The Tex-Mex of Tarantella

"You heard me, get me some chicken fried steak, frito pie and

fried chicken livers over here, on the double. You got it?"

Mixed bag from a crazy week. Where to start? Frank Bruni writes in the NYT about Italian food being the Tex-Mex of Europe. I just wish sometimes that Italian in America was as good as some of the Tex-Mex I’ve had here at base camp. Don’t get me started.

While we’re on the NYT blog watch, something Eric Asimov said the other day struck me: “the dance that comes of shooting oneself in the foot.” He was referring to, who else? The Montalcinisti’s.

All week the spiders in my house have been attacking me in my sleep. I am covered with spider bites. My skin has been crawling for days.

So we have Tex-Mex, Italian, dancing, shooting and spiders; I sense a theme here.

Earlier in the week I was at lunch with my Italian wine loving friend, Paul. We were at a little place in our neighborhood, York Street, talking about wine and food. Tasting a few wines, more for pleasure than anything. At the table behind me an Italian wine importer is chatting up his rep. He goes off on a property in Umbria and the consultant, Riccardo Cotarella, and how all his wines are overblown and why does he make Sangiovese taste like Zinfandel and why, oh why does he make Merlot? It reminded me of someone who was nega-ranting about Alice Feiring’s book ( or her position ) on a blog somewhere. I wanted to ask them all, “So you think you have a better idea? Then present it, get it out there and see what kind of mileage you can get from your point of view.” I know Cotarella is working to break away from the way he is perceived, we’ve talked about it. It’s like an artist that gets pigeonholed for a certain style and then, bam, he can only be a cubist or a surrealist or an abstract expressionist. Or a naturalist or a pure-wine Euro-loving Cali-hating effete snob. I want to say to these angry ones, have you ever picked up the phone and called these people? Or how about an email? Why not engage them in a dialogue? Why does everything have to be High Noon in this culture?

Look, the young importer seems to have a nice portfolio and I’m sure he is repping good people who are committed to their land. But is Cotarella any less committed to his evolution because he has found a thread of success that brings a lot of people to Italian wine? Quit knocking it. It’s cursing the darkness; it’s a mobius strip that will only drive you nuts.

Another day I’m in my kitchen with a bunch of wine and food folks with this cat from Copia and he’s in the basement mixing up the medicine and all of a sudden we’re drinking Riesling with lamb, Chateauneuf du Pape with seafood stew, asparagus with Napa cab and some fruit compote with a maderized 1971 Clos Saint Denise from Bertagna and you know what? Maybe it’s bunko, but everything worked. Even the Burgundy came back from the brink.

Ok, so maybe the dude knows how to do group hypnosis and we all were under his temporary spell, so he could schlep his secret sauce. The point is, there is always another way to look at things, without applying some dogma to it. Just being with it, observing it, thinking a little about it, maybe letting yourself be changed by it and moving on down the road to the next scenario that the future has in store for us. Huh?

Right now 40% of restaurant business in the US is take out, so that means they aren’t selling wine to those customers. The restaurant business is in the tanks. I was in a restaurant last night with a friend and he gets a call from a client wanting about 20 or so bottles of wine. The fellow couldn’t have planned his business a little better? And now he expect the salesman to stop everything he is doing so he can waste time and gas on a losing proposition to deliver this poor-planner his pittance of Pinot. And then the restaurateur wonders why his business is doing so badly?

Another restaurateur can't buy wine because he has to decide whether he should pay his wine bill or the note on his Mercedes. Of course, image is everything, so he stiffs the wholesaler. Again. And then someone like that will threaten the big suppliers if they don’t come in and spend money in the place. This whole thing this week is like watching a bunch of rats drowning from broken levees and in turn they start chewing off the arms of their fellow rats so that can have something to float on. Bizarre week in flyover country.

A comment on the state of the importer. Business is slow and people in Italy have got to know there is a slowdown in America. But hey, July is coming and then August and then Ferragosto, so we need to tidy up the office, get the orders in, so we can get on with our vacations.

