Muddy Boots

Qualcosa di nuovo

Something new

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the first podcast of a series that Susannah Gold and I are planning to create over the next fews months. 

 Susannah is based here in Manhattan but she lived in Milan as a financial reporter for 12 years, meanwhile discovering a great affinity for all things Italian -- not least of which was the wine.  She studied hard, became a certified sommelier there (and here) and now uses her wine knowledge to act as PR counsel to various branches of the wine trade here and in Italy.

Each in podcast we'll take on a different topic -- this outing devoted to a discussion of organic/biodynamic viticulture and wine-making in Italy, next time (unless we change our minds) one devoted to aging wine, specifically if wine people have made a fetish of older wines.  

We'll plan to publish every two weeks but, then again, it might not quite work out that way.  

Click here to listen to Dom & the Somm 1.  (26:23).  

Buon ascolto!

 

I'll keep it to myself, I will

I bow to the will of the people. None of my inveterate tomfoolery here on Muddy Boots. Majority rules. Your will be done. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Survey SAYS...!

No japes, no jokes, no "comic" spewing, etc., etc., on this blog.  No cranked commentary.  Not even (and this hurts) jibes at poor George W. Bush.  

Pictured:  I'll be good, I'll be good...

Fine, I suppose I can keep mondosapore on life support for outbursts of japery and to exercise my sense of play.  

Back to business, in a way

Today at 1 pm I'll meet Doug Cook, the driving force behind AbleGrape, the ever-more capacious wine search engine, at the aptly named Cookshop in Chelsea.  With him will be Rachel Black, aka nebbiolata to her followers on Twitter.  

Then to a tasting appointment at the excellent Blue Ribbon Downing Street Bar in the West Village.  The Downing Street of today is in a different city from the one I knew back in the 60s.  Wine selection's a lot better, to say the least.  

How moderate am I

Roberto Rogness of LA (Santa Monica), Italy and other points across the globe, sent me a link that demonstrates how sedate this blog really is: click here.

The link is to a wine retailer in Yountville, CA, whose prose runs along these lines:

Well, as the story goes, someone found it and brought me a bottle. When I tasted the wine, I went to the phone immediately after I changed my freshly soiled pants and bought the whole pile. 

Mmm. sounds yummy.

But there's this redeeming piece of sarcasm:

The Signature Cab from Chappellet has a long track record of being one of the most ageable Cabs from Napa, even more so than their $135 “reserve” Cabernet that nobody wanted last month for $105. I wouldn’t buy that overpriced bullshit either when you can get wine from the same vineyard, made by the same people for a hundred bucks less. That’s the upside of economic collapse, you can get really good stuff cheap.

So, no.  A little personal observation from me every now and then isn't going to hurt anyone.  

"Keep it to yourself"

Clash of philosophies here in Domenicoland

My partners are telling me to lay off the personal, "qualitative" observations.  Present only the facts or, to put it more bluntly, only the facts that are pointedly self-interested.  

For example, they jumped all over me after I posted the one about the wines I'd never import.  (Here.)  And Ken thought a throwaway line was inappropriate here.  "Put that stuff on mondosapore.  That's your safety valve.  You can say anything you want there.  It doesn't directly reflect on Domenico Selections.  That's what you've always used mondosapore for anyway."

My retort is that if such light-hearted comments aren't thrown in once in a while, Muddy Boots becomes just another corporate blog: one-note and conventional.  What's wrong with a little inappropriateness every now and then?  Are we in Victorian London?  Edith Wharton's New York?  Khamenei's Teheran?

Or anywhere there's W?  By the way, I put no stock in the official story that he doesn't drink.  

What would you readers, all six of you, say to support either side?  

       

"Soave? Is that a grape?"

Among us older folk, the name Soave became indelibly associated with the watery plonk with which Bolla flooded the US market in the 1960s an 70s.  (They did the same with Valpolicella and Bardolino as well.) So at tastings, the more mature individuals invariably say, "Oh no, I don't like Soave at all.  I never drink that stuff."  Usually accompanied by a grimace.  The name Bolla usually is uttered.

