Category Archives: de rebus familiaribus

Bertani 1986 Amarone della Valpolicella, that’s what friends are for

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Tracie P was just reminding me of a time in my life, not so long ago, when I needed a little help from my friends. Well, last night one of those friends, Yele, needed a little help from me and Erickson… I mean, you can’t drink 1986 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella by yourself, now, can you?

What a mind-blowingly amazing bottle, with such bright acidity in a wine more than two decades old! Drank a lot of great, old wine in 2010 but this bottle is a real stand-out: it had that unforgettable “nerviness,” that “backbone” of acidity that Italians use in their canon of wine descriptors. I would have always reached for the 88 with Bertani (also a great and unforgettable wine, tasted most recently in February 2009), but the 86 was better IMHO.

The best part, though, was that wide, familiar, contagious grin on Yele’s face when we were perusing the cellar at Third Corner in Ocean Beach, California, and he pulled me away from the 02 La Turque to show me his find. That’s what friends are for, right? 01 Musar white was stunning as well and the grandfathered retail sales program and corkage policy at Third Corner always make a splurge like this so much more palatable.

Keep smilin’, keep shinin’
Knowin’ you can always count on me, for sure
That’s what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I’ll be on your side forever more
That’s what friends are for

In other news…

Just had to share these images from clients and friends Dan and Chrissa who invited me in for some holiday cheer when I dropped off their Do Bianchi Christmas Six-Pack.

Chrissa’s wonderful zuppa maritata (named, btw, not because it is served at Italian weddings, a folkloric etymology, but rather because it is a “marriage” or pairing of ingredients).

Dan’s homemade pork sausage for the meatballs.

Chrissa’s homegrown escarole for the soup.

Chrissa’s lemon cake. Damn, those two can cook!

Gary Jules and me sing a song under the dome, a “night at the museum”

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Photo by my childhood friend and doppelgänger Jeremy Farson.

Gary invited me up on stage to sing a song last night at the museum. It always brings back so many memories to see Gary and to get to play with him was such a treat. We always fall right back into it like we were teenagers again… “I’ve just seen a face. I can’t forget the time or place…” So much fun…

Gary played all my favs of his, like “Barstool” and “No Poetry.” Gary is such an amazing lyricist and performer…

And, of course, he played his mega hit “Mad World,” which appeared originally in the Donnie Darko soundtrack and went on to become a UK #1 Christmas single.

But the song that really got me was “Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor, which Gary dedicated to brother Micah, a song the three of us used to listen to when we were teenagers and our whole worlds and hearts were being torn apart by the trappings of modern society. I could barely hold back the tears that welled up in my eyes.

“I don’t know no love songs and I can’t sing the blues anymore…”

Brother Micah, director of Museum of Man, did a fantastic job running the auction to raise money future exhibits. It was great to see how excited his staff is about the new energy there.

And it was wonderful to catch up with so many of my high school friends. We all remembered the many school trips we made as youngsters to the museum, a true diamond in the rough.

We’re all looking forward to the programs that brother Micah has in store for next year… Stay tuned!

Christmas Letter 2010

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A lot to be thankful for in 2010

The 2010 Parzen vintage has been an amazing year for Tracie P and me and we have a lot to be thankful for.

Family is all healthy (knock on wood). Work has been great, with my marketing business thriving and growing. And we even sold a song to Google (a big one for our music publishing business)!

Our vegetative cycle (to carry the vinous metaphor a step further!) began in the winter with our beautiful La Jolla wedding (thanks again, Rev. and Mrs. B!), our thrilling honeymoon, and our first home together, located serendipitously (and I’m not making this up!) at the intersection of Alegria and Grover streets, an allegro corner in the Groover’s Paradise — Austin, Texas. Summer ripening brought professional challenges, too much work travel, and all-night writing sessions that not only led to some of the work I’m the most proud of but also some of the greatest professional rewards of my career as a writer and marketing consultant. The fall harvest was no bumper crop but its fruit was healthy, with balanced sugar and acidity in the berries (read hope and reality in each grape). Now as the cold of the Texas winter has set in, our wine is in the cellar and we can finally rest our tired but not weary heads in the glow of our little Christmas tree in the living room.

When I met Tracie P in 2008, I still wasn’t sure where life was taking me and where I was headed. Since she came into my life, supporting me with her love and warmth and inspiring me with her beauty and brilliance, so much has come into focus for me. 2009 was a good start (man, the first six months of my life in Texas and the job I took hawking wine were not fun!). But 2010 has rendered satisfactions — professional and personal — that I never would or could have imagined when I left New York in 2007 bound for California.

