mondosapore

One Macon to another: Don't stand so close to me

I have written several times about the delicious Emilian Gillet produced by Jean Thevenet.  It's a favorite Chardonnay of mine, and locally it sells for about $22 or so.  (Click here to see my most detailed post.)  I had seen Thevenet's higher-priced, flagship wine Domaine Bongran AOC Vire'-Clesse' but had not drunk it.

Six months ago I attended a tasting of Louis/Dressner imports at Chambers Street Wines.  I tasted a Roally and asked Joe Dressner, "How is this related to Jean Thevenet?"  For the wine had M. Thevenet's imprint all over it, and at about $16-17 retail it seemed a reasonable facsimile of the Emilian Gillet.  Joe told me that Thevenet had purchased the property several years earlier and that this was his first, or one of his first, vintages.  He also mentioned there was word that the Roally would eventually replace the Emilian Gillet line.

That's all to set up my recent experience with a bottle of Domaine Bongran.

Calo di prezzi, troppo vino italiano sugli scaffali?

I produttori vinicoli d'Italia sognano di vendere i loro vini negli USA, un gran mercato ricco di piu' di 300 milioni di persone.  Anche se una meta' della populazione americana non beve vino ci saranno 150 milioni che, si', bevono almeno ogni tanto.  Una cifra che rappresenta tutte le populazioni d'Italia, Francia e Spagna insieme.

Ma "procedete con cautela" (proceed with caution) come ammonisce il cartello stradale. 

Ho notato di recente che i prezzi di certi vini sono in discesa silenziosa.  Un piacevole Greco di Tufo che costava $14-16 tre anni fa puoi trovare a $12.  Una brava Falanghina che costava $16-18 trovi a $11-12.  Un rosso sardo ch'era $14-15 e' qualche volta disponibile a $10-11.  E questo durante il calo del dollaro.

I vini prestigiosi, credo, si vendono bene, all'eccezione (penso) dei grandi Baroli costosissimi -- vero, Gabrio? -- riflettendo la bifurcazione continua del mercato e della societa' americana. 

Ammetto che New York sara' un caso particolare, una citta' dalla competizione spietata, dove buone e brave enoteche spuntano come funghi ogni due giorni o cosi' mi pare.  E questa citta' e' una vera capitale d'italianismo all'estero, quindi scorrono qua migliaia di vini ad approvigionare i migliaia wine bar e ristoranti italiani oppure pseudo-italiani.  Purtroppo l'appetito di New York non e' infinita.  Neanche per il nettare di Bacco, e certamente per i vini della fascia $20-40. 

Il mercato c'e'.  Ma ripeto, non infinito.

Antiquarians of Rock, I Need Your Help

Yeah, this is off-topic too.  Sorry.  (Well, not really.)

I'll cut to ye chase. 

Does anyone have a digital copy of Jerry Ivan Allison's "Real Wild Child," which he recorded in about 1958?  Iggy Pop and others have recorded the song and even used Jerry's arrangement.  But I can't score a downloadable copy anywhere. 

If you have one, email it to me, please!

BTW, Jerry was the drummer of the Crickets. a Texas boy and friend of the overrated Buddy Holly.  "Real Wild Child" was way cooler than anything Buddy ever did on his own, a detached, ironic sensibility.  Cool cool cool.

Italia, c'e' qualcuno a casa?

Tempo fa io scrissi dell'ondata di giovani italiani che sono venuti qua per farsi fortuna, spesso in wine bar e ristoranti, i quali ci hanno liberati alla tirannia del "red sauce," i piatti pseudo-campanesi cliche' come spaghetti and meatballs e spaghetti alla bolognese, di solito scritto sbagliatamente (spaghetti a la Bolognaise, se fosse una punizione francese per i freedom fries.)

Foto: Ne' turista ne' italiana -- ma carina no?  Si chiama "interesse prestato" -- no, non il cane, l'idea...La Snoopy si chiama Winnie

E tante volte ho scritto di locali come Il Posto Accanto, Barbone, Assenzio, Falai, ecc., ecc., al Lower East Side ed Alphabet City (quartieri adiacenti).  E piu' di una volta mi sono domandato, Gli chef giovani italiani, hanno tutti abbandonato il loro Paese di origine a vivere in America, e proprio a New York City?

Uno degli Italiani a New York City -- ce ne saranno almeno 2-3 milioni

Ma come dice il commesso viaggiatore, "Sissi', c'e' di piu'!"

Adesso l'ondata d'Italiani a New York e' diventato uno tsunami.  Da tutte le parti -- in negozi, in parchi, per le strade e le vie della Grande Mela --  si vedono gli Italiani magri e abbronzati vestiti come...rappresentanti di casual-style americano redatto dai big della moda italiana.  E da tutte le parti si vede qualcuno leggendo la Gazzetta dello Sport o una guida che comunica confusione ("Ma dov'e' questo Rockefeller Centre??" "Attraversate la strada, e' proprio li'" -- ma a me non credono mai, la guida e' delfica). 

E si sente l'italiano parlato in accenti d'irritazione se non antipatia aperta. "Federico non ti ho detto cento volte che sono stanca?  Lo Staten Island Ferry?  Me ne frego!"  "  "Ma e' gratuito!  Si puo' vedere Brooklyn!"  "Me ne incazzo!!"  L'effetto New York.  Si puo' urlare parolacce in tutte le lingue del mondo (inglese compreso) ma nessuno se ne incazza. 