Monte where the two I Stefanini crus are grown

Among those under, say, 35 or 40, there's a completely different response.  "Where is that?"  Or:  "Is that a grape?"  It's easier to get them to accept the wines we offer from I Stefanini, since they are:

A.  Delicious

B.  A raving good value

C.  Very distinct in character from those watery, blah, somewhat flabby Soaves that ruled in days of yore

By the way, when I tell them Soave is in northeastern Italy, I say, "Sort of close to where they make Pinot Grigio."  Position it against the usual watery, blah, somewhat flabby PGs that infest the shelves, and it's easy to make the conversion.

Che ironia.  My first reaction to considering a Soave was of the "Soave?  No way!" category.  Which, if I hadn't been convinced to retry them, would have deprived us of a best-seller and our highest soon-to-be-rated whites.

What have we learned here?  Past isn't necessarily prologue to the future.  

  

Happiness is a new wine

It gives you a lift, having new wines to present.  A new region, a new producer, a new grape or type -- it's all good.

The new wines are in the warehouse now, having cleared customs and inspection in record time.  Jeff and I will start taking them out soon after the July 4th holiday weekend.  The new wines and producers will be on the Domenico Selections site before too long.

What are these new wines?  

The wines this time number four:

* San Vito 2004 ripasso from Villa Monteleone.  My first reaction on tasting this was, Who needs Amarone?  This is a complete wine and so much more drinkable than Amarone, which, many will agree, is a wine strictly for cold winter nights and long feasts of venison or wild boar.  

Note: By early September we will also have Villa Monteleone's Santa Lena 2007 Valpolicella Classico. 

* Vigna Segreta 2007 Falanghina from Mustilli, a stunning white with a rich mouthfeel due to malolactic fermentation (and no oak).  

In September we will offer three additional Mustilli wines, including their best red, the Aglianico Cesco di Nece 2006.   

* Serra del Prete 2006 and Pian del Moro 2006, two Aglianici del Vulture (Basilicata) from Musto-Carmelitano.  Serra del Prete is the one I prefer because it touches no oak.

Come September...   

The Babbo Effect

It's been an eye-opener.  Place a wine at Babbo, as we did (here), and suddenly people are doing searches for it.  The effect is immediate and striking.

Case in point, as Rod Serling used to say:  Luca Pasquinelli put our 100% Aleatico dessert wine (Nanerone) on the tasting menu, and a spate of searches for this wine began hitting the Domenico Selections web site.  Another:  He added our Rasott Aglianico from the small but excellent producer Boccella, and the same thing happened immediately.  By the way, judging from the IP addresses of many of the searchers, the expense account dinner is alive and well.

I suppose this verifies the old adage, It ain't how much you got, it's what you do with it. 

Works with sex and works with wine.  How great is that?   

Pouring at Ambassador Wines Friday evening

Come taste and say hi at Ambassador Wines

 

Great wine store with a selection both broad and deep.  And among the best rum (yum) and sake (yish, but that's me talking) selections in the city.

Tomorrow, June 19, 5 to 8 pm.  

1020 2nd Ave

at 54th Street
New York, NY 10022
(212) 421-5078

Mon-Thu 9:00am-10:00pm
Fri 9:00am-12:00am
Sat 10:00am-12:00am
Sun 12:00pm-8:00pm

Salespeople needed

We're growing.  Suffering growing pains.  Help us end the pain!

Domenico Selections needs at least two sales reps to open and service accounts in the New York metro area, most critically in Brooklyn, Westchester, Long Island and Midtown.  Wine sales experience strongly preferred.

Email terence@domenicoselections.com if you're interested in this great opportunity.

Wines I'd never import

While it's a wise person who says, "Never say never," I'll go out on that old limb now so that you may jeer at me later.  For I am about to list five Italian wines I'd never import, no how, no way.  

