Muddy Boots

Wine, olives & horses

When we first met Roberto Nicodemo (pictured here with his wife, Marialuisa Zottola) a few years ago, he told us of his big plans for Terra di Vento, the estate where he makes delicious Aglianico ("Petrale") and Fiano ("Faiano", named after a nearby locality). In 2008 he was in the process of getting ready for biologico or organic certification, which is being granted on Monday. The entire farm is about to have this certification, so the olive oil and other products they grow and process will bear this on their labels. These organic products include hazelnuts, soaps and shampoos made from olive oil and Aglianico(!).

When we saw Roberto in Verona a few days ago he was like a kid with a new toy -- a big, expensive, hard-won new toy. We asked him how he had managed to do so much in so short a time (just over a year of construction) and at such a high level of finish  -- "Mutui!" he said. Mortgages.

Roberto's vision was, from the beginning, one that encompassed all forms of culture, not just the agri variety. He and his wife are passionate supporters of the arts and artists. They wanted to create a space for local artists to show their work, some of which has ended up in the winery's spotless cellars and on magnum bottles of Petrale.

That's not all. Integral to their vision is opening up their new facility to educational groups, whether schoolchildren or adults, for ecological and historical instruction. When we spoke to Roberto at Vinitaly he told us Marialuisa was dealing with 40+ schoolkids on a Saturday tour of the farm. (Brave woman!) The kids got a grounding in the benefits of organic agriculture and its precedents in the days of his grandmother early in the 20th Century. (We'll come back to his grandmother -- she was a key inspiration in Roberto's vision.)

It's not all serious study and political correctness on the Terra di Vento farm. For one thing, there are horses. And for another, a top-notch chef in the osteria. We got permission to use pictures from the new TdV website (www.aziendaterradivento.it), and some of them are here to give you a sense of the quality and the scope of things.

The vineyards face the sea, which is only a few miles to the west. Terra di Vento means "land of wind," so you get the idea that constant breezes make mold and other moisture-related pests a non-problem.

Click on these pictures to view them larger.

Tasting room and shop. Squint to see artwork on labels

 

Everybody loves horsies!

 

Exterior of the osteria (restaurant)

A view of one of the rooms 

 

La quercia. The oak. To Roberto this tree, dating to the late 18th century, is a visible connection to his family -- especially his grandmother, who worked right there in the fields as a young girl, and who raised five children the hard way after her husband was killed in WWI. 

This is a labor of remembrance even more than of love. That remembrance includes the knowledge of organic farming "the hard way."

As Alberto Moravia once famously said, "Il futuro ha un cuore antico." The future has an ancient heart. Here it means something specific, concrete, real.

 

 

 

11 days in Itly, lking 4 grt wine: a Twttr essay

 

Day 1 OMG, 1st stop totl winnr! Exc Valpol + blend lt harvest PASSITO Cab Fr (WTF) + usu Valpol blnd. WOW. UNICO, BELLO. Grazie Dr. JP!

Day 2 Top Barolo prodcr seeks new import love. We R all about Luv. FTW. Bacioni!

Day 3 W/ Paolo V @ Cascina Roccalini. Che sfigo chiacchierare con lui. Wines only getting better. Sigh of contmnt

Day 3 Went 2 see amico @tirebouchon, bravo, then to palazzo of Queen of Freisa @cascingilli. [hearts]

Day 4 Back to Verona. Mainly as pit stop. Thank Gd 4 La Bufalina + real pizza napol. Friuli on day 5

Day 5 To Savorgnano del Torre. Bello da morire. Nice weather. Grt young couple of Aquila del Torre. New agriturismo. Lady bug invasion :( but SOOOO BIODY!

Day 6 Tasting & eating. Meno male. My phrase of trip LOL ( = not bad) Fra & Pier so f’n nice 2 me. They don’t know me!!!! LOL!!!!!!

