Muddy Boots

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.

  

Now in Massachusetts, Domenico Selections Wines!

 
We're happy to announce that Domenico Selections will be represented in the Bay State (Strappo's home state) by Hangtime Wine. Hangtime is owned and operated by Jeff Slavin and has a choice roster of customers in the Boston area. Among these is The Wine Bottega in the North End of Boston, the traditional heart of the city's Italian population, run by italophile Kerri Platt. 

See here for a wine-shop review by Robert Dwyer.

Grazie, Beantown! 

Making the Koeppel cut

Fredric Koeppel has posted his 25 great value wines of 2009 (retailing for $9 to $19). Click here for the entire post.

He says the list started at 63, which he had to whittle down to a more manageable 25. We are very glad one of our wines made the cut.

 

Click here to see all about that wine. (It comes from Veneto.)

50 Great Wines of 2009: We're there

I was going to wait until he'd posted his 25 best wine buy s of '09, but I'm going ahead with it because Domenico Selections is in such good company. As one of the wineries so honored commented, "Thank you for including Grgich Hills Chardonnay in your 50 Great Wines list. We enjoy your blog and appreciate being included in this prestigious collection of wines." Well, if Grgich Hills can say, I guess I can.

 
 I refer to today's article on Bigger Than Your Head by Fredric Koeppel.

With his customary thoughtfulness, FK lays out what his criteria are, methodically listing them in non-points order. (He eschews points.)

The two DS wines he included in his top 50 list are:

Borgo di Gete -- a very old-vine, 100% Tintore rarity from the small Amalfi area winery of Luigi Reale.

Serra del Prete -- another very-old vine wine -- this time made of Algianico del Vulture -- by the extremely young and talented Elisabetta Musto Carmelitano.

(By the way, these vignaioli share the same enologo, the Irpinia (Campagna) native, Fortunato Sebastiano.)

As you may have read here or on mondosapore many times, I regard Fredric as the best wine reviewer around. Unmoved by ideology and fads, he writes clearly and precisely about each wine. A fine palate tempered by decades of tasting and reviewing, Fredric gives you a vivid preview of the wine's sensory effects, from perfume to initial taste, to its finish. And he never fails to relate sensory impressions and perceptions of quality to price  -- something too many well-known reviewers fail to do. While his prose is crystalline, and his mastery of both matter and medium evident, he never indulges himself at the expense of the wine. Really, it is all about the wine with him.

Grazie per il riconoscimento, Federico.

 

"Tanky" vs. "woody"

Not long ago Jeff told me that a retailer had tasted a Domenico Selections wine and declared that it was "tanky."

"Tanky!" I exclaimed. "What the hell does that mean?" 

Another kind of tanky

A curious comment because the wine is not, strictly speaking, a stainless steel-dwelling wine at all. It ferments in steel and ages in concrete vats. "He said it lacked roundness -- too tannic and rustic," Jeff told me. "He liked the other one though." The other one being the same producer's aged-in-large-wooden-barrels version.

Obviously, the lack of wood was the critical element here. The retailer preferred the oaked wine from the same producer, and from other producers as well. While he was doubtless thinking of the wines' appeal to his customers, the very word "tanky" strikes me as a visceral, personal reaction to a flavor profile that simply isn't the guy's favorite.

Different strokes. 

I for one tend to prefer the "tanky" version of whatever wine is on offer. Less wood, the better. If the DOC or DOCG requirements include aging in wood, I'm going to prefer the wine that has a more integrated wood treatment, where the wood is in the background -- a supporting player, not the scene-stealing second banana. Part of it is from a desire to taste the fruit and the varietal characteristics clearly. Part is it because for me "woody" is as disparaging a term as "tanky" is to someone else.