Comunque.  O come dicono i giovani americani, "Whateverrrrrr."  Facendo spallucce vocali coll' -eerrrrrrrr strascinante.  (Caso di omicidio giustificabile?)

Ecco, la vera questione mi pare:  C'e' qualcuno a casa in Italia?  Sono tutti gli italici negli Stati Uniti?  E quando si dichiarera' New York la capitale dell'Oenotria?

Is this site kosher?

Coming soon: a home tasting of several kosher wines, provided by Jay Buchsbaum and the gang at Royal Wines.  This will include a Cabernet Sauvignon from the excellent Domaine du Castel near Jerusalem.  You don't have to be Jewish to like this wine. 

All just in time for Rosh Hashanah, a holiday lovingly embraced by all New York City public school students and their teachers (one, sometimes two days off at the beginning of the school year.)

Reminds me of a joke.  A little shtetl humor. 

There was this Berliner, this Litvak and this Galitzianer...

A Forgotten Jazz Great

Warning:  This post is deeply off topic.  But if you love the music of the 1920s to '40s, read on.

Quiz:

Props to you if you guess the identity of this great but somehow neglected singer of blues, jazz and pop / swing.

1. This singer helped spark the career of Bing Crosby, a childhood friend.

2. Was the first real jazz band singer.

3. Strongly influenced singers as diverse as Billie Holiday, Connee Boswell, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. Diverse in style and race.

4. Was the first woman -- really, just about the first white musician/singer of either sex -- to front an all-black band.  In fact, she wasn't all "white"; her mother was a Coeur d'Alene Indian.

5. Had her first monster hit with "Rocking Chair," the Hoagie Carmichael piece of corn that she raised to a level of emotional reality.

6. Died penniless, sick and alcoholic at 44 years old.

Read on to discover who was this singer with the perfect diction, rhythmic daring and impressive emotional range.

Quickie: La Croix Belle Faugeres 2004

True to my word, we felt no pain by the end of last evening.  Friend Julie came all the way uptown from the West Village at 7 and left at 12.  Time flew as we yakked, ate and drank:

1. The Abymes from Savoie that I wrote about the other day.  Excellent with light nibblies before dinner on an awfully oppressive, humid evening.  The crisp acidity and low amount of residual sugar made the wine highly effective as a way to chill out.

2. Grillo Parlante Fondo Antico 2006, the delicious Sicilian wine from the local grillo grape.  We had it with a good spaghetti with clam sauce.  The label shows a drawing of a cricket, since grillo means cricket in Italian.  (Grillo parlante = the cricket that talks).  Sharon and Warren joined us for dessert and she liked it very much too.

3. The new wine of the evening for me was the La Croix Belle from SW France in the Faugeres appellation.  Another top-notch wine at a very good price from Astor -- $11.99 on sale.  (Note to self: order more and soon.)  How could you not like this 13.5% alcohol blend of Grenache Noir (50%), Syrah (35%), Mourvedre (10%) and Carignan (5%)?  To me it seemed to occupy a most agreeable position between the Old and New Worlds.  Enticing, fruity nose and first attack on the palate.  The back label tells us that each variety is aged in oak for 12 months, separately. 

As dinner went on, it became a little sterner and more demanding and I think the underlying grit of the Mourvedre had a lot to do with this.  For the price, an unusually deep and nuanced wine. 

It went a treat, as they say Back Home, with our huge antipasto of bruschetta, salumi, artichokes, olives and God knows what else. 

The bottle in question is not the wine in question. We had a simpler blend, the base wine of the domaine.  All the more pleasing for its modest price.

This delicious wine is imported by Wineberry America of Orangeburg, NY. 

The Mr. T wine meme and the naked Lohan meme

The fake Lindsay Lohan headline I posted the other day has by now generated a whole mess of Google-directed searches to these hallowed pages.  The high fever of naked-Lohan seekers is starting abate once they realize that I'm not pandering to their pathetic voyeurism.  It was sort of like the accidental posting of Liev Schreiber's picture last summer, when every college student in the US and eventually 'round the world hankered to see the Liebster in his wifebeater.  That's ebbed twice now and only a few latecomers or real obsessives are searching him in his blood-stained undershirt.

Each of these things has a life cycle and a demographic of its own.  (Most of the Lohan-seekers are in Red States, interestingly enough.  In the USA, Lieb is the pinup boy of Blue States and Blue Pockets like Bloomington, Indiana.)

How does this relate to wine? 

Harumph.  I postulate, gentlemen, that wine memes are similar in their mysterious flare-up and demise.  There was the Mateus meme; the post-soda sugar-filled-pseudo-wines meme (Annie Greensprings, Bartle & Jaymes, etc. etc.), the Chardonnay meme (a pretty long half-life for that one), the Mr. T red wine meme (fool, you go' LIKE 16% Pinot Noir or I go' kick yo' pansy ass), and the weedily emerging biodynamic/organic wine meme (save the planet by saving your immune system -- ew, kinda snively), and so on.  Big memes, little memes, short-lived memes, age-old memes (Champagne, cherie!) and so forth.

These too have their demographics and their social castes, which is a partial of explanation our professed hatred of blush Zin (plus it sucks) and the shall we say Red State genuflection to the Mr. T meme.  (Ominous equivalency...wine that socks you in the face = real he-man American-type wine, pal.)