Day 7 Sun AM @ crazy winery in Venezia Giulia. Exc & low cost. Bar pours & flr stackers. Tall guy wore Formula 1 check flag glasses! Get me a container, stat.

Day 8 Alto Adige. Old castle w/ a baron. V nice wines of course. Even the gewurtz!! Hey, it’s Alto Adige. He wore Tyrolean hat + Nantucket red pants. Loved it!

Day 9 Carpaccio di cervo (venison) did me in. Sick all day. Foul. Hate Tyrolean grub. No tasting. Deadsville. Porca miseria

Day 10 Despite illness > Superb tiny winery high up (700 m), spectac wine blend Chard PB and incrocio Manzoni.OMFG Must have! Mamma made me rice :) 

Day 11 On plane home. Vinitaly = soon. No LOL   

 

Something Vinitaly this way comes

Yes, signore e signori, already the communiqués are reaching us. Invitations to tastings. To booths. To dinners. A proleptic exhaustion creeps over us. 

Vinitaly is nearly upon us. The fair will be on from April 4 to April 11. 

Oh, we have secured lodging (THE prime imperative for Vinitaly--Verona is a dreadful hotel town). We know the layout of the vast exhibition zone well enough. We know how impossible it is to get anything decent to eat at the fiera. We are assembling an idea of who to see and who to avoid (even more important!).

Once the logistics are disposed of, including the always vexing parking problem, the fair is yours to make a good or bad experience. As I've said many times, making a schedule and sticking to it is the key to a good Vinitaly; it will be tiring but you won't feel as though you needed a blood infusion by the end of the day. 

Also: avoid temptation. Don't go out and party all night just because the food and wine are free. If you do, you won't be all that sharp the next day. After a few days of this, you're a mess and if doing business is your reason for being there, you're in trouble. 

These general admonishments aside, we'll seize the opportunity to visit our current producers without having to bear the expense of traveling all over the Boot. And, of course, we'll see many of the new/prospective producers that we will be visiting next week. (NB: we'd never do a deal at Vinitaly without having seen the property and cellar first. That way would lie madness or at least unhappiness.)

All in all, the best thing about going to Verona is, for me, the chance to see some dear friends like Giampiero "Aristide" Nadali and Elisabetta "VinoPigro" Tosi.

 

About those photos: They are of the now-defunct Campania pavilion at Vinitaly. I loved this innovative concept, created by Gae Aulenti, who also re-imagined the Gare d'Orsay into a spectacular museum in Paris. When this was unveiled at Vinitaly a few years ago, many were the voices raised in condemnation, mostly because of the high cost. But so what? It was beautiful and interesting, and it raised the Campania pavilion far above the others as an experience. I happen to think that the installation and the rise of Campanian wines paired well. 

 

A vineyard walk in Soave

At I Stefanini, Soave

Back in January Strappo took a walk in the vineyard behind the Tessaris' house in Monteforte d'Alpone with Francesco Tessari, his uncle Giuseppe and two German Shepherds (Alsatians) borrowed from Mondovino.

Strappo recorded this walk, conducted mostly in Italian. It's posted here in several segments -- truthfully, where he stopped and started the camcorder. Why has it taken six months to post this educational experience? Because Strappo intended to learn how to edit and produce a fine video. Now he knows better: he'll never get around to it and he never really wanted to. Play it as it lays, baby.

So, as you go through the various segments, try to ignore the choppy camera work, the incoherent questions of Strappo and his panting as he endeavors to walk uphill, shoot the footage and chew gum at the same time. (Figuratively speaking. Strappo does not chew gum.)

Introduction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWWe_TudXCs

Part 1, including Mondovino-style dog footage! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TThua9hPtvc

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oImFuV4Oyro

Part 3: Missing. We thought 8 minutes was a safe length of time but, alas, YouTube rejected it as too long. Pazienza.

 

Two weeks sulla Strada del vino

Liguria > Piemonte > Marche > Veneto > Friuli > Alto Adige

Back in Rome now, glad not to be driving hundreds of kilometers at a clip, parked in a nice boutique hotel where it's cool and there's free WiFi. (The WiFi situation is vastly improved here of late.)