A Guide to DS Tankiness

So, for the public good, here is a list of the Domenico Selections wines that age in steel and/or cement, touching no wood except on the vine:

Reds

Mustilli Piedirosso

Musto Carmelitano Serra del Prete (the tanky one, which is the one I prefer -- but that's me))

Villa Monteleone Campo Santa Lena 

Whites

All of the I Stefanini Soaves and Spumante

All of the Angelarosa wines

Mustilli Falanghina and "Vigna Segreta" Falanghina

Mazzone Immensus Malvasia

 

More places to drink our wines

 Domenico Selections on the March! New venues

Just wanted you all to know that Domenico Selections is proud to have its wines poured at the following fine restaurants.

Felidia

The original "mother ship" of the Joe Bastianich empire, presided over by the warm and real Lidia Bastianich.

243 E. 58th St. -- New York, NY 10022 -- 212.758.1479

The Palm Downtown

The Tribeca edition of the well-known steakhouse.

206 West Street -- New York, NY 10013 -- 646.395.6391

And let's not leave out New Jersey, where some fine dining establishments do have a liquor license.

La Griglia

740 Boulevard -- Kenilworth, NJ 07033 -- 908.241.0031

Grato

2230 State Rt 10 -- Parsippany, NJ 07054 --973.267.4006

Ferraro's

14 Elm Street -- Westfield, NJ 07090-2148 -- 908.232.1101

Water & Wine

141 Stirling Road -- Watchung, NJ 07069-5904 -- 908.755.9344

Due Mari

78 Albany Street -- New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1227 -- 732.296.1600

Dolce Basking Ridge Hotel 

300 N Maple Ave -- Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 -- 908.953.3000

Something about Natural

 Domenico Selections has its share of natural wines. Here's a list of the wineries that are either certified biodynamic or certified "biologico" (organic) and on the way to full BD certification -- a process that in Italy takes at least seven years and many many euros:

Angelarosa

Boccella

Mustilli

Musto Carmelitano

Reale

Schiaccionaia

Terra di Vento

Villa Monteleone

Most definitions of natural wine include some or all of the following (from Wikipedia):

• Hand-picked, organically or biodynamically grown grapes.
• Low-yielding vineyards.
• No added sugars, no foreign yeasts.
• No fining or filtration
• No adjustments for acidity.
• No other additives for mouth-feel, colour, etc.
• No micro-oxygenation or reverse osmosis.
• Little or no added sulphite.

While there are some fervent advocates of "natural wine" who expect all of these criteria to be met, in addition to several more, pragmatism and survival must rule. In an exceptionally rainy year it is usually necessary to spray the vines and fruit with copper and sulphur. It's either that and see much of your crop ruined, and with it the ability to make any money or pay some of your debts.

Adding sugar, chaptalization, is widely permitted and has been practiced around the world for a very long time. When the climate was colder, and today in colder zones, chaptalization was essential to make a drinkable product. Remember, too, before the previous century sugar was perceived as a luxury product and therefore a positive good. The taste for bigger, sweet, fuller wines was born out of a predilection for luxury, since sugar wasn't an everyday treat for the working stiff.

As to yeasts, most artisanal producers in Italy profess to use only native, spontaneously occurring ones.   

Some of our producers do fine their wines using age-old techniques like egg whites. Egg whites seem like a pretty natural ingredient to me. Certainly if no filtration keeps the flavor and mouthfeel of the wine more vibrant, don't filter. 

As to additives to enhance the color, mouthfeel and flavor of the wine, I believe it's generally possible to spot them right away. When Italians talk about the good "typicity" of a wine, they are obliquely referring to the true characteristics of the fruit expressed in the wine, without tricks and "makeup." We've been in more than one producer's laboratory -- itself a giveaway -- where the presence of colorants and a raft of other additives caused us to break off discussions and leave right away.

Fortunately, most of our producers are so small that micro-oxygenation and reverse osmosis wouldn't make any economic sense. Not that they'd want to use such techniques anyway. I should hope.

By far the most important factor is, of course, the fruit. "Organically farmed" means no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides are used. Hand-picking and selection are an important corollary this that. Better, cleaner and less fruit per hectare results in higher-quality wines. 

