The tasting room above is very "old school" yet the cellar and vat room are located in this incredible structure ... a strange yet spectacular stairway to heaven (stairs cut through the middle of a circular structure, yet seem to go nowhere). It's an icon, just like the wines which include Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.

There are 741 acres here, and the soil includes "metal rich hills," calcareous outcroppings, clay, and alluvial. Merlot flourishes on the clay soils, and as I taste through the lines (value-priced Zingari, high end Quercegobbe) I am struck by a strong similarity to Pomerol.

Winemaking is old school here, mixed in with a bit of new technology. Hand harvesting rules, along with indigenous yeast ... yet  winemaker Francesca Moretti experiments with micro-oxygenation. The wines are very super-tuscan, big and bold, with robust earthiness from the magnificent soils.

Beyond the excellent wine, the real treat here is the vat room and cellars, which are designed in a circular formation and are almost more art than science.

Do you spend much time thinking about the sparkling water you enjoy with your meal?

Maybe you should.

Ferrarelle, the most popular sparkling water in Italy, brought World Champion Sommelier Luca Gardini to the elegant  The Leopard at des Artistes (one of Manhattan's top restaurants) to show the city's most influential wine journalists what to look for in a sparkling water.

Like the true sommelier he is, Luca pointed out the fat bubbles, the "clean" nose, and the fresh, sweet taste of the water -- admittedly things I never really thought about.

Also, the key difference between Ferrarelle and other sparkling waters is that Ferrarelle comes from the ground naturally sparkling. Many other waters are artificially carbonated.

Admittedly, Mr. Gardini was rather mesmerizing as he described the waters and also the wines of the evening, which were all extremely well chosen. They were rather obscure and of excellent quality so I attribute finding them to his sommelier skills.

Here was the menu and the wines:
SUL TAVOLO

RICE ARANCINI FILLED WITH MOZZARELLA, PEAS AND VEAL − GRAGNANO CANTINE FEDERICIANE

BRUSCHETTA WITH ZUCCHINI AND PROVOLONE DEL MONACO − GRAGNANO CANTINE FEDERICIANE
MENU

ESCAROLE “MBUTTUNATA” WITH PINOLI, REISINS AND PECORINO CHEESE - FALANGHINA DONNA CHIARA 2010

PACCHERI WITH LOBSTER AND LEEKS RAGU - GRECO DI TUFO DONNACHIARA 2010

ROASTED BABY GOAT SCENTED WITH “FINOCCHIELLA” SERVED WITH POTATOES - TAURASI DONNACHIARA 2007

PASTIERA - RA! DE CONCILIS

Curious about what wine to bring for Thanksgiving dinner?

The most important consideration is to find a good "food wine" -- especially wines that will pair well with thanksgiving foods like turkey and sweet potatoes that also have that elusive quality of "balance."

Below are three wines, a white and two reds, that you can find in a store near you that have incredible balance and can pair nicely with your holiday meal.

Suavia Soave Clasico DOC 2009 Veneto, Italy

"Very mineral rich!" said the man at the next table, helping himself to a glass of the Soave I brought to a popular BYOB restaurant in Manhattan. The gentleman in question was actually a VIP in the wine business, and in actuality we were exchanging wines in true wine lovers' fashion.

Yet he was right about the minerality of this wine ... the soils are volcanic and the wine shows a definitive sense of terroir. You will find ripe peach fruit on the palate and high acidity and finish of more minerals and lemon zest. Grapes are 95% Garganega and 5% Trebbiano di Soave (Verdicchio). Grapes are hand harvested and fermented for 15 days in stainless steel vats - no malolactic fermentation.

Quivira 2009 Mouvedre from Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma

"Very elegant and delicate!" says my companion, taking her first sip of this wine. "I always thought it was deep and brooding ... like it is in France and Spain," said a friend, sharing a bottle of this wine with me at a trendy restaurant. Though Dry Creek in Sonoma County can be a hot area, this grape fits in well with the warm, dry Mediterranean climate. The wine has a soft, supple spicy character that goes well with a wide variety of food, including lamb though being a "red wine with fish" sort of person I thought it paired very well with salmon. A unique style that will change whatever your thoughts are about what most people think of as a rustic grape.