We tasted many producers' wines, and I have to say that, with notably few exceptions, the wines we've been tasting are well above average in quality and (alas) often in price. Producers eagerly point to the stronger dollar as a way of partly excusing themselves from high prices. But exchange rates are volatile these days, and a recent recovery of the euro means that no American importer can let down his guard on pricing.

Over the next several months the new wines will begin to be phased in. After a label re-design and approval, we will have a Pinot Grigio -- yes, we will have a Pinot Grigio -- from a family azienda called La Prebenda. It is located in far northern Veneto, a township over the border from Trentino. Paolo Zanoni, the winemaker, and his sister, Rita (sales and marketing) make a number of wines from local varieties, of which this is the first we are taking.

Clean and bright with acidity, this well-priced wine is made of 100% Pinot Grigio, which in itself is pretty unusual. We'll be taking the 2010 vintage as soon as it's ready.

Among the other highlights of our sourcing trip were a top-notch maker of Verdicchios and Rosso Piceno in Marche, all 100% organic. (No names yet.)  A really tasty, high-quality Prosecco from the Treviso area. And a number of excellent producers in Alto Adige, where the altitudes, acidity levels and prices are all pretty high. The crisp and often amazingly complex whites from that region are justly famous, and they fit our personal flavor profiles exceedingly well. Let's hope we get them to work out for us. 

You can see that we are striving to strike a healthy balance between crowd-pleasing wines and those which are a bit more esoteric. You need both to build a name and build a business. Let me tell you, we have sniffed, tasted and grimaced at more Pinot Grigios, Proseccos and Sangioveses that you can imagine. To have found pleasing, natural-smelling/tasting ones at good prices hasn't been easy. All too many Proseccos, for example, have had a spuma like laundry soap suds and a chemical odor to match. Some have been so vile that Jeff and I have sniffed the glass and tossed the stuff out. After a while you laugh about it, mostly in disbelief: Do those people actually drink their own swill? 

Well, we test the swill so you don't have to. It's our public service to you, the wine retailer and consumer. 

     

 

Weather & recent seasons in Italy

I have meant to mention that everywhere we've gone, people have told us, "This heat is very sudden! The weather just turned!"

It's been hot and often quite humid, every day in the 30 - 34 degree range -- 86 - 94F.  It's remained hot at night. 

Before that both winter and spring were exceptionally wet and cold. A continuation of hot weather, accompanied by some dry spells, would seem in order right now. 

Well, it's still early. Around Treviso we went among the 33C vineyards which were exploding with growth, and the infant grapes seemed fine. Here's to a fine growing season.   

Alto Adige, where even the crummy wines taste good

So here we are, amici, in the German-speaking part of Italy so beloved of wine writers like Franco Ziliani (NB: irony) and so many American wine geeks (no irony). We're staying at an extremely beautiful hotel in an extremely beautiful village overlooking great swathes of sub-Alpine fields, chalets and forests, not to mention looming stone-faced mountains. Tomorrow are the appointments with a pair of excellent winemakers from a bit south of here (we are a bit north of Bolzano, the wineries a bit south of that pretty provincial capital). 

 After another long drive, we sat reading on the terrace of the Turm Hotel sipping various local wines as we waited for a thunderstorm to cool things off. Even our least favorite, a Chardonnay by Elena Walch, was crisp and clean. Ken remarked, "These cool climate wines really are wonderful." He allowed as maybe they're better than comparable wines from hotter zones.

In the photo: Fie' allo Scillar. Turm Hotel is a little lower and to right of church & its tower 

That's a broad statement, but it's certainly true that if you're in the mood for a zingy, flavorful white wine to quench your thirst on a hot day, it's hard to beat the ones from Alto Adige. 

