Friday, May 21, 2010


"Per fare un grande vino sono necessari 
un folle per coltivare le viti,
un saggio per sovrintendere, 
un poeta lucido per creare il vino, 
un innamorato per berlo".

"To make a great wine one needs
a madman to grow the vine,
a wiseman to watch over it,
a lucid poet to make the wine,
a lover to drink it."

Salvador Dali


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Sunday, May 16, 2010

Nebbiolesco at Città del Gusto


Roma Wine Festival 8-9 Maggio 2010
Città del Gusto, Roma


er giorno nebbiolesco... tasted heaps of wines last week, but the nebbiolos were the funnest.
I was a bit disappointed in the 2005 brunellos, especially next to the 04's. although i didnt taste any of my favorite producers. i still must try il poggione's amongst others. 


Here is the 2004 nebbiolo tasting:  ''Roero, Barbaresco, Barolo. tre nebbiolo a confronto''.  In actuality it was more of a barolo tasting, comparing the styles coming from different zones/vineyards.  I tasted many beautiful 05's and 06's as well from the same producers but this was by far the most exciting.  Below is a lineup of the wines, consisting of a barbaresco, a roero and 6 barolo crus.

Middle photo: from right barbaresco, roero, barolo.
Above:  two true beauties, the schiavenza barolo broglio, and the oddero barolo brunate, my two favorite bottlings of this tasting. 



Paolo Zaccaria presented this tasting, he mentioned how he doesnt make notes on the colour of the wines...  ''if a wine tastes good it doesnt matter what colour it is!''

Here are some notes on the 8 piemontese wines.

sottimano barbaresco currà 2004
this wine aged in barriques, although not traditional, very elegant and no dominating oak whatsoever. quite appealing
nice fruits, very floral. the nose was a little closed still.

monchiero carbone roero printi 2004
this being a quite powerful wine we tasted it after the more elegant barbaresco...
a lot of things going on here.  paolo described una manciata di conchiglie (a handful of sea shells) along with sandy notes.  i picked up some iron, new shoe rubber, and after a few minutes in the glass some floral notes starting to come out.  chalky tannins on the finish.

massolino barolo margheria 2004
traditional barolo passed through botti grandi. this is one of the more elegant and softer expressions of serralunga. nose a tad closed still. small red fruits.  in the mouth soft, floral, chewy but elegant tannins.

luigi baudana barolo cerretta 2004
for coming from cerretta this is showing quite fresh. the nose a little more open than the massolino for me. fruits, flowers, less elegant in mouth though. meatier tannins.

schiavenza barolo broglio 2004
one of few barolos coming purely from broglio. beautiful nose, instantly i get a meaty, steak type of character.  a nice minerality, very serralunghiale and nebbiolesco. traditional, elegant, beautiful structure.

oddero barolo brunate 2004
bellissimo vino. coming from the epic brunate vineyard of la morra.  only 1,500 bottles produced, this was the most unique wine of the night in my oppinion. a wine that seemed to be opened in the moment, it was really fucking shining. bouquet jumping out of the glass, full of licorice and mint, a touch of black peper, very particular.
in the mouth silky, nice fruits, seductive licorice, perfect acidity and long gorgeous tannin. a really beautifully structured wine with notes that linger for time...

giovanni rosso barolo la serra 2004
nose of watery fruits, hint of red meat and alcohol.
very light in comparison to the others (also the case with the 2006 i have tasted)
less complex, less structured, doing the least for me out of these wines.

ettore germano barolo cerretta 2004
tasted this next to the luigi baudana cerretta, was a bit cleaner, livelier fruits, chalky chewy tannins

The oddero, schiavenza and massolino were my top three picks.
I originally put the schiavenza at the top of the bunch, but later changed to the oddero for it had an everlasting effect on me.  the licorice and mint notes stayed with me all day. 
like when you see a beautiful girl walk by, you fall in love, but she stays on your mind for the rest of the day... really hope i can taste this wine again one day.


 above:  label award going to baglio del cristo di campobello bianco sicilia igt


 above: the beautiful and flashy wines of piera martellozzo from veneto, friuli, and trentino, with a glass of the rosè spumante dry cuvèe linea 075 carati.
 Above: Astoria Fervo 2008 Refrentolo Passito DOC, an amazing wine, 100% marzemino, velvety, sweet, delicious.
Later I was tasting with head-winemaker Luca Veglio from Oddero (below to the left of me) he opened a corked bottle of barolo (which wasnt completely unappealing to me), he explained how nebbiolo wines are tough to tell when they are corked.  they are often mistaken for earthy or terroir notes... in a recent horizontal tasting, he noticed a corked bottle which had been served without anybody realizing the defect.

click for a video link ''lucci il vino'' from roma wine festival

Friday, May 7, 2010

Pizzeria Remo

True Roman Pizza located in the heart of testaccio. Amazing prices, fior di zucca, Filetti di baccalà, baffo d'oro, a beautiful and simple life. Probably... no definitely the saddest part about leaving Rome...

Pizzeria Remo
Piazza santa maria liberatrice, 44 Rome
06.574.6270

Sunday, May 2, 2010

busecca

(sunday photos) foto domenicali... compresi trippa alla milanese (in dialetto ''busecca''), produttori, formaggio, cupola di roma e birra artigianale de roma. buon compleanno a big frank!