Tracie P and I have a long way to go (particularly in building our financial future) but we are embracing our dreams for the future with the energy and spirit they merit and we’re keeping our fingers crossed (and sucking a lime), hoping that 2011 will deliver the gifts of life for which we aspire.

To all the folks who have supported Do Bianchi Wine Selections, THANK YOU! Having my own wine retail business has been a longtime dream for me (reaching back to 2005 when I began working in wine retail in New York). Words cannot express my gratitude. I love hearing your impressions of the wines and I love the new friendships I’ve made (and the old friendships rekindled) through our email correspondence and our happily inevitable sips and chats when I deliver the wines to you.

Lastly, I want to use this opportunity to thank my sweet Tracie P for bringing so much joy into my life and inspiring me to reach greater personal heights than I ever thought conceivable. I love you with every fiber of my being and my heart is filled with hope and joy as we turn the page and close the chapter in our lives that was 2010. It feels like 2010 just flew right by, doesn’t it? I’m so glad that we have a lifetime ahead of us and I will cherish every moment, every breath, and every I love you.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and thanks for your support in 2010! We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and happy 2011.

Parzen Hanukkah (WARNING: CONTAINS EXTREME FUN)

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After being trapped for 1.5 days in the Parzen family web of food, wine, music, and fun, Alfonso was in fine form.

This girl may have grown up in East Texas, but, man, she was born to cook up some mighty fine Jew food!

First things first…

Tracie P’s latkes are amazing… paired SO GOOD with the salty flavors of the newly arrived 2009 Santorini by Sigalas.

Not every Texas brisket is destined to be smoked. Tracie P truly outdid herself last night… served with kasha and lentils…

and fried parsnips… (Jeremy Parsnip?)

And adding a classic dish for Hanukkah from Israel, Tracie P made jelly-filled doughnuts! YES, JELLY-FILLED DOUGHNUTS! Paired with Domaine Cady 2007 Chaume. (Traditionally, fried foods are served during Hanukkah to celebrate the miracle of the oil that lasted 8 days… jives well with Texas cooking!)

Château Pajzos Esszencia 1993 was friggin’ BRILLIANT, our wedding gift from Comrade Howard.

From the Château Pajzos website:

    On top vintages, Chateau Pajzos produces the mythical Esszencia.

    This absolute rarity, gained from the free-run juice of the aszú grapes, is a unique nectar with a honey-like concentration.

    Only 1 liter is produced by 3 tons of aszú berries which represents the production of 10 ha. This wine is the rarest in the world a bottle of 10 cl is the results of one whole hectare.

This wine was one of the most intriguing wines we drank in 2010, with incredible petrol notes on the nose and nutty, earthy tones on the palate, and one of the most captivating finishes I’ve ever experienced in a wine. Incredible… Thank you, again, Comrade Howard, for this amazing gift, shared with people we love…

Happy Hanukkah ya’ll!

Zampone! @ the Parzen Christmas party

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Alfonso and SO Kim drove down from Dallas last night for a weekend of cooking, eating, and opening some bottles that I’ve been saving for this holiday season.

Don’t ask me how it got to our house (or how it got into this country) but last night I cooked one of my favorite Italian delicacies: zampone, a pig’s trotter stuffed with head cheese and then boiled. (@TWG you would love this stuff!)

Tracie P stewed some delicious lentils (which are traditionally served with zampone in Italy on New Year’s eve), aligot, and spinach. And I made a salsa verde (flat-leaf parsley, anchovies, garlic, and extra-virgin olive oil) and prepared some kren (grated horseradish with a touch of vinegar and sour cream) as condiments.

Alfonso brought a pandoro (which Tracie P and prefer over panettone) and we paired with OUR FAVORITE MOSCATO D’ASTI by Vajra. Man, that shit is good!

It’s going to be hard to top the sheer fun factor from last night but we’re going to try again tonight: Tracie P is making Jewish delicacy brisket and potato latkes for our Chanukkah party!

Stay tuned…

Hang with Gary Jules and the Parzen family on Dec. 10 in San Diego

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An Evening Under the Dome With Gary Jules
Friday, December 10, 2010 from 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Purchase tickets here.

On Friday, December 10, Tracie P and I and the whole Parzen family are going to be attending a special concert by our old, old friend Gary Jules at the Museum of Man in San Diego.

You may remember how brother Micah became the director of San Diego’s anthropological museum, the Museum of Man, back in the summer of this year.

Micah and Gary have remained close friends from our junior high and high school days and Gary has graciously agreed to perform a benefit concert for the museum.

I’ve known and played music with Gary since we were children. And we used to hang in LA when I was in grad school and then later in NYC, when his band would come through town.

In 2003, he became an international superstar with his megahit version of the Tears for Fears track “Mad World” (2003), produced and performed by another good friend, Mike Andrews (a superstar in his own right).

