Wine Jabber

Day 4. Südtirol: Negociants and Cooperatives

Bolzano – Bozen in German – is a different world from the rest of Italy. The principal language is German, the surrounding terrain alpine, the cooking a mélange of Italian and Germanic influences, the people reserved. The region, Alto Adige or Südtirol, has been tossed back and forth between empires and countries before settling – a tad uncomfortably - into Italy after the First World War. For me, the Germanic vibe makes me feel instantly at home: it has a familiar rhythm and the language was my second, from going through first and second grade in Switzerland. We have left pasta country! (Pasta here is practically inedible after the glories of the past week – though still better than in the US. In the Alto Adige, knödel or spatzle are the side of choice.)

A note about wineries in the Alto Adige (also called the Südtirol). White wines rule, though reds are gaining in importance. Aromatic whites are the best known of the region, led by Gewurztraminer, which takes its name from the village of Tramin, about 20km south of Bolzano. Typically, a winery will have a lot of different selections: up to 25 or 30 in some cases. Most production (70%) is operated by village cooperatives, then negociant houses (25%); only 5% of the production is by small grower-producers. Quality is generally high: the co-ops are, for the most part, well-run and put out big quantities of admirably high-quality product. Many larger producers organize their wines into three tiers of quality. At some wineries we taste 25 wines – so only the standouts are mentioned.

One of the interesting aspects of the region’s viticulture is the use of the pergola (also called "tendone") training system – an ancient method of training the vines that works great for quantity production but tends to leave the quality side wanting (the Romans used this system extensively). Plants were typically widely spaced and carried far too much fruit per vine. A number of forward-looking growers were experimenting with guyot and cordon spur training to get better results in the vineyards, now some have gone back to pergola in modified form. (Pergola is just like the name implies: the vines are trained high into a roof of leaves and hanging fruit, the vine work and harvest being done from below.) New pergola plantings are typically much denser than before, almost to the density of guyot plantings, and far less fruit per vine is allowed to ripen. Many producers have found that a vine that may be great on guyot at 450 meters does better on pergola at 300. So finding the right training method is a part of a larger puzzle of which vine to plant in which microclimate. No one said it was easy.

First visit, Thursday morning: Lageder. The visit is conducted by an office intern who is frequently consulting his handwritten notes but who can’t answer basic questions about winemaking. Ugh. There’s lots of stuff about the architecture of the winery, the importance of biodynamic farming (but nothing about how it affects the quality of the final product in the bottle), and the artwork - some are site-specific commissions - that decorate some of the rooms. (It’s Stephano’s voice that echoes eerily in my head: “Do these make the wine taste any better?”) Luckily the headwaiter Walter at the tasting room/café has all the answers to our wine-related questions and soon we are in his capable hands. Alois Lageder himself stops by to say hello, and there are some standout wines.

2008 Lageder, Muller-Thurgau. Classic. Peachy and apple nose, with white grape aromas. Slightly sweet peach and grape flavors, golden apples, mineral, good acid. Lovely and drinks very well, nice sweet but clean finish. 3.0-

2008 Lageder, B-D (beta-delta; bio-dynamic) Chardonnay-Pinot Gris. New label part of classic series. Thick and viscous nose, but very sexy and deep. On the palate, lovely peach, lemon, pear and minerals galore - this only sees steel. Really lovely. I like it a lot, has good length, a balanced and refreshing finish, good structure. Lovely. Hints of sweetness, but this is dry – the fruit is just lovely. 3.0+

2008 Lageder, Moscato Giallo “Vogelmaier” SV. Classic sweet grapey moscato nose, with flowers, exotic white fruits and peaches. Lovely, classic nose of great typicity. Lovely in the mouth, I like it colder, but this is a beauty, nothing complex, but delicious! Lovely long orange/peach finish. Good acid, very fresh, lovely and long. Delicious. 3.0-

2006 Lageder, “Krafuss” Estate, Pinot Noir, Estate. Barrique aged, rule of thirds. Lovely nose of black cherry, vanilla, dark chocolate, dark stone aspects, earth. Really nice nose. The wood works well here and is well-integrated. Palate, sweet fruit, milk chocolate, lovely earthy and vanilla aspects, this is a modern wine but really well-integrated. It needs 2 years or so to knit together, and is delicious now. A lovely pinot, in the lighter Germanic style. 3.5-

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From Lageder, we head north toward Terlan, where the cooperative Cantina Terlano is located. This is a fabulously well-run cooperative, where incentives abound for the member growers to provide better and better quality grapes. And the quality in the bottle is amazing. Last year, we happened to visit on the day after a group of wine professionals; the bottle of 1959 Pinot Blanc was only half-consumed, and what a wine! It had been sitting on the lees in an inox tank for 49 years … still fresh and vibrant. The 1971 was equally brilliant.

This year, we’re taken around by Judith, who is knowledgeable and full of info and facts. The wines are all vinified for varietal typicity and yields are generally low. They also are awesome values and available all over the US.

2009 Cantina Terlano, Terlano Classico. 60% Pinot Bianco, 30% Chard, 10% Sauvignon Blanc. Historical blend of whites. Lovely peach. Apricot, apple nose. Lovely bright floral elements. On the palate, fresh and lively, great fruit and citrus, good length, structure, crisp, simple lovely. 3.0- really drinkable. Not complex in the least but lovely.

2007 Cantina Terlano, Pinot Blanc “Vorberg” Riserva – after steel fermentation, 12 months in large oak casks; neutral. On the nose, lovely ripe pear and apple, some stonefruit and flowers, great minerality. In the mouth, very well balanced, good fruit and structure, lovely minerality, nectarine, white peach and flowers. Nice length and finish. This is a reference point for the Pinot Blanc grape. This is one of the wines that in great years is left in steel on the lees for ages – it has longevity and structure galore. 3.5-

2008 Cantina Terlano, Sauvignon “Quartz” – selection line. (60quintiles per hectare limit of production.) Still young and shy, with just a touch of wood, more ripe yellow fruit, pears, peaches in nose and palate, the minerals are integrated in a whole different way, very long in the mouth, the acids are still a bit awkward but not lacking in any way. Quite lovely and life ahead of it – wait 1-2 years and enjoy for 5-10, possibly more. The wood is admirably restrained – I think of a Pouilly-Fume styled with restraint. Very nice. 3.5- fabulous length.