I called a Brunello producer today. The last time I called him he was in India and said he’d call me back. Well, he must have forgotten. So I called and called and called again. Finally I reached him; he was in some ex-Soviet satellite city doing a winemaker dinner. I ask him how his Brunello is going. He says to me, “everything is Ok, everything is OK, just order the wine, Parker just gave it a 91.” We've got Toscana IGT's that Sir Bob gave 90's to and they are 1/3 the price of Brunello. And they're sitting in warehouses, moving slowly. So, how about instead, Parker giving me a gas card, something I can use?

I told him I wanted to know how his certification is going. I guess he is too busy spending time to develop the emerging economies to backtrack to the American circus. Just let Parker rate it and everything will be OK? NO-K.

Have you heard of the word staycation? That’s when you stay at home because it’s too expensive or you don’t want the hassle of traveling in these times. And more people are doing that. It’s only a small step before wine lovers do the same with wines. Hello Italian winemakers, marketers, owners, enologos and everyone else who is looking to the largest economy in the world for their wines: we do not want to be treated like we are total fools. Yes our demand for more than our share of the world’s energy is ludicrous. Yes we are fatted calves. But you are feeding from the trough and it’s got a shaky leg.

That same leg that the foot dangles from got shot by its owner, on account of we too, like the winemakers in Tuscany, and people all over the world, are still working this being human thing out. We are still trying to find our somewhereness on this blue orb. Do you or don’t you wanna dance?

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

Intervista nel Futuro

From the 23rd Century, near a place in Tuscaremma, called Montalcinapaia.

Q. Montalcinapaia has changed, so it seems. What is the most important change, in your opinion, in wine in the last 200 years?
A. For one, we are a dry area, very arid now. Ever since the Wind War of 2059-69, this area has relied more on natural species for their survival skills than for their elegance. But we have found out that if we work in this minimal environment, we can coax a lot out of the soil.

Q. Tell us in the past a little about the wine you are making in your time?

A. Interesting that you would ask, because right now we are seeing an interest in bringing back Sangiovosso to the vineyards. After LVMH's Castello Banfi was leveled by a tornado ( see picture) and the community decided to establish a wind farm on the property once owned by Banfi, Antinori and Argiano, the area had been left to go wild. The earthquake cycle of 2101-12 also contributed to re-arranging the area. The whole time we had stories of the robots who worked on the windmills telling us about a vine that would grow up on the posts of the giant rotors. But because the area is so hot we rarely send humans out to investigate in the spring and the summer.
Anyway, we have been making wine from Frappatocino and Nero D’Avellino, because they seemed more suitable for the region. But we are investigating these wild vines from around the ruins of LVMH's Banfi property.

Q. Any other developments in the past 200 years or so?

A. This area now has been active in growing the blue Agave. We can concentrate the spirit and use it sparingly. Since we learned that drinking more than 2 glasses a day of red wine was harmful, in the 22nd century, we stepped back from overproducing wine and have sought to supplement our farming and our diet with more appropriate products.


Q. Agave, that was pretty drastic wasn’t it, getting a succulent from Central America to replace a large part of your wine production?
A. You mean like the tomato and the potato? We were searching for sustainable spirits and agave was best suited to our world. We were very fortunate that the Sicilian grapes did well in Tuscany and that we were able to save them before Southern Italy was forever altered.

Q. Back in 2000, there was a lot of talk about the so called International varieties, Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, that kind of thing. What has happened to them in your world?

A. When the Chaîne des Puys came back to life and erupted in 2076 in France, that changed everything for Bordeaux and Burgundy. And then 10 years later when Duppacher Weiher spewed, that brought Germany to their knees. We have actually been very lucky in Central Italy. Southern Italy, that is another story. What happened though was that winemakers and farmers were looking for crops to grow that were self sustaining and didn’t need fertilizers and little water.

Q. And what role does science play in winemaking these days?

A. It’s very important. Now we need ways to help the plant work on their own and since enology met nanology it has been a great boost. Now we can develop the grapes, via nanology, to notify the winery when they are ready to be harvested. We harvest berry by berry and so our yields have not really suffered. But because we are now a world population of 63 billion, the demand is still great. Another development is the birth of new fruits that we can harvest in space, the extra-terroir-estrial varieties, like Vitus Veronellus and Vitus Iacuccius. These have been heaven sent. The best (and now, the only) Riesling comes from a space station that circles the moons of Venus, from a variety called Vitus Theisus-Shiroshekar.