Well, that's my cheap sociology.  Even if it, like pink Zin, sucks, it isn't costing you $10 and a hangover, so no vile screeds if you please.

What I'd like to hear from you is...what do y'all thank -- I mean, think -- of this wine meme notion?  Got any wine memes to suggest?

Meanwhile, in a short while we've got our friend Julie coming over for dinner, and we plan to enact one of the oldest human memes of all: Getting plastered on a Saturday night.

French and Italian responses to wine surplus

Jeff Mazen sent me a link to an amazing story in today's Wall Street Journal.  The title says it all: "Can Wine in a Sippy Box Lure Back French Wine Drinkers?" 

The nerbo or nub of the story is this:  Younger people in France [and Italy, by the way] drink wine far less wine than their elders.  Ergo even premium winemakers are getting into sippy boxes of wine sold at supermarkets to induce the kids to forsake their Cola and beer.  Cool thing is, it's still a cheap drunk, since an 8.5 ounce sippy box will set you back only $2.50.  They believe it will be a big hit in Belgium (where the test market is) and northern Europe, where it is reputed people drink a lot.

OK, I'm no longer young, but I do remember what it was like to be young.  And being condescended to by a bunch of clueless MBA's (or enarques) was one sure way to turn me off.  Unless, of course, they want maman to give little Thierry and Sophie a head start on their wine habit.  Invaluable at nap time for both maman and bebe.

Well, that's the French way to deal with an ocean of unsold wine -- over-researched and under-intuited.

Thank God for the Italians.  Here's their response to the problem:

 

Wine I'm paying for these days

I get to attend some nice tastings and even have people send a few samples my way.  Some of the wines are interesting and challenge my preconceptions.  And so on and so forth.

But what do I actually spend my own money on?  For many reasons, the by-word is cheap.  Cheap yet good.  In a market like New York, you can get some very good wines for $10 and under.

And where do the wines come from?  For obvious reasons, most of them come from the heart of the western Roman Empire, ie, Italy and France.  Italy has my heart and France was my school decades ago. 

What am I looking for when I order some cheap but good wine?  Wines that offer no surprises, that I can drink with an ordinary meal and offer to guests without apologies. 

So in a recent order from Astor Wines I ordered a couple of mixed cases.  Half the wines were from Italy, almost half from France.  And one bottle was from Long Island.  I ordered exclusively items that were on sale.

I went so far as to order several bottles each of 2 Italian and 2 French wines. 

From Italy the delicious Sandro Fay Rosso di Valtellina 2003, a simple, juicy little number made from Nebbiolo.  A terrific wine for $9.99.  And one of the charming whites from Sicily, Fondo Antico's "Grillo Parlante" 2006, 100% from the local Grillo grape, also $9.99 a bottle.  This one is more complex than the price would let on.

From France the vin de Savoie "Abymes" Domaine Labbe' 2006, a super crisp white that's a steal at only $7.99.  And red wine I've written about, the Freres Delas Cote du Ventoux, a simple and satisfying quasi-Rhone blend at just $6.99. 

I know plenty of people who would never advertise the fact that they drank such inexpensive stuff -- if they drank it at all.  Sometimes, though, you just want to kick back with a pleasant wine, have a glass before dinner, have some with dinner, use it in dinner -- without a lot of fuss and folderol.  These wines and the others I bought do the job beautifully.

10 wine things I hate

I love wine, of course.  I like many things about wine and the world of wine.  And my list of 10 best wine things will surely follow.  But there are 10 things I really really hate...

10.  Rachael Ray.  Because she is Rachael Ray, food apostle to the defective.

9. TV chefs in general.  They treat wine as if it were all "cooking Sherry" circa 1950. Generic slop.

8. Scores in wine shops.  Many depend on those shelf-talkers.  I walk out and go to a real wine store.

7.  Wine snobs.  You still run across the guys who always MUST talk about the virtues of a Ch. Mondeguele 1986 vs. 1931 or whatever.  Dudes, do you ever drink wine just to enjoy it and to wash down a good meal?

6. Industry icons.  Like Nobel laureates for literature, they are either overrated or past it or both.   Go gently into that good night, and make it snappy.

5.  Cult wines.  Do you like being a sheep.  Are you ready to be fleeced?  What the fuck is wrong with you?

4. Celebrity winemakers.  "If this is Tuesday, it must be Argentina."  As if we could tell.  Or care.

3. eBob cultists.  They get so nasty if you even imply a criticism of the sort of wine Himself is reputed to favor.  And if you are believed to impugn Himself, fuhgeddaboutit.  Armageddon.  Note to which: real religions have some form of a Golden Rule.  Cults do not.

2. Treatment of bloggers.  Hey!  We labor in the metaphorical vineyards too. You think it's so easy conforming to self-imposed deadlines?  Without pay?  Buying our own frickin' vino?  Give us a little respect.  Quote us, invite us, bestow upon us junkets.  We're as corruptible as the best rest of them.

1. Restaurant markups.  Come on, already.  Don't hide your kitchen's inefficiencies behind elevated wine list prices.  And slap your wait staff into line.  Their wine knowledge is usually pathetic.  They don't know nussink.  Now I'm getting really pissed...

What worth waiting for? Beers?