Wilson Winery Ellie's Old Vine Vineyard 2009 Zinfandel

Really delicious wine - very pleasantly surprised by the intense red cherry high notes and refreshing, lightweight texture of this wine which resembled a top cru Burgundy more than a heavy, saturated California Zinfandel. Its elegance may be attributed to the old vines, or perhaps the "Mollisol" soil which is said to contain abundant organic matter in the topsoil and subsurface layers. The nose had notes of cherries, spice, cloves, and cola and the palate intense cherry fruit and well-integrated oak (it was aged in American and French barrels for 18 months).

Only 590 Cases are produced, $34.

Want to see how sommeliers pair wine in the UK? Click here to read my article on Palatepress.com

Perhaps there is something ironic about a young, white, fresh-tasting wine called Frascati, meant to drink in its youth, that tastes fabulous at 14 years (1997 vintage). Frascati is blended white wine of a specific style: high in minerals, refreshing, and with some citrus and floral characteristics depending on the vintage. Once made to satisfy the masses, the new style of Frascati is carefully vinified and made from carefully selected grapes.

This wine is considered to be one of the Castelli Romani wines - a general term for the white wines of the volcanic hills south east of Rome in the region of Lazio which stretch from just outside the city gates (some of the vineyards are in fact within the administrative borders of the city) into the province of Latina, south of the township of Velletri

Recently I visited the popular demonstration kitchen at Eataly in Manhattan to listen to Fontana Candida winemaker Maura Merz discuss the production  techniques and winemaking style. We had eight wines to try during the tutored tasting, the most interesting of which was the 2010 Candida’s Frascati Superiore "Luna Mater" DOC - soon to be released to a store near you.

Frascati is typically a blend of four white grapes, typically the majority being Malvasia di Candia and Malvasia del Lazio, Greco, and Bombino. It undergoes a long cool fermentation in tank, and depending on the vintage can see some time in very large old Acacia oak.

This is a great wine to have this summer with seafood, and Fontana Candida is the largest producer in Italy. Watch out for the 2010!

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

With just seventy producers making the classic Vino Nobile di Montepulchiano in the Tuscan region of Italy, continuing the tradition of this wine is a labor of love for winemakers and consumers alike. Frequently confused with the Montepulchiano grape, it is important to remember the main grape here is Sangiovese, here called Prugnelo Gentile.Though some producers can add up to thirty percent of other varieties (colorino, caniaolo, mammolo, even Merlot and /cabernet Sauvignon by law) wine made from 100% Sangiovese is not uncommon.

When compared to Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalchino (note the difference in spelling) this is a more rustic wine, with flavors that experts sometimes describe as "muddled." It is an earthy wine, with assertive tannins. Black cherry is the most concentrated and recognizable flavor, yet one can detect notes of milk chocolate and aged tomato jam. It would be a great pairing with pizza and pasta with a spicy red sauce component.

In the 18th century, Vino Nobile was quite fashionable, described as the "king of kings"  as far as wine goes. During our tasting, led by MW Mary Ewing Mulligan, the wine takes on a softer, earthier, tone.

Chianti Classico

Ed McCarthy, author of Champagne for Dummies and co-author of other Dummies wine books led this seminar on Chianti Classico, which is its own DOCG region within the Chianti area. Laws change every few years, yet currently the wine must have at least 80% Sangiovese, no white grapes are allowed, and small percentages of red international varieties are allowed, though Caniaolo still seems typical and traditional.

As you can see from the photo below, color of the wine varies tremendously. This could be due to the addition of international varieties or the grape colorino. I mention this because it could make it harder to blind taste Chianti Classico accurately at a blind tasting.

Characteristic of Chianti Classico is the firm cherry flavor, which in our tasting varied between black cherry and red cherry, and oak. In some wines, the oak was more discreet than others.

Brunello di Montalchino

Today was all about Brunello di Montalchino .... Noted writer Tom Maresca we learned about its birth in the 18th century, its laws (3 years minimum aging, an extra year for riserva) and its varied soils. Much of the talk centered around the politics of Brunello di Montalchino, which probably could apply to any wine region.

The wines tasted were all 2006 and to my palate, at least ten years away from being seriously ready to drink, though a few softer wines could be opened now. Yet why?

A fabulous event by three of the best educators in the city and great organization by The Connected Table.
 

