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Beyond Rome: The Products of Lazio

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3/5 of a whole

Last week I joined HandeIrene and Theo for a fun evening of wine and oil tasting hosted by AIS.  The theme for the evening was Lazio.  As a Lazio food and wine aficionado I was looking forward to trying products from producers I had never tried before.
Most of the wine producers I was already familiar with, but there were a few surprises.  I arrived late, so the event was already fueled by inebriated people.  I think we spent more time talking than tasting, but it was a good time, and I got to taste olive oil from 2000+ year old olive trees.

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I caught up with them by making the rounds of Frascati.  No surprises on that account.  Frascati is one of my favorite wines, but you know, been there done that.   I still haven’t had a better Frascati than what is made by the cantina Castel de Paolis.

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While many people flocked to the Casale del Giglio table, we decided to concentrate our efforts on the Cesanese grape and there were some wonderful surprises.  Cesanese is a local grape that is native to Lazio.  Most famous in Cesanese del Piglio, it is a grape that has a lot of potential.  It does well in the volcanic soils of Lazio, has lovely dark fruit aromas and can be very expressive and complex.  Some of the producers really know how to handle this native grape, and others failed by using way too much wood.  I am not a fan of wines that have an offensive amount of oak.  I like to get a sense of the grape, the terroir and the winemaker’s skills.  I suppose you could say that overusing oak is an indication of lack of winemaking skills, but then again, many winemakers make a variety of products for different audiences.  The international palate likes big, jammy fruit bomb with lots of sweet and spicy aromas from oak.  New World style.  Me?  I like a wine with depth and layers.   Oak should be like makeup.  Minimal use to enhance beauty that is already there, not to cover up perceived flaws.

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[nd_options_text nd_options_text_tag=”h3″ nd_options_text_weight=”normal” nd_options_text=”Gorgeous Olevano Romano by Damiano Ciolli. Wonderful. They were very lively.”][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height=”20″][nd_options_divider nd_options_align=”nd_options_text_align_left” nd_options_width=”30px” nd_options_height=”2px” nd_options_color=”#f1f1f1″][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height=”20″]

The event wasn’t a serious tasting.  We had fun and had the opportunity to meet some producers that give me a sense of hope for the future of Lazio in the world of wine.  I even met a neighbor that lives less about 500m away from me and where they make easy to drink wines and lovely olive oil.  Funny that I walk by their property quite often and I’ve never said hello.  I volunteered myself to help with the harvest at my favorite wine producers of the evening, Damiano Ciolli.

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Though I have my disagreements with AIS and their method, I am happy that they host events like this.  Having so many producers in one place rather than having to go out and search for them myself is really useful.

Did I mention I tasted olive oil made from trees that are over 2000 years old?  Where am I?

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Categories
Our News

Future Wine Lovers

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Sometimes, only sometimes, we encounter young people that are extraordinary. These people give us old people hope for the future. In this case, my last group of wine students was so fantastic, smart and talented I wanted to cry when I said goodbye. As a group they were inquisitive about the overall culture of wine and its place in Italian culture in general. They studied, did awesome and creative projects and, in the end, I was the one learning from them. I’ve been a grumpy youth hater for far too long. I guess it is just disheartening that many college age students cannot put a sentence together, seem disinterested in the world around them, are plugged into their devices but tuned out of the world around them. Not so this group. They were articulate, funny, knowledgeable and open to new experiences. Their energy was infectious. These are the future wine lovers of America, and we as wine professionals need to embrace their curiosity, open ourselves to learning about innovative and new happenings in the wine world. They are coming out into the world with more wine knowledge than most 20-21 year olds; they’ve made the connection between wine and local culture, wine and health, wine and finance, and, their place in this world. My students met my colleagues and they were all impressed. As my friend Hande from Vino Roma said about one in particular, “That boy renowned my belief in the future – so good to know there are 21 yr. olds (well, at least one!) out there who are smart, athletic, artistically inclined & talented, well-behaved… and good looking 😉 The human kind shall persevere!” Indeed!In Frascati

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If you guys are reading this, bless you all.  You ALL have rehabilitated my faith in the future.

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Wonderful fruity aromas

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Tastes like Puglia

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Mr. Champagne with the ladies

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Best Destinations

Wine Tasting in Rome

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A guest of Ettore’s just posted this photo on his Facebook page, so I thought I would share.  Not only do you learn about the fascinating world of Italian wine, you have fun while meeting fellow guests who share in an interest in wine.  When in Rome, join us for a great night and drink wine like the Roman’s do!

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Categories
Best Destinations

Bibenda Day 2012

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I haven’t had much time for wine tasting lately.  I am studying for the Rome Guide Exam and it is more or less taking over my life.  I’ve attended a few tastings with our ladies tasting group and, recently, Bibenda Day at the Hotel Cavalieri.  I’ve posted about other tastings and events hosted by AIS on this blog, so I’ll spare you the details on what they are about.  These tastings are a great way to taste a great amount of wine in one space and get to know the regions and producers you really like without having to travel 100s of kilometers.

