mondosapore

Wine and food fun at Il Posto Accanto

After I visited with friend Gabrio at De Vino this evening, I hied myself to the wine bar that his sister and brother-in-law own just a few blocks uptown.  It was very early but, as I told Matt, who works there as bartender and waiter (also as stand-in for Gabrio at the wine shop), "I was down here so..."

I had intended to have light meal and a glass of wine.  The road to hell...

I had two so-called "small plates", which actually are rather large.  First, a wonderful insalata sfiziosa (how do you translate it?  "Yummy salad"?)  It featured grilled asparagus, ultra-fresh greens, beans and a snappy oil-vinegar dressing topped with slivers of Parmigiano.  Then a very good bistecca ai ferri (grilled beef) on -- what the hell was it?  By that time, I was on my second wine, and it was an excellent accompaniment to the beef.  Beef served on something grain.  Good but a little salty (the grain).

Ah the wine.  This is a wine bar after all.  The prices are reasonable for New York, and the selection of 100% Italian wines is astute.  Much like at De Vino the selection is focused and optimized for value and authenticity.  I assume Gabrio still selects the wines for Il Posto Accanto as he did before he opened his shop a couple of years ago.  If so, Buon lavoro, Gabrio, even if you be beastin' on Fredric.

First was a glass of Cesconi Moratel 2003, a rich and surprisingly nuanced blend of international and NE Italian grapes It is an interesting blend of mostly "international" grapes (Merlot 42%, Cabernet Franc 22%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%, Syrah 8% and 8% Teroldego). This is an immensely satisfying wine that represents a huge bargain for its quality.  (About $12-15 retail.)  Matt remarked, "I don't know why this isn't more popular."  I would agree except I think that a lot of people have been brainwashed into thinking that single-varietal wines are always preferable.  I paid $10 (?) a glass for this one.  The complex cherry and dark-fruit flavors lingered.

I ordered a quarter-carafe (quartino) of a slightly effervescent Lambrusco Reggiano "Solo" 2006 from Medici to go with my bistecca.  I ordered it to cut the fat of the beef, and I have to say that I found it earthy and a very good pairing with the steak.  But I told Matt that the Cesconi Moratel was more deeply satisfying to me.  $14 a quartino.

Finally, I had a glass -- OK, two -- of a sensational Moscato from Veneto.  This was the golden-hued and sumptuous Maculan Dindarello 2006.  Only $10 a glass and $38 a bottle (375 ml) at Il Posto Accanto.  Well, it was still early and I didn't feel like heading 50 blocks uptown just yet.  At Winebow they say about this wine:

Dindarello offers the textbook Moscato aromas of citrus, honey and flowers. This wine has a delicate personality with a delicious lingering finish and pleasant acidity. Try it with fruit pies, pastries and crème brulée.

I had this one all on its own.  Dai dai eynu. Which means "that's enough for me." 

And tomorrow back to Barbone, our new default place to eat and drink well for not an outrageous amount of money.  (Forget Lupa, ptui.)  God bless Alphabet City.

Vendemmia 2007: Patchwork harvest

Yesterday another AP story was forwarded to me, this time by Alfonso Cevola "the Italian Wine Guy."  (The Italian Wine Guy?  Isn't that a little presumptuous, AC?) 

Anyway.  The story was an overview of the grape harvest in Italy.  This year was definitely one of role reversals. Normally hot and sunny Sicily saw massive amounts of rain and humidity which spread rot and reduced the harvest by 30%.  Expect quality to suffer.

In the northeast, especially Veneto, the harvest took place earlier than ever before thanks to a torrid growing season with comparatively little rain.  (Not that those who attended Vinitaly would believe that.  Verona was soggy under the typical skies of "Vinitaly weather.") Veneto had enjoyed an extremely mild winter too; cherries were on the trees before the end of April.  One Soave producer was quoted as saying that 20-30 years ago the grape harvest was normally in late October-early November. Now it's from the middle of September to early October.  Aldo Lorenzoni, president of the Soave producers' consortium, predicts that region's wines will have "a Southern profile," less floral and fruitier.  So if you want a typically Sicilian wine next year, go north.

What about the areas in between?

I've heard from one of my correspondents, Francesco Iappelli, whose winery Della Valle Jappellj, is located in Casertavecchia, not too far from Naples.  Unlike Sicily, his area had too little moisture, and while grapes typical of the Casertano fared well (Casavecchia, Troiana, Pallagrello), Falanghina suffered from the drought in many zones. He said that variety did better in Benevento, which was more humid.  Old vines fared quite well, as you'd expect, since their deep roots conducted more water to the plants.  The harvest won't be completed there for a couple of weeks, so there could be some last-minute revisions to this assessment.  Right now it appears quantities will be somewhat lower than usual.

I'm still waiting to hear from Carmela Capozzo in Puglia.  As of June the predictions for the harvest were not favorable, since the province of Bari had had high levels of rainfall and persistent humidity. 

Pinot Noir, 30,000 genes. Humans, don't ask

Richard Levy sent me a tasty little news item yesterday.  The Pinot Noir genome has been mapped by a team of French and Italian researchers. 

Among the findings, published in Nature:  The PN grape has 30,000 genes compared to the human total of 20,000 to 25,000.  Whether or not this implies a higher level of evolution on the part of the grape, it does relate to the complex array of factors that make the perfumes and flavors of Pinot Noir so varied and intriguing.  The AP story tells us:

The team published its findings in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, saying it identified the nearly half a billion chemical building blocks of the grape's DNA....The team said its research had confirmed that the grape has an unusually high number of genes whose job it is to create flavor. More than 100 of its genes are dedicated to producing tannins and terpenes — compared to about 50 for other plants, said researcher Patrick Wincker.

So the conventional wisdom of PN complexity is backed up by science.  Bravo.

But with great knowledge comes great temptation:

He said the mapping of those flavor-producing genes could be a first step toward developing new flavors in wine by allowing scientists to breed different varieties to create precise new tastes.