Oh, Eric Eric Eric.*  So many times since I wrote my post parodying (and yet not) Reagan with his "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall" shtick, fellow bloggers have written to ask, "Did Eric respond?  What did he say?  It's about time he really acknowledged the blogger community!" And so on and so forth.

But no, nothing. 

The latest entry on The Pour is about beer, for Chrissakes.  Beer.  As if I gave a rat's ass, as they say in Philly, about suds.  (Philly also gave us "yo" but that's another article.)

Come on, Eric.  We love ya though we are but bloggers crying in the wilderness...

* My only son is named Eric so I'm used to repeating his name in a litany of heartbreak.  The ingrate kid comes in handy now and then.

Quickie: This is Pinot Grigio?? I, I sort of like it

OK, so maybe a fake item about two of America's three greatest bimbo/slut/morons didn't generate a lot of site traffic.  (Quiz: Who is the third of the three great American bimbo/slut/morons?  Please get it right--overseas they already think we're dumb.)

So here I am, both redeeming and condemning myself by praising a fairly priced, very dry and pleasing Pinot Grigio.

This light, delicious, slightly pineappley wine is from a previously reported winery, the excellent Tiefenbrunner, which is located far in the mountainous northeast of Italy (province of Bolzano).

I don't mean to overpraise what is essentially a simple, very young (2006 vintage) wine.  But it has snap and character, with lots of fruit-and-mineral flavor combined with just enough acidity to make it a good companion with food.  Which makes it quite unlike the vast majority of off-dry, watery Pinot Grigios you get in most restaurants and, in fact, on most wine store shelves.  (And at $13 or so, far less expensive than the shockingly nothing Santa Margherita.)

This Pinot Grigio delle Venezie (12.5%) is a dry, light and very drinkable PG that is imported by Leonardo Loscascio (www.winebow.com).  By the way, "Pinot Grigio dell Venezie" is a nice way of saying that the grapes don't come from the winery's home, which is not in "le Venezie."  ("The Venices."  This is like naming an office park "Princeton Whatever" in New Brunswick.)  But the fine winery touch of Tiefenbrunner is all over this rather stylish wine.

Better yet, it comes with a screw cap.  Twist, serve, drink, twist and serve again.  Hey, that's OK, the wine tastes as clean and healthy as any of the wines made from Trentino-Alto Adige grapes.  Such is the skill of Tiefenbrunner and other great wineries of extreme NE Italy. 

Drink a bottle and you'll have a higher class of hangover, trust me.

Hillary Clinton naked cat fight with Karl Rove caught on video

Not much luck boosting ass-end of August site traffic with Lohan and Spears.  Only the Italian Wine Guy, aka Dirty old Alfonso, fell for it.  I think the arch-American bimbo/slut/morons are overexposed anyway.

I hope that I'd attract both right and pseudo-left wing audiences with this one.  I like Hillary just a little more than the Evil One, aka Rove.  I mean, the people who say, "She's a woman!  We need a woman president!"  make me wonder if they would have embraced Lucretia Borgia so fervently.  (Answer: YES.)

Look tomorrow for my "10 things I most hate about wine" list.  I don't know if I'm months ahead of or behind Mr. Blackwell, who must be preserved in something and animatronically controlled by now, no? 

Lindsay Lohan naked cat fight with Britney Spears caught on video!

In a cheap ploy to boost site traffic -- hey, we're talking the ass-end of August here -- I had to conduct this experiment. OK, I'm a friend of cheap ploys.  A man with zero Clahss.

Will I get untold site traffic thanks to Booble search? 

Will disappointed pervert voyeurs leave me a ton of unpleasant comments? 

Will the musical of "Young Frankenstein" be as good as the "Producers"?  For that matter, will the musical of "Young Frankenstein" be half as good as the original Mel Brooks movie -- the best in his oeuvre, I think you'll have to agree.  (Thanks to the chicks:  Frau Blucher (neighhhhhh) aka Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr [O sank you, Herr Dokter!] and the late and still lamented Madeleine Kahn.  Where they the best distaff cast ever or what?)

Der moment of Truth

Go to the continuation to see your girl in HER moment of truth.

Barbone 3 times in 3 weeks

This is probably my eighth post about Barbone on Avenue B in Alphabet City.  I'm writing about it again because I've been there three times in the past few weeks, and there have been some dishes which have been consistent hits with everybody who's had them.

The appetizer of watermelon, Entela's feta (Entela being the wife of owner Alberto), basil leaves and balsamic vinegar is sensational each time I have it.  It's a tasty, satisfying but light starter, perfect for sticky summer evenings.  Go get it before the weather changes for good. 

The hands-down winner among the first and second courses is the chestnut agnolotti.  Agnolotti are a sort of large ravioli, which in this case are filled with a chestnut puree and covered with a brown sauce that is full of the puree's deeply satisfying flavor.  Everyone who has this says it's the best of the many good dishes on offer at Barbone.  Better still, it's a good fall dish, a flavorful pasta first course before you delve into the excellent ribs, steak and other hearty seconds that this restaurant does so well.

By the way, if you're in a rush don't go to Barbone.  Service is Italian-style, which means you relax, chat and chill.  Your courses come to you in good time -- just long enough since the previous one to make you glad you have it, because the smells of cooking are whetting your appetite. 

The main wine we had the other night was a Dorigo Ribolla Gialla, which another of our party liked so much as an aperitif that she was glad I ordered a bottle for the table.  A substantial white wine that bridged our various dinner choices remarkably well.