1996 Cantina Terlano, Chardonnay “Rarity” – 12 months in the big neutral casks, then stays in steel (25hl tanks) on the lees for 11.5 years. Rarities are made in quantities of 3350 bottles. The lees give it remarkable depth and complexity on the nose. Apricots, bread yeast, peaches, flowers. Lovely nose. In the mouth, lovely depth and complexity – this is remarkably fresh for a 13yr old wine. Ageing in tank helps, but the lees effect gives remarkable complexity without any extra weight. Good minerality and structure and the acid is sufficient to keep it fresh without being tart. Really successful. 4.0-

2008 Cantina Terlano, Gewurztraminer “Lunare”. Very spicy nose, honeysuckle and melons, on the palate very fresh ad not too heavy but has too much of the unctuousness of the grape for my taste. Cantelope melon and sweet mango, flowers galore. Not my taste but a beautifully made wine. 3.0+

2007 Cantina Terlano, Lagrein “Gries” Riserva. Black cherry, dark plum and stonefruit, some of the charcoal and pencil lead elements of Lagrein, very good tannic grip in the mouth, with a good sweet finish and a long dark aftertaste. Hints of bitter charcoal on the finish, great color, long length. I like this but it is a unique wine not for everyone. 3.0+

2007 Cantina Terlano, Lagrein “Porphyr” Riserva, (selection line.). From three vineyards sites where the vineyards are all over 50 years old – natural selection – 1 kilo grapes per plant, so no green harvest necessary. 18 months in barrique, part new. Cranberry rhubarb nose, with super-dark plums and mineral aspects. The charcoal and pencil lead is full throttle, really great grip but tight as a drum and full of dry, dusty, chalky tannins. Good black stone fruit, not berries, some licorice and pepper. Big and bold, like a baby Thackrey Taurus or Orion. 3.5-

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Last stop for the day is at Colterenzio/Schreckbichl (those are the German and Italian names for this little village, from which the cantina, a cooperative of about 300 growers, takes its name). We are taken around by Letizia and Martin, the Export Manager and Oenologist, respectively, who are both great and helpful. The cantina produces a dizzying array of wines of three tiers of quality and is in the middle of an expansion and modernization project. From what I hear from other producers, this is an enviably well-run cooperative. However, that the president of the cooperative’s son is succeeding his father seems antithetical to the idea of a cooperative; isn’t a cooperative owned by the member farmers? It just seems odd to me.

The wines, though, are of generally high quality and seem to be priced really well. The logo is very cool - a tower with a wedge - that is reproduced on two glass doors in the cellar. They have an export agent and importers for the USA, but not all states are covered. Too bad, as this would be a natural winery to turn to for good quality wines of great value. For a winery of this size – big – they are doing an admirable job of keeping the quality up. Martin, amazingly, is able to keep all the lots of grapes – everything is fermented separately – organized in his head and can reel off the particulars of any wine; an amazing feat of mental organization and agility. Great guy; he’s very excited about his wines. Hopefully they find importers all over the US, as I think this is a winery to keep track of.

2008 Colterenzio/Schreckbichl, Pinot Biano, Praedium “Weisshaus” Part in steel and 20% in large neutral botti. Pears galore, white mica, some nectarine and white fruits, with floral notes. Kept very fresh, some rounding from the wood and air, but still lots of brightness and no discernable wood. Fresh and lively. This is a year in bottle, round and rich but still light – it goes through malo, there are slightly creamy notes and shows some potential for ageing. This is so delicious now I don’t think I could keep it for too long – but a bit more knitting together and this could easily match with more substantial dishes. Very nice. 3.0-

2008 Colterenzio/Schreckbichl, LaFoa Sauvignon Blanc. This is a particular vineyard in the village of Schreckbichl/Colterenzio. For one the top wines of the cooperative. A big shout-out to the owner, who, against popular opinion, said this could be done from this site. This is a more serious wine, deeper flavors, more like a pouilly fume, 50% in wood fermentation and ageing – some of the wood is barrique, some is big botti – the effects of a particular size and type of wood are dissipated by using many different types of wood and barrel sizes. The label is a bit of an ego trip – a picture of a statue from the president’s villa, representing the earth’s energy moving upwards – this is a bit much (Stefano’s voice, again ….), but the wine is lovely, has good minerality and length, and has much to say for it. 3.5+ Interestingly, I have had this wine before – I was given a bottle by Giorgio Schiopetto in Friuli, who said it was “just crazy” how great it was. I took it back to Colorado and drank it with my girlfriend Karen, but neither of us could decipher the name or the producer on the label – La Foa is written in a cursive that I found impossible to read. So for the last 8 months I’ve wondered what that wine was – and here it is!

2007 Colterenzio/Schreckbichl, Gewurztraminer, “Atisis” Corenll series. Old name of the Etsch/Adige. Very spicy nose, full of flowers, honeysuckle, ripe citrus, very rich, aromatic, full-bodied, but not overly heavy in the mouth. Nuts and lychee, white cassis, white grapes, all steel still fresh and with 7 g residual sugar, but the sweetness is well-balanced by the acidity. Nice, not heavy, well-balanced, aromatic and flowery. 3.0- a really nice wine.

2007 Colterenzio/Schreckbichl, “St. Daniel,” Pinot Noir, Riserva, Praedium line. Nice black cherry and earth notes, with some red cherry and berries, especially strawberry, notes of vanilla and spice, lovely balance, good depth. A nice mid-range pinot noir, drinks well, really lovely acids. IN the mouth, it has good balance, some earthy notes, fresh and lively, nice muted and integrated oak flavors and aromas. Very good. I like the sense of dirt and minerals. 2.5+ Very very drinkable and delicious.

2006 Colterenzio/Schreckbichl, Lagrein “Sigismundus” Cornell line. Comes from the Gries area near Bolzano. Lovely nose – less of the charcoal and pencil lead. Good black fruits, mineral, berries, some wood elements vanilla, very nice nose. On the palate, very rich and dark, and the tannins are under control, if still unevolved and deep and tight. Good fruit, even on the long finish, balanced with good acid and freshness, ripe tannins, black plums, and anise/pepper/meat. Really nice. 3.5+

2007 Colterenzio/Schreckbichl, Moscato Rosa “Rosatum” Corenll line. Small production, very berried nose, good minerals, red flowers. Jasmine and roses. Red licorice, fun, concentrated, still decent acids, sweet, only in steel, no wood, really lovely match for milk chocolate – pot de crème would be great or a dark fruit pie. Very nice 3.5+

Day 3: The first step to making great wine is to fire your accountant.

Leaving Verona is always sad. It’s a city I love, visit as often as I can, and I wish I could spend more time in it. Onward and upward.

We head directly east on the awful A4 autostrada to the town of San Bonifacio in the Soave zone for a visit with Stefano Inama, arguably the most entertaining and interesting character I know in the Italian wine business. He’s deeply smart, entrepreneurial and committed to making a great bottle of wine from a long-underappreciated wine region. Stefano is a no-bullshit guy – everything is directed at making the best possible wine from what he has at hand. His winery is a brutally efficient piece of machinery made for one thing only – making high-quality wine. There is no pretty barrel room, no vaulted tasting room – only rows of gleaming tanks, impossibly clean, and rows of barrels in an open temperature-controlled warehouse, so as to make cleaning, racking and topping off as easy and efficient as possible.

“All these wineries building beautiful structures, renovating, making an “architectural statement,” paving the cellar with hand-cut Tuscan marble,” he says. “Does this really make the wine better?” Good question. Ostensibly, how can it? The truth is in the bottle.

Other quips: “we have stricken the words ‘urgent’ and ‘emergency’ here at the winery.” “The first step to making great wine is to fire your accountant.” My favorite was along the lines of “Every time you touch a wine during the winemaking process, you can only take something away.” This speaks to his non-interventionist ideas about the process, as well as the importance of concentrating on the farming side: you have to have great fruit to make great wine. The winery’s design follows from this: everything set up so as to make an ideal state of winemaking possible. Great guy. Lovely wines.

Stefano sends us off with a few samples of his wines to the Enoteca in Monteforte d’Alponi for lunch – we’re the only English-speaking people in the place. From here, we drive up to Bolzano, the main city of the Alto Adige, our base for the next three nights.

2008 Inama, Soave Classico. Nectarine, flowers, apricot. Very rich and fruity nose, minerals, on the palate, orangy citrus, nuts, this is an amazingly complex Soave. Hints of almond and shale on the finish. Lovely length, a hint of tart on the finish makes you sit up straight, very clean and lovely citrusy finish as the wine opens. 3.0+ All stainless fermentation and vinification.

