For oenophile couples like us, there are certain wines that feel like family members.

La Clarine Farm first came into our lives back in 2009 in New York when Tracie was traveling with me and the French band. An open bottle of Hank Beckmeyer’s Syrah had been sitting in a good friend’s lower Manhattan apartment for nearly two weeks. When we all tasted it together, it blew our minds and our palates with its freshness and its vibrant, electric fruit.

Ever since that day, La Clarine Farm has been one of our favorites (and we played a packed show at the Mercury Lounge that night, the one time Tracie saw us play in the city).

It was a thrill for me to finally meet and taste yesterday with Hank (in the top photo) at his winery in California’s Fair Play AVA, a stone’s throw from the El Dorado Trail.

His wines and winery will be one of those profiled in the 2019 edition of the Slow Wine Guide to the Wines of California (I’m the guide’s coordinating editor for North America).

Great wines and the lovely guy you’d imagine is behind them.

My itinerary yesterday also took me up to the North Yuba AVA where growers pointed me to one of the most remarkable vineyards I’ve ever seen: 300 acres planted to now abandoned vine in the heart of weed country.

Cannabis is the main industry here, I’ve been told. Dinner at a smokehouse bar in Auburn last night led to a conversation with a dude who told me he works “up the hill,” a euphemism, he said, used by employees of the massive cannabis crop here.

But the strange, otherworldly vines I toured seem to have an endless supply of delicious fruit for a handful of thoughtful winemakers. They, a bear, and a cadre of deer are the only ones left in this forgotten wine country.

The story of this now derelict but still bountiful estate has yet to be properly told.

Those are Pinot Noir grapes in the photo above, btw, ready to be foot-crushed.

Writing in a hurry this early morning as another day of touring and tastings unfolds.

But I also have to give a shout-out to Grass Valley, one of the many tourist spots here in Gold Country.

The village was bustling with locals and tourists and nearly every store front was occupied by a shop, café, or restaurant. At least two vinyl records were also spotted.

Yesterday was the first day of my trip. Following another day here in the Sierra Foothils, I’ll be heading to Napa and Sonoma for more tastings and discovery.

Thanks for following along… more good stuff to come.

Beppe Rinaldi, iconic Barolo grower and outspoken natural wine advocate, has died.

According to mainstream media reports, he was 69 years old and was battling an unspecified illness. He would have been 70 in just a few days.

Known to his myriad admirers as “il citrico” (literally, the “citric [one],” a nickname attributed to his unmistakable white locks as well as his acerbic wit), he was widely revered as one of the world’s greatest winemakers and an unrivaled interpreter of Nebbiolo’s greatness.

An iconoclast proudcer who often spoke out stridently against the unstoppable commercialization of his appellation, he was also a founding member of the Vini Veri consortium of natural wine producers.

“An artisanal winemaker,” he said in an interview published by Vini Veri in 2010, “shouldn’t just watch over his little garden. He needs to have a collective vision of his appellation because the appellation belongs to everyone. Wine and land are cultural resources that we need to treat with care. First and foremost, we must prevent violence against the hills and the vines. Wine needs to be a manifestation and an expression of the appellation, a voice in the world that carries an overarching cultural message from the place that produced it… A wine needs to reflect the distinctive, unique characteristics of the appellation. This is why we need to take care of our appellation and never overwhelm it.”

In recent years, he had railed against the unbridled growth of the tourist industry in the Langhe Hills of Piedmont where Barolo is grown and vinified. It was the latest cause embraced in a lifetime spent advocating for organic farming practices, traditional winemaking, and more measured development of the Barolo appellation.

His single-vineyard bottlings of Barolo are among the most collected wines in the world today, benchmarks not just for the appellation and Italy but for fine wine across the globe.

He is survived by his wife Annalista and daughters, Marta and Carlotta.

Please come out and taste with me this fall in Houston!

Here are the events where I’ll either be leading a seminar or presenting the speaker and wines, including Abruzzo, Piedmont, Oltrepò Pavese, Italian marquee estates, and Alice Feiring (!!!).

And hey, did you hear that GQ called Houston “the New Capital Of Southern Cool”?

Thanks for being here and thanks for your support.

Buon weekend, yall!

Taste Abruzzo
celebrating 30 years
of the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC
Monday, September 10
11:30 a.m. seminar
12:30 p.m. walk-around tasting

Parador
2021 Binz St.
Houston TX 77004
(713) 626-9303 (organizer)
Google map

Register here.

*****

Piedmont Classic Grape Varieties
with Paolo Lovisolo of Bersano
Thursday, September 20
6:30 p.m.

Vinology
2314 Bissonnet St.
Houston TX 77005
(917) 405-3426 (organizer)
Google map

Register here.