Look here for the link with all the restaurant contact info.

And, yes, we ate in the garden the last two times.  That makes for a compleat LES experience.

Tempo rosso

Sette giorni fa era possibile nuotare per l'aria spessa umida iniquata, le temperature verso 35 gradi.  Pensavi solamente alla freschezza, a un vino leggero e bianco, freddo nel bicchiere da far sudare il vetro. 

Invece ora: cielo grigio, vento freschissimo.  Ogni tanto pioviggina.  Si sente l'autunno.  Tutto d'improvviso.  E ormai da 4-5 giorni.  E' arrivato settembre?

Se non fosse questo disconcertante, vedi le la notte cade subito, e l'alba arriva tardi, sempre di piu'.  Gia' le ore di sole si sono diminuite un'ora e mezza, e l'anno galoppa verso la sua fine.  Un po' deprimente per uno che ha varcato i sessant'anni, intimazione di mortalita', ecc., ecc., ecc.  Purtroppo il simbolismo ti colpisce in faccia.

Boezio scrisse delle consolazioni di filosofia in carcere.  Un mondo terminava e lo sapeva.  Eppure una vita particolare.

Io sono molto meno filosofico e molto piu' pessimista del coraggioso Boezio.  Quindi un vigliacco ordinario, uomo medio sensuale (come Leopold Bloom forse?  Ah sempre la connessione italiana sebbene triestina).  Penso alle consolazioni dei vini rossi, per cominciare leggeri poi diventando sempre piu' scuri e "masticabili," come direbbe Jancis Robinson.  Masticabili come l'Amarone quando i venti cospirano a gelarti le ossa.

Il rosso di un tramonto caldo d'estate, concentrato nel calice delle sere sempre piu' lunghe, piu' fredde, un'anticipazione della risurrezione dell'anno e la speranza di una nuova annata di piccoli miracoli in vigna e cantina.

Salute.

The House of Mondavi

Yesterday I finished The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, by Julia Flynn Siler (Gotham Books).  For Californians plugged into the Napa scene, there are very likely few surprises in this long (396 pages of text, seems longer) and detailed book.  My previous exposure to the Mondavis was in Mondovino, where neither Robert nor his son(s) covered themselves with glory.  They seemed arrogant, smug and arriviste.

In Siler's book they come across as all of the above but considerably more, especially the unstoppable motor of the enterprise, the ADHD-seeming Robert Mondavi himself.  He comes across as a visionary and, tipping the visionary into excess, an overreaching blowhard.  Clearly he was a terrible father as his kids were growing up and after, but it's also easy to see how he inspired such devotion among his staff. 

It would be cheap sentimentalizing to intone that he was a "tragic figure" out of a "Greek tragedy" -- no doubt such rot has already been recorded for posterity -- but you have to marvel at the man's endless drive, his complexity and his earlier passion to make great wine in California, and to put that state on the world's wine map. 

Maybe Robert Mondavi's great "tragedy" is not that his sons weren't up to his level of brilliance and passion, but that the wine industry he inspired has forgotten so many of the lessons he taught it about elegance, territory and what it means to be "the best."

Draining French Wine Lake, Part Deux: Wedding at Cana

Maybe I've had too much time on my hands.  Maybe I've taken too much of that orange cold medicine that gets Sarah Silverman into so much trouble.  And maybe I just think too much about wine.

 

Voici the beautiful and scurrilous Sarah

Anyway.

I thought Monsieur le Comte needed to get out of France, like his new boss, and that he needed to broaden his horizons diplomatically, culturally and, er, diachronically as well.  (Better look that one up.  Save time, check here.)

As to how M le Comte can travel in time, it is of course due to a worm hole torn in the fabric of space-time, as any half-wit knows.   

As to how he managed to transport with him several million litres of wine from all parts of France, I must attribute that miracle to an honoured guest at that wedding in the Galilean hinterland, as any biblically attuned half-wit knows...

Blessed Quickie: Coenobium 2005

I add "blessed" to this swift review because -- cue the sopranos of the boy choir -- it's made by nuns.  Cistercian nuns! 

And Giampiero Bea, son of the beato (blessed) Paolo Bea of Sagrantino fame.  Paolo himself must be a man of quality; Gambero Rosso systematically excludes him from its guide, for reasons that one can only imagine.

All tomfoolery aside, this delicious and individualistic wine was recommended to me by Gabrio Tosti at De Vino.  The wine has received some excellent reviews here in the New York area, albeit by wine merchants flogging their wares, notably Chambers Street Wines and others too expensive to be mentioned.  (Gabrio and CSW are charging roughly the same, about $16.  I guess if you name a wine "supper hall" in Latin, you'd better not make it too expensive.)

To quote Lyle Fass (I'm assuming) at CSW, this wine is "fresh and vibrant with delicate citrus and straw aromas, nice minerality from the local volcanic soils, good richness... and excellent bracing acidity. "

I'll add that this blend of 50% Verdicchio, 25% Trebbiano Toscano and 25% Grechetto has just 12.5% alcohol, which makes the wine mild and easy to drink on its own or with food; and it has a specially deep, almost nutty flavour that calls to mind the Arbois gems of Jacques Puffeney.  The colour is correspondingly deep and golden, and perhaps a tad cloudy.  I guess this is because the nuns' farm is run on organic principles, with the wine's seeing minimal sulphur or filtration.  CSW tells us also that "Bea has encouraged them [the nuns] to keep the wine on its lees a bit longer, with a corresponding gain in complexity."  Amen, brother.