Q.What about the idea of alcohol in culture and society?

A. What a strange question. I'm not sure I understand the context. With the world being almost 2/3 Hinduslam and meat eating and alcohol seen as part of a life style for the privileged, this has had some social repercussions. Getting around on the land hover vehicles now is seen as a quaint but particulare’ amusement for the Gigglionaires. But really now alcohol isn’t taboo with the eastern religions, it’s more a problem that the governments still try and tax and regulate it, to fund their space colonization programs.


Q. If I could have brought one thing from 2008 for you, what would you have wanted?

A. Water.

Q. If I could give you information from 2008, what would you want to know?

A. Nothing really. We have survived the Wind War, the Tornadic era and we have skirted the Volcanic era. We have been very fortunate. But there is one mystery you might be able to clear up for us. We have these ancient bottles of wine, from the 2003, that we found at the estates where the wind farms now are. One was called Brunello and the other was called Duemilatre. Could you please tell us what those wines were?

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in 23rd Cenutury Italy

Featured Father ~ Albert Moulin

He's already been gone half a year, this son of New Orleans, father and mentor to so many of us. Al was one of the forefathers of wine in America. He was there at the beginning, right after World War II, when the budding wine industry got its start. A great story teller, a proud grandfather, a lover of women, a classic New Orleans chef, and a slave to the wine god, in the very best sense.

This isn’t an easy post to write, because we are all still smarting from his absence. Two years ago, on Fathers Day, we slipped some Champagne and appetizers into his room at the home he was temporarily staying. He couldn’t live alone at the time and he bemoaned the dismal vittles. So we rustled in some tasty contraband.

He always had the New York Times Food section open somewhere near his reach, along with the op-ed section. Well read, an active mind, an engaged soul, who loved passionately and deeply. Sometimes too much.

I still remember his home phone number, but he’s not there. When I was in New Orleans last month, I had a dream about him. He’s dancing in Galatoire’s, making mischief in Commander’s Palace, lifting tablecloths in Brennan’s. He belongs to the Ancients now.

Al had an encyclopedic knowledge of classic food and wine, but he was always interested in what was coming around the corner. I met him when I was just starting out in the wine business; he was still on the streets. We both called on a wine store owned by a South African gent, and Al was in there pitching wine from Chile. This was in 1981!

He had a collection of menus from New Orleans and all over the country. He had stories about the wine business, some which were archetypal. They were, for me, instructional from the point of view that they indicated markers along the career track that would later come across my path. I learned survival skills from Al, who mentored me for a generation. Like other mentors who influenced my trail, they are life lessons that I use often. Those who knew Al, or who have had that kind of guidance, know how extraordinarily lucky one can be to have that exposure.

Al loved women; he had an invisible pheromone that attracted young and beautiful women to him all his life. Maybe it was his famous Café Brulot or his Coquilles St. Jacques. Anytime I walked into his home there would be something cooking. And there was often a beautiful lass by his side, learning his technique. He was a gentleman, and he loved the ladies.

Few people know that Al first brought American wines into the White House. It was his second tour of duty, the first being World War II. Al loved this country and being a true son of New Orleans, was a national treasure to me, much like the Crescent City is, to many of us in our country.

From French and Italian heritage he loved butter and olive with equality. And wine? We talked about wine all the time, his library of food and wine books was a research center for me. Whenever I had a question about something that I could not find, I’d call Al and he’d get back to me with the answer. Often he would have several versions.

Our conversations burned through cords and cords of wood, over the years. He was a happy man and a role model for me, not just about the successes, but also for the failures. When he was afflicted with a stroke, some years ago, he reinvented himself, embraced physical therapy and found a new interest in physical therapists, especially when they were young and pretty.

Later, when my wife was struck down by M.S., Al was there to listen to me, to share a glass of Chianti or Cognac, to be my friend and my wine dad.

Life for Al was never half empty. It was neither half full. For Al, pardon the cliché, but his cup always runneth over. And he was more than happy to invite friend and stranger alike to the party, to share his table, his love and his joy for life.