Bacchus, give us strength.

The America pricelist and la Cuvée américaine

In my last post I asked for your thoughts on the decline of the dollar versus the euro and the ramifications of a long-term weakening of the US currency on Italian wine in this country.  Your comments have been informative and stimulating with what is, I guess, an appropriate mix of worry, grit and hopefulness. 

So informative and stimulating that you've inspired me to do some Deep Thinking on the subject.  Directly and indirectly, I feel the need to respond to you. You have only yourselves to blame.

WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT AMERICA?

Gabrio mentioned the listino prezzi "America", the special price list wine producers in Italy have for American brokers and importers.  The prices are lower than those charged Europeans because the US  market is so large and attractive.   They regard it as the cost of entry for what they hope is a big long-term payoff in both sales and international prestige, home as the United States is to those critical heavyweights, Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator.  Whatever the producers may think of either, they crave their favor. After all, not only do the nouveaux riches of this country hang on their judgments, so do the NR of many lands, not least the rising powers of the East.

Wheeeeeeeee

Richard points out that fine wine isn't the only area in which NR Russians, Chinese, etc., are bidding up prices just as our currency's tanking.  Artworks, antiques, these other trappings of luxury, are reaching absurd prices.  A bursting bubble would affect all of the high-end goods in these areas.  ("More Thompson Seedless, Muffy?")

This "America" price list works well for us, especially now that the dollar is sinking.  The question you have to ask is: When will it end, and what will be the tipping point -- $1.75 -- $1.85 -- $2 to the euro?

And by the way, what will become of the special cuvée américaine in regions like Burgundy?  That charming tradition assumes Americans will pay top dollar for non-top wines -- stuff that isn't the best the property makes.   ("Gee, it tasted so much better when we had it in Dijon.")  I wonder how that will play out in an era of the feeble dollar.  Still special?  But not in a good way at all.

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH...

Alfonso says the situation for wine isn't all bleak here in the U. S. of  A. If prices go sky-high, you can always attract new drinkers with entry-level wines -- and no doubt more experienced wine drinkers will trade downward but keep drinking when they hit the stores and eat out.  He emphasizes salesmanship and tireless energy to sell the stuff, and he should know.  He's been selling wines in the middle of the country for 30 years. A frequently punishing experience, teaching the folks in Texas about Eyetalian wine.

Our new wave of wine drinkers

But here's my problem with the suggestion of beginning again, in a sense, with neophyte wine drinkers.  How are you going to educate them on the pleasures of a nice Aglianico or Grillo when they hardly know red from rosé?  How are you going to get them to spend $12 something a little "offbeat" compared with your standard-issue Merlot?  It's one thing to explain a Refosco to a restaurant patron in Manhattan, but what the hell are they going to say in Midland or Muskogee?  Does even Alfonso have the time to educate restaurateurs to that degree?

Wanted a nice Schioppettino at his bris

Pairs well with gauze

Aristide thinks the time is right to hit the market with a new array of wines that come from areas less expensive (and less known) than Tuscany and Piedmont.  Smaller wineries, interesting, more natural-seeming wines that can appeal to drinkers at differing levels of wine knowledge.  God knows, when I look at importers' portfolios in this area, they're top-heavy with T and P, weak on Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Sardinia, etc.  So this idea sounds very appealing -- it's something of a pet topic for me -- although how willing are distributors to take on new wines in a perilous economic environment?  At the first hint of a serious drop in wine consumption, they'll do what anyone in any business would do:  promote their sure-things, let the rest freeze to death in the snow.

 

As the dollar falls Italian wine imports will...?

The dollar's descent continues.  Last week it cost $1.40 to buy one euro on the currency market, so it cost about $1.45 for a retail customer (ordinary business or vacation traveler) like you or me.  And to think, when I was in Florence soon after the euro conversion, it was 85 US cents for a euro.  In other words, the dollar buys only about 60% as much in euroland as it did 5 years ago.  It's a stunning devaluation. 

Like many recent articles, an op-ed piece in today's New York Times predicts further, possibly much sharper declines.  Long term ones, not only drops connected with the business cycle.  As the author, Steven S. Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, concludes:

...no nation has ever devalued its way into prosperity.

So far, the dollar’s weakness has not been a big deal. That may now be about to change. Relative to the rest of the world, the United States looks painfully subprime. So does its currency.

In other words, the Chinese Century is really about to begin.  Le défi chinois.

It's easy to ignore these facts and ominous long-term trends if you're living the Wall Street bonus life, not to mention working the co-opted financial media beat, and if you live in Manhattan. Real estate prices and the cost of everything exceeds the general inflation rate, all fueled by those bonuses and the heady optimism of those law firms, PR agencies, restaurants, clothiers, wine stores, etc., etc., who benefit from the overslop of wealth.  Even if you don't get so much as a trickle of this money flood, the reality of the national situation is easy to forget in this environment.

The rosy predictions of the growth of US wine consumption and the recent growth of Italian wine imports seem to take no account of the darkening situation.  The United States is expected to be the world's largest wine-drinking nation by 2010, knocking back 12.3% of total world consumption, according to the International Wine and Spirit Record (IWSR). The same body predicts that prices will continue to rise despite 42 million hectolitres' overproduction per year (?!).  In 2006 American wine imports grew by 5.7% over the previous year -- and domestic production was up by only 2.6%  In the first half of 2007 imports from Italy increased by 10.4% in volume and 10.9% in value.

But, to quote a cliche, that was then and this is now.  None of these optimistic predictions and recent triumphs deals with a severely weakened dollar and the likely possibility of a punishing recession in America.  None of them, it seems, has seriously addressed the longer term market outcomes of our public and private profligacies.

So how will our declining purchasing power affect wine imports, specifically Italian wine imports?  Will all Italian wine soon begin to suffer?  Or will different regions and styles come to the fore with sharply competitive prices? 

