Pizza, Red Wine and a Warning

Continuing commentary by guest reviewer Beatrice Russo

There’s 2 pictures on my email and a note from Italian Wine Guy. “Feeling better now. Pizza and red wine. Need chocolate. Later.” :-X

Italian Wine Guy is Still Gone
The dude is out there. I’m not sure where he’s going. Well, it’s Saturday afternoon, I don’t have much to do. His beat up old cat came back for some food and sunshine. I’m driving his car and opened up a bottle of expensive red wine. Some bottle from Unbria. I called a friend to come and drink it with me, but he was studying for a master sommelier exam next week. Yeah right, that’s gonna get him what he wants.

I’m thinking of learning how to cook some more things. My idea is to lean away from the Food Netwreck, maybe learn how to really cook stuff from scratch. In more than 30 minutes. If the goal is not to be the Julia Child of the double-wide set, then I could just get on a plane and go to Palermo or Bologna. But I’m broke, so that’s out for now.

I met a cook-stud at Burning Man, he had a café in Placerville, told me I could stay in his extra room and work on the line. I’m gonna pass for now.

The chef at this fancy new Italian-disco restaurant, I met him and he said I could work there. But he got fired on opening day. So that’s out.

My Life Sucks?
It kinda does. It better get mo-bettah, soon. Ahright, on to the plunder.

I saw this wine standing up in Alfonso’s wine closet and it had the word BEA on it, which is my nickname. It was called Rosso de Véo, vino da Tavola. On the label it also had “DIFFICLE, ma sorprendente - piovosa,ma buona”

From what I can tell it’s a 2002 red wine from Umbria with the grapes of Sagrantino, Sangiovese and Montepulciano. Lots of writing in Italian on the label, looks like a lab sample. I hope the old guy, oh what the hell, he might not even come back. I could start opening up the old Monfortino or Sassicaia wines, maybe that would bring him, nah. Yeah, but he’s over that, told me last week, “I’m not a Gaja-rexic, I’m not into wine-porn. I don’t have any appetite for these overexposed and overpriced wines. I can’t enjoy them anymore. I just want a good, well-made bottle of wine, I don’t care who made it.”

Sounds a little cynical to me. (Like a guy with gout who's swearing off fois gras.)

I had some pizza dough and the pantry had a bottle of some Sicilian sauce, looked exotic. He probably doesn’t care about that either. Scrounged up a pizza stone, almost started up the fire pit outside. Found some arugula growing wild outside and a corner of some forgotten prosciutto. Dinner. With wine.

Two Hours Later
I hope he takes his sweet time coming back. The cat is feeling better. Someone in this house is finally opening up wine, the weather is perfect. Wish my goofy friend wasn’t so hung up on getting his master sommelier pin. (Vegas called; they need more bouncers and less sommeliers.)

This Rosso from Bea is good! Pretty strong wine, almost 15%. Like I’d know at this point. Smells kinda like my aunt’s porch, when it rained. The flowers and the wood floor, that’s it.

Tastes pretty good. Has an old style, not all gummy and syrupy. Nice with my pizza. I used the arugula and prosciutto, and found some Parm-Regg. The secret Sicilian sauce rocked. I wonder what Pachino means.

You've Been Warned
Hey, Alfonso, if you are out there reading this: I’m thinking of opening up a bottle of wine from way before I was born. If I don’t hear from you today, I guess it will be ok. I told my wine-sommelier junkie about one of the wines I found in your closet and he said I should stand it up and let it settle. Something about a 1968 Barolo from Conterno being ready to drink, way ready.



You’ve been warned, Italian Wine Dude!