Happy Fathers Day Al, we’ll raise a flute in your honor today, though I know our Champagne will pale in comparison to the cuvee you will toasting with Tim Russert and all your gang.

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

Headlines & Quotes ~ Interns & Avatars

Excuse me, but I have just had one of the best food and wine combinations of the year. I was out with friends to an outdoor concert with picnic food. They brought fried chicken and I brought a bottle of Pio Cesare Arneis. Holy Mother of God, was that a match made in Heaven. Give it a try sometime, no kidding. OK, back to business.

This was the week I was quoted but this wasn’t the week my “deal” came through, whatever that is ‘sposed to mean. Anyway, it’s Friday the 13th, so I thought a little “spoof” would be a fun way to end the week.


All kidding aside, there were a few notable quotes from a local mag and a Houston paper. Earlier in the week I got an email about a wine blogger conference in Sonoma in October. The day before I was invited to participate in a series of Italian seminars across the country, sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission. We shall see.

Press is good – Sales is mo’ bettah. And this week I have been pounding the pavement, like I promised. With more to come. Austin, Houston, I’s a comin’.

About my Intern-Avatars. Here in flyover country we need ways to help us carry the message and I am in the throes of trying to decide which new Intern-Avatar I should choose. We have narrowed it down to two.

The hottie and the nerd.


I’m kind of leaning toward the nerd, as she seems to have a better sense of her place in the world. And it seems she has a more timeless design sense. Of course she can be a little blasé. Please feel free to comment.

These are not a real people. This is not a real post. Except for the quotes. They are real.

So were the chicken and the Arneis.

OK, back to business.

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

Who Died and Made You Dr. Zaius?

This was supposed to be the follow up to the last post. But I need a break from serious. So let’s have a little summer camp, eh? Besides, I have these wonderful pictures that are so timely.

Italy loves the paternal, the overseer, the luxury of primacy, when it comes to culture, food, fashion and sometimes, wine. But let the administrators in and you might as well let the monkeys run the place.

Not that the good ‘ol US isn't straining under its own weight of dominance these days. Our Hummer mentality is crashing into wall after wall, the gas tank is nearly empty, and we still want to call all the shots. And we probably will until they pry the power from our cold, dead hands.


Meanwhile, Montalcino has decided to upstage Spoleto, unveiling their operetta about “the little red wine that coulda-shoulda-woulda.” What a mess they have made of this Brunello business, to the point that the US has had to scare up a tomato scandal just to get a little ink.

So now we’ve had inexcusable mozzarella in Southern Italy, dubious red wine from Tuscany and wayward tomatoes somewhere in the Americas. What will we eat? How will the Commedia continuare?

And we worry about a wine list and its relevancy. How can one be so vacuous, so insensitive?

We worry about endangered grapes from Ischia and Cadenabbia. And our levels of certification. Really?

From Zardoz to Zaius
I’m taking a break from Zardoz and hangin’ with Dr. Zaius for a post or two. Is that a Nehru seersucker suit, I wonder?

Anyway, seems that the administrators have wrestled the monitoring of the Brunello appellation from the Consorzio.

Steven Kolpan of NY, commented in Decanter that “Brunello di Montalcino is one of the world's greatest wines, and it makes no sense for its producers to shoot themselves in their collective foot. Perhaps one day the world will find out exactly what happened to create this scandal in Montalcino and beyond, but something tells me it's not really about the quality of the wine or the commitment of Brunello producers.”
Look, it might not be all that wrong to appoint fellows like Dr. Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, president of Federdoc (National Federation of Voluntary Consortia for the Oversight of Italian Wine Appellations); Professor Vasco Boatto, director of Enology, Department of Agronomy, University of Padua); and Dr. Fulvio Mattivi, director of the analysis laboratory Istituto di San Michele all’Adige (the institute of enology, province of Trento). Still, the way it is being delivered seems like it comes straight out of the playbook of paterfamilia.

Eric Asimov blogs from The Pour about this. One thought he finished with resonated with me. He said, “Internal politics, local animosities, rivalries and disputes that may have little to do with the actual public issue may all be playing out behind the scenes.”