How will Italy fare in comparison to low-cost producers like Chile, Argentina, South Africa -- the usual suspects?

And how successful will Italian producers and their consortia be in both capturing and growing the vaunted but still nascent Chinese and other Asian markets?

These aren't rhetorical questions.  These are critically important questions for those of us who are involved with Italian wine on both sides of the ocean.  After all, 1.2 million people are somehow involved with the wine sector in Italy; 2000 aziende export to other countries; all of which is worth 8 billion euros a year to the Italian economy.  And it's vital to Italy's global reputation as a place where even ordinary people can taste and drink the good life. 

Weigh in with your opinions and recent experiences regarding the American market.  It's important to me and, I'll wager, to you as well.

Why I hate the United Nations

No, not for the usual reasons that Americans hate the UN.  For the reasons most New Yorkers, especially those of us in Midtown East, hate the UN. 

Gridlock.

When the General Assembly meets, a big chunk of First Avenue is completely closed and a number of cross streets are too (from 42nd to 48th) on the East Side.  We live just a few blocks north of the closed zone, and we get the full effects of that gridlock.  Everybody who drives (big big mistake) to Queens and Long Island (big big big mistake) heads up First Avenue to the access points for the Queensboro Bridge (that's the official name -- Manhattanites call it the 59th Street Bridge). 

Anyway, from early Monday morning till late Monday night there will be stock-still traffic below us, with all its pollution and cacophony of angry horns and screaming drivers.  Oh and the insistently wailing sirens in stock-still ambulances, VIP processions, etc.  This will go on all week.  We'll get a few hours' relative peace from midnight to 6-7 AM, and it will start all over again.

My advice: Stay away.  Come back next week. 

First Ave on a very good day:

UN is just beyond the building on the left

Germany House is the first on the right

New Website at Enoteca Pontevecchio, Florence

I am pleased to inform you that finally -- FINALLY -- the new website of Tony Sasa's Enoteca Pontevecchio is up and running.  Note that it is all in English, and very natural, idiomatic American English at that.  My good friend Tony bought the enoteca -- a wineshop with tasting and light organic snacks -- last year with a couple of partners.  He's the presence in the store, along with the lovely Kathleen from California, and he's a knowledgeable, enthusiastic and helpful host who speaks excellent English.  Shipping wine to North America is something of a specialty of his.

The online catalogue of wines is just a small percentage of the different wine estates and vintages that Tony has on the shelves of the enoteca. If you want to sample his broad selection, go visit the shop and discuss your preferences with Tony or Katheen.  And taste!

Enoteca Pontevecchio is close to the Arno and within sight of the Piazza Santa Croce. Full directions are on the website.

Happiness is a warm shiraz

Astonishing, ladies and gentlemen.  Ever since Eric Asimov's Wines of the Times of September 19 featured "Happiness for $10 or Less," the article has been either #1 or #2 in the most emailed of all Times articles.  And a reader response feature has, as of a few minutes ago, brought in 574 posts. 

Hurray, this shows how interested people are in wine.  I should think Eric would be planning more such columns in the near future -- especially with the high-interest holiday season coming up.  As with all of retail, November and December are the making of the wine-selling year.

Boo, this shows how unadventurous and uninformed people are.  In answer to the question, "What is the best wine under $10 that you've ever had," a huge number of responses mention Yellowtail and a host of pretty awful Shirazes.  And box wines (helpful tip: Franzia's 5L box wine is the same as Two Buck Chuck!).  And filthy bulk wine from the Central Valley (Cribari, Carlo Rossi).  And --- forgive me -- that deplorable Goats Do Roam slop from South Africa. 

A caveat:  how many of these entries are viral marketing by the distributors of these wine products? 

Aside from a few humorous entries (Bulgarian something fortified with cough syrup), precious few people mention wines like a Gruner Veltliner or the Di Majo Norante Sangiovese, to mention two credible candidates for "best wines under $10."  Hats off to them.

If one thing is clear from all of this, either Asimov or Howard Goldberg ought to make an "Under $10 [$15?]" column a regular feature.  Think of the service to the winedrinker moyen sensuel whose world might just be a little more pleasant if he drank a nice little Cahors or Jumilla instead of the usual swill.  Not great wines, to be sure, but they are great for the money, they have some character, are tasty, good with food and considerably less adulterated to the nose and palate. 

A lot of bloggers review inexpensive wines, some even specialize in them, but of course they do not have the authority of the Times, or its circulation. 

We bloggers are less of a threat to the Fourth Estate than we like to believe.

Freres Delas Cotes-du-Ventoux: Cheap and very cheerful

"Designer" Wines, Extreme Brand Wines

People in the wine world like to convey this impression of being simple honest yeomen, stewards of the land, heirs to an unbroken tradition that extends to the age of Greek amphorae and all that.  It's a nice thought but in this relentlessly commercial age bears little resemblance to reality. 

My immediate goad for writing this post is the astonishing and really hilarious news that Martha Stewart, the Leona Helmsley of her generation, is in an alliance with those humble makers of authentic artisanal wines, E & J Gallo, to produce a "special" line of Martha-branded plonk. 

Honest to God.  I read about it on Fermentation and you know Tom doesn't bullshit.  He joins Dan Berger in calling this a "meaningless" wine.  As if the nth line extension of Marthaness were meaningless.  As if bringing elegance to the Ryan Homes of America were valueless.  Oh ye of little faith who are not anxious shareholders!

I guess this umpteenth product line of MS is egregious, but is it any worse than the Italian wine Sogno Uno made by consulting winemaker Roberto Cipresso for a porn star?  (Lots of scope for National Lampoon type humor: "This wine has a pleasant garnet color but its aroma calls to mind sardines..."?)

Then there's Soffocone.  Soffocone is one of those wines with a suggestive label (stylized drawing of woman on knees in front of man who looks like one of those big-head aliens from 1950s movies).  Its creators must have thought this would make the stuff hot with The Young People.  It sells for about $35-40.  Oh yeah, Soffocone is Tuscan slang for blow job.

