Just One Word

Kudos to the folks in the Marche region for not parading another scantily clad Miss Italy around to promote their wines. But Dustin Hoffman? What in God’s green earth does he have to do with the furthering of Conero or Piceno? Using celebrity to sell Montepulciano? I’m sorry Italian wine marketers, I for one, just don’t get it. It’s another disconnect, like the constant use of Flash on Italian web sites or the misunderstanding of social media like blogs, Twitter and Facebook, hell even Youtube, to integrate the new media into the culture of Italian wine.

Are you trying to seduce us?

If you are, it just isn’t working folks.

I want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Are you listening?

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Vinitaly: Instant Impressions

Friday lagniappe - a few instant shots from the retro-mobile - Homage à Polaroid.

"Instant" photos by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Vinitaly Report: Italy’s Little (Social Network) Problem

From the "Will they ever get it?" department

Ok, I am going to go "all' Americano" on this one. I have been blogging my heart out for, oh, I don’t know, let’s say four years now. Seriously. The beat is Italy. Italian wine. I have gotten lucky and I have a good amount of people around the world coming to On the Wine Trail in Italy to read these posts. I am dialed into the industry, both in Italy and America. So what’s the deal with the knuckleheads who run things at Vinitaly? You know, the ones who put together seminars and decide topics, and such? At Vintialy those who make the decisions, decided it would be about time to finally put together a WINE AND SOCIAL NETWORKS seminar. So guys, why no love for the American bloggers?

Franco Ziliani got in touch with me early on and invited me and a slew of bloggers, Italian and American and from around the globe to his opening event in the Puglia pavilion on rosato wines. Someone knows that there are folks who write about Italian wine outside of the Italian culture and language. You now, the ones who help drive export sales and stimulate the Italian economy?
The internet is English centric, at least for the Western world. Hell, even the Chinese have figured out the “worldwide web” works better in English. I blog about Italian wine for four years now, have been a loyal Italian wine ambassador in America for 30 years. I’m an early adaptor, have figured out how to plug into Facebook, Twitter, Twitpic, Flickr, Friend Feed, Webshots. So who is in charge over at the press office at Vinitaly? Why did I find out about this event after it was all over? The internationally-inclusive nature of the seminar was, how do I say it, so very 19th century. Pirandello would be so proud of y'all.

Oh, niente signore. Farle vedere che se noi oltre la illusione non abbiamo altra realtà, è bene che anche lei diffidi della realtà sua, di questa che lei oggi respira e tocca in sé, perché – come quella di ieri – è destinata a scoprirlesi illusione domani.

I got on Twitter and asked around.

@ItalianWineGuy What's up with the knuckleheads who planned the #Vinitaly social media/blogging panel? What, don't American wine bloggers get invited?

These folks, Tweeted back:
@robbin_g and it was a complete snoozer!
@vinoiskeeno @italianwineguy it was ridiculous.
@WineOnTheRocks@italianwineguy Vinitaly and Organisation... not the best blend - uuuhhh, I mean - no comment!
Where was@tirebouchon?@ViniSMargherita?@brunellomaker?@mondosapore?@slgold ?

@Vinoalvino?


Yes, where was Franco Ziliani? If anyone is the Alder Yarrow, Eric Asimov, Steve Heimoff, Dr Vino and Tom Wark all rolled up into one uber-Italian blogger, it has got to be Franco Ziliani – why wasn’t he invited, involved?
Italian bloggers Filippo Ronco of TigullioVino, Vinix and Giampiero Nadali of Aristide Blog were there. Hell, they were presenters. I even got a Re-Tweet from Giampiero as I was writing this – he’s plugged in!

Note to folks who make the decisions at Vinitaly: thanks for including the good old USA. Crawl out from inside your 19th Century cave and wake up to the new global world order. It’s flat – it’s transparent – and you all are failing. Time for another Risorgimento, people.