2008 Inama, Soave Classico, Vigneti di Foscarino. Nectarine, apricot, mineral, some creaminess, lots of mineral. Rich on the palate, long crisp apricotty finish. Long finish, hints of cream, some vanilla, sees fermentation in old oak barrels. Lovely. 3.0-

2007 Inama, Carmenere Piu. Merlot/Carmenere (30/70) blend. Soft pepper and plum aromas. Small amounts of vanilla and spices, this is very harmonious, good balance, lovely dark fruit, and minerals (again!) Old barriques give a hint of vanilla and cream, fine tannins, very smooth, long blueberry and licorice flavors. Really lovely sweet and smooth finish, long fine tannins, beautiful. 3.0+ Drink 2012-2017

2006 Inama, Oratorio di San Lorenzo. 100% carmenere. Black pepper, dark chocolate, hint of green pepper, cracked black pepper, lots of deep plums and cassis and blackberry. Long sweet tannins, really lovely fruit, just seems a bit of an awkward stage – knobby knees and sharp elbows, a fabulous little burst of black fruit as it goes down, then long tannins, dry but ripe. Holds great acids and structure, very fresh, very intense cassis and brambly berries. 5-6000 bottles total. 4.0+, will improve. Older vines will help, these are only on their third vintage!! Drink 2014-2026

Day 2, Grappa Encounter

Up and at ‘em early as we have an hour to drive to Breganze. Fausto Maculan’s winery is always a highlight on the trip as the winery is both nice-looking and a very efficient workplace, and the wines are delicious. Angela, Fausto’s daughter, takes us through the winery – Fausto’s remote-controlled hydraulic punchdown machine is the usual hit, and cellar is gorgeous – the off to the offices for a tasting. One of my favorite white wines in the world is his Vespaiolo, made from the grape of the same name. It is an amazing honeyed blend of citrus, flowers and ripe fruits wrapped around a core of melons and honeysuckle – balanced by incredibly refreshing acidity. I buy a case to leave at my apartment here. Also excellent this year is the Altura, a barrique-aged Pinot Noir, Crosara (100% Merlot, and I love it, go figure), Fratta (Cab-Merlot blend), all the sweet wine offerings, the Pino & Toi, the Ferrata (Sauvignon Blanc). The only one I don’t completely love is the Costadolio, a rosé of Merlot, which has a touch of that grape’s green pepper and not enough bright strawberry to make me love it completely. A great visit!

2009 Maculan, Vespaiolo. Ovely melon and honeysuckle, greayt acid, citrus, fresh, nutty and fruity, crisp, fun, lovely. 3.0+

2009 Maculan, Sauvignon (blanc). (Tank sample.) (Called Ferrata, like the railroad). Very nice, crispy green nose, grassy, herbaceous, but with excellent pineapple and green pears, very long in the mouth, very well balanced. 3.0

2006 Maculan, Fratta. Cabernet/Merlot, 80/20, changes every year but approximately like this, always cab in majority. Blackberry and blueberry nose. Layered with vanilla and coffee/chocolate. Hints of musk, peppercorns and green pepper from the merlot. Smoky cassis on the palate, with good acids and still-tight tannins, really nice and rich, balanced but big – this is like dancing a fast waltz with a very fat, graceful woman. (wow, how not-PC). Really ripe and rich fruit of great intensity, but never ponderously heavy on the palate. Good depth and length, righteous finish, still tight and dry tannins. 4.0-

2004 Maculan, Acininobili. Honey, pear, peach, orange, sweet honey, beautifully integrated, vanilla, incredible length and balance, sweet, sweet finish, dried white plums, amazing. 4.5- Drink now-forever.

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Lunch at a small trattoria in Breganze, then off to Schiavon, home of the Poli distillery. Jacopo Poli’s family has been making distillates for over 100 years at this location and their commitment to quality is, in a word, amazing. I group Poli’s distillates at the level of the best Cognac, Armagnac, Whisky and brandies being made today. It’s always fun to visit, as Jacopo himself is such an interesting, smart, funny, self-deprecating, generous and unpretentious guy; he is one of the reasons that I find this business so interesting. He’s an original and an hour with him is an education in making distillates. If I sound like a swooning 12-year old, my apologies; it’s hard not to be impressed by this operation. I’ve been serving and selling Poli’s bottlings for about 12 years (enjoying them, longer) and have never once been disappointed with anything with his name on it.

We are taken around by Sara, the public relations and marketing director for the company – Jacopo is not a businessman who is afraid to surround himself with bright, smart, articulate people. The first time I met Sara a few years ago, I was so smitten with her that an hour after the visit I was referring to her as my “future wife," a slip which I have not been allowed to forget by my traveling companions from that trip. Lucky for her, she was already happily married (talk about a close shave, for her). She has, since then, admirably kept her sense of humor intact around uncouth and discombobulated me – another trait I deeply appreciate.

The combination of traditional and modern is fascinating at Poli. He makes the grappa in a resolutely traditional way: only fresh pomace goes into the stills, he uses discontinuous still from a 100-year old design, the “head” and “tail” (the first and last parts of a batch) are cut off and sold in bulk as they tend to be harsh and bitter, and the distillates are aged in wood barrels for up to 15 years. Right next to the old stills, though, is a hyper-modern experimental small-batch vacuum still, made for extracting finer and fresher aromas and flavors from the pomace of the most aromatic grapes – as boiling points are lower in a vacuum than in atmosphere, the idea is that the more delicate flavors and aromas will be preserved at the lower temperatures required in a vacuum. Also, the bottling and packing are completely automated. I could watch the packing robot for hours. Really – it’s mesmerizing. Amazing how little it takes to keep me entertained.

We taste through the selection of Poli’s bottlings in the cold basement tasting room – a big surprise is the Lamponi, a brandy made from raspberries, and the Torcolato aged in barrique – I, being the driver, spit almost everything, but a few are just too good. Many Polis come to the US and I make notes on those that don’t for reference in the company shop, where I purchase a few bottles to take home with me. In Denver at home, about 25 bottles of Poli (many carried back from Italy) are tucked into a cupboard; that’s as good an endorsement as I can give to any producer.

We zip back to Verona and head right to dinner – we’ve been invited to Mario’s home near Peschiera del Garda. Inexplicably, I take no pictures of Mario and Michela’s home, their kids, Matteo and Michelangelo, the amazing meal they prepare for us, the lovely wines from Mario’s cellar we consume, nor of the lovely rambling farmhouse property called Gallo del Pille they are restoring into a tiny bed and breakfast. I love these improvised get-togethers, and it is such a pleasure to be in a home for a night instead of a restaurant. Both Mario and Michela are talented chefs, gracious hosts and loads of fun. Their B&B opens up in June and the website is up - Mark, Edward and I did the English translation for the site over glasses of spritz in Bolzano a few days later.

Back to Verona well past midnight, but we have to be up by 8 and packed – we move up to Bolzano and the Alto Adige tomorrow.

Day 1, Tasting in the Valpolicella

Day 1 of tasting. (In the interest of clarity and brevity, I only mention the highlights of our tastings. If you’re curious about other wines, drop a note in the comments section at the end of the post.)