Not that all this liquid goodness comes cheap. It does not. But even up here, in a prosperous area where the small amount of terrain suitable for cultivation of grapes raises prices, the effects of La Crisi are felt. Prices, people tell us, are inching down. Tomorrow we'll know if that's true or not.

If it is, you'll see us still here on Tuesday, haggling.       

Reports from here and there

Have to post this fast before the limited amount of expensive WiFi time runs out. Until today, we've been pleased -- thrilled, even -- with the wines we've tasted. Here in Friuli, in Veneto, in Piemonte and in Marche.

We've even tasted good Prosecco, something I never thought I'd say. 

At present in Pordenone, a pleasant provincial capital in Friuli Venezia Giulia, we head tomorrow to Alto Adige for some appointments near Bolzano. We're really looking forward to those, since we just tasted the producers' excellent wines at TerroirVino in Genoa on Monday.

Before closing in haste, I have to say that we were bowled over by the beauty and cleanness of the environment in Le Marche. This Adriatic region is so appealing -- the food so good, the wines often so interesting, the people so nice -- it's astonishing to realize that the region is scarcely known to Americans. You can rent a villa or apartment for a fraction of the price in Tuscany, for example, and you have natural beauty, small but lovely cities and towns, and great beaches all in easy reach.     

 

One little marchigiano town really struck us. It's called Serra De' Conti, and it's not old and quaint and full of guidebook art. But it's green and prosperous and exceedingly well-maintained, and all its inhabitants seem to have got their clothes from the Lands' End catalogue. Everyone is out walking around and meeting their neighbors on the meticulously maintained bike lanes and sidewalks, and the whole town speaks of prosperity and cultivated civility. There's lots of good wine nearby too.

What we tasted in Genoa

 Part of the repurposed Porto Antico in Genoa

TerroirVino 2010 was arguably the biggest and the best of the annual manifestazioni that Filippo Ronco has organized over the past decade. He finally found the ideal location in the nicely repurposed Magazzini di Cotone (Cotton Warehouses) at the Old Port, an area that reminds one of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, only really really big. There's still a lot of seedy stuff close by, and lots of louche characters, the flotsam and jetsam of the entire world, all keeping it real. Darling Florence it ain't. 

(NB: Someone brought the wrong recharger for the camera. Someone should be shot.)

TerroirVino presents a stimulating mix of up-and-coming young winemakers and wineries and well-established wineries whose wares reflect their respective terroirs. It's the sort of event where it's pretty easy to find wines that were aged in cement, in some cases because the owners couldn't afford to convert to steel tanks or new barriques. You're also hard pressed not to find interesting, obscure grapes rescued from oblivion by a farmer who's fanatically attached to his land and its traditions. All good things.

Filippo is not only a young entrepreneur, but he's also a (cough) "social media guru". All of Sunday was dedicated to a seemingly infinite series of brief presentations by, well, social media gurus, marketers and clowns, wine producers and, yes, even the odd -- very odd -- importer. Each presentation was meant to last just 5 minutes, and to be interactive, informal, very unItalian. In fact, a number of them were a talking-head snoozefest. That wasn't Fil's fault; old cultural reflexes are hard to let go of.

What we tasted were a lot of interesting, well-made wines, all too many of which are currently imported into the USA. We did taste some eligibles (currently not imported wines) that were really marvelous, mostly from Liguria, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, and Friuli. This show has a definite northern slant, but not a Leghista mentality, which wouldn't work in Genoa anyway. 

One wishes one could be specific about what one tasted but one would be premature, wouldn't one?  Follow-up visits are in order, subito.

Now, as one writes this, the strong winds are tearing through a very pretty agriturismo on the outskirts of Treiso, a place with stunning views at the summit of a ridge with precipitous drops on either side of a tiny little road.  Steep hills and vineyards and woods and farmhouses are spread like a banquet for the eyes all around you. The land is green and fertile. The people are reserved and yet welcoming. You look around and say, Oh God, I really am in Italy, aren't I? 

In June, my friends, it's as close to heaven as most of us will ever get.