It just seems that there is a byzantine process in play here, and outsiders, of whom virtually most of us are, can only speculate.

Odd, that in California they can add Syrah and Teroldego to Pinot Noir in an effort to boost the profile of a wine that in places like Burgundy and Trentino they rest on their own. Odd especially for Trentino, as Teroldego grows with Pinot Nero in proximity to each other. And two different wines are made and appreciated for their own merits.

Curious, that Bordeaux can grapple with their image and make changes. And they who have much to lose from making the wrong change.

We will see. But I wonder, will the world really care about Brunello once they’ve let their little operetta play out? Already we are seeing Brunello sales going soft. Again, the 2003 vintage won’t be considered a classic by many of us out here in flyover country. Then again, in flyover country it seems there are other concerns, like the corn harvest. And what to do with all of these tomatoes. And soon all those darn melons. It’s just too much for man and ape alike.

Where’s Barbarella when you need her?

Maybe I need another vacation; this time a quiet place with a beach, perhaps?

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

Still photos from the film, Planet of the Apes, with an occasional exception or two.

Certified vs. Qualified

“You’ll never make it to Master Sommelier,” A friend recently fired across my bow. “And you’ll never make it to 60,” was my instant come back. We have a history of tagging each other that is otherwise benign, but stimulating.

Several days later, I was thinking my favorite thought. It goes like this: “So what?” It is intended to help me delve into a subject that I am hoping will be interesting for a post, an article, even a future book. Usually after about two minutes (max) I find something to straighten out, a shelf that needs dusting, a pile of shirts that need to be mangled. And that usually wiggles me out of answering “the question that must be answered.”

In the last week I have been in conversations with winemakers, sommeliers, merchants, writers, and restaurateurs. This has been the week where I have heard, many times, the subject of wine lists that have been put together by young sommeliers. And the response by many folks I have talked to this week has been almost uniform in that they feel these young wine professionals are assembling lists more to reflect their prowess than to address the needs of their diners.


When a wine list was assembled, let’s say in the classic period of the 1970’s, there was the custom to arrange the wines by region and to cover pretty much all the bases with regards to the kind of restaurant the wine list was for. If it was a French restaurant, then the regions of France would be represented, usually with some deference to Bordeaux and Burgundy. But Alsace, the Loire, the Rhone and Champagne would be there too. If it were a “Continental” styled restaurant in the United States, the format would be similar to the French but would also include a token Italian, some German wines of course, wine from Portugal and Spain, sparingly, and possibly some New World wines included to excite the newer diners. If it were an Italian restaurant, the regional list would be drawn up, and pretty well much across the US, the wine list would be the same. Perhaps a grower or shipper would be different from coast to coast and if it were in a region where the supply was weaker, the wine list would reflect that in a minimized expression.

California showed up on the world stage and along with Nouvelle Cuisine, and then New American Cooking, New World wines came to dominate. If a medium-range style of restaurant grew into a regional chain or even a national chain, the wine list would be small but utilitarian, usually boring. All the while people in the US were starting to drink more wine and get interested in different wines

About that point the rise in the American Sommelier started to eclipse the traditional Tastevin-carrying sommelier. That was about the time tuxedo-wearing waiters receded into the sunset. It was as if these young Turks had newly discovered wine for the first time (and for them it was just that). But certain mistrust for the traditions of the antique predecessors were planted and cultivated.

The Conspiracy of Gruner
When we started seeing 10 selections of Gruner Veltiner on by-the-glass lists, a few people mentioned to me that they thought the wheels had fallen off the wagon. Usually this would come from an industry person who had seen the slow growth of the wine business and was wondering why the young sommeliers were jettisoning all the passengers off the train. “They think they can force diners to drink what they want to drink?” was a comment I would hear often.

“The people will drink what I tell then to drink,” was one sommeliers response, similar to what Orson Wells character said about his readers in the famous movie, Citizen Kane.

If you include only what you like on a list, yes, the people will drink only what is on it. But if there are wines on the list that attend only to an educated palate, or a newly educated palate, or further, a palate that has been trained to evaluate wine based on a particular course of study, where does that leave the common person? Or the person who might have tastes that differ from the elevated tastes of the professionals.