“I’ve never had a wine that could be altered in so many ways!” said a bewildered friend after blind tasting three different versions of the Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio grape.

And it’s true … some might even call Pinot Gris/Grigio the multi-personality wine because of the way it takes on so many different expressions. This is due to terroir, of course. Yet what also adds expression is the way it can be manipulated by producers to create a specific style.

Pinot Grigio, in its most innocuous and mild form, is available on the by-the-glass list in virtually every restaurant in the world. One can only assume people like it because it doesn’t kick up too much of a fuss, goes with most white meat/fish dishes, has refreshing acidity, and in worst case scenarios has a few extra grams of residual sugar that most American white wine lovers seem to enjoy.

Pinot Gris/Grigio without Tears

Sommeliers have told me they have guests who demand a Pinot Grigio no matter what other fantastic wines are on the list, or worse, even if it does not pair well with their dish.

In this Pinot Gris/Grigio without tears article, I intend to save you the angst of trying to taste your way through and analyze all the different styles. So the other night, I asked my local wine shop to send over three PGs (Pinot Grigio/Gris) in plain paper bags so that a friend and I could taste them blind, and try to figure out several things:

1) If they were New or Old world
2) What country they were from and what year
3) Residual Sugar and winemaking techniques

Yes, of course I know that three styles are very small in a world flooded with Pinot Grigio, yet three it will be.

Cutting to the chase, please allow me to introduce the three wines:

Albert Boxler Pinot Gris Reserve 2008
Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2009
Maysara Oregon Pinot Gris 2009

Full disclosure here: my wine store also indicated to me that one wine would be from Alsace, one from Italy, and one from Oregon.

Now if you’ve been in the wine world long enough, you probably correctly guessed the Pinot Gris from Alsace would be easiest to pick out. First, it is off-dry, with at least 30 grams of residual sugar. On the nose, a signature is super ripe pear – imagine the most decadent vanilla-infused, slow-baked pear of your life, perhaps paired with vanilla ice cream, and you can imagine the nose and palate of this wine (add just a hint of spice like nutmeg and cinnamon). Acidity, despite the sugar, is quite refreshing so it could pair well with a dish like carmelized scallops.

The Alto-Adige Pinot Gris and the Oregon Pinot Gris were harder to tell apart.

Oregon

Let’s talk Oregon first … it is one of Oregon’s most successful varietals so competition between producers is fierce. This Maysara 2009 is very pale in the glass, with dry spiced pear on the nose, and on the palate the wine is very dry, with medium acidity, low tannin (lees, oak?) medium body, and moderate alcohol. You will find some minerality here, which could indeed lead you to the old world.

The style of this wine is very dry, delicious, yet structured and clean. It could very easily be confused with an old world wine, yet that last word “clean” also hints at the purity of fruit that is often found in Oregon.

Alto Adige

The Tiefenbrunner 2009 Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige is deeper in color, a bit shy on the nose, yet the palate has the more characteristic flavor of an Italian Pinot Grigio across all price levels. For me, this translates to a rustic, slightly vegetative flavor on the palate marked by high acidity.

In the last few years, I’ve met with winemakers from Italy who have shown me their Pinot Grigio and I’ve been amazed by the complexity of their wine. Often, I’ve asked if they added oak. Often they smile and say no. “Stirring of the lees?” More smiling, and often again the word “no.”

So what can cause such incredibly richness and complexity in a PG? The answer in many cases is Italian winemakers adding some mature/botrytized grapes to the mix, which gives the wine that fullness and richness most PGs do not have. Other producers do nothing to produce this complexity, and explain the fullness and richness solely on their terroir.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about Pinot Grigio and favorite style … here are some links to some other Pinot Grigio advenutes …

If you liked this you might enjoy:

Lunch with Albino Armani

Dinner with La Tunella wines
 

"If your winery is biodynamic," asks a woman of Nicola Rossi, University professor and board member of the Azienda Agricola Cefalicchio winery in Puglia, "doesn't that mean you have to plant according to the setting of the moon ... or something like that?"

Handsome and well spoken Rossi laughs the question off with a shrug, and later explains that his winery's biodyamic status is a result of the respect and restraint they have shown the earth, and that respecting the earth is really what the biodynamic movent is all about.