Now aren't you glad you live and drink in America?  We may be crass but we aren't quite so vulgar as that.

And...

We still gots Martha

Kalin Cellars: Tastes of another California

In 1975 when Terrance and Frances Leighton founded Kalin Cellars, the spirit of utopian innovation was upon the land, and briefly it thrived before land prices skyrocketed and corporate risk-aversion altered the course of California winemaking. In those golden days, inspired by the "best practices" of traditional French winemakers, the Leightons started their winery to prove that California could make age-worthy, mostly white wines capable of standing next to those of Burgundy and Bordeaux.  In this they followed the negociant model of Burgundy, contracting with carefully chosen vineyard owners and bottling the results of each separately, which has resulted in cru wines of distinct terroirs and personalities.

When the Leightons started this winery there were about 80 in the entire state of California.  Now there are 1800 or so.  They qualify as pioneers.  And they clearly know what they have to work with.

Terry Leighton of Kalin Cellars

Kalin Cellars releases its wine only when Terry, a semi-retired microbiologist, feels it's ready.  This means that sometimes an earlier vintage is released after a later one.  It also means at least two other things: even if production weren't a small 5000-7000 cases a year, Kalin wines would never be big in retail markets (too confusing for most retailers and consumers); and the winery acts as the consumer's cellar, since people now have neither the training nor the proper space to store wines over time.  All of which explains the small number of retail outlets carrying Kalin Cellars (of the three Manhattan wine shops listed on the winery's website, only De Vino has more than one Kalin selection in inventory). And it helps explain the relatively high number and quality of restaurants offering the wines.

A pretty thorough summary of the Kalin Cellars story is available here on the Polaner site.  Polaner distributes the wines nationally. 

When I met Terry Leighton and Gabrio Tosti of De Vino for dinner at A.O.C. Bedford the other night, we spent four and a half fascinating hours devoted to nothing but wine.  And we drank two equally fascinating bottles of Kalin Cellars wine, which Terry brought chilled and ready to open.  We wasted no time after Gabrio arrived. 

Gabrio in a reflective moment

Falai and our riotous dinner

We went to Falai on a slow night last week for a dinner that lasted from 7:30 (first ones there) till 11:45 (last ones there).  I was glad to be back there, especially with a bunch of good friends and wisenheimers. 

I've written posts about great nights at that Lower East Side gem several times (here, here, and here.)

This time I left the heavy lifting to the keen eye, palate and pen of Fredric Koeppel.  His newest post on Bigger than Your Head describes the food and wine perfectly.  The wines are all interesting, but Gabrio of De Vino contributed the best of the evening, IMO, Merlanico d'Orta De Conciliis.  Grazie, Gabrio.

Ignore the goofy picture of some drunken fool alleged to be me.

And Another Thing: An Andy Rooney Moment

Gosh, it's a beautiful morning and I just feel like posting.  Even though I haven't anything in particular to say, no wine news tidbits, no deep insights into wine trends or my own evil heart.  That's all right, because someone has said to me, more than once, "You have absolutely nothing to say but you say it well." 

THE POLITICS OF DANCING

This song title from the 80s keeps resounding in my head.  What does it mean?  It must be significant as I reflect on recent changes in this great land of ours, which has become more like Italy where everything is politicized and therefore corrupt.  Well, OK, our food's gotten better.  There are some benefits in our descent.

This reminds me of a recent unpleasantness here in New York.  Two winemakers from the same region had just met and the better known and richer one found out that the other was using a very famous consulting oenologist.  The better known one started shouting that so-and-so consultant was a "parasite" and a "mafioso", that they all were, and that winemakers who depended on them were essentially punks who didn't know shit about making wine.  (In the ghetto, a punk is someone who is weak, shifty and something of a girly-man.)

A friend of mine was present.  He was incensed.  He said that Mr. Big Shot was a figlio di papa', meaning a spoiled rich kid whose father gave him everything without his having to work for it.  "And the father built his business empire on the backs of underpaid workers in Third World countries!  Who is this guy to be so arrogant?" 

Under all things everywhere there is a socio-politico-economic script.  It's a small world after all.

ITALIAN INVASION CONTINUES

Some weeks ago I wrote a post in Italian about the number of people from Italy that I see and hear on the streets of Manhattan.  Tourists galore, business people and Italians who live here (and often operate restaurants, wine shops, etc.).  September's half gone and the flood of Italians hasn't abated.  They seem to be thrilled with the New Yawk experience, which pleases me no end. 

Since I usually walk around with my iPod blasting in my ears, I don't hear them speaking or arguing in their lovely language.  But you always know the Italians by their shoes.

ITALIAN VINO INVASION ALSO CONTINUES

Speaking of the Italian invasion, I am expecting a number of friends and blogging wine folks to be trouping over here beginning soon.  First, Gianpaolo Paglia of Poggio Argentiera, a fast-rising winery in the heart of Morellino di Scansano territory (Tuscany), will be here in a few weeks. I believe he is doing another tour of key wine markets in the States.  (Yes, Gianpaolo?)

Around the same time Federico of Fiordimela, lo strudel boy, will be here on business.  It will be good to see him again.  (Want some samples, Fede.)

Then Filippo Ronco, the tireless young wine and marketing entrepreneur, will bring his wife and baby daughter to see the Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree and to visit his aunt, who lives exactly one block from me.

And in January my good buddy Tony Sasa will head a delegation of excellent if not always well-known producers from several regions of Italy.  One of those coming with him will be the oenologist Paolo Caciorgna, who by the way had eight of his wines presented at the Montecastelli tasting on Wednesday.  This guy's an awesome winemaker, and he's expanded his consultations to a new, exciting winery in northern California, Mendocino Farms.  I posted on this in Italian; you don't have to be fluent in that language to get the gist of what I said.  (Link here.)

DO I LOOK JEWISH TO YOU?