   
 
 

The mother of reinvention

The most creative people aren't the ones who sit around and dream beautiful dreams. 

The most creative people are the ones who flirt with disaster and, time and again, find a way to skirt disaster and, almost by accident, come up with something new. You could call it mere problem-solving, but if it's that, it's of an inspired kind.

Enter Susy Tezzon.

Susy is one of the owners of a wonderful restaurant at Bardolino on the shores of Lake Garda, Giardino delle Esperidi. The food is top-notch -- the best ingredients and a southern sense of flavor and presentation, a far cry from the rather dreary norm in Veneto. Susy is a sommelier and has an exceptional wine list, which always has little gems of high quality, often from producers who are far off the beaten path -- and her obsession with dramatically selected glassware adds another dimension to the experience.

And herein lies the problem -- the challenge, in fact, that she rose to meet in an effort to stay afloat in a time of economic crisis. 

Like all restaurants, Giardino delle Esperidi depends on wine and liquor sales for a big percentage of their cashflow and profits. With the advent of draconian drunk-driving laws in Italy -- three strikes and you're out, not only of your license but they can impound your car -- and it doesn't take much to flunk a breath test. Two glasses of wine in two hours could do it. 

Needless to say, the laws have hit restaurateurs hard. People are drinking more at home, and they tend to drink cheaper and less interesting wines. 

Susy, being Susy, took an unusual approach to this problem. Susy, being Susy, researched and tested it until it was a success.

Last week, as we sat outside the restaurant on a day it wasn't open for lunch (Wednesday -- just my luck), she told me her solution to the problem. "I love tea. All kinds of tea. I started to experiment with tea and food pairings, and then I introduced them to my customers. We'd talk about the pairings -- this wasn't too good, that was phenomenal, and so on. Now I have this list" -- which she handed to me -- "and it's been a success. The ladies love them, and they get very excited when they taste the good pairings. The men -- not so much -- but sometimes they taste it because their wife urges them, and they say, 'Oh, that's pretty good. Not bad!'"

At 3-5 or 6 euros a cup, served at room temperature, it's been a lifesaver in terms of revenue and profitability. Susy told me she's more optimistic than she was a year ago, given the one-two punch of the severe recession and the enforcement of the drunk-driving laws. "I feel energized now, and I'm very excited about this new direction. Whether it's with wine or fine teas, I want to make the dining experience as rich and satisfying as possible."

Susy, sei mitica.*

*Susy, you're awesome.

A key stop at VinNatur

Betty Musto Carmelitano with her Serra del Prete, which is fermented in steel, aged in cement from old vine grapes

By the time Sunday rolled around, old Strappo was feeling himself wind down. He skipped Vinitaly completely. Instead he drove far east from his hilltop perch at San Giorgio in Valpolicella, a minute and ancient village (main feature: eponymous 8th century church), all the way to the outskirts of Vicenza. 

 The event was VinNatur, which every year at Vinitaly time is one of the most important fringe events on offer. The venue was Villa Favorita, which the English would call a Stately Home, and a first-class exhibition space for intimate yet somehow important gatherings.

As the name VinNatur implies, this is an exposition of wines made as naturally as possible. Many of the vineyards (mostly French) have biodynamic certification. Others, like Musto-Carmelitano, can demonstrate natural practices in the vineyard as well as the cellar. (Click here for the VinNatur Association's Manifesto.)

Strappo dragged himself all that way for one reason: to visit and taste with Elisabetta Musto-Carmelitano, whose Aglianici del Vulture are sensationally fine wines at exceedingly fair prices. Her unoaked, aged-in-cement Serra del Prete immediately wins people over with its intense fruit and dynamic balance of acidity and tannins, body and liveliness. Serra del Prete has been one of Domenico Selections' runaway hits. We take all she'll sell us. Read about it here.

