Palermo and the Invisible Man

Passing through a cloud of unknowing

Notes from a journal, not about my grandfather, but my great grandfather. In Palermo. He died before I ever knew about him. But one day many years ago, in the family home on Via Roma in old Palermo I was introduced to him in a vision. It was August and all of Sicily was an inferno. The road outside my window was filled with noise and smoky little Vespas filling the air with all manner of intrusions. I was feeling queasy and disoriented. An omelet I had eaten near Alcamo hadn't set well with me. That, and the sizzling heat. My aunt would bring me water with anisette in it, cloudy, cool, refreshing, soothing. But my stomach was a mini Etna.

Montalcino Deja Vu: What a Difference a Generation Makes

From the Archives while the Invisible Man prepares the bandages

In 1984 Montalcino was a sleepy little hamlet

Sometimes, it seems I don’t throw anything away. There are some who would say I never let things go. From the tossing and turning the other night (was it the buffalo steak or the stake in the heart?) I couldn’t argue. But, with the grace of patience and the hope of wisdom, some of the bumps on the wine trail might eventually smooth out.

This has been a long, arduous month. I thought after Christmas we’d get a respite. But the history of January, in my life, hasn’t been one of rest and reflection. More like throw some more wood on the fire, let’s crank it up in here, 'cause we aren’t through yet.

So, there we are.

Mom, Apple Pie and Throwing the Italian Wine Goomba from the Train

So you make wine or you write or you bake and you think there is more. You think you want to take it from a hobby or an advanced passion to the streets. You start marketing your wine, you sell a piece here and there, you start selling your apple pies to the local cafe.

And then, late one night, you actually think you can take the giant step. Outside of your norm. Maybe even make the big change. Make a living doing it, full time. But you need a boost, a validation from something larger, something "out there." You think you need to win greater approval before you jump.

If you make wine or write or bake or engage in any activity, you might think to enter a competition. Or someone might nominate you for one. It happens all the time. Full time professionals are lauded all the time. The Nobel, the Pulitzer, the Oscars. People love to compete. And win.

How many times have wine-sellers in my field gone to their clients and told them, "It won a Gold Medal in the Orange County Fair"? How often I have looked to see which science fiction writer won the Hugo Award. Or the Nebula. Or if both, slam dunk into my shopping cart.

Salumi, Dolcetto and Sophie

With one of my long standing friends, I was having one of those conversations. No filters. Carne cruda. Maybe it’s a guy thing, no maybe about it. It’s a guy thing. Men love to hunt wines down and conquer them. Women like to get “into” a wine. I know, I know, gross exaggeration, but to my point with my dear friend, we were talking about our two favorite things, women and wine.

“It’s that whole thing you have about the dumb DOCG list. Ace, who cares?” My friend had me. I don’t know why I followed something that was destined to be a dead end. I had to remind him that was exactly what he had done with the last three women in his life. Yep, we like to throw ‘em hard and right into the middle of the strike zone.

“So what is it, are you going to try and sell me that our tastes in wine and women are parallel?” He was going somewhere with this. I hadn’t quite thought of it that way, but my pal was on to something.

A 21st Century Gastaldi

Alessandro Masnaghetti

Readers familiar with these pages know I have a fondness for maps. One of my favorite links is Frank Jacob’s Strange Maps, a quirky and endlessly entertaining site. I love maps. My current afflication to note all the DOCG wines of Italy is matched only by the map made to cover this little piece of human folly by the brilliant Italian architect, Annito Abate, who has mapped all the current 65 Italian DOCG wines. Maps are the foreplay of travel. Maps often lead one to treasures. Once, when I was in the office of a lawyer I spied a map of the New World and took a look at it. On the map I saw my family name, Cevola, and immediately knew the lawyer would be able to help me. The area on the map covered parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. We found gold.