Our usual stops on day 1 are with Valpolicella producers. First stop is Allegrini, in the town of Fumane, where Christian takes us up the hill to the La Poja vineyard – gorgeous in the swirling clouds coming off Lago di Garda – and then down to the “Palazzo della Torre” property where the family is busy restoring the historic property. La Poja is a unique wine – it is made from Corvina, the same grape as Amarone, partly dried (raisined) and then fermented to full dryness (despite its name, Amarone usually contains a bit of residual sugar). The La Poja vineyard was carved out of the top of a hill, and has incredible sun and air – the grapes stay healthy, get plenty of breezes to combat rot and help cool them down at night, and are harvested at incredible levels of ripeness. The La Grola vineyard is just below this and only slightly less well-exposed. At less than half the cost of a bottle of La Poja, the La Grola bottling is an incredible value. We taste through the lineup back at the winery with Christian – standouts are the La Grola, La Poja and the Recioto, and amazing and balanced red dessert wine. Overall, I consider Allegrini to be a modern winery – they vinify for bright fruit, relatively low acid, and are not shy about the use of new French barrels – and this visit confirms this opinion. The wines are uniformly delicious and drinkable.

2008 Allegrini, Soave. 80% Graganega, 20% Chardonnay. Good pineapple, apple and mineral. This is eminently drinkable, forward and fresh. Good for restaurant wine programs, has a touch of residual sweetness, about 3g per liter. Nice for the American market – this should be a KJ killer. 2.5nb

2006 Allegrini, La Grola. Corvina and 20% Syrah. All fermented fresh, no passito. 15 months, approx 30% new oak. Really fresh dark fruit and berry nose, with good frshness and length, more tannin that I would have expected. Very fruity and juicy and still well-strucutured. Lovely complexity. This is young, but really delicious, great harmony and balance. Very spicy and complex. Lovely and long finish, ripe tannins, needs 3-4 years. Nice. 3.0+, solid.

2005 Allegrini, Amarone. Corvina, Rondinella and 5% Oseletta. Lovely fruit, very fresh, of dried cranberries and cherries, the tobacco element has not yet come out. Good chocolate, about 7-8 g residual sugar, nice freshness, but could use a bit more acid to balance out the very impressive fruit. This has a bit of the stewed plum element beginning to come out that should emerge more with age. Really nice but a touch sweet for my taste – needs a bit more acid to keep the whole thing balanced. 4.0- nb, quite quaffable, but very modern, with lots of good things going on. Drink 2012-2019.

2005 Allegrini, La Poja. 100% Corvina Veronese. 20 months oak, 50-70% new, approximately. Lovely nose, fresh and lively, dark berries, musk, cherries, earth, chalky tannins, very young, needs time, lovely. This is a wine of great structure and class and shows good potential for ageing – the acids are clearly defined and in balance with the considerable fruit. Saddle leather, spices, fresh berries and black pepper notes. A meaty, spicy wine. Lovely! Great balance as it goes down. Really long in the finish. Great structure, needs time and air. A lovely and complete wine. Gorgeous. 4.5- Drink 2013-2023.

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The afternoon visit is to Zenato – a much more traditional winery where the style of the wine is concerned. The winery itself is modern and beautiful – it is of much more recent construction than the Allegrini cantina – but the wines show more acid, better-defined tannins, and an elegance and focus that is different from the Allegrini wines, which focus on opulence and more forward fruit.

Verona is at the center of an interesting wine-producing area. To the west and north, up against the foothills of the Alps, is the Valpolicella, where the standout wines are Amarone and Recioto. To the east is Soave. Other wine areas are the Bardolino and Lugana areas, and further to the east the Veneto has many interesting areas, not least of which is Breganze, where we are headed tomorrow. The Valpolicella is a unique world, though. Some background: Corvina is the dominant grape, with Rondinella and Oseletta rounding the main permitted varieties. There are also plantings of the usual international varieties, including the usual suspects Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and with small plantings, surprisingly, of Syrah. The characteristic winemaking technique here is passito: to dry the grapes before fermentation so as to increase the intensity of the resulting wine.

Historically, the top wine was Recioto – the Corvina grapes were harvested and laid on mats in crates to dry out like raisin for anywhere from 2-4 months. The grapes would dehydrate and shrink, increasing the balance of solids to liquids. The grapes are fermented in January or February; the winemaker stops the fermentation when he or she has the level of sugar and alcohol they want. In the past, this happened naturally from the winter cold; the yeast died and fermentation stopped. This somewhat haphazard process is now all controlled but the end result is a delicious sweet wine. Amarone is much more recent phenomenon – it happened when one warm winter the wine never stopped fermenting and went to nearly full dryness. Amarone is so named because the wine is slight bitter – that’s why this wine was made sweet originally. However, well-made Amarone is a thing of rare beauty. It is best on wintry night, preferably one with snow and wind, and is enjoyed best on its own, or with a hard cheese. It is aptly called a “vino da meditazione.”

Other wines from the valley are basic Valpolicella, made from Corvina and the other main varieties, to which can be added small amounts of the international varieties. A “Ripasso” Valpolicella is a Valpolicella which has been passed over the skins and solids of the Amarone for added richness and staying power. Essentially, the Valpos are finished with their fermentation by the end of October or early November, and they go into tank or cask. Like all red wines, the Amarone is pressed after it finishes fermentation. The remaining solids – called pomace or vinacce – are typically sold to grappa makers. But the producers that make a Ripasso take these Amarone solids and soak the basic Valpolicella on them for typically 1-3 days. The Amarone tannins and complexity rubs off on the simpler wine, making it more ageworthy and complex.

Back to Zenato – the wines as we taste through the lineup are classically styled, linear, focused and delicious, and a particular standout is the 2009 San Benedetto Lugana – a white wine from the area around the winery just at the south end of Lake Garda. Lugana is a long-suffering area that has never made a blip on the wine world’s radar; it’s always been an area that strove for quantity over quality. Historically the wines have been thin, reedy, attenuated: basically piss dressed up with citrus juice. Not this one! It should run about $12-15 on the shelf in the US and is an incredible value f you are looking for a white on the crisp end of things: with ripe pear and apple with hints of lemon and pineapple; my notes describe it as “sunshine in a bottle.”

I have to mention the Amarone here as well, which is a delicious wine in need of a few years ageing. Allegrini and Zenato are two places I like to visit as I think they represent the different ends of the winemaking spectrum here – one voluptuous, one elegant. Allegrini’s Amarone is to Zenato’s what Sophia Loren is to Audrey Hepburn. Both are gorgeous, and very, very different. Zenato’s 2006 Amarone is a delicious combination of dried and fresh fruit aspects, with notes of Davidoff cigars (there was a smell just like walking into the Davidoff store in Zürich; I don’t smoke, but I love just walking into that store), pure dark chocolate, black cherries and tea leaves. Lovely.

2009 Zenato, San Benedetto Lugana, 13%. Lemons, some green apples and pears, floral, crisp, in the mouth, hints of rich sweetness and sunshine in a bottle. Lovely, lovely, lovely. 2.5+. Simple and direct, delicious.