The post in which I wrote about the Montecastelli tasting is entitled, in Italian, "How I spent my Jewish New Year."

People used to say that in New York, "Everybody's Jewish."  They are in terms of the holidays you get -- many many people (public schools, many public offices and businesses) are closed on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Passover.  Unfortunately, no days off for Purim or Shavuos but we won't be greedy. 

I occasionally endure religious services on the big holidays as well as family dinners, etc.  (Although Richard Levy always serves me good good wine, ie, an interesting Barboursville Cab and a terrific $11 Lyeth Meritage last night.  Makes it all bearable, thank you, Richard.)  I'm sort of allergic to all religious services; don't they ever say anything new?  Must the sermons always be the same in every religion?  All you have to do in fill in certain blanks and you've got a Jewish or a Catholic or a whatever sermonizing piece of cliche.  Blah blah blah the prophets blah blah blah the founder of the religion blah blah blah community blah blah blah family and children blah blah blah God blah blah blah money money money. 

I was raised an Episcopalian and the main good thing about them, aside from their superior taste in wine, is that the sermons tend to be pithier.  Cocktails at the country club in fifteen minutes! 

It's funny that I ended up with a Jewish wife and a Jewish partner.  I always felt at home with Jews, and my mother, noted for her inherited loathing of the Catholic Church, used to tell me, "Love the Jews." I wondered why she was so insistent.

I later discovered that I am, in fact, technically Jewish.  Aye, this Irish-Scottish-Cockney boy is Jewish.

It's quite a romantic story.  In the 1860s an English schoolmaster from Liverpool (James Lennon!) eloped with a Jewish girl named Olivia (never got the last name).  Her family disowned her, sat shiva, the whole bit.  Olivia was a hot-blooded girl and clearly didn't care.  James got a good teaching position in Bangalore, India.  Olivia got pregnant, had a child also named Olivia, and promptly died.  (Ah the good old days of prompt retribution for sins.)

James was persuaded to send his daughter to live with some well-off, childless relatives near Dublin.  Olivia was raised as their daughter and in the Church of Ireland (Anglican).  She stood to inherit a good property and a tidy sum. 

But history repeated itself.  At 16 she ran off with John Bradshaw the Catholic gardener and started surviving many many childbirths.  My grandmother Fanny was one of them; and at 16 she sailed across the U-boat-studded ocean to Canada to escape from her rather grasping mother and meet up with her sister Sarah.  After a suitable interval Fanny gave birth to my grasping mother, and I escaped at an early age, etc.  Plus ca change. 

I didn't elope with anybody but I did inherit a rather hot-blooded disposition.

So here I am, eligible for passports from the UK, Ireland, and Israel.  For me the Law of Return applies to all three.  Needless to say, I wouldn't want to live in any of them.  As an Irish character in a movie replied when asked if she wanted to return home to live, "I'd sooner see meself dead."

Procianidine: polifenolo che ti salvera' la vita

Nel suo libro The Red Wine Diet il ricercatore britannico Roger Corder spiega il ruolo positivo di questo polifenolo nella manutenzione della salute cardiaca (ovvero arteriale).  Le bucce tanniche di uve rosse sono ricchi di procianidine, in particolare quelle italiane Nebbiolo, Sangiovese ed Aglianico. 

Il campione di tutte le uve italiane?  Sagrantino.  Corder segnala il Sagrantino di Montefalco Collepiano di Arnaldo Caprai; questo vino contiene i livelli di procianidine piu' alti del mondo.

 

NB: In generale i vini rozzi di Tannat, del Madiran nel Sudovest di Francia, sono i piu' ricchi di questa sostanza "miracolosa".

Come ho passato il Capodanno ebreo

Oggi il primo "pieno" giorno dell'anno nuovo ebreo, Rosh Hashanah, una feria per tutte le scuole e per i dipendenti municipali di New York City.  Traffico lite.  Anche gli inosservanti vogliono un weekend a quattro giorni.

Ieri al tramonto ha cominciato la festa, e io ero costretto ad andare alla sinagoga col compagno Ken.  (E perdonatemi per aver criticato gli Italiani per la predica lunga...la rabbina ha parlato per almeno 45 minuti, ed e' purtroppo vero che in tutte le religioni la predica e' sempre, al fondo, la stessa.  Mi sentivo vivere la storia del popolo ebreo in tempo reale.)

Ma cio' non era che una fetta di prosciutto (!) tra una degustazione pomeridiana della Montecastelli e una cena / degustazione / party con Marco Caprai.  Per fortuna non ho bevuto che una goccia di vino dopo una strepitosa serata prima a Falai con, inter alii, l'enotecaro delle star, Gabrio Tosti, produttore Gian Luigi Maravalle, umbro, e Fredric Koeppel blogger e giornalista del vino di larga riputazione.

Comunque.  Parlavo di mercoledi'. 

Alla degustazione della Montecastelli Selections, ero colpito dalla presenza dei vini fatti dal bravo enologo toscano, Paolo Caciorgna.  Ce n'erano otto, e quando Marquita Levy, la commessa che mi aveva invitato, mi ha detto che tutta un tavola era "un'altare dedicata a Paolo Caciorgna" (e lui una persona modesta!), io mi sono dedicato ad assaggiarne tutti, quasi all'esclusione degli altri.  (L'effetto Falai mi pesava ancora.  Troppo da mangiare, da bere.  Questa volta ho usato diligentemente la sputacchiera, mi raccomando.)

I vini di Paolo del giorno erano:

Abruzzo -- Nicodemi

Campania -- Poderi Foglia, Vestini Campagnano

Piemonte -- Ronchi

Toscana -- Cesani, La Rasina, Montecastelli "vini base della casa"

California -- Mendocino Farms

Segnalo brevemente i vini di vitigni autoconi campanesi di Poderi Foglia e Vestini Campagnano -- vivaci e puliti, "scoppiando" di tipicita'.  Quelli di Vestini Campagnano sono d'alta fascia, mica economici, ma la loro finezza brilla.  A un prezzo ben piu' abbordabile per l'enoappassionato di mezzi ristretti, i vini Poderi Foglia hanno un buon rapporto q/p.