I am in tastings all the time with people who aren’t certified, or don’t have 25+ years of experience, and it is important to be able to communicate in a way that brings them into the fold, allows them their validity in their feelings about wine. Am I always right? Hardly. Is the new wine drinker the expert? No, but they are the future.

Can we build a future with Gruner? Unlikely, but sommeliers will tell you that they have already moved on to Greek wines or Biodynamic wines or wines from the Jura or Valle D’Aoste or Patagonia or Tasmania. Taste is a moving target and the evolution of one’s personal taste is a journal of intellectual and emotional development. Hopefully a sommelier can understand how to communicate that journey to his or her clientele so that if will be an adventure, not a death march

Why Subject the Diner to One's Personal Path?
If you are a person with many interests, and curiosities, than your list can be seen as a window into your wine loving soul. Antonio Gianola has put together a really wonderful wine list at Catalan in Houston. He has taken the occasion to bring wines into his establishment for people who don’t have the time to go through all the wines that he goes through. He thinks about them deeply, is enthusiastic about the process, charges fairly, and when you have him come to your table he always has a great little nugget. And he’s got you at halbtrocken.

Yes he’s young and his tastes are evolving. But he has a good foundation, so where he is taking the diner and where he is going will be to good places. A discovery, not a drag.

The Dark Side of Wine Stewardship
Re: the case of another sommelier. Let’s invent one here so I can form it from the muck of my little compost pit in purgatory. I will call him Charles Kane. Charles (don’t call me Chuck and don’t call me Charlie) is pursuing his WSET, MS, MW and CWE. He is on track to become the world’s foremost authority on wine before he is 25. He has already worked ten years in a restaurant, six years in a winery (two as head winemaker) and started his own import company and spun it off to a Silicon Valley company and he is writing two books on wine along with having a book contract for his memoirs. That’s what his resume says.
He is currently working for a restaurant group from NY, as a wine list manager in one of their Southern satellite restaurant concepts. There is a core list he must adhere to (if the items are available) and then he has free reign to about 80% of the list. He has decided that this New American style of restaurant should showcase wines from small growers and suppliers, so he can have the exclusive bragging rites to all the great wines he has “discovered.” The restaurant also has a pretty lively bar scene.

Yes, Gruner is on the list, as are a few biodynamic wines from the Loire and Friuli. He also has a selection of highly extracted Malbecs (15+% alc) by the glass (starting at $12 for a one ounce taste). He has elected to not have any of the popular Champagnes or Proseccos. He has instead opted for hard to get (and hard to keep in stock) grower Champagnes. His wine costs are a staggeringly low 26%. And his bar manager is running a 16% cost at the bar. Mojitos are outselling wine by the glass, 2-to-1. And specialty drinks, usually fruity and liqueur based (from those same import houses that the sommelier won’t buy the Champagnes from) and they too outsell wine almost 2-to-1.

The good news? The place is making a lot of money selling alcohol. The bad news? They aren’t doing it by selling an overly-esoteric and overpriced selection of wines which showcase the superiority of the sommelier.

MP3, not LP
A Sonoma Chardonnay by the glass? “Why care about that?” he replies, “when they can drink a barrel-fermented Viognier from Paso?” How about a nice Pouilly-Fiuisse or Chablis, lets say something in the vein of Chateau Fuisse’s Les Brûlés or Jean Dauvissat’s Vaillons or Sechets? “Tired old appellations” he barks, “our customers are looking for new wines, exciting wines. They’re looking for MP3, not LP.”

MP3, not LP. That pretty well much says it for this kind of character who is flooding the wine lists lately with his condensed version of the Compleat Wine List. Kane’s is a Spark Notes rendering of The Current Fashion in Wine Lists. And just like MP3 is a compressed, low fidelity substitute for a full range recording, wine lists, without breadth and depth, are emerging.

OK, OK, not all of the New Sommeliers are making lists like this. But too many lists seem to be a testosterone-driven search for recognition so they can land the “big job”. Is it no wonder people are drinking Tequila and Vodka at levels once seen in the 1980’s? They are just looking for something in this information-tsunami world that they can recognize, and find comfort in that recognition.

