And so did her grandfather’s Picolit…
Together with grandma’s crostoli at the AMAZING Ronchi di Cialla…
So much to tell… so many flavors and aromas to convey… there will be time for that, too… but in the meantime, follow along at COF2011.com…
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Words of wisdom from a fine lady: eat less…
Photo by Alfonso.
After dinner last night at Zorzettig, signora Zorzettig joked (with me translating for her) joked that polenta, goulash, and brovada (fermented turnips) were actually “light food”… when people had less to eat…
“We didn’t have to worry about cholesterol in our day,” she said. It must be remarkable for someone from her generation to hear folks complain about all the problems they have from overeating. She joked: “They should eat less!” She’s right… mangje di mancul…
What a sweet lady and what a wonderful feeling to experience the warmth of holding her hand as she spoke to me — the way ladies of her generation express hospitality with guests in their homes. That’s David to the left of her and Nicolas to the right and daughter Annalisa.
Magical tasting with Ronco del Gnemiz
Alfonso captured a magical moment yesterday at Ronco del Gnemiz with his Flip.
Serena and Christian have such an awesome record collection: we couldn’t resist asking them to pair their wines with some music (in this case Cassandra Wilson with the 2004 Chardonnay Sol in magnum).
Old Pinot Grigio, old Tocai Friulano, young Picolit
The younger bottlings of Picolit actually impressed me more than the older at our Butussi in situ tasting yesterday because, as the young Filippo Butussi explained, in the early 00s, his family moved away from a lighter style (for which not all the Picolit grapes were dried before vinification) opting for a richer, 80-100% dried-grape style.
But the wines that REALLY blew me away were these bottlings of 1996 and 2000 Pinot Grigio and 1999 Tocai Friulano. Pinot Grigio is SO misunderstood in the U.S., where we mostly know it as a light, inoffensive, anonymous white wine that arrives in marketing-driven packages.
These older bottlings were not intended for long-term aging, explained Filippo, but he wanted to show the COF2011 team how these grapes, when vinified correctly, retain their quality and actually develop more and more character. Man, the 1999 Tocai was fan-friggin-TASTIC, with the white fruit balanced by some grassy and nutty notes and beautifully balanced acidity and low alcohol.
Orzotto with radicchio and Refosco by mamma Butussi
This barley “risotto” with radicchio and Refosco was friggin’ DELIZIOSO! Everyone should be so lucky to have a mamma Butussi!
Tasting 42 Tocai
At our first Consorzio tasting in Cividale yesterday morning, team blogger COF2011 tasted 42 — yes, count them forty-two — bottlings of 2009 Tocai Friuliano, Friuli’s flagship native white grape variety (labeled as “Friuliano” when shipped outside of the U.S.).
It was fantastic to taste so many different bottlings — in a wide variety of styles by such a range of producers — in one sitting.
There were a lot of great wines but the standouts for me were: Eramcora, La Sclusa, and Rocca Bernarda. When I taste Tocai, especially young Tocai, I look for varietal expression, freshness, good acidity, balanced alcohol, white fruit, and that sexy aromatic note of dried grass and bittersweet almond. Again, lots of great wines in this tasting yesterday but looking back on my notes, these were the ones that really floated my boat.
I also “starred” Alturis (doesn’t seem to have a website), Cadibon, and Ronco delle Betulle.
Definitely a good-to-great vintage for this grape in COF.
The tasting was also special for me because I used the new Mont Blanc pen that Tracie P got me for our anniversary.
For the record, the tastings are not blind, we all trade notes and impressions during each flight of six wines, and the staff at the Consorzio COF is fantastic, offering technical information and facts sheets whenever we request them. One of the best formal tastings I’ve ever attended…
Poetry in Friulian! Fantastic!
At last night’s COF2011 welcome dinner, Friulian journalist Adriano Del Fabro recited “Song of the Bells,” a poem in Friulian by Pier Paolo Pasolini and I read a translation by my friend, the great Italian translator Stephen Sartarelli.
Video by Nicolas Contenta.
I had written to Stephen last week asking him for permission to use one of his translations and he graciously and generously agreed.
I selected the poem especially because of the occasion — “strangers” coming to Friuli.
If poetry is the Devil’s wine, is wine the Devil’s poetry?
Love at first sight: the bloggers arrive in Friuli
Picked up the COF2011 blogging team yesterday at the Venice airport (after a teary goodbye to Tracie P). For the next five days, I’ll be acting as their interpreter and liaison as they taste wines produced in the Colli Orientali del Friuli (the Eastern Hills of Friuli) and meet winemakers and visit wineries.
It’s a great group of folks.
I’ll be posting my impressions of the trip here at Do Bianchi and I’ll be reposting my blogger colleagues’s posts over at our aggregate blog COF2011.com.
Buona lettura, ya’ll!
I can’t smile without her
Photo by Riccardo Zanotto.
I’ve been weepy all day since Alfonso and I took her to the airport this morning and she departed for Texas.
We had such an amazing “second honeymoon” in Italy. The sun has never shone so bright, the colors have never been so brilliant, the flavors and aromas have never been so satisfying and rewarding… Just yesterday I gazed upon her by the clear, fresh, and sweet waters and today I have only my salty tears to console me in the emptiness she leaves behind…
I just can’t smile without her…
Un amico ritrovato
It was great to see Giovanni Arcari (left) and Franco Ziliani (right) last night in Valpolicella. They drove down from Brescia and Bergamo to visit with their friends from the U.S.
Italy recently adopted “zero tolerance” drunk driving legislation and enforcement. The legal limit is .015 g/dL, mass per volume of blood in the body. That means that just one glass of wine can put you over the legal limit! Compare with California where it’s .08! So Franco was their designated driver. Wine writers like Franco have be very careful: even when you spit and do not ingest any wine, the alcohol on your breath from tasting can deliver a false positive.
We all took it easy — especially since our host insisted on serving us barriqued Valpolicella… feh! — but it was great to see both of them and to spend some time with an amico ritrovato…
Do Bianchi 