*****

Oltrepò Pavese
with Cristina Cerri
and Achille Bergami
of Travaglino
Monday, October 8
6:30 p.m.

Location TBD.

Register here.

*****

Grandi Marchi
Gaja, Masi, Ca’ del Bosco,
Tenuta San Guido, Jermann,
and many other marquee estates
Monday, October 15
11 a.m. seminar
2 p.m. walk-around tasting

Crystal Ballroom
909 Texas Ave.
Houston TX 77002
(305) 937-2488 (organizer)
Google map

Register here.

*****

Alice Feiring
acclaimed author and
leading natural wine advocate
Monday, November 12
6:30 p.m.

Camerata
1834 Westheimer Rd.
Houston TX 77098
(917) 405-3426 (organizer)
Google map

Register here.

Image via TX Wine Lover.

Above: the Colli Euganei, the Euganean Hills, where volcanic soils deliver vibrant fruit, earthy undertones, and lithe expressions of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc.

Scant attention is paid to the role that language plays in the ways wines are marketed by producers and perceived by consumers.

A key element in the success of Brunello in the early 1990s (when Banfi made sure there was a Brunello on every supermarket shelf in America) was the fact that broo-NEHL-loh is a lot easier for the average American to say than VEE-noh NOH-bee-leh dee MOHN-teh-pool-CHEE’AH-noh.

Similarly, back in the last decade of the 20th century when Americans began to adolesce as wine lovers, it was a lot less challenging for monolinguist anglophones to order a glass of Californian Merlot than it was to ask for a wine from St-Émilion.

“Waiter, waiter! Please cancel my date’s order for that bottle of Château Quinault Lafleur de Quinault and bring us some Mondavi Merlot instead!”

So what do you do with an Italian appellation like Colli Euganei? How are you ever going to convince Americans that they need to try these superb expressions of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc when they can hardly wrap their minds around how to pronounce the place where they are from?

That conundrum was on my mind as I tasted through countless breathtaking wines at the Vulcanei tasting in the Colli Euganei in May of this year, a gathering devoted to “volcanic soil” wines.

Thanks to my time spent at university in Padua not far from the Colli Euganei, I have tasted iconic producer Salvan many times over the years.

The 2008 Salvan flagship, in the photo above, is a current release for the estate. Aged in small and large cask, this blend of mostly Merlot and Cabernet Franc is one of the best Bordeaux blends I tasted this year. What a wine! Rich red fruit but lithe on the palate, with earthy undertones and vibrant acidity that made the wine taste refreshing with every sip.

According to WineSearcher, this wine retails for about $25 in Italy. Why is no one importing it to the U.S.? I can’t think of a better Merlot blend at that price point — a steal! But then again, there’s the problem of the appellation name…

I had never tasted Bacco and Arianna but was floored by their wines, especially this Rosso di Bacco, a Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon blend aged in stainless steel.

Bright red fruit flavors with electric but gorgeously balanced acidity. And wow, organically farmed and no sulfur added? This wine retails for around $13 in Italy! Why is no one importing it to the U.S.? Can you imagine how popular it would be in the natural wine scene? I could literally drink this every day.

But then again, there’s the problem of the appellation name.

Given enough time, I could have populated this post with 20 Colli Euganei wines that really impressed me at the Vulcanei tasting.

This Pinot Bianco from Vigne al Colle also surprised me with how good it was, fresh but overflowing with white flower aroma and stone fruit flavor. I can’t find it on WineSearcher but the sommelier who was humanning the station told me he believed it retailed for less than $10. Unleashed in North America, this wine would become a king among by-the-glasses. I loved it.

Why is nobody importing it? There’s that little problem about the name.

So how do you pronounce it? Even Italians can be challenged in saying the place name Colli Euganei.

I asked my good friend Francesco Bonfio, wine shop owner and Italian wine authority, to pronounce it for us. He grew up not far from the Colli Euganei and he and I visited there together in May. A Padua (Veneto) native, his pronunciation is impeccable…

Thanks for speaking Italian grapes and wines! Enjoy!

Saturday, August 25 marked the first anniversary of Hurricane Harvey.

But the impact of the catastrophe is still acutely felt in our city and in our community.

Our family was among the lucky ones whose houses didn’t flood. But not a day goes by that we don’t interact with Houstonians who haven’t been able to return home. Some of those still deeply affected are our neighbors, some have children who go our kids’ magnet school, some work in the Houston food and wine industry. Harvey touched everyone in our city, from the richest among us to the poorest.

Reading my posts from a year ago sent chills down my spine. I was living in New York during the September 11 tragedy; Los Angeles during the 1994 earthquake and the 1992 riots. Nothing has ever frightened me as much as Harvey, especially with two terrified young children who didn’t understand what was happening around us.