Yet let's get to that in a moment -- right now, we are here in the very elegant and very select Convivo restaurant in New York City, with gregarious and savvy winemaker who are entertaining several of our nation's top journalists and preaching the good words about Puglia wines.

Sales of wines from Puglia are on an upswing, possibly because of the classic :wine geek's" eternal quest to find a grape varietal off the beaten path. Now I know most of the wines from Puglia, yet tonight was the first time I had the opportunity to taste Nero di Trola, which we tried as a single vareital with our entray of grilled lamb chps, or the blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (50%/50%) which paired very well with the Formaggi.

Our  table hosted by Mr. Rossi was quite an important one, featuring two famous food/winebook authors and an editor from a top food publication as well as yours truly and a few more of a similar ilk. Mr. Nicola was a soave and energetic host, and spoke with genuine passion about his winery, the land, and the respect for the environment. I was impressed by his elegant use of language and wine making knowledge that went beyond that of his "day job" as a distinguished professor in a Roman university. It turns out he grew up at the winery that was created in 1871.

The first wine, a blend of nero di troia blend with Montepulicano Cabernet Sauvignon, was a good easy drinking wine Mr. Rossi stressed was a good every night wine for dinner, as it can be enjoyed with different types of food and left overnight in an uncorked bottle without concern. Here it was paired a house-made pork  terrine.

The second wine, 100% Montepulciano, was delicious and paired with Tortelli.

Now the key difference between these wines, aside from one being a single variety, is that the first wine had Pergula training while the second wine had guyot training, allowing the roots to dig deeper into the limestone soil and get more minerals.

The main course of grilled lamb chops was paired with 100% Nero di Troia, which was very smooth and delicious and paired in old oak barrels. The final wine was nero di  troia paired with cabernet sauvignon, and my favorite - it was served with the cheese course.

So far, Puglia week in New York is a huge success beginning with the Monday tasting of all producers and then tonight's individual dinner.

I also spoke with Mr. Rossi about the winery, which now boasts a hotel and restaurant. I read some fabulous reviews of the hotel on Trip Advisor -- what a great place to visit and learn more about wine.

Very excited to introduce you in this email to the lovely and very passionate Egle Armani, the wife (and spokeswoman) for the Albino Armani winery she owns with her husband. A few other journalists and I gathered together to taste her wines and hear her story at Dan Meyers new Maialino restaurant in Gramercy Park.

The most interesting aspect of the tasting was experiencing the 2005 and 2007 Foja Tonda grape, an indigenous grape to Vallagarina in Italy’s Adige Valley. It was discovered by Albino Armani in the 1980s, when it was near extinction. Mr. Armani experimented with the grape, and in 2002 petitioned the government to reinstate Foja Tonda for cultivation.

The 2005 today was incredible, a curious expression of Cabernet Sauvignon and something light and jammy I couldn’t quite place. The wine was very deep and concentrated, with an aroma of cinnamon, tobacco, and something a bit wild and untamed. The 2009, a baby, was lighter in color and concentration, yet was ready to drink.

I also enjoyed the Pinot Grigio 2007, and i am not a Pinot Grigio fan. Perhaps the reason is that it is from the single vineyard, Corvara, and has a very unique taste profile. It was very rich and full, almost like it was left to age on the lees and underwent battonage. The aroma was very fresh, and wood did not seem to be involved.

When I asked about the battonage and lees,  Egle shook her finger and said the secret was letting up to ten percent of the grape dry on the vine, and then use this to add richness. Incredible!

The winery was created by Domenico Armani in 1607 – and now the family has 5550 acres across three growing regions, Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto, and Friuli. Mr. Armani is a champion for saving lost, forgotten varietals and though just 12 acres of Foja Tonda exist, in the future for all our sakes I hope there will be far more.

Check the Wine-Searcher icon to find where this wine is available in your area. If you love “geek wines” Foja Tonda tells a great story!

... so very excited to go on my first trip with the Association of Wine Educators (ASE). I have already met a few of them at UK related events and am curious to learn more about the Valpolicella region

Also very excited that Michelle Shaw is leading the group - I had last seen her in Manhattan possibly four years ago giving a very persuasive talk about Prosecco. I hope to learn more about Valpolicella and the region.

