Muddy Boots

One glorious bottle

Jeff took this shot too. On this trip we were treated to some interesting wines. We had this one and a '96 Gaja Barbaresco. Guess which one blew the other out of the water?

Cell phone shot. 1981 1961 Borgogno. Still a supple young beauty
 

Tuscany in the first days of March

Domenico Selections' Jeff Mazen took these pictures as we drove through Tuscany. The earth was coming alive. Click on the images to view them larger.

These are creatures the Italians call "ships"

 
 This is a straightaway in rural Italy

 You too can rent this. Agriturismo at Casale Pozzuolo

There's gold in them thar hills

 
"A.A.D" = Atto a diventare (meant to become) a DOC Montecucco wine. It can't be labeled as such until the local appellation commission tests and approves it.

Steed at rest. Grosseto.  
  

Degustazione ad Otto

Tasting at Otto

A final post on the Mustillis' trip to our fair tri-state area. 

Anna Chiara and Paola met with wine fans and wine manager Dan Amatuzzi at the ever-popular Otto yesterday to explain their wines and describe the "salvation" of the Falanghina grape from extinction.

A brief recap of Leonardo Mustilli's pioneering work of isolating the variety from promiscuous field blends and campaigning for official recognition as a valid, indigenous grape can be found here (click). It's interesting to read the history of the literature on Falanghina and eye-opening to see how much time, labor and expense it takes to get such recognition. It's enough to say that Mustilli played a key role in the reorientation of Italian wine-making from international to "autochthonous" grapes. I'm not alone in thinking that this recent direction has been the salvation of Italy in avoiding the fate of, say, Australia. Whether Italy can save itself from further scandals like the current one in Chianti land -- well, that's another story of greed and fundamental stupidity.

On to more pleasant things, namely some pictures snapped at Otto yesterday afternoon.

  

Dan Amatuzzi of Otto discusses the Mustilli wines

Ed ecco i vini 

Paola and Alexis. Alexis preferred the Piedirosso, which can be slightly chilled and served like Beaujolais

Jeff and Anna Chiara. A little blurry. Blame the incompetent photographer

Our Greg with Anna Chiara. We're lucky to have Greg working for us after his illustrious career playing Lurch on "The Addams Family" 

     

You lookin' at ME?

Noel, Noel, everybody 

Giro di Jersey: Mustillis on the loose

Benjie La Vigne, one of our ace salespeople in New Jersey, sent me a passel of pix of Paola and Anna Chiara Mustilli as they schlepped all over the Garden State yesterday. They wound up the day with a big dinner and a lot of different Domenico Selections wines on the table. 

It's a challenge matching the photos with the right names of the people in them. Here's hoping... 

 

Anna Chiara (l.) and Paola at Benjie's house. To make them feel completely at home, Benjie turned off the heat. (A little winter-in-Italy humor.)

Obligatory dog shot. Anna Chiara greets Kahlua 

 

Mustillis with Dan Pastore, at Kings in Short Hills. Is he related to the Kennedys?

With Patrick De Lorenzo at Spirits of the Valley in Martinsville. Pat, I bet you come from Trenton, the land of tomato pies. Fact: every third person in Trenton is named De Lorenzo. 

Anna Chiara with Jim at Shoprite in Westfield. Jim is the manager so he doesn't need a last name.

Lisa Best of Domenico Selections with Paola M.   

 

Standing: Mark, Larry, Benjie, Anna Chiara, Steve Fahey of Shopper's Vineyard in Clifton.

Seated: Susan, Lisa, Paola, Donatella del Gaizo, Mrs. Fahey

Formaggio!

Jeff and the Jersey crew have the Mustilli sisters working hard today. One of our NJ sales people, Benjie LaVigne, just sent me a phone picture featuring her and (on the right) Anna Chiara Mustilli.

  

Hard at work on the wine turnpike

A beautiful sight to behold

Ready to unload:  The golden cargo arrives in Greater Cincinnati 

Photo sent by Kevin Keith, D E P's Fine Wine & Spirits

 

Jeff's pictures of the latest sourcing trip

My business partner Jeff just sent along some photos of the recent trip to Tuscany and beyond.

Obligatory.  Jeff's wife is named Elisa.  Porta Elisa is one of the gates at the walls of Lucca

Jeff's shot of the yawning tower.  Interesting sidenote: the masses of people lounging on the lawn were soon expelled by a guard. That didn't seem very Italian at all

This is a cantina. It doesn't matter where. It's a cantina

Jeff tasting at the cantina sans name. In Veneto

Exterior of the Salumeria Giusti -- the "award-winning" (premiata) Salumeria Giusti.  It's been there for four centuries

Interior of said salumeria. The very air was intoxicating with complex aromas

Jeff with young Matteo Morandi, who runs both the salumeria and the Hosteria Giusti, the restaurant that thrilled the sensorium

A visit with a winemaking friend

Jeff and I spent a night at Gianpaolo Paglia's house in the Maremma at mid-harvest.  Everyone was very busy, but our friend GPP is a gracious host and took out some time to chat, taste and take us to dinner.  