Funny how Italy looks to America to buy their wines, in good years and bad, in years of crisis and scandal as well as in years of plenty. Many an Italian wine consultant is driving around Italy in Maseratis and Porsche Cayennes, courtesy of the money they have made selling wine to America. It’s equally mystifying that Italy, once again, is myopic when it comes to learning about how these things work. Once again, Italy falls back into their outdated cultural pecking order, a world in which only the Alto-Borghese have anything of value to say and the rest of us folks down below, the Terrones, are there to simply shut up and serve their masters.


Shame on all y’all. I give Vinitaly an “F” on their report card for the lame WINE AND SOCIAL NETWORKS seminar they held. As we say in good old America, “F ‘em Danno!”

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Vinitaly Day 5 ~ "With my mouth and nothing else."

Last day, Vinitaly. This has been one of the busiest Vinitaly’s I can remember in 30 years. I am completely overwhelmed with the relationships, the connections and the stunning wines many of my producer friends are making. But next year I have to bring some colleagues with me, because it is just too much for one person to try and tackle. But try I did, and I ran, not walked, this Vinitaly. Even the last day, which is traditionally a day to wrap things up (many of the producers have already left Sunday night), I found myself getting around and making one more visit, one more tasting. It was actually one of my best days, in the aspect of being able to talk to some of my friends. Aldo Vacca, looking tired, his eyes slightly bloodshot from manning his booth under the hot lights on the Piedmont Pavilion, poured some stunning wines. I will post about this soon. My friend Pino, pouring one last taste of Illuminati Brut as we share one more sip, one more story.

Two Barolo’s for €6.90 - That'll be US $4.70 per bottle, folks

I found an old hand, a gent, who has come up with a couple of interesting wines, an odd couple of sorts. A Barbara D’Asti and a Falanghina, both DOC’s that can sell well below US $10. And with the recent sighting of 2005 Barolo selling for under US $5, in Italian stores, I reckon there are all kinds of values lurking.

Many people told me the wineries are ready to deal. Barolo for $4.70. From a large, modern co operative. Now we’re talking “back to business.”

Hey, I don’t want to get my friends who are making fine artisanal small production wine upset. I understand their “fixed costs”. I understand the need to improve a winery and the land and the farm machines. I’m not sure a Lamborghini is a legitimate farm machine, unless of course it is the tractor version, not the 2 door sport coupe that goes 200 mph. But hey, they have it in Napa and in Bordeaux, and elsewhere. Wine is still emotion, it’s drama, it’s the big show. I just think there are millions of people we have yet to reach who just want to drink Italian wine, good solid, everyday kind of stuff that is still reachable, still within the grasp of us “little people.”

That said, my last stop, my very last stop at the stands at Vinitaly, was a wonderful way to finish the show. My palate was beyond scorched. I was ready to go home, pack, get a nice glass of Soave in a wine bar, wait for a restaurant to open (on Monday, no easy task) and get a little pasta, some fresh veggies, maybe some nice roasted fish and get on the plane back to Texas. And then I stepped up to the booth of Christoph Künzli. His estate, Le Piane, in Boca, is one of those magical stories. Sit back; let me tell you the story of how he saved the DOC of Boca from near extinction. And for my friendly sommelier friends reading this, if we can get any of these wines, you will want them.

Amongst rural communities and green pastures we pass through small stone bridges, old farms, tool sheds and the extremely thick forests alongside the road. Once, there use to be thousands of hectares of vines in this area, hundreds of years back...and if I hadn’t seen the aerial photos that show the village of Boca completely surrounded by vineyards...I never would have believed it.- Armando Castagno