2005 Zenato, Cressaso. 100% Corvina Veronese. Younger vines (25 year old). (No apassimento). Fresh grapes into the fermentation tanks. Tonneaux for 18 months, very peppery, dark fruits, good juicy fruits forward. A medium-to-big wine with good medium intensity, also very drinkable in the short-to-medium term. Delicious, with layers of fruit and minerals. Fills out with some air – this is lovely. 3.5+ drink 2011-2018

2006 Zenato, Amarone Classico. Very lovely but tight and a bit closed. Lovely aromas of Davidoff cigars, dark chocolate, black cherries and tea leaves. On the palate, this shows precise balance and harmony, tobacco, dark fruit flavors and no discernable oak or vanilla. Dark pure chocolate. The sweetness here is much more muted and in balance – this is a more elegant wine than the more modern offerings. Really lovely, only about 8-12g residual sugar. Really balanced, nice and drinkable. 4.0+ Drink 2014-2026

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From here, we make a phone call and rush back to Valpolicella to meet with the Clementi family. I have very sketchy notes from this visit – it was a walk-around tasting of things exclusively in tank, barrel and cask, but the wines are uniformly well-made and fun to drink. We bough a bunch of bottles to take with us – the 2004 Amarone and the 2006 Valpolicella were particular standouts. It is hard to take notes while walking around, translating for two and hanging on to a notebook, camera and glass. Sig. Clementi was the classic country gentleman farmer – wearing a bow tie to receive his visitors. His daughter kept things moving along, afraid, I think, that her dad would talk our ears off to the wee hours of the morning if given a chance. But the wines were delicious, the family charming as hell, and I look forward to a return visit to explore their wines more. Unfortunately, they are not exported to the US.

Back to La Bottega del Vino for dinner, where the surprise standout dish was a filled gnocchi – stuffed with braised donkey cheeks. Delicious, and we celebrate the successful conclusion of the first day of tasting with a gem for the Bottega cellars.

1990 Allegrini, “La Poja” IGT Veronese
Major stones on the nose – this is all about limestone wrapped in layers of dried black stone fruits, with hints of dark chocolate and vanilla – the wood is superbly integrated and the length of this amazing for a wine 20 years old. Complex and satisfying, this is a perfect example of how well Corvina can age. I wish I could say more about this wine, but it was a bottle that left me more or less speechless, just enjoying the sensations coming from my tongue. When I traded off the Primitivo Cellar, I let the La Poja bottles go with a big sale to a collector who really wanted them – tasting this wine makes me regret that decision. 4.0+ nb

Verona/Venice

I arrive in Torino on Thursday afternoon, grab the luggage and rent a car, and head down to Barolo. As I head south from the city, the clear weather over the alps (great views from the airplane) becomes overcast and hazy. From Alba on the haze is so thick I can’t make out the hills from the main road. I get to my apartment, unpack and repack for the next 10 days, clean up a bit, refamiliarize myself with the space … good to be back. I have an indifferent meal and a few good glasses of wine at the only open restaurant I can find (La Salita) and head to bed.

Friday morning – I awake to white. It started snowing in the night and there are 15 cm fresh snow on the ground. I hustle to get out before the steep roads become impassable. The town of Barolo, usually an easy 10-minute drive, is now a hair-raising 25-minute sliding odyssey. But I make it! I stop at the Sandrone Winery to say hello and head for Verona.

Verona is one of my favorite places to relax – it’s a great place to breathe deeply, let the last few months of work slip away and just enjoy the Italian way of living in a city – lots of time outside. I’ve written about Verona in other posts; the passeggiata is still a delight, even when it’s near-freezing.

I take Saturday to hop the train to Venice – I’ve wanted to see Giorgone’s La Tempesta again. Though I have this painting pretty well memorized, there are times when the pull of the object; the desire for proximity, as it were, becomes too strong to resist. On the train, though, I read that La Tempesta has skipped town – for an exhibit in Giorgone’s hometown north of Venice. Oh Well. There are far worse things than to have a free day in Venice.

I make the hike for the Church of John and Paul – Giovanni e Paolo – one of the loveliest early Gothic churches in Northern Italy. While architects and builders in France never interrupted the vertical flow of space by using support beams across the arches and space, in Italy they thought nothing of doing this. Inside Giovanni e Paolo, I think of being in an enormous tinker-toy assemblage, a Lincoln Logs church, as it were. This time of year, it is relatively deserted and I can enjoy it in peace.

From here, to the Scuola San Giorgio degli Schiavoni for the lovely St George cycle by Carpaccio. I love this artist for the sly, offhand humor that appears in many of his paintings. In the “St George and the Dragon” painting, the half-eaten and decaying bodies of earlier knights litter the foreground of the picture. Of course all of these are little memento mori on the fragility of life, but I can’t help thinking that he had an absolute ball rendering these corpses, with scorpions and snakes slithering around, and vultures picking at a body in the middle distance. I like to think of Carpaccio, executing yet another commission, really looking forward to this painting. This work is a spiritual forefather to all the slasher movie special-effects, getting the gore just right.

Lunch at Da Remigio, and entirely serviceable little osteria nearby. It is getting harder and harder to find really good food in Venice – the lagoon’s fresh fish are dying from overfishing and pollution, and most of the customers are tourists, so a lot of “fresh fish” in Venice is actually farm raised, frozen and shipped from Asia. Sad, really. My favorite place in Venice, Alle Testiere, was full for lunch that day. With only 10 tables, that’s not hard. I still dream of the razor clams I had here 4 years ago. Memory and appetite can be a devastating combination.

After lunch, I wandered – I saw the Ca’ d'Oro on the Grand Canal with its magnificent Mantegna, window shopped, had a coffee or two. Venice is a great place to be aimless. The city lends itself to slowing down, observing, breathing at the same rate it does. It rewards with glimpses of the unexpected and sublime – the way light reflects off water and stained glass, a group of kids playing soccer in a piazza, only to see the ball go flying into the canal that is the left side of the field, or an old couple, walking together, saying hello to friends, oblivious to the push and pull of the tourists hurrying to San Marco.

Funny how English has become a universal language, but understanding still eludes us. A sign in a Venice shop.

As I am leaving Venice, the elevated walkways are being set up – a particularly high tide is expected that evening. The alta acqua has become more commonplace in the last 10 years in the winter and though I have never yet experienced it firsthand, I am glad to be catching the train back to Verona and not mucking through ankle-high water in the lobby of a hotel. As I make my way to the station, the water in the Canals has risen to an inch or two under the street level, in some cases beginning to come over the curbs. 25 more minutes and the streets will be flooded.

Sunday, I take the train to Milan to meet my father, Edward, who is participating on the trip for the first time. His flight touches down at 9.30 and we agree to meet in front of the main train station at about 10.40 when my train from Verona arrives. He seems none worse for the wear of the transatlantic flight and we chat and enjoy a coffee on the hour’s train ride back to Verona. For the first time since arriving, it is a clear and sunny day – really gorgeous. Mark’s connection through Frankfurt arrived late and so he won’t be in until early evening. We get Edward’s luggage to his room, we have a bite in the Piazza Erbe (never complete without the Veronese Spritz!) and then tour around a bit.

Over lunch, my father tells me of the last time he was in Verona: 1960. He came with his parents; he’d just finished his undergraduate program at Yale and it was an opportunity to enjoy the art and culture of Europe with his father, a great connoisseur of both wine and art. We tried to find some of the places he’d visited – the only one he was sure of turned out to be San Zeno, the magnificent Romanesque cathedral. We grab a pair of the hotel’s bicycles for the trek out there. Those of you who know me well know that I will drive a day out of my way for a good Romanesque church – and Verona’s Romanesque churches are amazing. We visit the Duomo, Sant’Anastasia and San Lorenzo. All incredible. We also make the obligatory stop at the house of Juliet, just off the Piazza Erbe, where it is considered good luck to grab her breast. It is great fun to connect with my dad this way, laughing as we pedal our bikes across cobblestones, each bump making itself felt.