 

By the way, the other of Betty's wines that we import, Pian del Moro, is aged in tonneaux. We have the 2007 now, and because it's so big, it's not quite as ready to drink as the Serra del Prete. Pian del Moro is a cru made from very old vines -- some a century old -- which produce tiny quantities of highly concentrated grapes. 

Betty looked great, and the new 2008s were tasting great, too. Even though these wines have excellent aging potential, they are good to drink, as the Italians do, when they're young. 

The first shipment of 2008s from Must-Carmelitano will be in the States in late May. Plenty in time for the all-important September-December selling period.  

  

L'Acconciatura

The Hairdo

So here we have the "vulcanico" Natale Simonetta of Cascina Baricchi 

I had dinner with Natale the other night. What a great guy. What a fantastic winemaker. Dolcetto (one of the few I ever really liked), Barbera, Barbaresco (mmmmm) and Nebbiolo Langhe that would be a Barbaresco if it were 10 meters on the other side of the road (MMMMMMMM). What did I say about winemakers who seem really alive and the wines that reflect them? You can say that about Natale. 

What a great guy. What bright, lively, delicious, meaningful wines.

By the way, he cuts his hair with his pruning shears. His amica, Elvira, told me so.

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.  
  

What are the 3 noble red-wine grapes of Italy?

 When we were at the International Wine Academy in Rome the other night, Ian D'Agata mentioned the third "noble grape" of the reds of Italy. 

It's pretty obvious that Nebbiolo is one of them. In fact, it's the first one most people in Italy or America will think of.

What are the other two? 

Operators aren't standing by, unfortunately. But Typepad craves to receive your comments.

Grazie, amici. 

 

Terra di Vento: Sulphite-free zone

This morning we met with Roberto Nicodemo of Terra di Vento and his enologo, Fortunato "Lucky" Sebastiano. We tasted the new wines and talked of the future. Based on what we tasted, the future looks bright indeed.

 

Roberto Nicodemo & a bottle of his Aglianico, Petrale

Terra di Vento is located where the Salerno coastal plain ends and the Picentine mountains begin. From the property you can see the Mediterranean and part of the Amalfi coastal region. This nearness to the open water moderates the climate, assuring cooling breezes in summer and mild ones in winter. Since Terra di Vento means "land of wind," you might guess -- correctly -- that the constant circulation of air cuts the risk of mold and mildew to just about nothing. 

This pleasant exposure is one of the factors that encouraged Dr. Nicodemo to take the winery to biologic (organic) certification. 

The other major physical factor for taking this path is the unspoiled nature of the soil on the 160-acre property. It has been farmed for centuries but never subjected to the abuses of modern chemical pesticides and fertilizers. 

There are more than physical or material factors in every important decision, of course. Roberto's grandmother farmed many of these acres herself, and his mother was raised there. There is a strong emotional bond, a desire to commemorate the lives and hard work of his family and the others who worked beside them on this earth. 

This factor, a spiritual one, has impelled him to make Terra di Vento a biodynamic farm in all the things that it produces, with wine and olive oil only two of the most prominent. BD certification is a long, expensive process -- so much so that some people who could qualify don't bother to pursue it. This is something that Roberto is deeply committed to, along with an educational and cultural component; Terra di Vento is already a venue for local artists, farming tutorials for kids, equestrianism, and new agriturismo facilities tucked into and over the fields and vineyards.

With all this in mind we tasted one of Dr. Nicodemo's favorites, a rosato made of Aglianico. The 2009 Tecla Madre -- named for Santa Tecla, the frazione where his grandmother was brought up and worked, and Madre Terra (Mother Earth) -- is a stunningly beautiful rose'. Light cherry-red in color, it has both loads of fruit and the structure to keep it lively and fresh for several years. The wine has a clean, long finish. 

The sample bottle of 2009 Fiano, which is still in tank and wood (7% in acacia), is clean and fresh as a sea breeze with delightful citrus and tropical fruit notes that do not cross over the line to heaviness or sweetness. Honey on the nose. A delightful summer white, whether on its own or with light salads and seafood dishes.

