The pace of life after Vinitaly has been brisk. The Italians have been flooding the landscape to work with us in our hand-to-hand combat. Welcome to my weekly round-up. Alfonso has gone from ranting to mommy-blogging today.What does the first picture say about the state of affairs, here in backwater country? A clean cut American male holding a bottle of Dr. Pepper in one hand(the real thing, from Dublin, Texas, made with real cane sugar) and a glass of Brunello in the other? The clean cut American is a hard working farmer who supplies restaurants with some great produce. But he was needing some “Pepper love” so he asked for a bottle of the sweet, unctuous soda so beloved by Texans. At first I thought, “WTF?” and then I thought about what Tim Hanni said about people’s taste buds. The good farmer was just looking for something to balance his meal. Did he drink it with the Italian wine? Yes he did, side by side. And he was, in his own way, a happy camper. Leave him alone, he’s a hard worker. At least he was also enjoying Brunello from Lionello Marchesi.
Lionello worked one whole week across Texas, week before last. Dinners in Dallas and Houston, showing his Chianti, Morellino and Brunello and telling his riveting rags-to-riches story. Lionello understands American marketing and he is, at 72, one hard working son-of-a-gun. Lufthansa had to create a new category of frequent flier as he smashed all records for accumulating miles. By the way, did you know that Lufthansa frequent flyers can trade miles for wine through New Vine Logistics? Lionello however needs "no mo" wine, as his three properties produce a sufficient amount.In the last week, here in Dallas, we have sold a ton of wine, thanks to Mike and Paul DiCarlo of Jimmy's. Paul hosted Lionello Marchesi, Paolo Cantele and Guy Stout to sold-out houses back in the wine room, the Circolo del Vino.
In one of those seemingly all too often après-wine dinner moments at Adelmo’s, Lionello hosted Paul and some of the local guys for a lunch. Adelmo made his famous steak tartare, which went exceedingly well with Lionello’s Morellino di Scansano.
This week wine luminaries were lining up to work like jets at DFW airport. Monday, Seth Allen, the founder of VinDivino came in with his crew to blitz across the state. I caught up with Seth over a plate of BBQ and Shiner Bock. VinDivino is back up and running with renewed vigor. A few months ago Seth and company parted ways with the Marc de Grazia folks. After 20+ years it was a painful decision, but the economics of the world and the wine industry just don’t leave a lot of room for the super-premium wines. Good luck to Marc de Grazie and his suppliers, some who remain friends after all these years. As for VinDivino, the Italian and Austrian portfolios are lean and ready to go. We had some Gruner face time this week; I think Ms. B will be posting about that at a later date. Suffice to say, I am chilling a bottle of the Loimer Estate Gruner Veltliner "Kamptal" 2007 to go with Bubba's fried chicken and a Beatle’s cover band on Thursday. Good times!
Paolo Cantele spent a week in Texas covering Dallas to Houston and points in between. On Tuesday we were able to get the Apulian wine wonder kid to slip into Texas before the heat, showing his Chardonnay, Fiano, Primitivo and Salice Salentino wines, along with his Amativo, an homage to modern times. The sold-out crowd at Jimmy’s loved Paolo and snatched up his wines with a frenzy only the wine impassioned can exhibit.
Wednesday Pio Boffa from Pio Cesare accompanied Gregory Balogh, the suave and elegant President/CEO of Maisons Marques & Domaines to Texas. Pio is another road warrior who has been on the road for the last 25 years. He is an undaunted ambassador for Piedmont and her wines. When I asked him about the loss of Teobaldo Cappellano, Pio was emotional. “We didn’t agree on politics, but on wine, we were brothers. I loved that man and will truly miss him.” I also asked Pio what he thought of the new Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia, he boomed, “I love what Dr. Zaia is doing for Italy!” Well, there you go, another fan of this new Italian coalition government. Today, pineapples and kebabs. Tomorrow, tomatoes and potatoes?
Pio spoke to a throng of fans at the Sigel’s’ Elite wine shop, selling and signing wines for local wine enthusiasts. Afterwards, Steak and Champagne at Nick & Sam's, a local steakhouse, which was packed with steak-eating, Bourbon-swilling, Bordeaux and Barolo and Napa decanting wine drinkers. Speaking of potatoes, if you have never tried them, the fries at Nick & Sam's are some of the best I have ever had. Top notch service and great steaks, we compared the 2004 Château Magdelaine and the Pio Cesare Barolo, a really tough assignment. But glad to be of service!
Thursday - Daily-Double. Serena Bonacossi flew in for a meeting and the annual pilgrimage to Adelmo’s for lunch. I met with her and her local manager and all around nice guy, Ed Kukol, for a round of tastings of the Capezzana wines. Several years ago I went to the estate and met with Serena and her family. Her grandfather Contini Ugo Bonacossi is an amazing fellow. He was manning the booth at Vinitaly this year, an octogenarian who works every day. Lovely family. Serena wanted to show her latest Carmignano and Ghiaie della Furba, which I have a soft spot in my heart for. Great wines from an historic property . Wine was first made there in the year 804.
