Sometimes life is a cornucopia of events. And sometimes it’s
a dry well in the desert. And this week, while it is tending more towards the
first, we are going the whole hog.
Master sommelier Bobby Stuckey and chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson have been sauntering across Texas with their Frasca/Scarpetta road
show. Dallas on Tuesday, Austin on Wednesday, Houston on Thursday, that kind of
deal. And while tomorrow will find me on a totally ‘nother wine trail, today we
lingered in Italy; Friuli to be exact. And man, was it good.
The Scarpetta wines mainly hail from Friuli; we sampled four,
the 2010 Timido Sparkling Rosé, the 2010 Friulano Bianco, the 2010 Pinot Grigio and the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc.
We finished with the fifth from Piemonte, 2010 Barbera Monferrato.
I have to stop right now and talk about the food. Holy moly,
chef Lachlan served up one of the best things I have had this year – in any country.
Yeah. You heard me. Riso Adriatico. We were sampling the 2010 Pinot Grigio and the
2009 Sauvignon when the plates arrived. The room filled up with the perfume of the
Adriatic. And then we ate it. And then our palates experienced wave after wave
of the essence of the Adriatic. Lachlan came out and described the process of making the
seafood risotto. Essentially it is the kitchen sink approach, everything from
the sea, chopped very finely and then slow steeped until it gets a little “dank.”
The process reminded me of Garum, the uber-funky fish sauce made in Roman
times. Lachlan’s was rich and gorgeous, I really felt like I was on the shores
of the Adriatic; from Grado to San Benedetto del Tronto to Ortona.The
wines, the aromas, the plates, it was perfect. Like I said, one of the best
things I have eaten all year.
Lachlan loves frico, heck his twitter tag is @eatfrico. So
he interpreted a pleasant version as an appetizer. Really popped with the
Friulano. Lachlan can cook.
And Bobby? Always a pleasure to be around someone who elevates
the discussion and everyone around the table. Levitating Bobby, his new
nickname. So what did he do that was so notable? I thought you’d never ask.
Bobby makes me stretch, and not in a master sommelier kind of way. When he talks about Italian
wine, whether it be from Friuli or Piemonte, like he did today, he always puts
it in context of the larger picture. The whole hog. Educating but never
condescending. Reminds me of another pal of mine in Colorado, Damon Ornowski.
Must be the Colorado air. Or maybe we are really lucky to have gents like this
in the Italian wine world.We sure need 'em these days.
Talking about Pinot Grigio, Bobby gently nudged all of us at
the table (sommeliers included) about revisiting Pinot Grigio. But the real
stuff, of which Friuli has some of the greatest expressions.
Funny, because the other day I was sipping on a Scarbolo Pinot Grigio in Austin
and loving the searing acidity. Bobby and Lachlan's 2010 Scarpetta Pinot Grigio is in that league, maybe
not as bracingly sharp, but as a white wine from Friuli, true to its place. Not some
watered down sorry-assed excuse of a wine, which most so-called Pinot Grigios
can be.
And then we came to the Sauvignon. Right as Lachlan was plating the Riso Adriatico, Bobby took us on a journey across the Loire and back to Friuli. The essence of it, and I agree completely with his, is that the Loire Valley is not the place to look for the next Didier Dagueneau- Friuli is.
After spending some time there over the years, I can only
hope America and her wine loving people will begin to embrace these wines. They
aren’t cheap. But they are wonderful wines.
Lastly we sampled a 2010 Barbera from Monferrato. Bobby nailed it
when he talked of the perfect plum. I remember my days as a young man in the
Santa Clara Valley, where I had some of the best plums in my life. The Barbera
had the fruit, the acidity, what Bobby called “tangular.” Yeah, I’m with ya bro. Tangy meets angular. I’m dancing the
tangular.
Huge kudos to Bobby for the wines and for chef Lachlan and his
team for bringing Frasca to Texas for the week. How many wine companies can bring
their kitchen with them? When they do and when it is something as esoteric and
wonderful as Friuli, it really helps sell the region and the wines so much
easier.
Speaking of Friuli, at the end of this post, seeing as the labels represent a pig, inspired by Bobby and Lachlan’s love of prosciutto San Daniele, I have dropped in a few shots (below) from our COF11 trip last year to Friuli when Nico and I were invited to a hog butchering. They say a pig gets fat and a hog gets butchered. We watched as the team of four butchers took a 400 pound hog down in about 90 minutes. That day they did three or four. The images are not for the faint of heart, even though I posted the tamer ones.
Anyway, if you eat pork, it comes from a living creature, a
pig. And we butcher them and that’s the way it is. In the case of the butchers
we visited in Friuli, they consider the whole hog and nothing, nothing goes to
waste. Respect your food. In Friuli those ways are gospel.