It isn’t about the chops of the sommelier, about his or her ascendancy over all of the rest of us. It still is about the Customer and Their Happiness.

A photographer I once trained with drummed this mantra into me, “Just because you’re certified, doesn’t mean you’re qualified.”

Something for all the aspirants out there to think about. At least those who have managed to turbo-scan all the way to the end of this post.





[Next post: So what makes you (or anyone) qualified?]

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

For Scotty

Cruising on through to the end of the week here in Wineland. It’s been a busy week, with Monday and Tuesday taken up with judging at a Wine Competition and Thursday and today traveling through Texas. So this post will be a weekly round-up as we surf on into the sunset and take a few days off.

Story told around lunch about a server in a restaurant who came up to the owner and said she had a client who had come in to get a wine for Scotty. The owner, a longtime friend, related this story. He struggled to understand what the server was asking for. “His friend was in Rome and told him to get a bottle of that white wine they had all enjoyed when over there on vacation," the server said.

And who said Italian wines were complicated?


Heading south from the Colli Albani, I had an email from a blogger. He had just returned from Campania and I had some questions for him about the wine show he went to, called VitignoItalia.

Q- Is it worth going to?

A- I think Vitignoitalia is worth going to. It's a fairly focused event. The original intent of the congresso was to showcase wines from local vines from all over Italy. While there were some producers from regions like Tuscany, Piemonte and other central-northern areas, the majority were from the Mezzogiorno. The key tasting events were geared to grapes like Greco di Tufo and Aglianico, the local heroes of Campania and huge favorites of mine. It's a 3-day event, but for various reasons, it's probably better to go for two days.

Q- How does it compare to Merano and other regional events?

A- Like Merano, it is very poorly organized. On my blog I complained that Merano combined the best of Teutonic charm and Italian efficiency. Vitignoitalia is more genial, which reflects the local culture, but its tardiness in opening and general disorganization was frustrating for the exhibitors and the wine public alike. The space, at the Mostra d'Oltremare, isn't the most conducive to an easy flow of people and goods, but it beats the Kurhaus at Merano by a country kilometer.

The Mostra d'Oltremare is a fair distance from the main hotels downtown or on the Lungomare, which means you stand a very good chance of getting ripped off by taxi drivers. An annoying but eternal fact of life in Naples.

On the positive side, the fiera was pretty focused -- I learned a lot from tasting, for example, a whole row of exhibitors' Grecos -- there were many sections highlighting one grape or one small DOC or DOCG. And because many of the producers are truly small-scale and from peasant families, the "authentic," non-industrial character of the wines shines through. And not just wines -- many typical products were on display and for tasting, including cheeses, olive oils, pastas and so forth.

Q- Would you go back?

A- A qualified yes. I would go for two days, not all three. And I'd focus my energy on trying new producers' wines, not hanging out with people I knew already.

Q- Wine wise- what kind of energy do you take away from it?

A- Campania and the south in general are in ferment. Things are changing fast. The wines are infinitely better than they used to be, since there is today a greater and greater emphasis on quality, not volume. Farmers who used to sell their grapes to big, bulk wineries now make their own wine, and it's often astonishingly good. And of course prices are far more realistic and internationally competitive than in places like Tuscany, Piemonte and Veneto. The price quality ratio in the Mezzogiorno is generally great -- better than South America, I think, when you put more emphasis on quality than on the lowest possible price.

Q- Any other comments?

A- What can I say? I gravitate more and more to the Mezzogiorno's wines. I wrote, at least two years ago, "Salvezza viene dal Sud" (Salvation comes from the South). Believe me, now that I've actually been there a number of times, I believe that more, and with more justification, than before.

The Mezzogiorno's wines are catching up with the food -- which is far and away the best in Italy.

For those of us who couldn't make it, but wanted the lowdown, thanks!

And lastly, a few days ago I had a fairly dismal report on the state of Italian wine sales in the US. Happily, as I have made the Texas round-about, I am seeing a healthier and more robust economy in these parts. Maybe part of it is Texas bluster. Then I look in the restaurants and see full rooms and jammed parking lots. So what do I know?

That’s my weekly round-up from these parts. Back on Sunday.

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