1. Pinot Grigio. Whenever someone tells us, "You really need a PG on your list," we should reply, "Sure.  Which of these 14 other PGs are you going to boot off your shelves?"  In a race to the bottom.

2. Nero d'Avola.  Ditto.  Besides, how many of them aren't totally spoofilated?  Most of those producers Have Lost Their Way.

3. Merlot.  An Italian Merlot in purezza?  The point?

4. Gavi.  Forgive me, but I don't think I can be convinced.

5. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo.  Like Pinot Grigio but without the charm.   

 I could go on and name a few more, but the categorical nature of my renunciation would then be based more on price and sheer boredom.  Not for nothing have we shied from Chiantis, for example.  Even some very nice ones.  But -- the point?

I eagerly await your squeals and growls of indignation, consternation and vituperation.  

Strappo's pouring schedule next week

Strappo will be pouring twice at East Side wine shops this week.  Stop by, say hi, try some wine, buy some wine at...

Mr. Wright Fine Wines

 

I'll be pouring there this Monday, June 15, from 5 to 8 pm.  

1593 3rd Avenue
between 89th & 90th streets
New York, NY 10128
212-722-4564
Open: M-Sa: 9am-9:30pm; Sun: 1pm-6:45pm

Ambassador Wines

I'll be pouring there next Friday, June 19, from 5 to 8 pm.  

1020 2nd Ave

at 54th Street
New York, NY 10022
(212) 421-5078

Mon-Thu 9:00am-10:00pm
Fri 9:00am-12:00am
Sat 10:00am-12:00am
Sun 12:00pm-8:00pm

Rave review. And Daddy comes through

I have to say that this has been a pretty good day in Domenico Selections land.  Let me count the ways...

Fine, there are just two ways.  But they've made your humble servants feel pretty upbeat.

Bigger Than Your Head 

Fredric Koeppel, who writes the best wine reviews anywhere IMNSHO, wrote an excellent review of our Soaves from I Stefanini.  Here are a couple of highlights (from my POV anyway):

...Made in stainless steel from 100 percent garganega grapes, I Stefanini “Monte de Toni” 2006, Soave Classico, manages that difficult feat of seeming intense and subtle simultaneously, and in that leap of craft and faith establishes itself as an entity that scarcely exists in the realm of other Soaves. 

Photo:  Monte di Fice.  Literally.  

I love that last bit.  Flattering to our producer and true.

I Stefanini “Monte di Fici” 2006, Soave Classico Superiore, is a real mouthful of wine that exhibits the purity and intensity of which the garganega grape is capable, one element of which is, unexpectedly, elegance. Lemon in every aspect — fresh, lip-smacking lemon, roasted lemon, lemon curd and lemon drop — characterize aromas that are permeated by lanolin and white flowers

Now this is where I stand in awe of old FK.  I think:  You get all that out of it??  I know it's good but all I can do is go, Mmmm, this is good.  (Now you know why I don't write reviews any longer.  Leave it to the master.) By the way, FK, it's Monte di Fice, with an E on the end.  Just saying.

Here is the link to Fredric's complete writeup:  Linkaroo!

Good Grief, It's Babbo!

Yesterday I wrote a post that told you that one of our wines has hit a home run at Babbo (it means "Daddy"), the famous Mario Batali-Joe Bastianich restaurant on Waverly Place. (Not a low-rent zone to begin with.)

May I crow a little more? Today the wonderful and perspicacious Luca Pasquinelli, wine director at Babbo, not only reordered a nice quantity of our premier dessert wine (alas, our only one right now) but he ordered four additional ones.  So if you can afford to go to Babbo, you will have your choice of five Domenico Selections wines:  this, this, this, this and this.  Ah sì, sono molto contento...    

Enough horn-tooting for one day.  Ciao a tutti.