Finally, we tasted the 2007 version of our best-selling red, the Terra di Vento Petrale, which is 100% Aglianico. Cleaner and brighter than the 2006, its fruit gradually revealed itself in the glass (the wine started out rather cold), more structured and tannic and more nuanced than the 2006. The 2007 growing season was hotter than 2006 in the Colli di Salerno zone, yet the wine's balance impressed. With some time in glass the Petrale 2007 opened up with scents and tastes of purple fruits. It revealed new depths to us. 

Oh yes, and these vintages have no added sulphites. A very small amount occurs naturally. But if you are one of those who fears and/or loathes them, the Terra di Vento wines are surely ones you must try.

  

Pretty posh: International Wine Academy

Last evening we went to a tasting at the International Wine Academy in Rome. The theme was (I paraphrase) "Good wines for under 15 euros." (If only Dr. Debs had been there!) 

Under the bilingual leadership of Luca Azzellino and Ian D'Agata, we tasted some interesting wines that we had never heard of and others which can be found pretty widely in the Untied States. It was a nice mix of whites, reds, traditional styles and more modern, fruit-forward ones, and various regions of Italy. 

A couple of standouts, to me, were a white made from Nuragus, Salnico, made by the Sardinian producer Pala. Another was a dry muscat from Valle d'Aosta, Chambave Muscat from La Crotta di Vegneron -- its powerful aroma of white peaches promises a sweet wine, but on the palate it surprises you with a minerality and balance that make it compulsively drinkable. These were just two of the eleven wines that showed some of the rich variety of Italy's wines.

It's worth making a trip to the Wine Academy just because of its setting, a very posh one. The entrance is on a little side street, just to the right of the Spanish Steps (as you go down), but you can go up the elevator to the top, where you find yourself outside the super-posh Hassler Hotel. In fact, the Wine Academy has four rooms to rent (three gorgeous, one definitely not), which are managed by the Hassler. It ain't cheap, but it's a lot cheaper than paying for a rom at the Hassler itself. 

The Wine Academy has a restaurant, also managed by the Hassler.  You get the advantage of their kitchen and the Wine Academy's cellar. Meno male! 

40 miles of bad road

That was the title of a very old Dwayne Eddy song. (Oh shut up, whippersnappers.)

That's roughly what we traveled over today in deepest Tuscany -- 40 miles of rutted, muddy, kidney-bruising dirt roads to reach a couple of cantinas that are sooooo off the beaten path it's surprising the people who run them don't believe that Garibaldi is still uniting Italy. 

As the famous guidebook says, Vaut le voyage. We found two properties that make very small quantities of really elegant wines, among which we found Brunellos and even a Cab-Merlot blend that was more truly Bordelais than any of the stuff I've ever seen from Bolgheri and environs. Balance, elegance and a very judicious use of oak, along with excellent aging potential -- these qualities were shared by all the wines, different as their territories and grapes were. As always, opening prices are high; as usual, the winemakers are sitting on cellars-full of wine that simply must move, as much to make cellar space as to generate cash. 

So far, then, this trip has yielded two new producers, two very possible ones -- and there's more to come. 

Vaut le voyage.

Tuscany, Day 291

We left Grosseto in warm sunshine and the glow of yesterday's success in finding a splendid new producer of extraordinary Sangioveses (no details now, save that these people do so many of the right things in the vineyards and leave the wine pretty much alone in the cellar except for racking a few times). We had a tasting in a remote eastern part of Chianti and then, after having filled the tank to the tune of 52 euros, ground to a complete stop on the A1 autostrada south of Florence as we made our way to the thriving burg of Bucine. 

This, mind you, was the second breakdown of an Avis rental car in two trips. Another Italian make -- the first was an Alfa, this one a Fiat Croma. Yes, Fix It Again Tony. FIAT. The clutch failed. We were excitingly close to mammoth tractor trailers whizzing by at about 120 kph. I was on the phone with Avis employees (training motto: Just say no) a great number of times, losing my good manners in the language less of Dante than a howling member of the cursing classes.  