Or should, given the skill and intuitions of the winemaker. Just as "naturalness" in wine cannot be resolved into a strict dogma, neither can the winemaker's experience in his vineyards, varieties and cellar be reduced to a single formula for good wine whatever its degree of imputed "naturalness".

To read more about "Natural Wine and the Search for Identity," go to this enlightening article on Wine Enabler. 

      

 

 

"Amazing" Freisa

 Here's a nice review of our Freisa, courtesy of Kevin Keith of Underthegrapetree. (Click on the link for the rest of the review.)

Cascina Gilli Freisa d’Asti 2006.  Grade=Amazing.  Simply based on cool factor alone, this really left-of-center selection comes courtesy of new-found friend in the biz Terry Hughes, and his comrades at Domenico Selections.  With this wine, you get a red that in the nose, is every bit like a Russian River Zinfandel, yet on the palate, you get a lively, fruity red with well-balanced tannins and acidity.  This wine would be extraordinary with some slow-cooked pork belly with rosemary.

Ve are amused by the veb of references to some sort of vine Bolshewism, Tovarich Keith!  

We steal a review post

I have lifted this entire review from the Fredric the Great, the excellent reviewer of wines, from a longer article about epiphanous sparkling wines from all sorts of places. (Click here for entire review.)

The estate of i Stefanini makes some of the best Soave wines in the Veneto, especially from the Classico and Classico Superiore regions [actually, differing appellations from the same district]. Now the family turns its attention to a sparkling wine, the i Stefanini Spumante Brut. Produced completely from chardonnay grapes, this charming sparkler, made in the Charmat process, displays a limpid pale gold color and enticing aromas of pear, lime peel, orange blossom and dusty acacia. It’s a caressing fabric of delicate heft and presence, soft yet bright and crisp, and displaying, amid hints of slightly spicy stone fruit, just the right modicum of limestone. A pretty sparkling wine, dry, appealing and great as an aperitif. Very Good+. About $16.

Imported by Domenico Selections, New York.

Tasting tweet

Not a Tweet, really, but a tweet seems pretty generic for any very brief message by now.

 Drinking Villa Monteleone 2008 Valpolicella Campo Santa Lena. Less floral and pretty than 2007, a bit dusty & even austere. Very good considering a rainy growing season (but saved by a perfectly warm & dry Sept/Oct till harvest).

It will make a great accompaniment to the salmon we are making tonight.

Veronelli Guide's take on Mustilli

The Veronelli wine guide is one of the most prestigious in Italy. In the 2010 edition the reviewer, Daniel Thomases, rates the Mustilli wines pretty highly, especially the 100% Aglianico "Cesco di Nece", a single-vineyard wine.

Here is the relevant excerpt from the guide's Campania chapter.

 

In the Veronelli Guide, 3 stars is the highest rating. A 3-star wine in blue means that the editors have deemed this an especially fine vintage for the particular wine receiving 92 or more points.

A couple of these wines have been discontinued, I think sensibly. I'm of the party that believes winemakers tend to make too many different wines. Whether it's because they're hedging their bets or trying to be all things to all people, they lose focus on what they are doing best and should be doing more of. Here, less really is more.

 

Gold Crown to Mustilli Piedirosso

 

The Vini Buoni d'Italia guide is another to have awarded Mustilli with good scores and high praise this autumn. While giving good reviews to a number of wines in the Mustilli lineup, they singled out the Piedirosso Sant'Agata dei Goti for especially warm praise. The Gold Crown is given to a relatively few wines that the editors find highly expressive of terroir and very rewarding to drink. 

Here is the page in question. 

(See after the jump for the translation of the intro paragraph.)

 
 

 You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Before moving on to the translation, I think it's worth pointing out a few things.

1. The Mustillis make wines with only local grapes. They discontinued the practice of also growing some international varieties for blending a few years ago.

2. The hiring of Fortunato Sebastiano 3 years ago as consulting enologo has given their wines a greater focus and stronger individuality. He has also carried them much farther; they now practice all-organic agriculture and are on the way to biodynamic certification.