A Brief Reprieve From the Onslaught

Ceiling fresco - Casòn Hirschprunn, Margreid, Südtirol

Because of the encounters I have had in the last month and with all the rush to award guarantees of origin to the decadent and irrelevant Italian appellation system, I have zigged, zagged and ran scatter-shooting across this April month. Not that it hasn’t been a romp. Jump on a plane, beat the jet lag, eat this, drink that, run, run. My mom likens it to a vacation. I could use one of those right now. But it “ain’t gonna happen,” there’s too much going about in the wine trail that I find myself perched upon these days. And that’s more of a song coming from the mouth of the sparrow hawk above my home than a kvetch. A shriek of pleasure.

But not without its moments of sadness, or at the very least, contemplative reflection. Last night, after a long day, in the early evening I was summoned to a wine dinner. Pouring wine, sitting with new people, making conversation, trying to attend to their needs as well as to my host and our winery folk. I never really thought I did justice to any of them. I was strewn, but sincere. At the end of a very mellow evening, almost frighteningly so for the normally cacophonous venue, as we were boxing up wine for the clients and tidying up, sipping on an espresso and generally heading towards comatose places, a lady came up to me. I’ve known her for what seems like ages. Always very friendly, although never going too deep. But civil. Respectful.

The Latest Italian Wine DOCG Update - Italian Double Holiday Reveals Two More - Making it "65"

from the "when the going gets weird, the weird turn DOCG" dept...

I can barely keep up with it. Can you imagine the Italian government and the overworked apparatchiks at the Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana trying to make sense of a law that in 18 months will be meaningless? Monday April 25, it seems, was a double-headed holiday. With Italians celebrating both Liberation Day and Pasquetta, they're running a little behind in the official announcement dept.

There have been insightful and sapient peregrinations on the web about the antediluvian DOC/G system. I tend to agree. It has become a theater of the absurd. But so very entertaining, in the way only a Latin culture can provide.

None the less, duty calls, so now let us welcome the two new members of the DOCG club:

Colli Bolognesi Classico Pignoletto - see article 8

Rosazzo - still searching for the "official announcement" for the DOCG from the GOVT


Current list after the break

Italian Wine DOCG Update - We Have Risen to "63"

From the "Let my people go" dept...

It is that time of the year, when they roll out Charlton Heston and the 10 Commandments epic. Kind of an American ritual, to sit around the TV and watch the pageant of Moses and Ramses and all the comings and goings of 3,000 years ago. I have come to think of Charlton Heston as one the most iconic Biblical Hollywood figures, and he weighs in often on these posts. So in commemoration of that and the 3 (or is it just 2?) new DOCG’s we are rolling back the Red Sea with these new proclamations from the DOCG on high. We're up to "63" and counting...

Buona Pasqua!

A Week in Italy - 7 Wine Finds from Vinitaly

from the "bringing Vinitaly to flyover country" dept.

Seven days in Italy. Seven wines. So it was my friend Paul diCarlo at Jimmy’s in Dallas asked me to put together a tasting for his little back room, his “circolo del vino” for 57 of his closest friends and clients. “Show me what we missed.” I thought about it. All the wines I sampled in Italy, how to reduce it down to seven? Not so easy. But when I was sitting outside my porch in the Langhe, looking out over a vineyard I got this idea. Why wines? Why not people? And then it got a little easier.

Vinitaly 2011 is a blur. I was only there three days, instead of the usual five. The UGG en primeurs in Bordeaux stole a day on the front side and the Summa 2 event in Trentino borrowed another day. In 2012 there will only be four days for Vinitaly and will start on a Sunday, March 25 and go through Wednesday March 28. Yes, those are the correct dates. It seems the earlier decision to run the show from April 1-4 got in the way of the UGC Bordeaux en primeurs and the WSWA show in Sin City in 2012.

