What’s it all about, Alfio?

After an intense few days in Verona for the Concorso Enologico International, Vinitaly’s wine competition, where I sat as a judge, I made my way from the Veneto. I’m conflicted about many of the wines from that region, mainly because so many producers have decided to make a wine with so much power and fruit. Poor Valpolicella, it has really been upturned. At a reception for a book on Corvina, many producers in the book showed up with their wine. One very famous one walked in with several bottles of his Valpolicella. After an hour or two, someone poured me a taste. I looked for the spit bucket, the wine was undrinkable. It was like drinking a fence post, harsh and stiff. And they charge how much for this perversion?

Frank Zappa: On Sicilian Wine and Snotty Sommeliers

As sometimes happens in the eno-blogosphere, magical connections are made. Unbeknownst to me Frank Zappa went to Sicily in 1982 to look up his Sicilian family. I know this because a friend of mine in Verona, Patricia Guy, told me about a recent documentary about Zappa’s visit. In light of the changing of the seasons, the move (over in Italy) this past Sunday to daylight savings time and this 1st day of April, I “channeled” the spirit of Frank Zappa to ask him about Wine in Sicily and snotty sommeliers. Surprisingly enough, Frank took time out from his post-life activities to respond.

What's New? What's Compelling? What Are You Looking For?

Sitting at a table earlier this week with a handful of new wines to taste, I started to think “What’s new about these wines?” I really was thinking “What is compelling” about them. But in our race to find the latest, greatest and rush it to market, I’ve started looking at the Italian wine market a little differently.

Maybe “What’s new?” isn’t the best way to frame the conversation. We go from Frascati, to Verdicchio to Galestro. Galestro? Who even thinks about that wine anymore? But once upon a time it was billed as the next best thing. And then Pinot Grigio came along.

The Week That Was: Resuming the Hunt for La Cucina Italiana

Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo

This past week it seemed I had been trapped in a time warp. I’m sure the deaths our family experienced in the past two weeks had something to do with it. One spends time with relatives going over the good times, telling stories, recounting this event or that episode. It takes a lot out of one to go back and look at all those things.

The death of our family friend Mario really signaled the end of a chapter in all of our lives. Friend to my father, the man who gave me a start when I stepped into a new city with nothing, along the way finding something that would occupy my time and passion for years, Italian wine. It wasn’t about wine, though. The overarching theme centered on elevating la Cucina Italiana to a place one takes for granted in Italy. But in America, it was rarely found.

I saw it, experienced it, was indoctrinated in the school of la Cucina Italiana. I saw it grow up in my adopted town, saw the rest of the country embrace it, take it run with it. It has been a great time to witness this moment, a golden age for Italian cooking in America.

My "other" Italy ~ sans tourists, sans checklist

This week, while doing a wine dinner for a private group, the subject of where I liked to go in Italy was asked. I hesitated for a moment, thinking to myself “Do I really want to tell all these strangers about my special place in Italy where no one goes? Do I want this loud room of revelers to invade my beach, my mountains, my serenity?”

Great Fast-Track Resources to Learn More About Italian Wine

Sara Maule of Nino Negri at Caracol in Houston w/wine director Sean Beck

In the past week, while on the road with Sara Maule of Nino Negri, we encountered many questions about Valtellina wine and Italian wine in general. Sommeliers, wine lovers, retail store managers, the list goes on. People ask me, all the time, what they can do to get a clearer picture on Italian wines. Here are some ideas

The Life of a Great Italian, in 12 bottles

In Memory of Mario Messina 1916-2014

We have finally arrived. I started with eleven others, wrapped ever so carefully in soft, white tissue. Laid ever so gently in the wooden box and covered on top.

The voyage from our place of birth to my new world took a long time. First we traveled on a cart, drawn by horses. Then we were set inside a dark, cool store room, to wait for the warm months to subside. Then, finally we were put on a great ship to cross the ocean.

The great lull of the water, back and forth, like being held as a child by one’s mother, rocking, back, forth, gently. It was a peaceful voyage; the first Great War was over. Peace reigned over the sea and the land.

Why Young Wine is as Good as Puppy Love

Born to be Delectable

There are so many wines available in today’s world that just weren’t around 10 or 20 years ago. In our flatter world, access to good, dependable wine is greater than it has ever been. And Italy has contributed some excellent examples: wines that are tasty, friendly and good values. And wines you can have often. Most of these wines come to the stores and the restaurants relatively young. And they are built to go, not for show, or to stow. These are casual wines, flings, if you will. This is as good as puppy love. But, while you wait for your true love to mature, in the cellar or the wine vault, what is one to do? Live life as an ascetic? Abstain? Wait? Absolutely not.

Looking for La Morra in All the Wrong Places

A Cautionary Tale from the Langa

Mariondino was beginning to feel the winter thaw in his loins. He longed to jump into one of his Cars and steer his little Pira past his Pora to visit his dear Bernadot.