This years 46th Bibenda Day was a 2 day celebration of the organization in Rome with 430 produces of wine and food from all over Italy.  They also had special conference with winemakers in Italy and abroad.  I signed up for two, but due to a transportation strike and a mistake on my part I could not attend the Valentini tasting.  I did have the pleasure of not only taste some of the wines of Josko Gravner, I was able to spend two hours listening to him speak about his life, his approach to wine and his dear father.  You can read in more detail here at Katie Parla’s blog

My favorites for the evening were Benanti from Etna in Sicily, Skerk from Friuli Venezia Giulia and Josko Gravne from Friuli Venezia Giulia.  There were other great wines but these are the produces that stood out because of their unique approach to winemaking.   Of the 8 wines wer tasted at the Gravner conference 6 were fermented in Amphora.  We tried Breg 1998 and 2005 and Ribolla from 2000-2005.
These wines were intense and full of character and differed great from each year.  Gravner spoke a lot about weather and conditions of each year, and since there is very little intervention on his part there is a lot of variation from each year.  So much mineality in all of them.  They were alive.
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The Tasting Room

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Some of the delicious food

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Benanti pour-beautiful wines with tons of mineality and very lively

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Benanti pour-beautiful wines with tons of mineality and very lively

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Josko Gravner

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Copper wines of great complexity and intensity

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Breg 2005 (blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Riesling)

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Why this color?  Even though they are made with “white” grapes he ferments with the skins which not only extracts color but tannins, which give these wines longevity.  Conventional wines differ because red wines are fermented with the skins of dark grapes white wines are white because they are fermented without skins.  The also extracts intense aromas and flavors.

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When you go to an AIS tasting,don’t forget your suit.

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Travel Tips

The Elders

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A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a very special and exclusive tasting at the Roman headquarters for AIS at the Hotel Cavalieri on Monte Mario. I signed up last minute so I could join sommeliers-in-training and local food and wine guides Gina Tringali and Irene de Vette for a vertical tasting of Borgogno, a cantina that has been making very special Barolo since 1761. Our tasting went back to 1961, and I felt each year we went back in time the wines became stronger and more expressive. Vertical tastings like these are a great opportunity to get to know a particular cantina, but also give individuals the oppurtunity to taste back vintages that we might not otherwise have the opportunity to taste.

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The lovely Gina Tringali and Irene de Vette

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Me with Andrea Farinetti-He is so cute!

After a brief introduction by Franco Ricci, the young and talented Andrea Farinetti took the microphone and gave us a great explanation of the slow process of wine making at Borgogno.  I couldn’t help but giggle.  He looked about 12 and I was sure he had braces on.  In my ageist attitude I was saying to myself, “What can this little chump possibly have to say of interest?”  A lot, it turns out.  We learned that Borgogno wines, with Andrea at the head, are Slow Wines.  Though from 1996-2011 they used more conventional methods in wine making, such as selected yeasts, Andrea has made the cantina take a turn for the better.  Starting with the 2012 vintage, they started to use only ambient yeast, they use concrete barrels, they are looking back to traditional Barolo wine making, and that is something I can get behind.  Andrea is a truly exceptional man, and I am happy there are young people out there in the world of wine who are passionate about tradition, sustainability, and want to care for their inheritance in a careful manner.

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BorgognoBaroloRiserva 1982DOCG

Once Andrea was done, the mic(s) were handed over to master sommeliers Armando Castagno and Paolo Lauciani.  I have a wine crush on Paolo Lauciani.  The man is sexy, and has the most incredible and demure voice.  Plus, he is a tasting genius.  That man can could decipher that type of herbs a cow ate just by smelling the cow’s manure.  Virtuoso!
I won’t make this post a long post on my tasting notes, but I would like to remark on the two wines of the evening that were my personal favorites, the 1982 and the 1961.  We tasted wines from 1996, 1988, 1982, 1978, 1967 and 1961.  Despite being up to 51 years old, all of these wines had beautiful orange garnet hues and remained fresh and had well integrated tannins.

Musky, chocolate, something green, forest aromas, mature red fruits, complex sweet aromas and spices like nutmeg, citrus, smokiness, pink roses, tobacco, chestnuts, cacao, candied fruits, over all a complex array of aromas ranging from fruits to spices.  Its taste was ethereal.  Dry and dynamic, bursting with flavor, still very fresh but mature, very well balanced, bitter citrus, long and smooth silky tannins, well integrated tannins, never ending fruity finish with a touch of salinity.  Remarkable smooth but robust tannins.  In the words of Paolo, “A Symphony.”

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Borgogno Barolo Riserva 1961DOCG

A lovely brick red.  Very evolved aromas of cherries and prunes, floral notes, salinity, tertiary aromas of menthol and balsamic notes, mint, camphor, juniper.  Very delicate, like a pinot noir.  No wood, fresh, honey aromas, almonds, dry red berries, something barnyard, like horse sweat (my favorite) It has surprisingly robust tannins, still very tactile and fresh, saline, warm and fruity.  Excellent evolution for a wine that is over 50 years old.  Wonderful.
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