Nel suo proprio terroir Paolo Caciorgna suona variazioni su tema sottili, al partire dall' Ireos 2006 Cesani, un Chianti dei Colli Senesi un po' leggero, equilibrato, facile da abbinare.  Sensazioni olfattorie di lavanda, ginestra, della macchia toscana.  Ottimo rapporto q/p.  Il Luenzo Rosso Toscano IGT (2003) e' grande, ricco e nonostante l'estate tropicale, e' suntuoso e equilibrato.  Un po' altino il Luenzo ma direi un prezzo valido per gli Stati Uniti (cassa di 12 bottiglie a $410 all'ingrosso.)  Ambedue vini intelligentemente barricati.

La Rasina mi e' piaciuto molto, il Brunello Il Divasco 2003 e' un gran bel vino dell'annata, mi rammentava del Vito Arturo di Fattoria Le Fonti, pero' un "ciglio" meno opulento.

La vera rivelazione e' stata Mendocino Farms, una nuova azienda biologica in una zona fresca, collocata al nord di Napa e Sonoma.  In presentazione: l'esordio dell'azienda con vini molto promettenti.  Paolo mi aveva parlato di questo progetto, il quale interessava molto a lui.  I vini hanno il loro carattere particolare, come sempre improntati dal loro territorio (un "trademark" di Paolo).  E dimonstrano che California ci darebbe piu' vini individuati se la permettessero.  Per lo piu' composti di uve di un singolo vigneto, quindi "cru", il rosso Red Vine Series 2004 Biodynamic Certified e' un uvaggio di Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah e Petite Syrah.  Di prezzo modesto il vino e' equilibrato e profumato -- niente della marmellata o troppi zuccheri.  Sorpresa: gradazione di 14.5% -- non sembrava. 

L'altro vino impressionante di Mendocino Farms: Fairburn Syrah 2005 Biodynamic Certified, 14.8% (non sembrava!). A soli 15 anni le viti producono un vino complesso, aromatico con sapori e profumi esotici, qualcosa di diverso e affascinante.  Le vigne producono, con un po' d'aiuto dagli amici, notevolmente Messer Paolo, un vino di grandi potenzialita'. 

Che bell'esordio!  Complimenti, Paolo e Madre Natura.

My 15 seconds of fame, courtesy of Fermentation

Tom Wark of Fermentation has published an interview with little old me, following up one with my friend Fredric Koeppel who is, happily, in New York this week.

I like this new feature of Tom's and can't wait to read more about those who toil in the vineyards of Blogdom.  Fermentation is the blog Big Time, so a posting about one (me, actually) is a very very good  thing.

Thanks very much, Tom, for both the chance to be heard and for the introduction you wrote.  I am proud but humble...

Top procyanidin wines from Italy and France

More about red wine and heart health.

Yesterday I wrote some generalities about the high procyanidin levels Roger Corder's analyses found in certain grapes (Tannat, Nebbiolo, Aglianico, etc.).  Here are some of the highest-procyanidin wines to emerge from those tests, from the two countries with the (so far) largest number of wines with this heart-healthy polyphenol.  First, Italy, because of something I laughingly call "editorial focus," then France, whose wines and health effects Corder has studied most intensively.

I have to pause to mention that a lot of factors seem to influence the amount of procyanidin in a wine.  Corder does a thorough job of explaining the whys and wherefors, but I want to pull out a couple of significant ones, at least in terms of many popular wines on the market today. 

* Longer hang times mean more sugars, less tannin and lower levels of procyanidin.  Traditional, old world producing areas tend to pick earlier than those in California, Australia, etc.

* Long ageng, especially in new oak, also reduces the amount of procyanidin in a wine.  Drink it young and tannic.  Which means you have to drink it with a meal, which Corder's research demonstrates is better for you in every way.

* Vineyard management is as important as vinification.  Not surprisingly, the highest levels of procyanidin are found in fruit from vineyards where rigorous green harvesting has been practiced.  And vines in infertile soil have more of it in their fruit.  In general sense, then, we might say that a high-procyanidin wine is also a good quality one, even if it isn't aged for a long time. 

* Ergo these aren't bargain bin wines.  A $9 Madiran probably isn't going to benefit you as much as a $20 one.  And no Sagrantino di Montefalco is ever going to be inexpensive.

Color me red: High procyanidin wines = best for your heart

Over the past decade there have been quite a few news stories arterial disease and generally promoting cardiac well-being.  Last year's flurry of excitement about resveratrol was typical.

Now, though, I suspect we have the holy grail of wine-health, and it is the substance procyanidin, whose properties and effects are described clearly and convincingly by Roger Corder, a medical researcher in England.  In his new book, The Red Wine Diet, Corder names names when it comes to high-procyanidin wines and producers, which makes it a useful early guide for the heart-conscious wine drinker.  I say "early guide" because many more wines have to be analyzed for procyanidin levels.  And I'm sure they will because it will be another great selling point for the red wines that test well.  Before too long, Corder hopes, labels will routinely tell us a wine's procyanidin level.

This magical polyphenol is most strongly present in young red wines.  There is a still to be explored relationship between grape variety, vinification (long contact with skins, etc.) and possibly soil.  He also notes that winemakers who go for sweetish, lightish, soft (not very tannic) wines sharply reduce the amount of procyanidin in their product.  Another strike against the international style.

Of course grapes aren't the only source of procyanidin.  Corder lists quite a few foods that contain high levels of the stuff, such as blueberries, walnuts, pomegranates, dark chocolate, etc.  But it seems that its interaction with alcohol produces the most powerful, beneficial effects at keeping arteries open and blood coursing.