I zip onto a Newark flight on a stormy Manhattan Sunday and arrive in at the sunny Verona airport by noon the next day ... a very laid back place where the only real drama is realizing that a cappuccino from the cafe costs five euros. By the time my Mac, IPod, and Blackberry are charged I meet our guide author Michelle Shah, whom I’d met a few years before when she spoke about Italian wine to Manhattan journalists, and Olga from the

A bit later a flight from the UK carrying a dozen of my fellow AWE members arrives and we all board the bus to Domini Veneti, a cooperative of about 225 members based in Negrar, one of five key communities in Valpolicella. Here lively PR director Antonella Margoni tells us about the different soil types of the region, and the hillside vineyards that produce such excellent wines. The winery’s claim to fame is that in 1939, one of their members accidentally created this famous Amarone (dry) wine when he was trying to make Reciotto ( a sweet wine) and forgot to stop the fermentation. Other companies have made the claim, but the bottom line is that this “mistake” has benefited the region as Amarone is among highest priced wines in the world.

To give you some perspective, earlier in the century sweet wines were all the rage. Some may argue that is the case today (for example, note the success of off-dry white zinfandel). The famous 21 Club in New York sold more sweet Riesling than dry wines back in the early years of the 20th century.

The swift popularity of Amarone made its producers a great deal of money and set the tone for competition in terms of quality. Every producer will tell you he or she is the best, and indeed, when our group tasted Amarone and other local wines (the simple fresh, fruity Valpolicella Classico, produced from the same approved grape varieties) virtually all seemed very good quality on the basis of balance, concentration of fruit, and for the more complex wines, complexity of flavor and ability to benefit from further maturation. Within the strict requirements of local law is much latitude ... for example, though producers can age the wine longer than the laws require, can use only the “flower” of the fruit (free run juice), age in younger or older oak, use grapes only from superior hillsides with specific soils and aspect to the sun, etc. Producers may also place additional limits on themselves by only producing wine in excellent years (so as to hold their reputation).

Overall, the tasting was an excellent way to judge overall quality of the region’s wines, and in the case of some older members, a dramatic demonstration of how remarkably quality has improved over the last twenty years.

Domini Veneti also sponsored lunch, during which I had the pleasure of sitting next to Mr. Bissoli, responsible for exports. I began with questions about the world market, as many producers told me that they export seventy percent of their wine. It was curious to discover that according to Mr. Bissoli, every country seems to have a “taste profile.” The Russians like sweet wine, so Domini Veneti’s Reciotto is very popular there. Supermarkets in the UK like the reasonably-priced, fresh and fruity Valpolicella Classico. And New York? At my local wine store in mid-town, I usually get a bottle of Valpolicella when I ask for a mixed case of quality wines under $20 in accordance with my blind tasting exercises, so the wine seems to be making inroads.

Our next visit was the wines of Groupo Italiano Vini (GIV) which completed the acquisition of Bolla in 2008. Bolla is one of the region’s biggest wineries, founded by Abele Bolla in 1883. The tour of the large modern winery with its many sepia-colored pictures of the original Bolla family was led by Giannantonio Marconi, viticultural coordinator who explained that GIV was also working towards making the vineyards more organic.

After a tasting of Bolla wines we went to our final visit of the day, dinner and tasting at Roberto Mazzi , a winery that had been in the family since the early 1900s. It is located in the hills of Negar and has an interesting history. Tall, strapping Antonio Mazzi, who runs the winery for his family now, is literally brimming with enthusiasm as he shows us around the winery which has whimsical touches such as pictures of his great-grandmother Gesuina Dall ‘Ora (1899 - 1982) who when left a widow was able to build the winery into a major brand and served as president on the local consorzio in the days when women didn’t do such things. In fact, the quaint decoration of the winery and whimsical touches like hand-tooled lace curtains gives the strong impression that all members of the Mazzi family were born in that very house, yet it turns out the family bought it only twenty years ago. We taste Mazzi’s excellent wines and enjoy being his guests for dinner, where the home-cooked food (served by Roberto and some helpers) has been prepared with Amarone (i.e. risotto with Amarone, beef slow-cooked with Amarone).

Day 2

A visit to Bertani is a good way to start the day when one must meet the bus at 7:00am on a sunny Italian morning. We are guests at the very charming Villa Quaranta Park Hotel, which is owned by the same family that owns the Tommasi winery. We do not have the luxury of time so I can’t tell you about the new spa or fitness center yet the grounds are gorgeous, sort of like the Villa Medici on a smaller scale. The air is succulent with fresh flowers and it would be a fun place to relax in the sun.

We arrive at Berani and fall into the capable hands of Gian Matteo Baldi, Commercial Director, who explains the Berani story possibly better than the Bertaini brothers could themselves. Gian explains that when the brothers founded the winery in 1860 they went to Burgundy to learn more about classic winemaking. It was there they fell under the guidance of Pasteur and Guyot, and learned the basics of fine wine production. I

In the vat room, Gian proudly points out the various kinds of vats - stainless steel, epoxy, wood -- and explains that the winery has all the right tools to make the desired wine. The same is true in the cellar, where visitors can see all formats of barrels and all types and ages of wood, including cherrywood which Gian says is excellent for producing a long-lived wine from the Corvina grape as it accents the wine’s natural cherry flavors and softens the harsh youthful tannins.

The tasting here is formal and lavish, with Gian’s colleague Christian explaining the various wines as we taste. All of us reacted with excitement to the 1988 Le Lave Soave, made from 100% Garganega. The 2009 Sereole Soave we had before this was fine -- an excellent, balanced, youthful wine made from quality sourced grapes. Yet this ’88 was absolutely spectacular and showed what the Garganega grape (say that three times fast) could do when grapes are grown on the most select limestone hilltop soils and aged in the right wood. As I wrote out my tasting notes, I realized they read like a description of a fine Meursault -- butter and some ripe apple on the nose, amazing acidity, a long delicious finish. Many said it was the finest example they had ever had.

Gian and Christian kept the good stuff coming ... next on the hit parade was a 1953 and 2006 Villa Ognisanti Valpolicella Superior, which they said was treated as if it was an Amarone in terms of quality (best vineyards, several selections, careful vinification in the best wood) but it can not be called an Amarone because no dried grapes were involved. The 1953 looked and smelled a little curious but it was quite fresh on the nose, and the 06 was fabulously rich and concentrated.

The next pairing was a 1967 and 2001 Amarone. The ’67 was faded garnet and a bit orange around the rim, but fresh and excellent with well integrated flavors. The 2001 was already delicious and showed incredible promise.

As a final treat, we enjoyed a 1940 Riciotto - sweet perfection in a glass. And it smelled fresh, delicious, and divine. In a funny exchange, a person near me gasped when she thought she heard the words “it’s corked.” “No,” explained the gentlemen. “I said, it smells like a Tawny port.”

Our next visit was to Scriani Winery in the village Fumane where we went off to the vineyards straight away. Our bus parked on the side of a long, winding, hilly road and up we hiked to the top of the hill where owner Stefano Cottini had his best Pergola-trained vineyards. It was a gorgeous day and butterflies were flying about. It is only early June, so the tiny Corvina grapes were just tiny berries. Yet Stefano showed us how the Pergola training method allowed the grapes to be shaded by the leafy canopy above. The vineyard is also organic so Stefano had to be quick to react to any potential disease because it could spread to a majority of the vineyard if not treated within 24 hours. Here it was explained that the winery name Scriani refers to the family’s historical occupation: that of being a writer.

The tasting was held in what looked to be a multi-million dollar tasting room in his very high tech cellar, with the floor of the maturation room studded with blue lights like the jetway of an airplane. One would think it a lunch visit given the cold curs and cheese and bread on the table. As a group, we tasted through the wines. Amarone is the leading Scriani product, aged eighteen months in barrique, eight months in large oak-wood casks and then refined a further six months in the bottle.

Azienda Agricola Nicolis was our mid-day visit in the village of Cariano. Leading us about the winery with its ancient buildings was the very capable Alexandra Mattern. It is a property of 90 hectares of which 42 are in vineyard. The most important are the Seccal and Ambrosan cru vineyards where vines are trained on a double pergola system. Over lunch (risotto with Amarone and more delights) we tasted through the Valpolicella Classico and two 2004 Amarone, one from Seccal and one from Ambrosan with the cheese course. Alexandra was very excited throughout the lunch, encouraging us to taste different wines with different courses and see how the flavors worked together, and her enthusiasm made for a delightful visit.

Villa Monteleone is a beautiful property in Gargagnago owned by Lucia Raimondi and producing ., Amarone, and Recioto. Originally from Colombia, Ms. Raimondi had met her physician husband in the United States. They married and came to Gargagnago with the intention to produce authentic Valpolicella Classico wines. The bought Villa Monteleone, a 17th century villa surrounded by vineyards and a historic park. The 1989 vintage was the first.

We gathered very intimately in the maturation room for our informal tasting and to hear Ms. Raimondi’s story ... she and her late husband Anthony enjoyed their first months at Villa Monteleone, getting to know their neighbors and learning about the best way to make their wines. Valpolicella D.O.C Classico is grown on Classico hillside sites (220 m) with south-facing exposures on pergola veronese vines. The average age of the vines is twenty years and yield is 65 ha/hl. Corvina, Rondinella, Croatina, and Molinara grapes are picked at the end of summer. Grapes are de-stemmed and crushed. Fermentation and masceration on the grape skins takes place at controlled temperatures for 12 days in steel vats. Periodic pumping of the must takes place during the first phase of fermentation, and then manual punching down of the cap after fermentation. The must is aged in steel tanks for six months, then in bottle for another six months.

Villa Monteleone Valpolicella D.O.C Classico Superiore Ripasso “Campo San Vito” is also produced from Corvina, Rondinella, Croatina, and Molinara grapes from the same age of vine in the same manner yet the yields are lower, 55 ha/hl. Fermentation is longer (15 days) and refermentation over the lees of Amarone takes place the following year in March. It is matured in wood 24 months and aged in bottle 12 months.

Villa Monteleone Amarone is produced from three grape varieties (Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella) in the same classico elevated site, age of vine, and training method, yet yields are lower (30 ha/hl) and the grapes are picked at the end of September. The grapes are dried in wood crates for 120 days (the clusters lose half their weight). For vinification, the grapes are destemmed, with fermentation and masceration on the grape skins taking place at controlled temperatures for twenty days in wooden vats. Occasional pumping over takes place during fermentation and manual punching down takes place at the end. It is then aged in wood for thirty-six months, then in bottle for a year.

Finally, Villa Monteleone’s Recioto is made from the same grapes as the Amarone, from the same site as the Amarone, yet the age of the vines is thirty years and the yield per hectare is 29 hl. Manual harvest takes place in October, with the grapes drying in wooden crates for more than 130 days with the loss of 50% of original weight. Grapes are de-stalked and crushed, with fermentation and masceration taking place at controlled temperatures for 20 days with occasional pumping over during fermentation and manual punching down at the end.

For our next visit, I was happy to see Riccardo Tedeschi again. I had met him over a year ago in New York at a lunch set up by publicist Alice Ryan. At the time, actually visiting Valpolicella seemed such a remote possibility! Now I am here in his winery tasting his wines.

The Tedeschi winery is one of the oldest family wineries in Valpolicella. Documents date back to 1630 certifying that some vineyards were owned by his family’s ancestors. Tedeschi grows typical native grapes such as Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta, Terodola, and Dindarella and Negrara which give body, structure, and elegance to the wine. Actually, earlier today I had just heard that the law allows for 15% International varietals in the blend ... and when I mentioned the prospect of Cabernet in a Valpolicella to a producer, he suggested that Dindarella or Negrara are very cabernet like and can provide the same structure.

After a tour of the winery we tasted through the many wines including the Valpolicella 2008 (very lively and fresh) and the 07 Ripasso that is deep and concentrated, with an interplay of red and black fruit as well as the 06 which was less tannic. The 06 Amarone was marked by a gorgeous purple color and elegant perfume. “I wanted these wines to pair better with food ... to go down easier,” said Riccardo, explaining that he wanted to keep the acidity high and the alcohol lower. As a special treat, Riccardo brought out the ’05 Amarone to compare with the 1995. At fifteen years of age, the ’95 had a fresh nose and velvet scent of fresh cherries ... very pure, clean and delicious with just a touch of oak. We also enjoyed the 1995 Capitel Fontana Reciota which was redolent of dark chocolate covered cherries - very concentrated fruit.

Our last visit of the day was the famous Tommasi Vitticoltori, were lively, energetic Pierangelo Tommasi welcomed us and explained he and his cousins (nine in total) are the fourth generation of this family winery and that they have many projects in the works, including a new cellar that should be ready in a few months. Sitting next to me at the dinner Tommasi so generously hosted was lively and elegant Annalisa Armani, who explained a bit the focus of the family (got their start in 1902) and that the brand really began to take off in the 1970s.

During dinner we tried four of the wines - the Pinot Grigio 2009, a fruity wine made from single vineyard grapes (Fossa Granara near Lake Garda), San Martino Lugana DOC 2009 (single vineyard San Martino is south of Lugana). The grape here is Trebbiano and the concentration of fruit and balance is quite fine. Next was the Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC 2008 Repasso which saw 18 months in Sloavian Oak (delicious) and finally Amarone 2006, from hillside vineyards and matured for three years in Slovian Oak barrels.

All of our hosts were fabulous and quite generous. Their passion for the region was apparent and am very excited to experience day 3.

One of the more indulgent pleasures in today’s frenzied world (especially when it comes to the tiny kitchens of Manhattan) is to buy a glossy cooking magazine with mouth-watering photographs of incredibly decadent cuisine, and just sit there, savoring a glass of wine as you read the recipe and pretend you are actually making the meal.

Or maybe it’s just me.

At any rate, as soon as I began to read Carla Capalbo’s gorgeously photographed and lovingly written book Collio: Fine Wines and Foods From Italy’s North-East, I felt the desire to read it with a glass of good local wine and some cheese from the area. Collio is written for people who love not just food, but the individual stories that tie in with the food and wine from this bountiful region.

On a map of Italy, the region looks tiny – easy to overlook - especially when you consider the proximity to glittering Venice. Yet two thousand years ago the Romans considered it the crossroads between east and west north and south and built the key trading city Aquileria here. Pliny visited, of course, and wrote about the way the affluent members of Roman society built luxurious weekend homes and farms (almost similar to the way wealthy Americans are buying wineries in Napa).

Whether you love food, wine, Italian culinary traditions, or are planning a trip to Northeast Italy, this is the book for you. Author Capalbo is a born storyteller, and perhaps without even realizing she is doing so, turns each of the many wine producers, chefs, and farmers she interviews into a very three dimensional character. In just a few paragraphs, through the way she paints these individuals with words, and sentences she chooses for their quotes, we come to know them intimately. Take Aldo Polencic, described as a “soft spoken, opinionated, forty-something winemaker.” In less than a half page we learn not just his winemaking techniques but his relationship to his father, his thoughts on his family’s 400 year history in the area, and his passion for the land.

Capalbo likes to let her characters (they are so vibrantly colorful it is sometimes difficult to remember they are actual living people) speak for themselves through their dialogue and through her physical description of them. And curiously, in the same way that she brings the winemakers to life, Capalbo brings the actual wines to life. Tocai Friulano and Ribolla Gialla are the local stars here, along with Malvasia and Pinot Grigio. The wines have personality given the intense mineral-rich soil and limestone hills, and its this sense of terroir that in part encouraged Capalbo to choose the area for her book.

Though Collio had been famous for thousands of years, it wasn’t until 1964 that the Collio Consortium was founded to promote the region as a denominazione with a recognizable territorial brand. Save for Pinot Grigio, it’s possible that you haven’t heard of the local varieties – few outside Italy have. Felidia Bastianich, a famous celebrity chef in Manhattan, was born in nearby Istria and can be credited for bringing wines of the region to New York.

In the course of interviewing dozens of winemakers, through Capalo’s eyes we learn about the wine of the region, and also the lifestyle and history of people who live there. “To me,” says Nicola Manferrari of Borgo del Tiglio, “the most important patrimony we have in Italy is the culture of the poor, of the “unschooled” contadini and artisans who seemingly have nothing to teach us but in fact are the transmitters of our most significant wisdom.”

In addition to the poignant stories of the winemakers and cheesemakers and farmers, author Capalbo ensures her book does double duty by revealing top restaurants in each area, points of interest, and guest accommodations which she has visited herself. If indeed you do plan to use this book as a guide, be sure to use a yellow highlighter pen to underline important points such as the one Capalbo uses when directing readers to the Latteria di Montefosca dairy: “Always phone to check opening times before venturing up the mountain to Latteria.”

Well said … especially if you are hiking up that mountain!