We meet up with Aurelio and his family, a friend from when he lived in NYC. Aurelio is an architect and family friend who used to live in New York and, interestingly, introduced my sister to her husband. He and his family moved back to Verona a few years ago and wee meet them back at Piazza Erbe for the obligatory spritz. Aurelio calls his sister and arranges for us to meet his dad at their family’s cantina after our appointments on Monday.

Mark arrives at 7ish, we have a Spritz on the piazza, then off to dinner at La Bottega del Vino, a truly great traditional restaurant. The Risotto all’Amarone is divine, the Tortelli della Casa even more so, the grilled lamb chops with arugula pesto amazing. All through, my old friend Mario, the sommelier, and the one responsible for the management of the 5,000 selection list, keeps us happy with great bottles from the cellar.

2008 Pieropan, Soave “Calvarino”
All minerals and ripe pears on the nose. Insanely refreshing and with notes of flowers and citrus. In the mouth, very pure fruit of pear and apple, with good length and fabulous acid structure. Lovely. 3.0-nb

1985 Masi, Amarone
All dried cherries, dried plums and hints of earth, tobacco and leather in the nose. Very complex and intriguing perfumes that are not easy to separate but very east to enjoy. On the palate, the dried fruit is well-balanced with the good acid and tannins – there are no sharp edges in this wine after 25 years. Though everything is quite nice, I feel that the base wine probably never had enough “oomph” in it to make a truly memorable ager – this is pleasant, delicious and somehow a bit one-dimensional. Lovely length and finish, though. 3.5-nb

Shivering in NYC

Quick visit to NYC to see my sister and family. I haven't been in almost a year ... way too long. I take the train to Philly for a night to visit friends and have the de rigeur philly cheesesteak - hey, when visiting a place for the first time, it's a great idea to sample the local specialty. And what makes a cheese steak authentic? Cheeze Whizz!

Back to NYC: it was frickin' cold. The 15-block walk from ICP to the Modern left me so cold it took a 20-minute break with a large hot chocolate to recover. I prowled museums and galleries for the most part. Seeing Goya's the Forge in its new hanging at the Frick was fantastic. This is one of the greatest paintings (ever, IMHO) and the new hanging avoids the glare and reflection problems at the old location. Plus you can get close enough to examine the brushwork. At the Met, I love going to the room of Goyas and reacquainting myself. The Modern had a super-crowded exhibit of Tim Burton's work which I avoided. There are some fabulous new photographs hanging and I wandered through the permanent galleries, enjoying works by Rousseau le Douanier, Picasso's Demoiselles, and de Chirico.

Went to Maialino for dinner one night; I'd read about this new roman trattoria and was curious ... the place is completely overwhelmed by its of-the-moment "itness". I had the eponymous maialino, a roast suckling pig, which was delicious. The portion is for 2-3 people, so I had a lot of leftovers. Service was well-meaning, friendly, and inept. A nice touch: giving you individually portioned loaves of ciabatta bread for making sandwiches with your inevitable leftovers the next day. A not-so-nice touch: leaving your leftover bag at the coat check for pickup so you feel obligated to give yet another tip.

Also, excellent meal at Yerba Buena on the LES with A & T, my sister and brother-in-law. This is a classic neighborhood gem: if this was near my home in Denver, I'd be here at least every other week. The pan-Latin-influenced cuisine is delicious, easy to enjoy and we scarfed every last bite of everything that was brought to our table. The place communicated its aspirations and values clearly through the menu, and the service is efficient, friendly and unpretentious. Every dish we had was delicious, fit well with the restaurant's mission and was beautifully presented. The owner was on hand and having him roam the tiny dining room made us feel like we were in someone's living room. Wine list was full of great things from all parts of the latin wine world, but with a bit of a dearth in the $45-75 range and a curious lack of depth in Spanish Grenache. As we left, snow was beginning to fall, always a magical thing in NYC.

A very interesting white consumed with my sister at her apartment: a wine made from the city vineyards of Zurich, the StaatsKellerei Zurich, from Pinot Noir (vinified off the skins), Riesling, Sylvaner, Muscat and Gewurztraminer. Wildly aromatic, with scents of flowers, peaches, hazelnuts and citrus,it was surprisingly light on the palate, very crisp and delineated, with good nectarine, melon and apple flavors. Lovely, balanced, light and refreshing. (3.0nb)

Wine Find of the Year, 2009, under $15

With an inexpensive wine, I look for particular qualities: it must be easy to enjoy, pack a lot of quality for the price, be forgiving with lots of different types of food, and not require and advanced degree to understand what makes it so damned good. In short, it just has to taste really good whether consumed alone or with a meal. This years winner of the "Under $15" category is Evodia, a 100% Grenache from the Aragon region of Spain. It is juicy, tasty, uncomplicated and fun. For those of you that need a bit of backstory, it's made by the same team that made the Las Rocas Grenache - when that brand was sold to LVMH, the owners kept the plots of vines that they used to make the "old vines" cuvee, and those plants are now the source of this delicious and unpretentious wine. Aromas and flavors of black fruits, sweet vanilla and oak, with excellent acidity and decent length. It practically begs for gulping. For this price, who needs more? It will not improve with age and should be consumed with relish over the next 12-18 months. Lovely! (3.5)

Summit, COS: boring place; lovely wine.

Had dinner at the Summit, the least stodgy of the Broadmoor Hotel's dining choices. I've been coming since the restaurant opened and have always found it good without being truly excellent - and this time was no different. The room is nice, the service is friendly and well-meaning if often completely clueless, and the meals are consistently decent though uninspired. It's probably the best choice for "fine" dining in Colorado Springs. Still, it pisses me off that with a bit more effort, this place could be truly excellent.

There was one waiter a year or two back in whose section I would be sat every time I visited, who had the deeply annoying habit of narrating his service to you. As this is a hotel restaurant, the staff is also trained to use your name whenever they address you - so I would get things like "I'm going to refill your water glass now, Mr. Manley" or "Here's your basket of delicious housebaked breads, Mr. Manley" or I'm going to crumb your table now, Mr. Manley." By the end of the meal, I'd be ready to throttle someone.

The menu is divided into "Seasonal" and "Favorites" but I've never seen the seasonal side change more than twice a year. For a restaurant that advertises ambition and luxe through its atmosphere and wine program, the menu is a remarkably static document - it transmits a fear of change and/or risk. It tells me that the management does not have a lot of confidence in the chef, and the chef must not have a lot of confidence in his staff. When the menu does change, it seems incremental - there are no "wipe the slate clean" moments here. I suspect with a good part of its business coming from travelers, there is little demand from locals for change. And why mess with a good thing? Or one that's at least acceptable? I feel that the management should call a spade a spade and get the menu laminated.

The wine program, however, is very nice, and the list is full of hidden gems and interesting selections. Kudos to Bucky and Monique for doing such an excellent job with this.