By the way, even though the book ends with a lot of recipes and the usual diet-book stuff -- no doubt the publisher thought it would sell better as yet another miracle diet guide -- one of the best aspects of The Red Wine Diet is Corder's description of his investigational method and its hypotheses.  When I say convincing, I mean it; this is not one of those half-baked, faith-based prescriptions for weight loss and long life. 

Let's get to the part you've been waiting for...the specific grapes, regions and producers whose wines have so far shown the highest "scores" in regard to procyanidin.  Today's post will be an overview, a headline news service on this.  More to follow this week.

Teaser for tomorrow: heart health and red wine news

Which Italian grapes and wines have the highest levels of procyanidin, the substance that is really the wine-key to enhanced heart health?  (NB: Resveratrol doesn't actually do much for the old ticker.)

Which Italian wine has the highest level of procyanidin of any wine so far tested for it in the world?

The procyanidin news is most promising for red-wine producers in SW France, various parts of Italy,  and in Argentina...with some qualifications. 

Stay tuned.

A.O.C. Bedford, West Village gem

The nightly New York question -- Where do we eat tonight? -- took on new urgency and some complications. A great couple we'd met in Turkey were in town from Melbourne (not Florida, Australia) and we wanted to take them someplace good but unhackneyed.  We thought about the Lower East Side, but there was a taxi strike and the thieving drivers who had broken the strike were charging $15 a person to go down there.  We needed to find a place pretty close to a subway stop.  Anyway, much as we love the restaurants in the LES, most of them are Italian or Italian-ish and Ken said, "I'm so tired of Italian food.  And I can't go back to Barbone yet." 

I suggested some other faves.  Nope.  All Italian.

He got on the phone and asked for advice from a friend who takes her clients to excellent restaurants that are off the beaten path (i.e., not your typical, overpriced, underdelivering expense-account joints).  She recommended A.O.C. Bedford. (By the way, their web site is not operational.)  Good location -- not too far from the E train.  And David and Florence got to walk through the old heart of the beat/gay/now yuppifying west Village.

Ken made a reservation there even though Koeppel and Julie had been there some time ago and found it to be a confused madhouse.  Of course, they went right after a favorable review in the Times, which anyone with any sense --sorry, kids -- would know to avoid till the dust had settled.

Well, the dust has settled, and the dinner was marvelous.

Not only was the food marvelous, so was the service from the lovely Polish waitress and the attentive owner/sommelier. 

Hail, havoc in Veronese vineyards

My good friend Giampiero Nadali, creator and editor of one of the most closely followed wine blogs in Italy, Aristide, reports in his latest article and 4-minute video survey on the devastating hail storm that ravaged a wide area of "greater Valpolicella," including the Soave zone.  You don't need to understand his narration in Italian to understand the extent of the damage to the vines and fruit at this critical time, especially after a year of intense heat, drought and generally capricious weather.  It will take extremely good (and unusually lucky) producers to make enough quality wines to meet demand with the 2007 vintage.

Thank you, Giampiero, for this dramatic video.  No wonder, as you say, producers in your area are "worried." 

Quickie: Scu Do' prosecco

Give guests something bubbly without spending much, that's the idea behind prosecco.  This bland wine from northeastern Italy is hardly my favourite form of bubbly -- not that I'm all that crazy for bubbly in any form, with several honourable exceptions -- but I did order a couple of bottles from Astor Wines last time around. 

Scu Do' is from the best prosecco area, Valdobbiadene, and it is made by the local cantina sociale (Cantina Produttori di Valdobbiadene S.A.C.).  I assume Scu Do' is dialect for "gold shield," because that's the color and shape of the label.  By the way, the co-ops (cantine sociali) of northeastern Italy are very often top-notch in terms of both quality and price.  They regularly tap the best winemakers of their zone to head up the co-op's winemaking.

This non-vintage wine is a modest 11%, dry (it is labelled brut), and its bubbles are not too large or short-lived.  I put a Champagne stopper on a bottle last night, after we'd entertained a guest, and the bubbled were still alive tonight, with no degradation of flavour.  It's a soft wine that is balanced and strengthened by tinkling acidity (no chiming here), and lacking that shellac-like aftertaste that ruins so many proseccos for me.  It has a nice mouthfeel.  Its residual sugar doesn't ruin your appetite for either the food or the wine to come.

A nice festive, little wine for around $10.  Imported by H. Squared Wines, New York.

Collision of Titans: Wark, Koeppel & me

From a recent interview on Fermentation by Tom Wark with Fredric Koeppel: 

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Keep an audience in mind. Don't write about everything that happens to you every day (nobody cares). Don't be scatter-shot: learn from every wine you taste and write about. Taste wines all the time and read about wine, where it comes from and how it's made. Go ahead and pay a designer to do your site, unless you're really experienced. And ALWAYS include the price of the wine. Holy crap, it pisses me off when people don't do that!

(Emphases mine.)

In my perennially depressed state, I of course internalized all this to be a criticism of me and of my postings.  And I wondered, should I change my ways and not publish so many off-topic ramblings?  Must I go back and supply missing prices, almost two years' worth?  Should I be less "personal" and more detached, Olympian even?  Ought I to introduce a point system?  Do I dare to eat a peach?  ("There he goes again, LL.")

After much rumination I decided that 'twere a far far better thing than I've ever done before to provide a sort of sample post to wineblogging newbies, a template, a model, something to aspire to.  For I believe that blogging should be a highly personal, even intimate form of communication.  It stimulates the same level of curiosity and recognition that must have excited the readers of Defoe when the English novel was being born. 

If it's voyeurism, it's not the pathetic kind.

Read on, McBloggers (and you too FK)...

Spot the Kosher Wine: Ready for Rosh Hashanah

I had wanted to do this tasting when the one and only Fredric Koeppel was in town, but he's not coming to New York until next week.  Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) begins the evening of September 12, however, so I organized a double-blind tasting last night with Ken and Julie, who aren't wine mavens but they do like wine and they have drunk wine of many types and many price points in their lives.  And "they know what they like."  I would say that both of them have middle-of-the-road preferences, which made them excellent guinea pigs (non-kosher food, sorry) for the experiment.