Later that evening we had to “gear up” for another sold-out dinner at Jimmy’s, this time with Master Sommelier Guy Stout. Guy was only to happy to strike a pugilistic pose for the camera.
The lineup of wines was eclectic, from Franciacorta by Contadi Castaldi to Verdicchio di Matelica from a beloved producer, La Monacesca. I was able to taste with owner Aldo Cifola at Vinitaly this year, and am happy to report the wines are stunning. The 2006 La Monacesca didn’t disappoint the crowd at Jimmy’s’ By the way, those tastings at Jimmy’s, always (at least) two women for every man. I need to get some of my lonely single men friends to these dinners, there were a lot of women carrying out boxes of wine that night.
One of my favorite gals who I like to talk wine with brought her beau. I snapped this shot of them and told him not to screw up or he’d be dealing with the Italians if he broke her heart. I think he got the message.
Red wines? Teroldego, Brunello, Barolo and Amarone, followed by a late harvest Moscato from Sicily. We ran out of wine, sold so much Mike Di Carlo ran out of register tape. More good times!
Guy and Paul, now here are two fellows I’d like to have with me in the dark alleys of life. Nobody’s gonna mess with these boyz. That night we broke records for wine sales, as Jimmy’s is a retail store and we made everybody a deal they couldn't refuse.One thing Guy, the back room, we refer to it as the Circolo del Vino, not the Goombah Room. I know you worked hard getting to where you are and all that, but a little respect for things Italian, ok? I don’t want to tell you twice.
Nah, really all in fun, Guy was great and we had a ball. And those diners were Jimmy’s stimulus program that night. Business is picking up. The key to success, is to stay in the game and keep on swinging, day in and day out.
Speaking of swinging, the weekend brought me my afternoon meeting with my Italian guru, the iconic Mario Messina, godfather to almost every Italian restaurateur in Dallas. Mario, at 92, was making a light lunch of zucchini and halibut. Whenever I need to talk to someone with a world of experience I head over to Mario’s house for a café’ and some conversation. Mario, you got me started in this Italian crusade, you helped to steer me to a career that I have loved for over 30 years. Thank you, Padrino!And that leaves me to the end of two really busy weeks on the wine trail. Friday night we took some of the great old wines out of the wine cellar and shared them with our young friends. But that’s a post for another day from some other bloggers. Take it away, Ms. B. Have at it, Dr. J.
written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy
What does one do if they think the Italian wine industry is going in the wrong direction? And if one has a rather large interest in the success of the Italian wine industry, how does one go about letting one’s thoughts, opinions and feelings be known?
Still, I wasn’t sure he really wanted the truth. Something from the last twenty years gnaws at me, a little voice on my shoulder that whispers in my ear, “Don’t show it all, just show ‘em a little. Let them guess what is underneath.”
A week later, I am talking to a producer from Piedmont. Over the phone it can be easier to convince winemakers to change. But now I have an anecdote. And over the phone they don’t see my face, so it is my little voice inside of their head this time.
It’s been one long 
You’d think these folks would want to know. After all the business I follow in America represents 8% of all Italian wine coming from Italy to the USA. That’s a fact. But often I feel more like I am the Invisible Man.
No, the key is to plant the idea, water it occasionally and then let ‘er grow. If it grows, then we all win. If it dies, hey, it’s a big wine world out there. Someone will get it. Every dog has his day.
I’d had it. One more over-oaked, alcohol soaked Tuscan wine and I was going to go bonkers.
Bava sat me down and showed me his latest sparkling wines, 
A plate of crackers with fois gras appear. No heavy cheese or home made salumi. This was my tongue's Betty Ford mini-clinic moment. I was feeling better. The depth of the Toto Corde with the snack was one of the perfect matches I had during Vinitaly.
Bava is passionate about cacao and chocolate. He has a 
So many crazy things happened during Vinitaly this year that there is no place to turn to but sophomoric humor. I can’t change the way the Italians think about the current “crisi” but I can change the way they look. So to lighten things up a bit on these pages (something folks have been telling me I “need” to do lately) I thought I’d call on my Hollywood make-up artist friends (actually they are friends with Bea) and see what we could do to update the look of some famous Italian wine personalities that are instrumental for turning the ship around. After all, modern wines call for modern looks; that is the essence of bella figura, no?
Dino Illuminati and long time client Adelmo Banchetti, from Dallas, Texas, are always clowning around. These guys know how to have a good time. And while both of these gents have made huge strides in their wines and their food over the years, their “look” has gotten old. So if Adelmo and Dino aren’t going to Twitter and Text, they can be at least entertaining to the young folks who are. For the makeover, we have given Adelmo his fondest wish, to be the clown with the funny nose, the flaming red hair and a hickey. Kind of a mixed message, but Adelmo likes edgy. For Dino, we have gone a little mad professor with the hair and the beard, but with the cool edge that only Jackie-O Ray-Bans can transmit. So we have fun and edge and cool and now they’re ready to embrace further modernity and the future. Avanti ragazzi!
We’re going Western with the next two gents. Think Westworld. Riccardo Cotarella had done traded in his Porsche Cayenne for a Vintage American pickup. Along with that he is ordering a slew of American oak barrels to make the complete transition for one of his special wines from the Maremma. The man is a cowboy and a driver at heart and now the vision is complete. Bravo, Riccardo.