August 28, 2017 was the first day we emerged from our home, although it took a few more days before we could get off our block because there was severe flooding all around us.

You can sense the fear, confusion, and dread in my words.

I took that Weather Channel screenshot, above, on August 26 during the peak of the rainfall and flooding. It was a terrifying experience for all of us. And the worst was yet to come as people started to get sick from the toxic flood waters. I’ll never forget cutting my hand on a nail as I was helping neighbors muck up their homes. Their houses were filled with flood water that had been “fermenting” in the heat for days.

I didn’t get sick. I was one of the fortunate ones.

In other news…

Between a three-week trip to Italy where I was teaching and a two-week road trip to California and Arizona, the Parzen girls had an awesome summer.

Today was their first day back at school, a music magnet.

Lila Jane, age 5, was really excited about her first day of kindergarten and Georgia, 6, strutted into her new first grade class like a seasoned pro. (Tracie and I, on the other hand, were practically sobbing.)

Georgia will be continuing her Suzuki violin program and Lila Jane was accepted into the cello class (especially sweet for me because cello was my instrument as a kid).

Looking back on where we were a year ago today, we can only thank our lucky stars for the countless blessings in our life.

And speaking of blessings…

Parzen family has a new dog: Rusty, a rescue that was picked up back in April in Pasadena, Texas.

He might very well be a Harvey dog, one of the myriad pets that were separated from their owners in the aftermath of the flood.

We’ll never know his backstory. But he’s becoming less skittish every day and he’s an endless source of companionship and entertainment for our girls, who adore him.

We think he’s no older than four years. He’s still adjusting to being around people but he’s super sweet with everyone in the family. He loves to steal the girls’ stuffed animals and add them to his collection of pilfered socks and toys.

And after Tracie nearly lost it when we dropped the girls off at school this morning for their first day, I know she was glad to come home to another “baby” to take care of.

Happy end of summer everyone!

Dispatches from Italy’s 2018 harvest are just beginning to come in.

That’s a shot from Oltrepò Pavese, snapped earlier this week. They’ve started picking their Chardonnay (below) and Pinot Noir for their classic method wines.

From what I’ve been told, Oltrepò Pavese was spared a lot of the late spring and early summer rain that hopscotched across norther Italy this year.

The photos come from winery Travaglino who’s underwriting a blog that I’m writing for the next six months on the appellation. More on that later…

I’ve been told that most a lot of Franciacorta has already been harvested.

I was in Franciacorta in May and then back in June. Limited but still menacing hailstorms and late rains were keeping producers on their toes. When Tracie and I were there in June with the girls, there was a huge thunderstorm that had growers spraying a lot of copper the next day. (After heavy precipitation, copper is sprayed to prevent peronospora, otherwise known as downy mildew.)

Looking around on the internets, I found this authorization, dated June 15, for Trentino producers to increase the maximum yearly amount of copper per hectare to 9 kilos.

The request and authorization are indicators that they’ve experienced problems with peronospora during this very rainy vintage in northern Italy.

Currently, the EU allows growers to use 6 kilos per hectare per year. But the EU’s Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF) Committee is considering reducing that amount to 4 kilos per year, something that has organic growers gravely concerned (see my post from July 23 here).

Copper is a very sticky issue in Europe these days.

Southern Italy has also seen some patchy but limited rain late in the growing cycle this year. It didn’t impact growers to the same extent as in the north.

Those are Chardonnay grapes harvested in Salento this week, above, photo via my friend and client Paolo Cantele.

The quality of their fruit this year is excellent, he said, despite some late rainfall. He and his brother Gianni are really happy with their results. Those grapes will be used to make their flagship Teresa Manara Chardonnay, their twentieth vintage (mazel tov, Cantele family!).

Down in Tuscany, they’ve had a “rainy and cool” season, said my friend and client Stefano Cinelli Colombini in a Facebook post (translated here, by me, for their blog).

Those are Stefano’s Merlot grapes in Maremma, along the coast.

Based on his lab samples, he’s expecting an early harvest, which is surprising considering the conditions.

“With these crazy seasons,” he wrote, “there’s no telling what the results will be.” But he’s confident that the vintage has good potential.

Between the wild fires in California wine country and the odd weather on both sides of the Atlantic, I don’t know of any winemaker — not even the rubiest red Trump supporter (and there are plenty of them in California, by the way) — who doesn’t believe that climate change is affecting and impacting their livelihood.

Earlier this year, Stefano wrote this compelling op-ed on how winemakers need to face the challenges of climate change (I translated it for his blog; it’s worth checking out).

Wishing winemakers across the world, a bountiful and healthy harvest! Buona vendemmia!