I don't know how many people who come to mondosapore are observant Jews who keep kosher, but the point of the tasting, really, was to discover if you could tell a kosher wine from a non-kosher one. 

It seems that our intrepid tasters could not.  This fact alone changed attitudes toward kosher wine and wine from Israel too.  Good news for Royal Wines, who import the 3 kosher reds we tasted -- crossover wines all of them.

To baffle them completely, I set up seven wines -- 2 whites, a rose and 4 reds -- although there were just 3 kosher wines, all of them red.  I wrote up tasting sheets and asked Julie and Ken to describe the color, aroma and taste of each wine, as well as their overall assessment.  I also asked "COUNTRY?"  Their guesses were all over the globe, pretty much all wrong.  But some of their observations were quite shrewd.

Here is a summary of our comments on each of the 4 reds.  To find out where the wines came from, read the continuation.

4. Cabernet Franc 2002,13.5% alcohol.

Color: Bright garnet red, rich-looking and inviting, looks "alive"

Aroma: Bordeaux-like, slightly herbal, powerfully cab franc, strong olive notes

Taste: Peppery, earthy and "woodsy", medium-bodied, good acidity, long finish.  Perhaps a bit overripe on the finish.

Country:  France most likely.

Assessment:  Good food wine, Julie said "neutral" (OK but could take or leave).

5. Rhone blend 2005, 14.5%

Color:  Ruby, dense-looking, almost purple

Aroma: Dark fruits, "woodsy", "musky,"

Taste: Peppery, herbal, opens to  floral notes  (violets?)

Country:  "I can't tell but it tastes like it's from a country where they've been making good wine for a long while."

Assessment: Very good to excellent (Julie's favorite of the evening)

6. Bordeaux blend 2003, 13.5%

Color:  Deep, purple-red

Aroma: Earthy, chocolate notes, At first suggested cornstarch (!) to me

Taste: Lush, rather soft in tannins, peppery notes, a bit of chocolate, somewhat "shallow" -- pleasing on the tongue but not huge depth of flavor

Country: Italy?

Assessment:  Julie's second favorite of the tasting, fair (Ken), good but a bit unbalanced (not enough acidity) (me)

7. Bordeaux blend 2004, 14%

Color: Ruby, garnet

Aroma:  dark rich fruit, smoky, vanilla

Taste: Green herbal, pepper, eucalyptus, mint, olives, extremely long

Country:  France?

Assessment: Ken and I thought it by far the best of the evening. Julie would buy if the price were reasonable

Labor Day: New direction needed and soon

What is a social contract? 

I'm sorry to ask an absurd question, because I know I live in the America of today, not of yesteryear or, possibly, tomorrow.  But we'd better re-learn the answer to that question or we'll be well and truly fucked as a country.  If we aren't already.

I bring this up because it's Labor Day.  And labor is the most disregarded and degraded part of our society. 

I draw some small hope from a column by Bob Herbert of the New York Times on Saturday.  He quotes a union leader who does not seem cut from the crude cloth of old.  This union leader is "Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, which has 1.9 million members and is the fastest-growing union in the country," as Mr. Herbert tells us. 

I have to quote Mr. Herbert (and Stern) at length, although you should go to the Herbert column and read the whole thing. 

“I just don’t think that as a country we’ve conceptualized that this is not our father’s or our grandfather’s economy,” Mr. Stern said in an interview. “We’re going through profound change and we have no plan.”

The feeling that seems to override all others for workers is anxiety. American families, already saddled with enormous debt, are trying to make it in an environment in which employment is becoming increasingly contingent and subject to worldwide competition. Health insurance, unaffordable for millions, is a huge problem. And guaranteed pensions are going the way of typewriter ribbons and carbon paper.

“We’re ending defined benefit pensions in front of our eyes,” said Mr. Stern. “I’d say today’s retirement plan for young workers is: ‘I’m going to work until I die.’ ”

The result of all of this — along with such problems as the mortgage and housing crisis, and a domestic economy that is doing nothing to improve living standards for ordinary Americans — is fear.

“Workers are incredibly, legitimately scared that the American dream, particularly the belief that their kids will do better, is ending,” said Mr. Stern. He is trying to get across the idea that in a period of such profound change, the old templates, the traditional ideas and policies of even the most progressive thinkers and officeholders, will not be sufficient to meet the new challenges.

Near the end of the column, Mr. Stern is quoted as saying:

What he would like to see, he said, is a large group of thoughtful people from various walks of American life — business, labor, government, academia and so forth — convened to begin the serious work of cooperatively developing a real-world vision of a society that is fairer, healthier, better educated, better prepared to compete globally, and more economically secure.

“I think you’re already seeing the beginnings of odd formations of people who appreciate, issue by issue, that we have to do something different here,” he said.

The kind of effort Mr. Stern would like to see would logically be initiated at the highest levels of government, preferably the White House. But if that’s not in the cards, someone else should take up the challenge. And there should be a sense of urgency about it.

The fears of America’s workers are well founded. “There’s something wrong with the system right now,” said Mr. Stern, “and we can’t just say, ‘Well, it’s all going to work out.’ It’s not.”

This is serious stuff.  We need new thoughts, new policies, new ways of thinking about and approaching our huge problems.  Not along party or ideological lines but along human lines.  The greatest difficulty of Americans is to see people from a lower socio-economic class as real, as fully formed human beings who deserve the consideration that those above them expect.  Worse, we have a de facto caste system that consigns working people to a lesser level of life.  I don't mean just in terms of "standard of living" but in terms of what they can rightly expect from their life on this earth.  Not to mention the validity of their voice in the public life of the country. 

You may see me as an old, out-of-it left-wing liberal.  I see a vast percentage my fellow citizens and human beings relegated  to an existence that our society deems of little or no value. 

What kind of Central American country are we becoming?