Whatever the reasons for the special taste and character of this wine, it is indeed a blessing.  A double one because it's excellent for the price. 

(Cue Sister Rosetta Tharpe: "Shout sister shout!")

Suore Cistercensi 2005 Vino da Tavola Bianco Coenobium (12.5%) -- from Lazio

Imported by MadRose (Neal Rosenthal & Co.)  This wine is not described on the Madrose site, presumably because it is too new of an entry.

What to drink when you have a summer cold

For 5 days now I've had a terrible cold.  Aches, pains, a cough that feels like a tearing in my chest, throbbing head, zero energy.  Meanwhile the weather has turned nice and I'm unable to enjoy it.  I can barely get myself to the elevator to go down the 22 stories to deal with urgent necessities, like getting a haircut or some more white wine.

For a wine drinker this situation poses a couple of problems.  Like, for example, with all the cough syrup, aspirin, decongestants and antidepressants, is it even wise to drink wine now? 

And which wines are the ones you should drink when your sensory apparatus isn't up to par?

Photo: Be careful when you mix meds

To the first question the answer is self-evident: wine has well-known analgesic properties when consumed in moderation.  Yes, I know, "define moderation" in this special context.  (Answer to that: less than usual.  You get to Dreamland pretty quickly.)

The second question opens up a complex set of considerations.  If, for example, I want to really make myself feel better, do I open a bottle of something that's a treat?  A wine that, even if I'm not up to snuff, I can tell that it is?  You can taste through your cold and the meds you take, after all, although I'd hate to do a proper tasting with dozens of wines in that condition.

Or do you just open something inexpensive that you know is tasty and simple, goes well with food and has enough alcohol to take the curse off?

As a deep-down cheapskate (but -- and here's the central conflict of my life -- penny wise and pound foolish) New Englander, I have to go with the second option.  Save the interesting Israeli cabernet sauvignon, save the superduper Amarone.  Go for the go-down-easy Dolcetto, the ever dependable Falanghina.

After all, wine is good for you!

Tannic wines give most health benefits

In his new book, The Red Wine Diet, Prof. Roger Corder explains the particular benefits of highly tannic, young red wines in cleansing blood vessels to help prevent strokes and heart attacks.  He singles out wines made from Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon as especially beneficial, according to various researches. (Other varieties such as Graciano and Tempranillo also exhibited fairly high levels of the crucial polyphenols called procyanidins.  No doubt further research will reveal the procyanidin levels of many more.)

Prof. Corder was recently interviewed by Julia Harding of JancisRobinson.com in an article entitled "Chew your way to health with tannic wines."  (You may have to be a member to access the article.)

Not every wine made from these grapes confer the same benefits.  Among the findings of the studies:

* Long hang times reduce the level of procyanidin, since they begin to polymerize. Corollary: high-alcohol vino doesn't help -- will reduce -- the amount of procyanidin.

* Bottle age does no favors for procyanidin levels.  After 3-5 years they fall off sharply.

* Very cheap wines do not have the same benefits as better wines from the same grape, as with a Tannat from Madiran.  Inference: too much manipulation will cause the procyanidin to polymerize much faster.

* Grapes from certain regions seem to have higher levels of procyanidin than others, although it is not always clear which they are or which grapes the wines are made from. I quote Corder:

A glass of [decent] Madiran can often have 3 to 4 times more procyanidins than some cheap wines, and in some cases the difference may be 20 fold. There are also some wines, from elsewhere in France as well as Argentina, Chile, Italy and the US, with high levels of procyanidins similar to those in Madiran wines. If the consumer could readily identify these, then a more informed choice could be made when buying wine. I plan to put some effort into doing this over the next few years.

Adding to our recent posts and comments on high-alcohol wines, Corder goes on to say:

The topic of wine and health is a complex one, but it is clear that if wine drinkers want to benefit most from this habit they need to keep to an optimum pattern of drinking, which in my view requires more procyanidins with less alcohol. So, I wonder whether the UK wine market has got it right in terms of satisfying the demand for everyday wines. There is a profusion of low cost smooth wines, with pretensions to being fine wines. So perhaps information on procyanidin-rich wines will be an extra selection criteria some wine drinkers would value. I also think there is a potential niche for cheaper more tannic wines that were typical of the vin de table that I was familiar with in the 1980s when I lived in Geneva. These were very much wines to have with food, and also lower in alcohol.

(Emphases mine.)

This is good news for me because I love tannic, somewhat rustic young red wines.  They aren't too popular with the casual wine drinker or those who are used to big, plush reds.  As the word gets out about the convincing health benefits of high-procyanidin wines, however, maybe we'll see a shift in public taste. 
My gut feeling is that this is very good news for producers of organic and biodynamic wines made from certain local varieties -- not only Tannat from SW France but also (I'm guessing) Nebbiolos and Aglianicos and Foja Tondas from Italy, "old school" Cabs from California, etc.  It certainly is good news for those of us who are tired of over-extracted 15% reds which are allegedly for the table.

In Vino, wine bar and resto in Alphabet City. Plus a Kosher tasting.