“It’s been ages since I saw her sweet little Muncagota,” he pronounced. “What I wouldn’t give for a Ronchi in her Montefico.” It had been too long since his Ornato had been in anyone’s Vallegrande. “I’m too young to hang on, I need some Cannubi!” The Ovello seemed in a lot of pain.

So down the Via Nuova he steered, rolling many past lovers, now still slumbering. “Gallina, she was one of my first. How calm she was with me, I much younger than her, so patient she was as she caressed my Balluri.”

Live and Let Die

Letter from a half-full bottle to an apostle of wine

I see you, sitting there on the deck of your house overlooking the peaceful valley, watching the sunset. I know you’re tired. But the sun will set soon and you can rest then. We still have half a bottle left before I lose my stream, so let me share my thoughts with you about your long and glorious career.

The Question of Balance

"For I have known them all already, known them all" - Eliot

How often is it one can be with acquaintances, colleagues and friends and have them raise mirrors to your mind, not once, but several times over the course of three days? The wine gods were shining upon us this week in Northern California. Complete immersion. Wine, food, conversation, change, questions. Something’s afoot in wine country. We’re all part of a peaceful revolution. The only thing that is being killed is bottles of wine. But oh, what bottles.

Most of the meetings were over a table. Most of the time it was among three people. Three of those meetings pretty well much re-calibrated me and my thoughts about wine. Call it a California cleanse. Call it coming home. Call it the end and the beginning.

Lambrusco di Sorbara and Cotechino ~ An Existential Dilemma

I struggle with pork. If there is a plate of prosciutto nearby, I’m in trouble. “Waste nothing,” the angel whispers in my ear. And then I clean the plate, when nobody is looking. I never find out if the angel was a good one or a bad one until it’s too late.

"Learning the Joyful Truths" - How wine elders can help today's young wine lovers

"I'd suggest that many young wine drinkers do not have access to the great benchmark wines, the paradigms of profundity that are alas beyond their reach financially. They never learned the joyful truths of hierarchy, or to be stirred to their depths by the greatest of wines. They presume on a level playing field in which most things are equally valid. Sometimes this bothers me too. But I think we need to love them, not scold them." – Terry Theise

Life, I’ve learned, is four parts resilience and six parts patience. If the red wine is made well and is allowed to rest in the cellar, the rewards will be greater. And as with wine, why not with the youth who are embracing the life of wine?

Southern Italy is Sinking

We took the back road up to the hilltop village. Peeking behind the sets. The road was in poor shape, potholes and missing pieces of the highway. Something I have grown to expect in Southern Italy. Trash was everywhere. It was as if the people living in their houses went out into their back yard and threw everything into the gully. Water running off would transfer the toxins eventually into the water sources, the sea and ultimately the oceans. This was my first impression of Cirό.

Reflections on Italy ~ Regarding La Grande Bellezza

Forgive me, dear readers. I have been in deep-brain storming meetings off and on for several weeks and my head is bursting with new and with change. It’s all leading somewhere good, but for now I must diverge. And that is deep into this little blog, where I can write and think about things that aren’t very important, but which matter to me.

In January, while in New York, I went to the big screen and viewed Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza. Hailed as one of the best movies to come out of Italy in years, I mixed expectation with trepidation. I wanted the film to be good, even great. I’m not sure I wanted it to be greater than Fellini, Antonioni or Pasolini.

Five minutes into the film, the party scene disturbed me. I sat way in front; it was just the movie and me. It was too much. But what was bothering me, I wondered? Was it repulsion? Or was it recognition?

The Year of the Horse – Starting Off With a Bang

Anyone who reads this blog, they know how I feel about bragging. That said, I do live in Texas, and bragging rights are part of our patrimony. So grin and bear it. 2014 has started off with a bang, what with tastings across the country. Some of them I’ve been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. January, wow, if this is any indication of what 2014 is going to be like, bring it on. Now, let the boasting begin.

Oh, The People You’ll Meet! (At a Winemaker Dinner)

By my purely unscientific reckoning I’ve participated in over 400 “winemaker” dinners over time. For the most part these have been pleasurable social events. If I was lucky we actually saw information and inspiration imparted and folks went home knowing more about wine. They even might have gone home with some of the wine. In the best of times some of them have even been heraldic moments, in that folks not only have a good time and learned something, bonds were created, some of those bonds lasting for years. Along the way I have come to recognize certain archetypal players that one encounters at many of these dinners. Here are a few of the stand-out characters.

Sexy Italian Wines That I Love

Cars, women, beaches. Italy is downright sexy. Whether you are 26 or 62, the sensuality of living the Italian life is invigorating. And the wines of Italy are part of that lifestyle.

Barolo? Waiting 25 years for something big isn’t sexy. Brunello? Some things that are hard aren’t that sexy. Amarone? Weight can sometimes be a turn-off, especially when it is on top of you. No, I’m thinking a whole different way.

The Night Caruso Came to Dinner

L-R my Mom, sisters Josephine and Amelia and brother Felice. Mom and Josephine are living.

Texas in the beginning of the 20th century was an outpost. Ft. Worth was the Wild West. My dad’s dad arrived there in 1910 at the age of 15. His first job was as a film projectionist on 7th street. He later moved to Dallas and set up shop, following in the tradition of his father, whose life revolved around leather.