Imagine this: you stumble into a village, an ancient wine region. At the turn of the century there were 40,000 hectares in production. 80 years later there were less than 700 left. An old man, making wine in barrels they still rested, year after year, going back decades. And these were beautiful, delicious, supple wines. These were treasures of the Colline Novaresi. This is what Christoph Künzli and his partner Alexander Trolf stumbled upon, this treasure trove of Italian wine history. The old man was Antonio Cerri. His heirs, what heirs? He was preparing to retire, in his 80’s. He was leaving this all behind, as we all must do some day. But he wasn’t quite ready to hand it all over to Künzli and Trolf. It took nearly ten years for these young men to assure the old man, this Obi-Wan of wine, that they would honor his life’s work. He would take them into his cellar and they would taste the ’47, the ’50. This liquid history I talk about on the wine trail in Italy, this was one of those places, like Fiorano, Monsecco, Voyat. Bygone bottles. I had heard about this place long ago, in Novara, in a wine shop. We were talking to an old guy in 1984, and he was telling us about this wine, Boca, up in the hills. His dialect was too hard to understand, but one of the young men in the store told us that he said, “There is an old man up in the hills making wine the old way, the ancient way. Making wine for the ages.” And that was all I heard. I was on my way top more important places, to Barolo, to Barbaresco. And we didn’t have time.

Christoph did have time and he found one of the Holy Grails of wine. But not only that, he saw the shrinking of the vineyard space, left to go back to wilderness, to forest, A terroir preserve for the future. Vision. Patience. Timing. Reward.

An image of a vineyard recalled a trellis system long gone from the training manuals of Montpellier, San Michele all'Adige and Davis. Called the Maggiorina system, where a vine is trained to form a cup of sorts, a grand receptacle in the vineyard. Sounding like something from “Avatar” and Pandora, this system has been resuscitated by Künzli, a system that, legend has it, was designed by Alessandro Antonelli, who was born in nearby Maggiora. Antonelli became famous for designing the Mole Antonelliana, a major landmark of the Italian city of Turin. A building was conceived and constructed as a synagogue and now housing the National Museum of Cinema. Interesting connections, I am intrigued. Hell, I am planning a trip just to go see this winery, this area.

The wines are small production and are in a premium price range by today’s economic standards. No they aren’t 2 for $9. More like $70. Ok, there is room for one more at my table. Especially with a story like this one.

And how were they wines? How do you think? After five days of tasting all kinds of wines, as I said with a scorched palate, these the last wines I tasted before I headed to Soave and to sooth my palate of soft white wines from the Veneto?

Let me tell you, these wines were beautiful. The Boca DOC, the “Piane” Colline Novaresi DOC and the “La Maggiorina” Colline Novaresi DOC, we tried, going back a few years. There are tasting notes on the site if you care for that sort of information. There are blogs as well; I’ll link the info here and here.

How rare, and how wonderful it was, on the last day, to come upon Christoph, this steward of history, carrying on, making the wines of Boca, in his simple way. Or as he said, "With my mouth and nothing else.”

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Vinitaly Day 4 ~ Speaking Visentin around the Fogo

gh'è pì paròle che lugànega

After another full day of hitting the stands, several of us decided to hit the road and take the Maculan family up on an invite to come to a Veneto BBQ at their stunning winery in Breganze. Great food, wine and company, one more reason to love Italy. But I do miss Texas. It has been the longest winter in my life. And I know when I get home it will be full-tilt Spring. I’m getting there.

Before I step on that plane, though, I spent a cool evening under the stars. My days have been filled with meetings, wine tastings, running around, the usual Vinitaly shuffle. So when I saw the local folks standing around the fire, talking in their dialect, I walked over to them and started asking, “come si dice questa in vènet?” How do you say it in the Veneto dialect? Probably not grammatically correct. But the spirit is a funny thing. When folks feel you are into communicating, even at a basic level, they respond. So it was on Sunday.

All the words for the chicken (polastro), the polenta (poenta), unless it gets hit by the fat from the fat of the sausage (lugànega) and then it’s poenta onta. I am probably messing up the spelling, but I am sure there is someone out there who will correct, someone who knows.

The Easter Colomba cake had a different name from each person I asked. But then I figured there were folks from different places and my inside Veneto expert always tells me there are many dialects in the Veneto.