Sorry to cram so much into a single post, but I've been running around a lot and wanted to put something up for the end of the work week.

At In Vino

On Wednesday evening four of us met at In Vino for dinner.  I was inspired by my recent encounters with the ever-enthusiastic East Village Wine Geek, who is not only a fellow blogger but is the sommelier and maitre d' at the small wine bar/restaurant on East 4th Street.  I told my friends where we were going and Ken said, "It's a wine bar.  Do they have decent food?"  I said I thought so and anyway, it wasn't expensive -- "not expensive" being my mantra.

We soon discovered the answer to that question.  And had the wine suggested by EVWG.

The food was far better than we had expected.  Everyone liked their first courses, but the mains were what impressed us.  Three of the four had a rich and hearty risotto (in that heat!) in servings so huge that no one could finish it.  After a simple but very good tricolor salad, I went for the tagliata toscana (grilled skirt steak) that was as good as or better than any steak I've had in a Paris bistro, tender and flavorful.  (And just $16 for a large portion served with a melange of potatoes, veggies and onion.  No frites, for which my waistline is thankful.) 

After various glasses of white to start, I asked EVWG for a light red that would go well with the risotto and steak but not add to our discomfort from the heat and humidity.  No 15% fruit bomb from Calabria or anything like that.  He suggested a Marchesi Pancrazi "San Donato 2004" Rosso Toscano IGT, composed of 50/50 Pinot Noir and Gamay.  At 13% alcohol this was a surprise; not a big or overly oaked wine but one with good fruit, racy and vivacious and with a long finish.  Not complex or profound but very pleasing and an excellent accompaniment to our plates.  At $38 a very reasonably priced bottle in a New York eatery.

Maybe the prices are so reasonable because most of the crowd was a fraction of our ages -- you sort of the get the feeling that the patrons were making decent money at first jobs right out of college or grad school.

We had a very enjoyable meal and experience even though the air conditioning wasn't quite up to the demands of the heat wave.  Kudos to EVWG and his very busy staff. 

PS--From In Vino I hear there will be some big news very soon.

Tasting at Royal Wines

Yesterday I was invited to a tasting of wines that are not currently imported to the US or carried by this firm.  Held at Royal Wines, which is part of the Kedem company of grape juice and sacramental wine fame (and more!), this was an informative and enjoyable experience for me.  I did not know this but Royal Wines owns the well-regarded Baron Herzog wines of California, which long ago proved to me that "kosher for Passover" and "dry" and "delicious" were NOT mutually exclusive. 

As you might imagine, most of the wines at the tasting were kosher.  Predominantly from Israel, they also hailed from California, Italy and France.  The flavor profiles and level of winemaking expertise ranged from quite high to extremely low, even amateurish.  One of the salesmen said, "In the past five years everybody in Israel thinks they can start a winery because their grandfather made some in the basement."  In short, they are where we were a century ago when recent Italian immigrants did the same thing, e.g., Ernest and Julio Gallo.

Unfortunately, Royal Wines' crown jewel from Israel, Domaine du Castel,

Della Valle Jappellj, wines with surprises, all good

In June Domenico went to the 50th birthday bash of well-known wine journalist Luciano Pignataro.  Held at the picturesque Forte La Carnale (like that name), the event saw many of the leading lights of Campanian wine that night, including Bruno DeConciliis and Silvia Imparato.  And many that weren't so well known.

Domenico met a rather self-effacing winemaker named Francesco Iappelli, whose home and winery are in the relatively unsung Caserta area (Casertavecchia, the old mediaeval town in fact). 

Domenico liked Francesco's Aglianico rose' very much, as was reported here on June 14.  So much that he urged Francesco to send samples to America (to me), because he thought there might be a market for them here.

Based on what I've had, I must agree.  Wholeheartedly. 

Salerno Lungomare

Mr. Asimov, Tear Down This Wall!

Since we've been in the Long Brush Clearing of the Soul for the past six years, it's nice to think all the way back to the 1980s when it was Springtime in America.  No, wait, that's Morning in America and Springtime for Hitler.  My bad.

As we gaze back at those stirring days of Counterrevolution, those days of Pat Benatar ("Love is a Battlefield" -- how true!) and Shelley Long, of J.R. Ewing and Ferris Buehler, of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, it's inspiring to recall the Joshua-like call of our favorite Dutch uncle, Ronald "Dutch" Reagan: "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall!"

How much has changed since then! 

We have a new universal enemy, or several.  Rugged frontiersmen have again seized the reins of power.  We have never been freer or more prosperous.

Even children have cell phones!

Even Black people (African Americans) use computers!

CEOs even type their own emails!

This technology has even invaded hospitals!

Technology has transformed our lives.  Supermarket scanners were just the beginning, Mr. Bush Sr.  We can plan trips and buy airline tickets over the "information superhighway," Mr. Gore.  We can download video of Lindsay Lohan inebriated, Mr. Berners-Lee -- and play it over and over on our iPods!

And we can start a web site and participate in a community of persons of similar interests no matter where they may be.  Many of these web sites are called blogs, and they have changed the way information is shared, published, disseminated and evaluated. 

The people who start and maintain these sites are called bloggers, and if they show some stick-to-it-iveness and keep up a network of like-minded fellows, they eventually show discernment as well as obsessive attention to their chosen subject!  They become de facto journalists! 