Then the carro attrezzi (flatbed) came and we got to ride high as pimps in the car, on top of the flatbed. The driver had to drive about 30 minutes south in order to turn around and take us to the Incisa toll plaza a little south of Florence proper. When he passed through the toll booth we too had to hand over our toll ticket and pay a euro for the less than 3 km we actually traveled under our own power. 

The rather arrogant toll-taker looked angry when I said, as I glared down at him from atop the flatbed, in a voice dripping with cold sarcasm, "E' stato un gran piacere." It's been a great pleasure.

A van driver was waiting for us at the Incisa exit. We transferred a shamefully large number of bags and wine samples to the van, which I wished we could rent, and went all the way to the center of the city to pick up the new car. That was 65 euros, which of course Avis paid for. (I should have asked for the one euro toll too.)

Then we had to double back to the ratty southern fringes of Florence, where we got a last-minute deal at a Sheraton. Cheap rooms with points; at 22 euros the slow Internet connection costs almost as much as the room. Where it's 100F and the toilet doesn't flush after you've deposited your used cinghiale.  The life of a commercial traveler, ladies and gents.

Speaking of cinghiale -- I truly love wild boar, occasionally. I've discovered that I don't much care for it every day, not to mention twice a day. Yes, between Sunday lunch and Monday dinner we devoured the tuskèd suine three times. I could still taste it until we stopped for a light lunch (a pound of pasta) at a roadside dive today at 2 PM. We resorted to club sandwiches tonight. 

What's that? "How could you?" After 10 days in Italy you begin to dread the obligatory prosciutto crudo and cheese plates, panini and all the rest of it. The big courses. You crave to snag a fast sandwich and continue on your merry way. 

More Tuscany tomorrow and then, I think, to Rome for a meeting and summative work, which will include a tasting of various samples collected on the way. Then Naples, then Friuli, then the glamorous Marriott near the Venice airport and, at last, slushy New York. 

By the way, in Tuscany the almonds are blooming, the vineyards are speckled with wee white flowers and quindi I am definitely not fed up enough to recite "Oh, to be in England!" or even "The Sidewalks of Noo Yawk." Magari!

Which is as good a way as any to say fuhgeddabaddit in Italian.

   

 

  

Almost live from Barbaresco

It's been too long since I've updated you on our sipping progress in Piemonte. The past few days have been a whirlwind of visits and tastings, all the while using the agriturismo of the fantastic Giovanna Rizzolio and Italo Sobriano (whose winery Cascina delle Rose makes lovely Barbarescos in small quantities). These people have a heart-wrenching story behind them -- I won't go into it here -- but let's just say that, for once, the underdogs persevered despite powerful and exceedingly arrogant adversaries in the wine world. 

Giovanna Rizzolio of Cascina delle Rose at Vinitaly last year. "Cascina" means farmhouse. "delle Rose" = of the roses. You could translate the name as "Rose Farm" in English. I can affirm that there are lots of rose bushes here.  

Domenico Selections is in the process of signing up a producer from this area, one whose tiny production has to be allocated to Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden and (soon!) the United States. This young man of 32, whose enologo is a very famous one in Piemonte, has been working in the vineyards and making wine most of his life. 

He makes four wines: a Dolcetto that beats the pants off any Dolcetto I've tasted in a long time; a Barbera and a Barbera Riserva that, to me, redefine the potential of Barbera (I say that because it's never been a particular favorite of mine); and a stunningly good Barbaresco that is thrilling even in its youngest barrel samples. All combine superior quality with prices that are highly affordable. When the contract's been signed, I shall tell all. This guy has quite a story to tell. 

We're off to Tuscany tomorrow. We have a ton of appointments all over the southern half of the region -- Bolgheri, Maremma, Chianti, Montecucco. 

We'll tune in again from Tuscany or, failing that, Rome late next week.