Sifting Through the Fine Red Dust

So far, 2011 has become an extended road trip. Work related events have taken me on the road most of the year. Italy, New Orleans, New York, Dallas, Baton Rouge, Friuli, Austin, Aubrey, Berkeley, Napa, Veneto, Arkansas, Paris, Bordeaux, the Langhe, Buffalo Gap, Texas. It just keeps getting better.

I know there are those out there who tire of the constant barking of the poodles, the bloggers, whether it be about wine or the next great meal one just had. For me too, sometimes, it does seem like one long tome in self aggrandizement. Remember, it is a (b)log. And it is voluntary reading. But from the traffic spikes, it seems someone out there likes these on-the-road rants.

Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit - Fried Chicken, Sabered Champagne and Jaques Pepin

From the "I wonder what the rich folks are eating?" dept.

Right off the plane from France and Italy I was whisked through a veritable Inferno on a scale only Dante could aptly describe. It seems there have been some hellacious wind and fire storms in West Texas and we drove through them to get to Abilene, where Tom and Lisa Perini host the Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit, now in their 7th year.

The Meaning of Hospitality

From the Bolognese, Branzino and Grignolino files

Tonight. My last night. Two weeks away from home. France. Italy. Everyday, somewhere to be. Wine to be tasted. Ten hour days. Driving. Weak eyes. Sore feet. And then finally the last hotel. Near the airport. So close.

One more meal. Near the hotel. 50 feet away. Why not? After a wonderful day in Barolo, with Anna and Emanuela and nine wonderful wines going back to 1990. Dolcetto. Cortese. Barbera. Nebbiolo. Moscato. Great chef. Amazing lunch. Wonderful company.

And then the drive to the last hotel room. And the last meal.

Castiglione Falletto: What a difference 27 years makes

Luca Currado is very animated about this land. And with good cause. From a family heritage dating back before the unification of Italy, Luca's family was really out in front of the evolution of modern day Barolo. That's not to say modern Barolo, though. In fact, this second time around, the wines have steered forward in a timeless manner.

The last (and first) time I was here, in 1984, Luca's father, Alfredo, was at the helm. And it was heady times. All of Castiglione Falletto was this vibrating bee hive. Cavalotto, Scavino, any number of people I visited in those days, there was building and barriques. Rotating fermenters, technology gone wild, modernity in full swing.

Happily, my inner Rip Van Winkle, upon awakening and returning, has found that this land has found a few stewards to take the course back due North and maintain the ascendancy of these great wines and terroir.

Room With a View and the Best Pizzeria Wine List on Earth

from the Nebbiolo in Neive chronicles...

Finally, I can get into the vineyards! After nine straight days of tasting, usually from 9:00AM until 6:00PM, followed by lengthy dinners and a long drive back to a room, I am in the Langa. Two quick days to make a few rounds, visit some friends. I am staying with a long-time friend and man, if that isn't the sweetest view outside a window I don't know what is.

After visiting Lageder and the Summa alternate conference, where I tasted Giacosa, deGresy (in anticipation of today) and a whole range of Lageder, Marco Felluga, some amazing Rieslings and some wacky Austrian wines, I am calibrated. A four hour drive got me into Valdivilla just in time to catch the magic bus to Neive to have, what else, pizza and Nebbiolo in Neive.

"The Hottest Vinitaly in 40 Years"

A bit of a mixed bag regarding Vinitaly 2011. First off, there are a lot of amazing people here (see pictures after the post). Some of them I got to talk with and taste their wines. There never is enough time. Seems like next year there will be even less.

For those who care to know, Vinitaly 2012 will be held in Verona, again, but this time the wine fair will start on Sunday April 1 and go through Wednesday April 4. (Thank you, Luca Zaia). The thinking was that it needed to be open more during business days so that the restaurant owners could come on their off days. It means one less day of the fair.

However in 2012 Easter falls on that following Sunday, April 8. So it will be Holy Week in Italy. As well it will be the week of the en primeurs 2012 tastings in Bordeaux. Which makes it impossible for journalists and folks who try to cover both events.