Which is why I am imploring Mr. Asimov, the much loved and esteemed (are you getting this, Asimov?) wine writer and blogger of The Pour in the unexceptionable New York Times, ***to hold periodic tasting panels with fellow bloggers.*** 

Mr. Asimov, Tear Down This Wall!

French wine czar has way to drain wine lake

In yesterday's New York Times there was what we might call the definitive American take on the EU proposals to uproot vineyards and drain the spreading lake of unsold vin de table.  Datelined Perpignan, the story ("A Tide of Wine May Drive European Growers from a Way of Life") begins with an example of a vigneron on the edge of ruin and the demise of his "tradition" and his "way of life."  Europeans should toughen up and get ready for a bit of reality, American style. 

The article then moves on to a discussion of 1) numbers (big numbers: 200,000 hectares or 500,000 acres to be uprooted according to the proposal) and 2) "the laws of capitalism." Ah the ready villain and the last-resort solution of every fix you're in.  Capitalism!  The Market!  The Inexorable Goose Step of History made swifter by the sweeping away of those noisome Workers! I quote Frederic Glangetas, director of the aggressively modern and export-directed Domaine de la Baume, at the very end of the article:  "The trade in wine is like the trade in Cola-Cola or in washing powder."

So much for all that whingeing about "tradition" and "terroir" and "way of life."  We see the future of French wine in that fateful sentence.  Not just French wine, for that matter. 

Svegliatevi, Europei.  Wake up, Europeans.

After reading this article I immediately SMSed Domenico, who is vacationing in Albi, spiritual centre of the Cathars, and asked him to contact the just-appointed "wine czar" of the new France that wakes up early.  This person, Hubert-Thierry Enarcon de Chateaudegueulant, has an Italian connection, as his wife hails from Sophia Loren's hometown of Pozzuoli.  Monsieur le Comte, as he with disarming irony calls himself, spoke passably good Italian for Domenico's benefit. 

On the following page is my humble translation of their enlightening and policy-previewing discussion, taken from an audio tape.  Domenico sent me a digitized version just this morning.  It is presented in the venerable tradition of The Daily Show, Fox News and other purveyors of fake news.

 

This can't be malvasia. It's actually good.

Lads, it's me 500th post.  Cheers to me with another fab Italian wine.

When they tell me proudly, "This is a Malvasia," my heart sinks. Italy's default dessert wine when there's nothing better on offer, like Prosecco for aperitifs.  Only worse. Too too sweet.  A privation of character.

Grin and bear it.  Be polite.  Diplomatic.  How hard that is for one such as I.

Yet a young winemaker named Francesco Mazzone recently contacted me and wanted to know if he could send some samples.  I'm gonna say no?

Ruvo's there somewhere

 

American taste in wine: up a lazy river

So there was this tasting in New Jersey last night.  Organized by my friend Jeff, it featured about 20 wines presented blind, with about a dozen in attendance.

Robert Parker wasn't there.  But his holographic presence hovered over the event like a swarm of sugar-filled pixels.

As the wine group's host of the week, Jeff had asked people to bring reds.  Since it was very hot everyone was glad when he broke his own rule and poured a grower Champagne and a couple of whites.  I brought a very dry, structured rosato from Campania (corked).  Except for a couple of sweet wines at the end, the rest were reds.

And guess which ones earned the highest accolades?  The big fruit-forward ones with Cab and/or Merlot predominating, plus an Aglianico and a Rhone (a 1994 CDP that was like a changeling in the glass, which the chef in attendance declared a "nightmare" from his profession's point of view -- and a diner's, I added).

Anyway, what did we learn there?  That even wine-savvy people, several of them in some part of the wine biz, betray a "Parkerized" taste.*  No matter what people claim to prefer, when it comes down to the stuff in the glass they seem to home in on a fairly narrow band of flavors and smells.  Such wines are open, available, holding little or nothing back.  Given the relatively small amount of food we had -- this was definitely not a true tasting dinner, where less approachable wines might have opened up to us -- I think this was inevitable.  In such a context the bigger, fruitier, sunnier wines really do outshine the others.

The evening wasn't without its lively discussions and disagreements.  But again it was the overwhelming uniformity of response that surprised me.  Including surprise at some of my own judgments and in-the-heat-of-the moment declarations.

It was like a focus group, in which group think often takes over, skewing the results.  (Which the moderator will sometimes encourage if it's all going the way the client wants it to.  Tastings are essentially the same sort of thing.)   I add this because there seemed to be rather little tolerance for a nose or a taste that wasn't immediately there or that was a bit demanding.  Again I confess my guilt -- except for that Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which I felt was an unstable mess, all over the place.

* "Parkerized" is really another way of saying American, since Mr. P rose to prominence precisely because his palate matches our national preferences.  As a bunch of Puritans in the wilderness, we're secret Hedonists.  Historically we've always loved our booze and our sweets, as any cursory reading of Colonial history will reveal.  Parker showed us how to have our blackberry pie and drink it too, dressed up with B-school respectability in an allegedly objective numeric system.  (No coincidence that his rise began at the start of the B-school fad of the early 80s.)

So, Mr Koeppel, as to "plush and rich, not demanding" wines not being "an improvement," I won't disagree. 

That's why I subtitled this posting "up a lazy river".  National tastes change about as fast a full barge laboring up the Mississippi.  We'll be amassing points and guzzling fruit bombs for many years to come.