In fact, we were having so much fun eating the last of the beans (in Salsa Veneta - with liver and anchovies) cutting up around the fire, (fogo), laughing and sharing a little ‘sgnape (or "sgnappa" - grappa) along with a little Torcolato (and some '89 D'Yquem), when one of my new friends corrected me. “We aren’t teaching you vènet, we’re teaching you Visentin.” So even deeper we went into the country, the culture, me a total innocent fool, who has been on the road too long, and finding a few moments on a Sunday to connect with something real, something you don’t find on the tourist routes. And that has been my quest ever since I first stepped into this county 40 years ago as a very young man. And while I’ll never really be an “Italian”, I know I have connected and will continue to connect, even with my faulty language and my silly sayings. The key to the heart is kindness. As my dear wife Liz so often would exemplify in her too short life, kindness opens doors that the force of 100 elephants cannot. I looked up at the stars in the cold night, thinking about her and those I love. I’m coming home.

The guys around the fire, such a great bunch, were warming themselves. “How are you doing, capo?” they asked me. “Io sono satsio e pieno,” I replied. I am satisfied and full. “E vecio,” they replied. And old, yes. Thanks guys!


As we left I waved to my pals and we all said “sciào” to each other. But that’s a whole ‘nother story, isn’t it Dr.P?

written and ultimately photographed by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Vinitaly Day 3 ~ Mishegas Impossible

“You like to walk fast,” @robbin_g tweeted. I was. It was crazy. This Vinitaly is so crazy, I’ll never get around to seeing all the people I have to see, let alone make time to “float” and check out what’s new. It’s an impossible dream, to actually do all one wants to or needs to do in a show like this.  Mishegas Impossible. And at the end of the day, my dogs were barking.

I guess trying to do all that and do a daily post is getting to me. And the marathon of meat, roasted, boiled, grilled, fried, cured. When I get back home, I’m tackling spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce. I promise.

So while this will be a short one, I have to tell you about a wine I found yesterday, and probably one of the most interesting wines I have seen in the show. It is red. It is sweet. And it is made from Montepulciano. And while folks who know me know how much I love the Nico from Illuminati, and I do, isn’t there always room for one more sticky? In my world, there is.

The meat platter at Cenacolo in Verona - eat your heart out, Texas Hill Country. The "grape soda" in Verona is better too

Note to Sausage Paul back home – this one is for you buddy. You are going to flip over this one. I did. And I know you'd love the roasted meat platter above, too.

The wine is called Clematis, from the Zaccagnini folks. Montepulciano is harvested in the vineyard and left to wither outside (note to nearby birds: stay away :). The sensation in the nose is typical of Montepulciano – grapey, a little of the darker berry fruit aromas. Inky. And then there is this little thread of exotic perfume that wafts up, ever so gently. It is saying, “go ahead, take a sip, it won’t hurt you.” Tempting. So why not take a sip, a little bite? And then the wine is tasted and this incredible array of flavors woven together making a whole new experience. I never use the word synergy, but that would describe whatever happened when I tasted this wine. I can barely describe it (my notes simply had “wow!), but I love, love, loved that wine. And I have had more than my share of great wines lately. (not bragging). Sulpizio Razzi (ok, now that’s a great name) and his daughter Carley Razzi (and a great wine industry name) met with me to present their wines. Sadat X is a fan (the f’up factor guy on YouTube - check out his special Zaccagnini award video). I’m a fan now too.


Ok, out of here, hope all is well at home. Hope my “editor” back home catches my grammar mistakes. I have a lot of quaffing to do. I could also use a new coif. And I could really go for a coffee right now, too. Buon lavoro, tutti!

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Vinitaly Day 2 ~ It may be Friday, but it seems like Tuesday

“I’m here to do excellent business with your company as I produce fantastic wine!”

