit and a generous body. It wraps around the richness of the pancetta and the two cheeses, echoing the indulgent pasta with every sip.
3. Marsala parfait with almonds and strawberries, tiramisu-style × Verduzzo Passito 'Soandre'
A rich vanilla parfait perfumed with Marsala from Sicily in southern Italy, with fragrant almond praline coated in freshly pulled espresso and sweet-tart seasonal strawberries, plated to evoke tiramisu.
Soandre is a sweet wine (passito) made from air-dried grapes. With its lovely amber color and honeyed aromatics, it never masks the sweetness of the dessert; the grape's natural acidity keeps the palate clean.
Dates: April 23 (Wed) to 29 (Tue, holiday), 2025, Italia-ten 2025 PART 1
Venue: Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store, Main Building 7F, Event Hall
Note: Italia-ten 2025 ran from April 23 (Wed) to May 6 (Tue, substitute holiday).
After Two Tastings
One last, personal note. What moved me most this time was Fabio's sheer passion for Italian food: the way he engages with every ingredient, the precision of his work, and the care he takes to convey Italian culture, its food, and the stories of the wines that grow out of it. Every part of it amazes me, time and again. I am truly grateful that he chose our wines and continues to support us. Grazie, Fabio.
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