With the meal - I had the same dishes I almost always have every time I visit, because I've had everything on the menu at least once and have by now narrowed my choices down to two or three things that are acceptable - we had the surprising 2002 Côtes de Roussillon Villages "Clos des Fées" from Herve Bizeul. A blend of Carignane, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, this is both an intense and balanced wine from the difficult 2002 vintage. This is a modern wine, with lush fruit and a good dose of new oak, but I suspect that the difficulty of the vintage informed a judicious use of new barrels and the result is surprisingly balanced and, in a word, delightful. This was a selection that Bucky originally pointed out to me and I've had the wine several times since then. Layers of tarry black fruits are combined with minerality and decent acidity that make for a lovely mouthfeel and give the finish an especially balanced and satisfying feel. This is not one for ageing - I'd consume it over the next 2-4 years. (3.0+ nb)

J-P Sartre, sitcom screenwriter

For the holidays, I was pressed into service ... cooking. My girlfriend's family came in from out of town, and I was responsible for cooking a Christmas turkey for the clan. Avert your eyes, dear reader - it was quite the production. At least, with the queasy discomfort that comes with being introduced to complete strangers who are appraising you with a rather critical eye, I could, in moments of stress, say: "Clear the kitchen!" She lives in Manitou Springs, 75 miles south of Denver, so I packed all the necessary kitchen equipment (I can't seem to cook without my knives, man), the necessary ingredients, two cases of wine, and not least, a turkey that I'd been brining for 5 days into my Mini Cooper and made my way south.

Hell might well be cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen with hordes of strangers running about, all of whom are interested in getting to know you on a deep personal level while you are trying not to get burned by hot pans and/or food. Imagine if J.P.S. had been employed as a TV writer. Lets take this idea, but instead of the hotel room with the nondescript corridor, we'll make it a kitchen - the turkey, of course, will represent the cook's existential quandary, broiling under the hot rays of attention.

A few of the wines we had over a few days of imbibing and great meals ...

2000 Aubry "Sable Rosé" Champagne
Lovely clear delicate mousse. Aromas of raspberry and strawberry, with nice orange peel and fresh peach and pear. In the mouth, good balance and harmony - excellent interplay of the freshness of the acid structure and purity of the fruit. (4.0+ nb)

2008 Cavalotto Langhe Bianco
This is a special wine - the Cavallottos have a small patch of Pinot Noir on their hillside in Castiglione Falletto. Some years, they vinifiy it as a "Blanc de Noirs" still wine. This bottling showed lovely freshness and peach/white currant aromas and flavors. It is not a complex wine, rather is it is simple and unpretentious, but very delicious. Sold only at the winery and at a few places in the Langhe. I carried this bottle back from Europe. (3.0+ nb)

2008 Campogrande Cinque Terre
A lot of Cinque Terre wines are insipid, flavorless, unstructured wines that taste good only because they are consumed where they are made - in the Ligurian villages that sweep down to the sea. I've had loads of these wines over the last 15 years, and in Cinque Terre they are acceptable, even tasty - the proximity to one of the most beautiful sea- and landscapes in the world makes just about anything taste good. The Campogrande is a bit of an anomaly, and if it is able to gain traction in the marketplace, may take the place that Didier Dageneau's wines have in Pouilly-Fumé: the role of shaming just about every other producer in the whole region into making better wines. There are lots of possibly insurmountable barriers to this happening: the Campogrande is considerably more expensive, the Cinque Terre is not known for quality wines, the lion's share of attention in the wine press for "Serious" wines is directed toward reds. One thing in this wine's favor: the brains and winemaking skill behind it is none other than the wildly talented Barolo producer Elio Altare. I'll write more about Campogrande at some point in the future, but for now, some thoughts on the wine: Lovely straw-gold color, aromas of super-ripe fruits and a briny minerality that makes me think of seaweed, very full in the mouth and layers of fruit and minerals that have excellent length and depth. A few cases of the 2008 or 2009 will come to the US through Altare's usual distribution in 2010 (Marc de Grazia Imports) and if you are interested in unique whites, I urge you to seek out a case. It's not cheap but worth every penny. (3.5+ nb)

1997 Fuglini Brunello di Montalcino Riserva
A great, still-brooding and backward wine from the excellent 1997 Tuscan vintage. Fuglini is known as a more traditional producer and this wine was quite lacking in sweet vanillin oakiness, letting the intense Sangiovese come through (this note is for the second bottle; the first bottle was completely corked, unfortunately). Deep black stone fruits, the edge of a metallic zing in the palate, the earthiness ... this wine had layers and layers of dark flavors and aromas that opened up over 45 minutes. Lovely long length, finishing with solid, ripe tannins and hints of dried fruits. This is drinking nicely now but give it another 3 years and it may yet improve. (4.5- nb)

2006 Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba "Valmaggiore"
This bottling is one I have had an up-and-down relationship with since first trying it in the mid-nineties. Some years I loved it, some years I was completely indifferent. Since the 2001 vintage I think this has been going from strength to strength. The 2006 vintage was a generally good to excellent vintage in the Langhe (notwithstanding all you may have heard, especially given the Giacosa winery's decision not to bottle their 2006 Barolo and Barbaresco) and the Valmaggiore Nebbiolo d'Alba is spectacular. In weight and structure, this most resembles a mid-level Burgundy from, say, Volnay. It has a fantastic nose of berries and dark fruit, good minerality and a firmness and clarity in the mid-palate that I really appreciate. It held up to the turkey dinner admirably and was a better match than the heavier Brunello. The 2007 of this wine looks to be excellent and the 2008 may be even better as it was not as hot. (4.0- nb)

1994 Rene Rostaing, Côte-Rotie "La Viaillère"
Black cherry and minerals, hints of brett (not unpleasant) and wood, rich secondary characteristics of mushrooms and loam, good acidity and length ... and yet, it leaves me cold. It is a good wine, but seems to need, for lack of a better word, emotion. (2.5 nb)

1998 Montepeloso "Gabbro," Toscana
A 100% Caberent Sauvignon cuvee from the southern Bolgheri. Good modern nose: lots of cassis and black fruit, pencil lead and oak. At 11 years old it still shows freshness and presence. On the palate, nice dark fruits, especially cassis and pear, well-integrated oak and good length. From the difficult 1998 vintage, this is a very successful wine. (3.5+ nb)

More Cavallotto

Alfio Cavallotto, with whom I visited last week and whose wines are the subject of the previous post, was back in town the Thursday before the holidays. We met with his importer at Sushi Sasa in downtown Denver for lunch. Funny - my fist meeting with Alfio was several years ago when our mutual friend Silvia Altare decided we were all going to drive to Liguria from Barolo for a dinner of ... drumroll please ... raw fish. In the coastal areas of Italy, fish is often served uncooked, just dressed with a bit of olive oil and salt, and sometimes a bit of lemon juice. The restaurant, Buco di Bacco in Pietre Ligure, was fabulous, not least of which was the amazing list of champagne, as well as the owner, who sized us up the moment we walked in and then brought us, without consulting anyone in the group, the bottle of Champagne he thought we would enjoy the most. It was a great meal - the antipasti of raw and slightly cooked seafood and fish ran to about 15 plates, and so we just split a single pasta afterwards and skipped the secondi entirely. In any case, Alfio was great company at that dinner, and we've kept up contact since. He's a most interesting and really intelligent guy - I like people who, when they decide they are interested in something, dive into the deep end, head first. He's like that.

Interestingly, his red wines went well with the sashimi and sushi. The same wines were poured as at Radda, but this time, the Dolcetto showed much better - brighter fruit, depth and length. Really nice. For the other wines, tasting notes were consistent.