Where to find our wines: Some new venues

When you're a startup company you have to accumulate a lot of small victories to build your business successfully.  That's what we're doing, account by account.  

Babbo -- recently Luca Pasquinelli at this flagship Mario Batali restaurant ordered our Aleatico dessert wine, Nanerone from Piandibugnano.  He's serving it as part of a tasting menu and told a colleague at another Batali place that it was going over very well.  I believe that's true, because suddenly I started seeing a lot of searches on that wine coming from affluent locales all over the New York metro area.

Hearth -- Paul Grieco has just ordered two of Domenico Selections wines at this highly regarded East Village restaurant.  If you go there, look for Angelarosa Greco di Tufo and Reale Borgo di Gete. 

On the retail side, our I Stefanini Soaves seem to be a hit at Aulden Cellars, the UES retail outlet of Sotheby's.  

Again on the Upper East Side, there's K&D, a well-regarded store that's also taken a shine to I Stefanini.  

It's interesting to see which wines are "restaurant" wines and which are "retail."  We sort of predicted that, based not only on price point but on the differentness of the wine: the more unusual, the more it tends to be a restaurant wine.  In other words, a good sommelier will train the staff to hand-sell the wine with an eye to exactly the right pairings.  Some of the DS wines are quite "different" from the usual offerings, so this sort of commitment is essential to our success as well as the restaurant's.

I'm happy to say that several of our imports have turned out to be both restaurant and retail wines.  We'll see how it plays out with the wines that are soon to make their debut.  

Lighter bottles: Nuova tendenza?

Nuova tendenza means "new trend."

I'd like to think I've done my small part to convince wine producers to put their juice in lighter, cheaper, more eco-gentle bottles.  Just yesterday I received emails from two producers in the Veneto who took my complaints about heavy, showy, ego-gratifying bottles to heart.  (Here's the link to the post:  Click.)  

Lucia Raimondi, whose Villa Monteleone ripasso San Vito will soon be available in the New York area, wrote:

Your recommendation to Italian producers (to use lighter weight bottles)  got me thinking.    I just want you guys to know that as of the next bottling I will be using the same bottles for the San Vito and the Santa Lena.  Shipping weight of San Vito will be about about 40% less.  The cartons will also be the same which will facilitate shipping, the shape of the San Vito cartons was kind of odd and made stacking in the pallet difficult. 

I wrote back marveling at how influential I was.  Lucia's reply:

Reasonable people are always influential.  I read mondosapore all the time and you got me thinking.  The weight matter made absolute sense and I do not think people are going to think the wine is less good because it is on a lighter bottle, and it would cost you and me less.  I just wish our Consorzio would let us bottle the Santa Lena with screw caps.
  

I added the underscoring to underscore Lucia's justified wish.  

This is an excellent example of an Italian producer's getting over the local notion -- a ludicrous one -- that an outsized, heavy bottle signifies "importance" and "quality."  It signifies many things, as I suggested in my April post, but not that.  And I will restate my position on screwcaps:  they are good and entirely appropriate for wines that are meant to be drunk young and fresh, and a Valpolicella Classico like Lucia's Santa Lena is a perfect candidate for such a closure.  (Santa Lena will be available here from Labor Day.)

Thanks to Angelo Peretti's picking up my April post and running with it in an Italian-language redaction and commentary -- here's the link to his article -- another producer from that area, Carlo Nerozzi, sent me an email last night.  He's thinking about lighter bottles too, especially as he's keen to export to the States. He understands that imposing bottles don't impress people here, and that we don't have a strong prejudice against screw caps, not since highly popular New Zealand and Australian wines in particular have got us used to them.

An attractive, eye-catching label that gives you some sense of the stuff inside the bottle -- labels are the important sales and marketing factor here, not the heft of the container.  

As to practicality, I imagine that a light bottle is a blessing to warehousemen, sommeliers, waiters, busboys and trash collectors the world over.  A 40% weight reduction is a boon to all.