My mom’s family also gravitated to Dallas in those days. Her father came and went, but the family was rooted there. Her uncle, Alessandro, by the best account I could gather, was a “promoter.” He and my maternal grandfather were not as risk averse as I am. They lived the high life, even when they might not have been able to. America was a land with no limits and these two brothers took it right to the edge. One night they found Uncle Alessandro in the Trinity River with a new pair of shoes, ones made of concrete.

Italy at a Grande and Languorous Impasse

One of the conundrums for Italian wine is that with all of the varieties of grapes and styles of wines, there are essentially four wines that make up the majority of wines exported into America. Coincidentally those wines mesh with four basic types of wine: red, white, sweet and sparkling. Chianti, Pinot Grigio, Prosecco and Moscato. That is the stark reality. And Italian wines have much more diverse exposure than many other countries wishing to see their wines coming to America.

This past week in New York, Italy and her wine was front-row and center during many meetings and discussions, dinners and tastings. From the more obvious wines, like the top four, to more esoteric wines, like Caprettone and Catalanesca from Campania, Nebbiolo and Chiavennasca from Piedmont and Lombardy and Muller-Thurgau and Traminer from Basilicata. We talk about these grapes, drink these wines, push, push, push the limit of what can fit on the big boat sailing to America, but most of the seats are still filled by the top four categories.

The End of the World – Live at the Apollo

The Tree of Hope

In New York this week, meetings, end of year wrap-ups, annual trip. While the days are filled with meetings and tastings, the evenings aren’t meant to be so serious. An diversion was planned to Harlem. First stop, the Apollo Theatre.

The Apollo means different things to different people. For me it recollects a moment in history that was probably one of the most intense periods in my life and, most likely in the life of the world.

As I stepped through the doors of the Apollo, the names of important musical souls, their names engraved on plaques and set into the walk, I saw the name of James Brown.

Italian Culture and Compassion in the Post-Berlusconi Era of Francis I

It hasn’t been a year since Francis became Pope, but already signs abound for a new direction in Italy. After 25 years under the allure of Berlusconi’s idolatry of money and power, Italy needs to reflect and repair. Whether a Jesuit from the New World can help fix Italy (let alone the world), my hope in 2014 is that Italy has hit bottom and will work itself back up.

What is it I observe? With the eyes of a photographer I look, I listen and I dig into the life of Italy and Italians for 40 years. And while sadly my foreign language skills fall short, I still have my eyes and my heart with which to interpret what I sense. In years of traveling around Italy I do not recall having seen so little energy for the future as I have seen these last six, when Italy entered into the “era of malessere.” I look now at Italy and wonder at the parallels when my grandparents left Italy 100 years ago.

Are There Too Many DOP’s in Italy?

Since Italy aligned their wine regulations with the European Community in 2012, the unbridled enthusiasm to rush wine towards the vaunted DOCG position has been stultified. With 73 DOCG’s and 330 DOC’s rolled into the DOP categorization, some have wondered aloud if there are too many (403) appellations in Italy. With more DOCG’s coming on line (Nizza in 2015) and some confusion as to what is a DOP wine (is it DOC? DOCG? Both? Something else?) and looking at the large numbers of wines with appellation (DOC/DOP) that make up a minute amount of actual wine produced, Carlo Flamini (who has submitted some interesting comments here) has written an article in the “Il Corriere vinicolo”, "Tempo di Scegliere", (password required) proposing Italian winemakers (and lawmakers) might step back and revisit how they are promoting "Brand Italy" to the world.

Thanks to Donatella Cinelli Colombini, who lives and works in Tuscany for a thought provoking piece on here website, “Le 327 piccole denominazioni di vino devono sparire?” (translated here for English speakers) which in essence outlines a proposal by Flamini to consider eliminating 327 DOC/DOP wines in Italy.

What a Jesuit priest, a Zen monk and a Yaqui shaman taught me about life, wine and Italy

“There is a crack between the two worlds.” – Don Juan Matus

In time, the perception of things as they are and as they seem are two sides of a wall. Spending one’s life piercing that wall is the work of ones who aspire to a simpler existence. People run around looking for all manner of things they think will fill their life with meaning, from fame and acceptance to wealth and material objects, from power and influence to a total abnegation of the corporeal and worldly. Three influences during my time of earth helped to re-shape and reinforce an inner sense that I was instilled with at birth. And as I walk the wine trail in Italy these influences have been instrumental in directing my attention towards destinations that these teachers intended.

Italian Wine in 2014 - Personal Strategies for Collecting - Part II

During the last two weeks I’ve had more than one occasion to dig into my wine closet and pull out some gems. Barolo, Brunello, Champagne, old California wine, Hermitage, vintage Port and some older whites from Friuli and Marche. And while the cellar is far from emptied, there is a little more room for some of the wines I left out in the first post I wrote on December 22, Italian Wine in 2014 - Personal Strategies for Collecting - Part I. So let’s venture forth.