3. Amazingly enough, the euro prices aren't too different from the dollar prices that you pay for them here. The Mustillis are smart business people and don't practice the same herd thinking that bedevils so many Italian wine producers.

4. Vini Buoni reviews and rates only wines made from local or "autochthonous" grape varieties. 

Now to the translation...

Falanghina. How a grape was rescued

I published the following article on mondosapore in July, 2006, soon after my first encounter with Paola Mustilli and the wines of her family's azienda. Who knew then that a Domenico Selections would be importing the wines in 2009. 

Falanghina, how a grape was rediscovered

Several weeks ago I attended a tasting that featured the wines of Mustilli, a seminal winery in the revitalization of Campania's wine fortunes.  At the tasting, Paola Mustilli gave us a copy of a little book that was published in 2005, entitled Falanghina. Translated into English, it was written by three principal authors: Anna Chiara Mustilli, who runs the family's winemaking operation, Antonella Monaco, who wrote the main narrative of the volume; and Luciano Pignataro, who wrote an introductory essay "The Secrets of a Success."  (The Introduction proper was written by Leonardo Mustilli, who was a protagonist in the "resurrection" of the high-quality Falanghina grape variety, which in 20 years has proved to be one of the region's--and Italy's--best white wine grapes.)

While the entire volume is interesting and instructive, I'd like to focus on the insights of Mr. Pignataro, whose historical perspective highlights just how recent the "autoctono"or indigenous grape movement is in Italy.

Luciano Pignataro is a well-known wine journalist in Italy.  Based in Naples and long a fixture at that city's major daily, Il Mattino, he has a deep understanding of the Southern Italian wine scene.  I have to add that it is a pity his web site is not available in English, because it contains a wealth of intelligent information on wines and restaurants from all of the Southern mainland, from Rome on down.

Back to the matter at hand...

At the very outset of his essay, he paints a bleak and picture of the wine scene in his home region just 20-25 years ago:

Falanghina, surely more than Aglianico, is the wine ... that can best embody the 'genius loci' of the Neapolitan pleasure of the table.  ... Its success was sudden and overwhelming.  Until the second half of the 80s, the worst decade in Neapolitan history [due to earthquakes and organized crime's control of government]...in pizzerias and restaurants ... no local wines were offered to the customers.  Pinot, Merlot, and the other wines the great wine-making industry of the North and Sicily were promoting triumphed over all.  The elite drank Champagne and some Brunello di Montalcino.  The viticulture of the region was totally ignored by the local market and survived in small niches made up of connoisseurs and farmers who still cultivated the old grapevines.

For this dire state of affairs he blames the leveling, homogenizing effects of advertising, TV and other mass media. 

Still, there were people who believed in the quality of the local varieties, and in their perfect matching with the seafood and fresh produce that characterize the best of Neapolitan cuisine.  Mastroberardino and several other regional wineries spearheaded the revival of local grapes, grapes which had for centuries been cultivated haphazardly in a promiscuous "system" that blended all varieties together to make mostly very bad wine. Leonardo Mustilli, in the very small Sant'Agata de' Goti DOC, played a huge role in the revival and acceptance of Falanghina and other native varieties, fomenting a quality revolution that enabled Campanian wines to find their first "serious" markets since Roman times, when the region's wines were renowned all over the Empire.  

In his essay, Pignataro goes on to recount the outline of viticultural history of his home region in the Medieval and early modern periods.  Not a pretty story.  But here's an interesting historical point that has obvious resonances today:

The wine is so fruity and rich in minerals that the grapevine seems to be spontaneously generated by Mt. Vesuvius.  Neapolitan taste at the table runs to quickly consumed wines, a taste born of necessity because the great market in Naples (a great European metropolis second only to Paris in the XVIII century...) has always quickly absorbed  the produce of the countryside. ... Hence Falanghina, a cool wine always appreciated in the heat of the town and the coast.  ... We still have to explore the potential of this wine, for example as to aging, but those who have tried to work in the long time range have been gratified by the results: the alcohol content and the acidity allow for an interesting evolution as years go by.  After all, modern Italian wines have no more than fifteen, twenty harvests behind them...