His winery, Poggio Argentiera, produces wines that rely heavily on local grape varieties -- Morellino (a subtype of Sangiovese adapted to the hot, dry Maremma climate and sandy soils) and Ansonica as well as compatible "imports" such as Cab Franc and Syrah. 

 

Poggio Argentiera (loosely translated, "silvermine hill") covers 22 hectares/55acres. This is Podere Keeling, the vineyard named for Justine Keeling, Gianpaolo's wife

We tasted the full array of Gianopaolo's wines.  The older vintages had lots of power -- were rather New World in style, the "big reds" in particular. The new vintages keep the power but embrace elegance; they are much more balanced, interesting and satisfying. His base white, 80% Ansonica and 20% Vermentino, "Guazza" (Dew) is crisper and more refreshing than before. 

With his cellarmaster and second in command, Antonio Camillo, Paglia makes a couple of extraordinary wines, one a Sauvignon Blanc ("Alture" or Heights) that is about as far from the overly aggressive New Zealand style as possible, but clearly not French either. The other is a compulsively drinkable Ciliegiolo with the brand name "Principio" (Beginning).  A damned auspicious one at that.

Here are a few photos of the visit to Gianpaolo's.

  

Gianpaolo keeps Jeff informed

In this beautifully composed shot, you will see Antonio Camillo as he flees from the American paparazzo

Gotta have the product shot.  "Bucce" (Skins) is a new entry, 100% Ansonica which spends 5-6 days touching its own skins and 18 months on the lees in cement and large oak.  Big, tannic, complex, intriguing.  

Alphé's pix -- in Veneto and in his own kitchen

What's it all about, Alphé?

Sorry, sorry, sorry -- now that's out of the way, maybe we can focus, focus, focus:

Domenico Selections has just hired three (3) sales people to cover various parts of the New York/New Jersey area.  One of these fine individuals, Alphé Williams, was recently in the Veneto and visited two of our producers, Lucia Raimondi of Villa Monteleone and Francesco Tessari of I Stefanini. 

Here a few of the photos he took of vineyards and scenes over there.  And there are a couple of mouth-watering pix of a dinner he made using one of our newer arrivals, the Serra del Prete Aglianico del Vulture from Betty Musto Carmelitano.  You should know Alphé is a Creole from Lou'siana, and a chef to boot. He will spend most of his waking hours calling on restaurants in Midtown and the Upper West Side where, for some unaccountable reason, he has chosen to live. (alphe@domenicoselections.com)

 

 

Villa Monteleone vineyard in August

Another side of Villa Monteleone 

Grapes at I Stefanini in Soave

Francesco Tessari & his ragazza

Monte di Fice, the site of the best cru of I Stefanini. It's the top of the volcanic hill that rises behind the family house-cum-cantina. Note veronese pergolas.The canopy prevents raisined fruit in this sunny exposure.

Alphé braised (is that the right word? Hey! I'm no foodie, damn it) -- prepared the steak with the Serra del Prete. He said it was all ottimo. 

  

Vitignoitalia, a few pix of our producers and more

Small bit of the lungomare, Naples

You are looking at the foreboding Castel dell'Ovo.  It means "Egg Castle."  Scared now?

It's pretty dungeonlike inside.  Most of the producers stood in there for three days.  Poor buggers

Roberto Nicodemo of Terra di Vento.  Holding product at my command!  This coastal Aglianico ("Petrale") is a very good seller.

More to come about Roberto's plans to turn his organic farm into a nature-study center, with both agricultural/green awareness and art activities year-round.

People swim and cavort in this water.  Hint: looks cleaner than it is.

I met these guys from the NY-NJ area at the Vesuvius Hotel.  Mario and Cesare de Chello, wine and catering, respectively

I don't know who this dude is.  I think he's shadowing me for the CIA.  I see him all over New York and Italy.  

My grandmother told me: "Don't ever trust someone who speaks Romansch."

God, is there more?  Yes!

Il bacio

The kiss.  

I just had to pull this photo from Luigi Reale's Facebook album.  Here is Luigi bussing Bruno De Concillis.  The two wine producers from southern Campania are good friends.  In truth, Bruno is far better known than Luigi. He's been making wine for much longer, and he has the natural marketing advantage of a dynamic and irrepressible personality.   But our Gigi is no slouch, either.

 The caption Luigi wrote for this picture is, "bacio alla persona che mi ha messo a lavorare."

Translation: A kiss for the person who got me started -- as a wine producer.

Bruno, if you were here, I'd kiss you too. And thank you. We're crazy about Luigi's wines.

Caught in the act!

Keith Beavers, the East Village Wine Geek, is not only a blogger in the traditional sense, he's a fanatical Tweeter (user of Twitter).  So yesterday when I was at In Vino, his wine bar/resto in Alphabet City, he pulled out his iPhone and caught me at the end of a long, frustrating, thirsty day...

I've decided to be photographed only when the shades are on.

It's better from the bottle.