Cavallotto's winemaking is an interesting amalgam of both modern and traditional methods. Walking into the winery the first time several years ago, I was stuck by the big Slavonian chestnut botti, the lack of barrique, and the resulting style of the wines ... until I spied the row of rotofermentors in the vinification room. Mon Dieu! Quelle Surprise! Alfio explained that they still do a 15-35 day maceration for the must, but using rotofermentors allows better control of the pip tannins. As with almost every estate in Piedmont now, the grapes are destemmed to minimize the stalk tannins, which in Nebbiolo are particularly potent and astringent, and rarely, if ever, as ripe as the skin and pip tannins. After the fermentation, the winemaking style is resolutely trad: for the Barolo, 2-4 years in the enormous botti, then bottle ageing for a year or two. The wines are classically styled, with acid and ripe tannin giving a particularly elegant structure to the wines. The fruit is present and in balance but never in a forward or showoffy way. The wines reflect what I consider to be the house style of impeccable structure, good balance and elegance before flash. As such, they are underappreciated in the marketplace and can usually be found at a considerably lower price than many other Barolo. I tasted a barrel sample of the 2004 Barolo Bricco Boschis, Riserva San Giuseppe in November 2009 in La Morra and found it to be lovely, long and sweet, with good cherry and violet aspects, very ripe and long, needing 5-8 years to fully pull together but certain to enjoy a drinking window of a further 15 years (I scored it 4.0+). The 2004 Barolo Bricco Boschis, Riserva Vignolo was slightly tighter and more tannic, with good fruit but extremely closed at this point (3.5+). Both are lovely wines that have a long life ahead of them.

The big surprise with the sushi was the 2005 Barbera Bricco Boschis, Vigna del Cuculo. I would never have thought that a 4 year old Barbera would be this delicious and complementary, especially with the shushi that had a strong umami aspect, like the Uni. This Barbera deserves mention for the layered complexity that really lets the grape shine through - many ambitious Barbera are now aged in new French oak barrels, which layers on flavors of chocolate, vanilla and coffee (delicious, by the way) - but this one lets the earthiness and minerality of the grape shine though. Nice job.

Sorry for the Radio Silence.

It's been a little over a year since I posted. Apologies for to those of you who have told me how tired you are of the "Floor Drains" entry. It was a year of changes: I moved to Denver, sold off most of my businesses, and have re-purposed my professional activities toward consulting, education and writing.

Had lunch with Alfio Cavallotto on Monday in Boulder at the relatively new place Radda, just north of downtown - he's in for a visit from Castiglione Falletto in the Barolo. I've known him for a few years; we were introduced by a mutual friend. Alfio and his siblings are slowly taking over their family winery from their parents. The wines are, in a word, sensational - this is one of those flies-under-the-radar wineries that gets decent scores from all the big wine rags but somehow never seems to take off in the public imagination. Go figure. If your taste is for traditionally styled wines, this is an amazing buy.

Briefly, the wines: 2008 Dolcetto was pleasant but nothing special - it lacked plumpness in the mid-palate, but was quite drinkable (2.5-nb). Kudos for the 2005 Barbera - a lovely pure nose of fresh plums and dried berries. On the palate, good balance, dark fruits, tobacco and very fresh acidity. Many other producers are currently selling their 2008 and 2007 barbera - this one, with a few years of bottle age, is drinking beautifully. 3.0nb

The 2005 Barolo Bricco Boschis, from a beautifully exposed site just north of the village of Castiglione, is delicious. It shows the vintage's characteristics of forward evolution and fruit. There are aromas of black cherry, rose petals, and earth. This is not a modern-style wine with loads of oak - it sees only large botti for its wood ageing. On the palate, it has good fruit, nicely tight tannins and good length. It shows some of 2005's typical tannins but these will soften with 4-5 years patience. Drink 2013-2018. 3.5+nb

Kudos to Cavallotto for making such good wines. I also tasted the 2004 Riservas on a recent trip to Barolo and loved them - grab whatever you can find. They will be released next year.

Floor Drains

I love floor drains. I lovelovelovelove floor drains. I loooooove floor drains. If I ever build a house, I want to put floor drains in every room. (You begin to understand why I’m still single.) No-fuss cleaning: just hose everything down. How great would that be?

I nearly separate from my solids. Again.

Nearly separated from my own solids again today, when I mixed up a "delestage" and a "svinatura" - and Luciano walked in just before I ruined everything, everything, EVERYTHING and stopped me before I did any damage ... I was so beet red from embarrassment with burning ears he had to laugh and tell me "you know what almost happened, I know what almost happened, and no-one else has to know what almost happened ... Just learn from it." He's being really great with me - I think it's because when I make a mistake, it's an entirely new one. I've yet to make the same mistake twice with him ... I am wild crazy creative, dare I say Picasso-esque, new-mistakes-wise. Gotta respect talent like that!

Verona

My friends have mixed up their flight and are arriving Saturday instead of Friday, but so what? Verona is among my favorite cities in the world and a day to myself without worry or care sounds quite groovalicious. I leave Monforte Friday morning around 11, and am in Verona by 2, and enjoying a glass of spritz in the Piazza Erbe by 2.30. I have the day to visit the incredible Romanesque churches – Verona is a UNESCO World Heritage site on account of those churches. And the Roman ruins are fabulous – Verona has one of only three Roman amphitheaters still in use today. The old Roman theater is built into a hillside and still hosts a summer theater festival while the amphiteater has an opera season all summer, and rock concerts are regularly scheduled there as well. (A few years ago I missed seeing Lenny Kravitz here by a few days.)
Most of the old town is limited to pedestrians, and it is possible to amble across the entire old city in less than 25 minutes at its widest part. It is a beautiful town, built into a loop of the Adige river, where the water could form a defensive ring on three sides. The women (and men) are beautiful and know how to dress both provocatively and elegantly – Verona is a wealthy town and the streets are flanked by designer shops – which makes people-watching a favorite activity here.

The Asylum is in the Hands of the Inmates

The week passes quickly. I am now in a groove and need minimal supervision. Good thing, as Luciano and Barbara are leaving Tuesday for the Wine Experience in New York. Luciano is nervous and doesn’t want to leave as grapes are still coming in and vats are full of fermenting juice. I hear a lot of “porca miseria!” and “crispa!” on Monday and Tuesday. He is stressed, and so is Barbara. This is a busy time at the winery. And Luciano is the show here – there are no consulting oenologists or winemakers coming in to make the wine. This is a small winery, and the winemaker has his name on the label. They don’t want to go, but feel they must. (Footnote 1: I check with some friends in NYC who tell me that the Speculum gets quite mad at winemakers who don’t come when invited. If you don’t accept, don’t ever be expect to be invited back.) (Footnote 2: Why this event is scheduled during harvest time is beyond my comprehension. I mean, the Wine Spectator, organizer of this event, is ostensibly a “wine” magazine, right? So they should know that “wine” is produced from “grapes”? And that “grapes” are a “fruit” that is harvested when “ripe,” a condition that is contingent on factors such as sunshine, rainfall, soils and geography, among others? And that this “harvest season” can extend from August to December, depending on the place? So why in fuck’s name are they scheduling the event in the middle of October? Are they morons? Idiots? Stupid? Do they like making people’s lives difficult? Or maybe … just maybe … they are completely oblivious.)

(Shit. I know I’m going to get mail about this.)

Tuesday morning, they are both running around trying to finish last-minute items. 20 minutes before departure, Luciano goes home (literally 2 minutes toward town), changes his shirt and pants, and is back to check on things one last time. They leave for Milan around 10. Luca and the crew are picking in the vineyards. Andrea and I are left in charge of the cellars … truly, the inmates have been left with the keys to the asylum (cue maniacal laugh here).