Dear friend Andrea Sartori nailed it - tired but happy

Holy Guacamole, I’m tired. It’s been two weeks now on the wine trail in France and Italy. I wanna go home. But we have just done day two of Vinitaly with three more to go. If this were a normal work week, it would be Tuesday. But it’s Friday, and Vinitaly has been a whirlwind of activity. Sitting with Andrea Sartori, the outgoing president of the Confederazione Italiana della Vite e del Vino-Unione Italiana Vini. He had just finshed lunch with the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, and the governor of the Veneto, Luca Zaia. We were sipping his bubbly, Arnea, and all at the table commented that it feels like Sunday. Needless to say, we have all been busy, and we have a few more days to go. As we say back home, we’ve just started cooking!

Robert Bava of Cocchi Americano

The day started out with a quick stop to say hello to old friend Roberto Bava. Roberto is an “idea man” and he was excited about his aperitivo wine, Cocchi Americano. “Do bianchi,” he yelped to his son, and two glasses appeared. And in the glass went his concoction of the aperitivo , some orange zest and a sprizt of fizzy water. It was a great recalibrater for the palate. He then made another version with the Cocchi Alta Langa Blanc ‘d Blanc Metodo Classico. Always one for a story, Roberto recalled a promotion for his Malvasia wine in a sports stadium in South Korea. The idea was to get everyone who had a date to kiss and then to get themselves on the big screen in the stadium. Those who got their kiss recorded in the crowd would win a bottle of the wine. “Can you imagine a whole stadium of people kissing? We had to get the permission of the president of Korea! Sexy Malvasia wine from Italy!” Good job, Roberto.

Special Dee-livery: Courtesy of hard working winemaker Roberto Voerzio

Down the hall in the Winebow office, a landmark meeting place, I was hunkered down tasting through a series of wines, when who but Roberto Voerzio rolled a two wheeler in. He was making a Hot Shot deliver ( as we call in the trade, unless you’re in ATX, where they call is an SPU, sales pick-up). Roberto was happy, animated and ready to talk. I had never seen him at Vinitaly or like this so we stopped and chatted him up. Always the innovator, he pulled out his cue card, something he did for fun and read to us, “I’m here to do excellent business with your company as I produce fantastic wine!” Yes you do, Roberto, we love them and it was great seeing you on the wine trail.

My notes have me tasting close to 100 wines on day 2 and my palate got a little scorched, going from Tuscany to Sicily to the Veneto to Piedmont and Abruzzo, and around and around, one more time. One more time. Awesome day. And that was just the wine. So a little about the food too, for my restaurant professionals back home.

Lunch was a multicultural affair, hosted by Il Borra and their noted and very talented young sommelier, Luca Martini, and chef Roberto (it has been the day of Roberto) Bendinelli. One of the most creative dish presentations I have seen at Vinitaly was his ravioli, which was “plated” in a bottle, a magnum, cut in half and served up with the logo cork of the winery. It paired well with the always smooth and delicious Il Borro wines. My table was international, people from Italy, Hungary, Germany and Scandinavia. The wine and food was Italian – the common language was English. But that’s a whole ‘nother story. Greatness.


At the Illuminati stand later in the day, I met up with old friend Tony McClung, sharing a glass of Illuminati Brut, when legendary cheese maven and Slow Food legend Enrico Fracassa appeared with an amazing platter of his Pecorino Infossato & Ventricina Teramana dei Monti della Laga. Oh. My. Goodness. I know I sound like a kid in a candy store, but being part of a cheese movement back home, this was like going to the mountain top. I only wish my friend Paula Lambert back home were here for this. I will go visit Enrico, very soon, and again, that’ll be a whole ‘nother story. Tony was in Pig Heaven as the Ventricina is essentialy a crostini of pepper and a special kind of pork. Needless to say it went down real well with the imcomparable bubbles from dear friends at Illuminati. Funny vignette – when Enrico showed up at the booth, winemakers from Abruzzo and journalists poured into the stand – it was like Enrico is the Pied Piper of Pecorino. Patienza, I’ll get to it. Soon. I promise.