The emphases are mine.  As I read this passage, I was struck by the radically new approach to winemaking that Mustilli and his ilk represent.  I had indeed forgotten that, 30 years ago, most Italian wine was anonymous, inferior stuff of obscure provenance (often from co-ops of low quality).  You never knew what was in it.  The idea of "varietal" wines from Italy was outlandish.

And we really don't know how well these wines will age, since Naples, like the entire world today, has always wanted its wine ASAP, with none of this aging folderol.

Before we get too cocky, though, Pignataro adds, almost mischievously:

Better not get too excited, a single generation isn't enough to overcome a three hundred year lag, even with state-of-the-art technology in the wineries and modern techniques in the vineyards.

A healthy skepticism remains.  As he expresses it in another passage, 

The viticultural Middle Ages, begun with the fall of the Roman Empire, ended only a few years ago in Italy.

You have to be grateful to Pignataro for not succumbing to a Wine Council boosterism.  All the more reason, then, to trust his well-informed judgments on wines and wineries.  

Wine explorations on the upper Upper East Side

Strappo hates to venture north of 66th Street on the East Side. (He hates going to the West Side at all.) Yet, today, he was filled with the spirit of adventure and lousy with Christmas cheer. He rode the 6 train all the way to 96th Street. And he kept thinking, "Are we headed for White Plains or what?"

The long long journey and the schlepp up Carnegie Hill were worth it. He went to K & D Wines and Spirits on Madison Avenue. It's a beautiful store and -- I think this may be the point of the voyage and the post -- an excellent customer of Domenico Selections. God bless them every one.

Here are a few of the phone pix he took today, with his usual "clever" captions. God help him every day.

 
 Best sellers? I'll take the third from the right.
 

Another display. Il Selese with his somewhat older, suaver brother, Toni

Sorry it's so big and glary. What a bargain!  
 

Hard at work two days before Christmas. Note delivery guy on right. New Yorkers would have air delivered if they could 

There's the Zagat commendation with all the balls in the window 

Noel, Noel, etc.

 

Seen at In Vino in Alphabet City

 OK, the pic's a bit blurry. The photographer has a shaky hand. But look at the wine in the middle: Boccella Rasott, poured by the glass at this great, funky little resto-and-wine-bar. (Click for In Vino website link.)

Rasott is one of my favorite Campanian wines, a powerful organic Aglianico available by the glass at In Vino for $16. Or, of course, by the bottle. Grazie, In Vino.

Here is the label in splendid isolation:

 
 

 
 

Aglianico del Vulture conquers Memphis

 I was delighted to see a positive review of Serra del Prete, Betty's unwooded, all steel-and-concrete-fermented Aglianico del Vulture. "Betty" is Elisabetta Musto Carmelitano, whose story I've told before. (Click here. No one fails to be impressed by this story or this young woman. Domenico Selections loves Betty!)

"Va bene, Strappo," you may reply, "but what positive review? Is it from any old Tom, Dick or Harry?"

"No!" I may retort. "It's by the man who writes many of the best wine reviews in the English language. Even if he lives in <gulp> Tennessee. Memphis. Tennessee. About a half a mile from that Mississippi bridge."

I refer, of course, to the wunderbar Fredric "Don't Call Me Fred!" Koeppel.

He pronounces it "Kepple" but I'm sure back in days of yore it sported an umlaut. Kööööööpel.

All joshing aside, here are a couple of highlights from Federico's review. (Go here for the whole article, which includes other wines we don't care about.)

"...my friends, this staggering wine spends six months in stainless steel tanks, four months in cement vats and two months in bottle before it is unleashed to an unsuspecting world."

Nice buildup, wot? Wait.