Piero Antinori is going a little more raffinato on us. Maybe it’s the time he has been spending with his Franciacorta project and the proximity to George Clooney’s lakeside manse. In any event, Piero is kicking back, enjoying his status as the Marshall of the Maremma. Nothing gets by Piero, nothing. He sees everything and knows where all the bodies are buried. He is a Superior Tuscan.
Romano dal Forno has been talking to his son. Time to spruce up the place. Done. Now, what to do about all those years that have passed, how to upgrade the look? How about a little bad boy rocker, a cross between liev Schreiber and Sammy Hagar. Red hair is all the rage in Italy for men these days, and Romano isn’t immune to the lure of the fiery red. Yes, he has capitulated to the pressure of fashion, but with that Jim Croce ‘stache, he makes for a dashing vision of the modern winemaker in the modern times.
And finally, this wouldn’t be complete without a chime in from dear old Luca Zaia, the dashing Minister of Agriculture. Some think we don’t like Luca on this blog, by au contraire, we love Luca. And he loves us. Keeping with the musical theme, our fashionistas have chosen to give Luca a modified Beatle look, in homage to Ringo, the underappreciated one. Instead of drumsticks we have given Luca farm implements in which he can drum home his message. Doesn’t he look fab? How do we get his autograph? He is saving Italy from pineapple and kebab and giving Prosecco its rightful place alongside Champagne as one of the greatest bubblies the world has even known. And he does it all by acting naturally. Auguri, Doctor Zaia.
Dream fragment: A great hall filled with people. Two men who must pass through the crowd to the other side of the long, narrow hall. From a distance above this appears to be set in a Gothic cathedral. Is this a ceremony? As the men make their way, they walk directly through the people, who have become formless but not invisible. They have no presence, no corpus, they are all ghosts. Except for the two men, who advance towards the other side of this great passageway.
As I walk the great halls of Vinitaly, I see people I know. Sometimes I don’t recognize them, sometimes they don’t recognize me. Some of these folk I have known now for almost thirty years. Some I have just gotten to know in the last few years. All of us, living our lives, how much this collective honey gathering has been done for the sake of making Italian wine a greater expression of the culture and people and land of Italy?
Over the years I have had passionate, lively and sometimes explosive polemics over the direction Italian wine is going. I remember in 1985 talking to a producer of Barolo about his exclusive use of French barrique for the aging of his wines. I told him then that I thought the wine would suffer under all the weight of the wood, not to mention how much more it would raise the price of the wine. He responded by telling me that I was a young American and that the world is a large place, larger than the way I learned about it in school in America. Yes, I was young and inexperienced and an American, all sins which I was guilty as charged by my more learned and experienced farmer colleague in Castiglione Falletto.
I have had more than my share of passionate discussion about Italian labels. I was an art major at the university, design was my background, coupled with an intimate feel for American marketing. Over the years, I have seen labels that had as much appeal as a mullet haircut. But as we have recently seen, in Italy the mullet is enjoying a renaissance. Wonderful step forward for all of humanity. Why is it a label is so important? I imagine Caravaggio or Simone Martini looking forward several centuries from their time to see their work and how it had survived the fashions of time and wonder why the label designers don’t understand this. But it is after all a product, to be opened and consumed and then to be sent to the trash bin. It isn’t art, no matter how much we want to imbue it with nobility and grandeur. It is sustenance; it is a measure by which we get through the day. Art? Art is not essential for survival of the species. Nourishment is. And perhaps it is because our farmer knows that we will ultimately need the fruits from his harvest, that a misplaced label, or too much wood won’t really matter all that much in the greater scheme of things.
When I was younger the older wine producers would listen to my thoughts, about their wine, about their labels, about their expensive barrels and they would make this barely perceptible grimace on their foreheads. The tell on their face was that I was young and inexperienced and that they were Europe, they were Italy. They knew what would be better for all of us, especially gli Americani. So I would pack my luggage and head back to America to spread the word as they so ordered.
A generation later, the younger wine producers hear an older man rant, about their wine, about their labels, about their expensive barrels, and this time the frown on their forehead is more pronounced. What it tells, without words, but without doubt, is that they know better. They are young and this is a different world, and one must be positive about all of these changes. Or else. So I pack my luggage and head back to my post, the one from which I will never be called back, and ponder on all these “changes”.
In Palermo, my great-grandfather gives his daughter away in marriage. My aunt Vitina stayed on in Sicily with her Giuseppe, they had a good life. They were fortunate; my great-grandfather had a good business, trading in wholesale leather. They had a car, they were upwardly mobile, in the stream of progress.
His son, my grandfather didn’t have to leave Sicily at 15, but he took a chance and set out for America. Less than 20 years later he was a prosperous business man, also in leather goods and real estate, in Southern California. He had a car and his son, my dad, was being groomed to follow in his path.
35 years later, in my brand new 1969 Fiat 124, I took that same road up through Big Sur and Carmel, past San Francisco and into the wine country. Last week I revisited some old friends along the wine trail.