Finally, we ended our day with the kind folks from the Dievole winery. We met at the famous Le Cantine de Arena, the brasserie downstairs. In all my years coming to Verona and Vinitaly this place is legendary. But I had never been. The “master of the fire” is a larger than life fellow. Sweet guy. They bring these "Texas sized" platters of meat out on a sizzling plate that’s covered with a conical shaped dome with a hole in the top (food mavens, please, tell me what this is called? Tagine/tajin is what my friends wrote back). It was a mellow finish with new and old friends and the spot-on wines from Dievole. And that too is another blog post. I need to go there and meet the cat who only eats steak. The doggy bag we loaded up for him was easily 3 pounds worth of steak. And yes, I totally blew my diet on this day.



And that’s the way it was. More to come!

written, photographed and eaten by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Vinitaly Day 1 ~ The Pavilion of Dreams

Two of my favorite chaps under the Tuscan Sun are related. Ugo Contini Bonacossi and grandson Leone are probably a lot more alike than even they realize. Ugo, now 90, was an engineer and traveled the world. But he came home to guard the patrimony of Capezzana for future generations. He remade his life and is an historical figure for Tuscany, Cabernet and the Super Tuscan phenomenon.

Young Leone is an artist. But family history compels him to fly the flag of the family and protect the historical capital of the winery.

When Ugo was a young man, off he went into the world. But the land, and the times, brought him back. Let’s say it provided him with a focus that previous generations had worked to build. For a family to have something that can be traced back hundreds of years is no easy task.

Young Leone is in that same position now. He has come back home. He has the soul of an artist. Ugo has the soul of an engineer. Both men have had their lives shaped by the land and the estate they call Capezzana. Ugo, and the succeeding generation have worked through the most intense period in history for Italy and Italian wine.

Now Leone has been shown the lithographers stone. It is now his time to forge his impressions over the next generation and take the place they call Capezzana into the future for the next generations.


No easy task in any time, for a young man or a young woman, with dreams and desires of their own. But a dream many a person would love to have the opportunity to pursue.

Just one of the many wonderful stories in the pavilion of dreams we call Vinitaly.

written and photographed by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

Throwing Umami (Blogging) from the Train

I got a couple of notes and tweets over the night, seems I have gone off the rails with my stream of consciousness meanderings of late. So, I will fire Conan and bring back Jay. Actually the next five days is going to be a blur, what with all the meetings and goings on at the latest Vinitaly #44.

So I’ll leave it with a few pictures and keep the deep thoughts off these pages for a while. I reckon that looking at a woman for an hour on the train from Milan to Verona and then writing a quick allegory on the state of Italian wine could seem (to some folks) “sad that I paint the woman that way”. Sorry Mary Ewing, it was just an exercise, part of the non linearity that I learned from Bucky Fuller. But thanks for tweeting in. I’ve had my Master of Wine check. Always nice!

Guy Stout chimed in from the Master Sommelier department. He also sent me a note about the last post. I wish you were here Guy. By the way, Guy is the consummate tester and he was the only one who wrote in with the correct answer to the visual quiz we had on that post. It was D – Veneto. Thanks Guy!

Speaking of the Veneto, I have to get on my best suit and “git” to the Pavilion – we have a seminar today with Franco Ziliani and I cannot miss it – Sorry Luca Zaia, I’ll miss your speech in the next room, we’ll have to meet later and drink some Mascarello, which I found very reasonable priced for vintages from the 1990’s – all under €80.




One last stab. When I went to Vinitaly to get my pass yesterday, they handed out a satchel. First they handed me a white one, which just wouldn’t work. So I asked, politely for a brown one, or so it looked like brown under the green fluorescent lights. But the official behind the counter made sure, in her finest Veneto-Zaia to correct me. “Non é marrone, é Bordeaux!” she quipped. Well I just came from Bordeaux (see my official invite from Pétrus, pronounced Pet-ruhz, not Peh-troos) and conosco I miei Bordeaux. And that is no Bordeaux, Madam.

I got a girl name of Boney Maroney
She's as skinny as a stick of macaroni
Oughta see her rock'n'roll with her blue jeans on
She's not very fat,
just skin and bo-o-one

written and, more importantly, photographed, by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy