Piemonte Spring 2011

Getting there is no longer as much fun as being there. In other words, flying in the twenty-first century pretty much sucks. Both of my legs fortunately went as planned and the first SFO-NYC Saturday afternoon was enlivened by sitting next to a very interesting software developer who seemed to know something about everything, and was packing not one, but two fully-loaded I-pads! One was for his mother-in-law in Helsinki, where he was bound.
It seems like months ago when in fact it was only hours- the first hours of what is proving to be a very, very long day. By the time I hit Milano, it was 8 AM Sunday, our time, and I still had the whole day ahead of me. A good part of it was spent in my little Fiat Punto-a little vacuum cleaner canister of a car with virtually no power. It has nonetheless endeared itself to me because it has a connection on its radio for my I-pad. This allowed me to make the Milano-Alba connection in just under two hours with Porcupine Tree at pain level volume!
Of course this is Italy so nothing is ever quite straight forward. I coasted into the Giro di Italia bike race in Alba and found the city center guarded by some thousand florescent orange clad Carabinieri, one of whom simply shrugged when I suggested he let me through his roadblock to get to my hotel. I turned around and, instead, headed towards La Morra, much to the chagrin of the English gentleman I dubbed 'Belamey' living inside my GPS. "Please turn around," he repeatedly implored as I headed away from the Alba hotel destination he had so painstakingly mapped out for me. We learned to get along.
The first person I saw in La Morra was Giorgio Rivetti who just happened to be taking his gorgeous little daughter Lidia into the market as I motored by. Rather than disturb this placid domestic scene, I just rolled down the window, said hi, shook hands and made our promises for dinner tomorrow.
Seems like I always randomly meet someone in La Morra.
I ate lunch in the same osteria I visited last year- good but simple food and some great esoteric wines from local producers. I washed my Lingua con Salsa Diavalo down with a glass of Bongiovanni Arneis (perfect with creeping jet lag) and the Asparagus in Parmigiano Crema and rustic hand-cut pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes went down with a bottle of Scarpa Barbera d'Asti, most of which I left for the staff, the stylishly insouciant smoking girl with the big sunglasses and the posse of Sunday bikers that turned up while I was there.
Once I checked into the Hotel Calissano (**** great location, brand spanking new and highly recommended) I thought a thirty minute nap would knock the cobwebs loose. But if a thirty minute map works...a three-hour nap must be even better. What luxury. I hope my wife doesn't read this because I have a hard enough time convincing her I am working over here and a three hour nap- hell, I don't remember the last time.
Anyway, a quick shower later, I rolled down to the annual Nebbiolo Prima kick off party, this year held in the square in the shadow of Alba's duomo, a ten-minute walk through Alba's old city from the hotel. All of the producers were there as were all of the attendees. This event is sort of when you scope out who's here and who isn't, and the lineup looks much similar to last year's with some interesting and fun additions...like the two stunning women wine shop owners from Warsaw! The event basically consists of a group of buyers (restaurateurs, retailers, somms) and journalists (bloggers, writers, etc.) from all over the world. For whatever reason, the buyers and journalists are kept apart (who will contaminate who, I wonder?) and mix only at parties like this one, one or two of the dinners, and at the Grand Finale.
And there's this American named George Tita who has a fledgling import business and, even though there is virtually no importer presence at this event, he annually insinuates himself onto the event's fringes, turning up all the time at any event where we buyers are likely to appear. This year he managed to gather eight or so of us together for an impromptu dinner at Castello di Verduno in the town of Verduno, about ten minutes from the back side of La Morra. I went because I've always been interested in the wines of Verduno and this producer in particular. The dinner featured wines from three of his Piemonte producers: Olek Bondonio, Andrea Cortese and Cascina San Martino. First of all, the food was delicious. Olek's wife is the Exec here with a grand reputation in the Slow Food movement. She turned out not only a wonderful Vitello Crudo (packed in salt for three days and sliced apparently) but also the best Tajarin al Sugo (secret is the Bra Sausage, I am told) I've tasted to date- and believe me, I've had a few versions.
The wines were the particularly pleasant surprise: Olek's 2007 Barbaresco Roncagliete (the highest spot of what is also Gaja's Sori Tildin) was polished and deep, especially for a 2007, and Davide's Cascina S. Martino's 1998 and 1996 Barolo Rue (think Chiara Boschis' Via Nouve as far as geography goes) were head turning- the 1996 still on the upswing and the 1998 perfectly balanced.
Well, I'm toast. Ambien willing, I'll get a few hours tonight and tomorrow the real work begins.

Monday, May 9

What a difference a year makes...in several respects. The organizers of Nebbiolo Prima listened to several criticisms of last year's event, notably the one about the deluge of tasting wines in each sitting, and made significant changes; foremost was reducing the daily number of wines consumed by a third and adding a fifth session. That made this morning's foray into the 2008 Roero, 2008 Barbaresco and 2007 Barbaresco Riseva wines far easier to survive. Also the passing of a year has meant that the high alcohol- low acid wines of 2007 have been replaced by the super fresh 2008s, a definitely refreshing stylistic change.

While 2008 cannot be considered an 'important' vintage in the greater pantheon of Piemontese wines, their high acids and fresh flavors do mean that over the short and mid terms, they will be good drinkers....they're just not ready yet. As for the 2007 Riservae, they aren't much more exciting than last year's Normale: even worse, because they were the ripest, most powerful wines in their cellars, the 2007 Riservae and even bigger and more unwieldy than their Normale cousins! Again, I am painting with far too broad a brush, but with 60+ wines under my belt, that's what I am seeing so far.

My notes fell into several distinct subcategories based on the ripeness parameters of the grapes that made the wine. Some, harvested at a little lower sugar, predictably had great fresh acidity and were noted as 'higher toned', 'pomegranate' and 'woodsy.' Others were 'warmer' 'seedy' (think fennel and cardamom) and were a little more 'vinous.' The third category carried more sweetness and I wrote for several 'marzipan' or 'maple sugar', 'cherry confit' and 'pliant.' What unified the 2008s I tasted were nice- if sometimes greenish- tannins, lively acids and decent concentrations of fruit that rarely strayed into the domineering sweetness of the 2007s. In fact, I would have to say that the vintage falls, in a good way, in a narrower bandwidth of styles and flavors. Roero is still far less consistent than Barbaresco and the sizable gap in raw material is still as significant as the experience factor. Here is a list of my favorites from the day:

2008 Cascina Chicco Roero Montespinato: warmer clay nose, vinous pomegranate and cherry, spicy and good.***

2008 Cascina Val del Prete Roero: chocolate mint nose, warm marzipan- maple. Well balanced (nice job Mario!) ***

2008 Renato Buganza Roero Bric Paradis: both Buganza wines were good but I give the nod to this one because I love the name of the cru. Woodsy spice, warm, low toned but also bright and fresh. (new producer for me) ***

2008 Cascina Chicco Roero Valmaggiore: the only Valmaggiore in the tasting really showed its stuff. herb tea, woodsy, putty/earth, really great balance makes it a seamless drink. ***+

disappointment alert: 2008 Matteo Correggia Roero Roche d'Ampsej: this usually reliable wine was marred by woody Bourbon barrel extract and a charry essence.

2007 Monchiero Carbone Roero Riverva Printi: oaky for sure but better integrated, a rich, powerful Roero that keeps its balance even after turning tannic on the finish. ***

2008 Massimo Penna Barbaresco Sori Sartu: oaky, spicy nose, really pretty sweet cherry confit fruit that has a fresh, lithe feel to it. This was the first Barbaresco in the tasting and served to highlight the gap with Roero. ***

2008 Produttori del Barbaresco: sure, it's commercial but it's also damned good, a relative powerhouse with juicy, very clean fruit and a plush texture that takes you to bunch of silky tannins. Liquid smoke and vanilla wood tannin too. Hard not to like. ***+

2008 Cascina Morasino Barbaresco Ovello: the black label not to be confused with their Normale which scored among my lowest, this shows textbook Nebbiolo blood, mineral and truffle character. Balanced and filled with nice cherry fruit. ***

2008 Montaribaldi Barbaresco Sori Montaribaldi: impressive for the way it marries its not inconsiderable new oak into the texture, big and sweet but also real well balanced. ***

An Afternoon Tasting of 2001 Piemontese reds:

The 2001 vintage is considered to be 'important', one of the best in the long string of successes going back to 1995. Barolo winemakers like to say that their Nebbiolo is at its best at ten years, so this was our chance to see how the vintage was faring at a decade from harvest. The verdict? It was a great harvest that yielded many great wines, but whether or not ten years is the best time to drink then depends strictly on the wine, and not particularly in the way you might think, as many so-called Old School classics from the vintage showed surprising age and many New School wines were still surprisingly youthful and primary....here were some notable wines of the 36 I managed to taste:

2001 Mario Marengo Barolo Brunate: simply my favorite. Fresh, zingy and filled with youthful cherry confit and violet-scented fruit. Yummy.

2001 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (magnum): I expected this to be backwards and tannic so imagine my shock when it turned out be perfectly mature with complex briary flavors.

2001 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate/Le Coste: same here plus a bit of iodine and truffle. Nice, gorgeous even but if tasted blind, I would have guessed a lot older.

2001 Oddero Barolo Bussia Soprana Mondoca: elegant, even pretty but still with an iron fist

2001 Giuseppe Mascarello Barolo Monprivato: this was perfectly mature. great color, resolved tannins and powerfully complex.

2001 E Pira Chiara Boschis Barolo Cannubi: sweet, briary and also perfectly ready

2001 Prunotto Barolo Bussia: powerful and still young with a big mouthfeel and tannins that promise another ten years.

2001 Monchiero Carbone Roero Riserva Printi: dark, pungent and still awkward.

2001 Monchiero Carbone Barbera d'Alba Ochetti: surprise! Still dark and sweet!

2001 Moccagatta Barbaresco Bric Balin: an explosion of ripe cherries and other dark fruits. Wa'ay young!

2001 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva: monolithic...completely shut down.

My Dinner With Giorgio

I saw another side of Giorgio on this trip. The lights of his life are beautiful Lidia and also, now just a year old, Giorgina.  The winery-resdience compound they share near Ginzane-Cavour is littered with bikes, toys and games. After an aperitivo and photo session with Lidia's Barbi camera/video he Giorgio asks, "Should we get a pizza here in Gallo or......I know a place that's a bit of a drive but....." duh. Last time Giorgio took me on a drive, it was almost three hours to Bibbona Marina and La Pineta, the best seafood I think I've ever eaten! Let's skip the pizza, I said. On the way to dinner, he also showed me the freshly dug furrows in the vineyards he's been making with his horse and plow.  He says he reflects on his father and his roots while pushing his plow- it's a way for him to better understand the land- and stay physically active. Still, he is Giorgio Rivetti and it wasn't long before the conversation turned to food and wine.  Antica Corona Reale turns out to be Michelin ** near Bra and well worth the (only) half hour drive.  Run by Renzo and his family for many years, it earned its stars for its very traditional, earthy cooking. No one ever got a star in Italy for their trippa and fiancier says Giorgio, until this place.  Renzo's son has just completed a major renovation, creating a new patio where guests can enjoy aperitivi and sparkling wine before dining in one of three beautiful dining rooms. Located right off the one of those outskirt streets every town has....the used car lots, small factories and such....you'd never guess this oasis even existed.
This was one of those meals you don't soon forget. After three little plates and a glass of  sparkling outside, we dined on an enormous copper bowl of snails stewed in garlic and herbs, fiancier (cockscomb and a great number of other parts, the best agnoloti dal plin I've ever had (sorry Eric) and pieces of goat roasted on a spit, as well as a hazelnut-chocolate dessert that blew my mind even though I could only eat a bit of it.

Did i mention wine? We had some....a 2007 Henri Boillot Puligny and Giorgio's as not yet labeled but already delicious 2007 Barolo Campe.  In our small dining room there was another couple (the husband an annoying guy who sent back his frog's legs because they were too skinny (Chef asked if he should have bought them in China where they have fatter legs) who recognized Giorgio and went from being a total dick to a gooey, obsequious asshole in seconds and, then,  three enormously tall members of the Italian national championship volleyball team from Cuneo, and five other assorted coaches and girlfriends, all of whom recognized Giorgio too, and insisted that we help them with their 2005 Rivetti- La Spinetta Barbaresco. 
Giorgio and I have a lot in common....except that I don't have a giant international wine empire...and it was wonderful to have so relaxed an evening...even if it was shared with some gregarious 6'10" volleyball players.