"The grape in question is aglianico del vulture — 'vool-CHUR-ay' — and it provides Serra de Prete 2007 with a color that’s like some nocturnal Lovecraftian deep purple shading into black; with intense and concentrated scents and flavors of licorice/oolong tea/tar-stained black currants; with a dense, supple, chewy texture that draws on the power of fathomless tannins; and a tone somber and brooding but not rustic or truculent. In fact, the blessing of keen acidity keeps the wine unexpectedly vibrant and resonant."

This guy can throw adjectives around like no one else. The only thing I take issue with is a factual one. The accent is on the first syllable: VOOL-too-reh. 

Plus, I went to Brown and I hated Lovecraft and his icky fictions, even if he was a homey. 

Note: Domenico Selections just got a new shipment of Musto Carmelitano wines, including the oaked-but-not-too-oaky Pian del Moro, a big-shouldered Aglianico that has the stuff to last a long long time.  

  

 

Meglio tardi che mai

 "Better late than never"

That was the title of an Italian TV program in the 1960s, which taught the peasant masses to read and write. So there, skeptics, TV does occasionally add to the greater good.

But, honestly, this post has nothing to do with ancient Italian TV shows or the greater good. It has to do with Domenico Selections, "and that's enough for me", to translate a merry little song from the Hebrew.  (We're conscious of being highly multi-cultural this evening. While I'm at it, I'll mention wassail and mince pies -- there, sceptical England's out of the way).

No, this digressive post is about the container of Campanian and Lucanian (Basilicatan?) wine that's just arrived. Faced with the dreadful problem of excessive sales, we were forced to order more wine from three southern Italian wineries last month -- Mustilli, Musto Carmelitano and Boccella. 

Due to the season and several other factors, the wines seemed to take a bloody eternity to get here. 

However, I received glad tidings (God bless us everyone) this evening, ie, all those delicious and compulsively drinkable wines are ready for delivery on Monday. The winter solstice! The commencement of Saturnalia! Eric Hughes's birthday! The second day after Chanukkah! 

Look soon for fortified supplies of Mustilli Falanghina, Vigna Segreta (their single-vineyard Falanghina), Piedirosso (think Campanian Beaujolais); Boccella Taurasi (whoa -- that's all I can say); and more more more Musto Carmelitano Aglianico del Vulture, both Serra del Prete (no wood, aged in cement) and Pian del Moro. 

Gorgeous and, dare I say, hedonistic wines all.

Please pester your favorite wine shop and restaurant to order these bold, beautiful wines soon. 

(Picture from Boccella where they make the Taurasi. Taken down the hill ("rasott") where they make the grand Rasott Aglianico.)

 

  

One man's Top 40 wines of the year*

*(And Domenico Selections is there)

Kevin Keith just posted his 2009 Top 40, wine-wise, on Underthegrapetree. 

I'm happy to report that two of our wines, which arrived at his stores yesterday, made #30 and #7.  

You'll have to go to his post to see which wines they are.  

But the wineries are Piandibugnano of the chilly Montecucco section of Tuscany, and Musto-Carmelitano of the bleakly beautiful Vùlture zone of Basilicata.

"But," you may say,"this is all very self-serving, Strappo. It's not as if you'd made the Top 100 in Wine Spectator or something."

No. You'd be right. But Kevin has done something truly wonderful: He's put his money where his mouth is. Long may he delight in wine, some of it ours.

 

 

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

 

At Merano Wine Festival recognition of Mustilli Piedirosso

This just in

Paola Mustilli just sent me a notice that the Mustilli Piedirosso won a Gold Crown from the Touring Club d'Italia and will appear in the Club's "Vini Buoni d'Italia" guide. To learn more about this particular wine, click here.  

 

You can click on the image for ease of reading. But let me translate the small type in the center:

Wine of excellence awarded with the Crown of the guide "Vinibuoni d'Italia 2010

for its quality, enjoyability, drinkability and faithfulness to its terroir 

Implied here: this delicious Piedirosso represents good value for the money. (Which it is.) 

Well done.