The tickets are not cheap but they’re for a good cause. Tracie P and I wouldn’t miss it for the “mad world.” (And I bet we’ll all end up at Jaynes Gastropub after the event for some killer wine!)

Hope to see you there! :-)

Lady kisser Pelaverga aphrodisiacal wine for an East Texas Thanksgiving

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We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday in Orange, Texas with Branch and Johnson and now Parzen families. Mrs. B’s roast turkey; smoked turkey; spiral sliced ham with pineapple, brown sugar, and Coke; Uncle Tim’s cornbread dressing; Memaw’s deviled eggs; sweet potato pie, mashed potatoes; eight-layer salad; Tracie P’s shaved Brussels sprouts salad; pecan torte; and lots more. I wanted to share this story about my favorite wine pairing for this year, Pelaverga by Castello di Verduno, and the somewhat saucy story behind the name. For those with PG13+ status, read on…

The year was 2006 and I was working in New York as the media director for a high-profile Italian restaurant group that also happened to be a direct importer of Italian wines. Earlier that year, I had made the annual trek with my colleagues to the Italian wine fairs, where we met and tasted with a young winemaker at the natural wine fair, Vini Veri: Mario Andrion of Castello di Verduno, producer of awesome Barolo and Barbaresco and a then relatively obscure grape called Pelaverga. I’ve always loved Mario’s traditional-style wines (like his excellent Barbaresco) but all of my colleagues and I agreed that his Pelaverga Basadone was one of the most original wines we’d tasted that year: light in body, bright with acidity, and rich with fresh red fruit flavors, complemented by a gentle “white pepper” note. Later that year, a prominent colleague asked me what my Thanksgiving pick was and I whispered, Pelaverga, the perfect wine to go with wide variety of foods we eat for the holiday, from roast turkey to cranberry sauce.

Don’t ask me how but this vital piece of information was somehow whispered into the ear of the then New York Times restaurant editor Frank Bruni (remember him?). The rest is history: when he picked this wine as his top choice for Thanksgiving 2006, it made Mario’s Pelaverga a household word (at least in Manhattan).

And it’s a highly interesting word at that! No one knows the true origin of the grape name but on face value it means branch scraper, from the Italian pelare (to peel) and verga (branch). Most believe the name has to do with vine training techniques that were used to cultivate this rustic grape.

Of course, verga (and those of you who speak Spanish will immediately see the linguistic kinship) can also denote the… ahem… the male sex. Back in Verduno (Piedmont), the locals say this spicy grape has aphrodisiacal properties and that’s why Castello di Verduno calls it Basadone, the baciadonne or lady kisser.

Tracie P and I hope you had a great holiday! Thanks for reading!

The one I love loves mozzarella

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Some women want diamonds and jewelry, others covet big cars and houses, others yet seek power and fame…

And then, there is the woman I love… and she loves mozzarella…

And not just any old mozzarella. I’m taking about buffalo’s milk mozzarella shipped in from Campania… the real deal…

Last night, I surprised Tracie P with some good Campanian mozzarella from one of our local cheese mongers.

To watch her enjoy it with a glass of Falanghina was to fall in love all over again. She ate the whole thing!

Looking in her eyes, I remembered what Petrarch said to Laura: tu sola mi piaci… You alone please me…

She’s been blogging again, delivering a wonderful series of posts about the wines of Campania, btw.

Tracie P and I have had an amazing year, personally and professionally, and we have so much to be thankful for… so much, so much more than I could ever imagine or hope for, to be thankful for…

We’re heading out shortly for our family Thanksgiving but I just wanted to thank everyone for keeping up with the blog and to wish ya’ll a happy, happy Thanksgiving.

We’ll see you in a few days…

New York Stories 2: Vivian, newest member of the NN+ family

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Vivian is the newest member of the NN+ family. Finally, someone who calls me “uncle Jar”!

Couldn’t not have Barney Greengrass while in NYC.

More New York stories to come…

Unbelievable risi e bisi and other good stuff we ate and drank at Tony’s

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Cousin Marty (above with Tracie P) and I often remark how remarkable it is that two schlubs like him and me ended up with such jaw-droppingly beautiful women. I guess it just runs in the family.

Last night, as their wedding present to us, his better half Joanne and he treated Tracie P and me to dinner at Tony’s, the hottest see-and-be-seen table on any Saturday night in Houston. Judge Manny and wife Betty joined us for what, I think it’s fair to say, was one of the most glamorous nights of our year so far: federal judges, U.S. ambassadors, bank execs, top radiologists, and throw in a sports celebrity or two — everyone came by our table to say hello to Judge Manny.

Tony, himself, presided over our table. Knowing our love of regional Italian cuisine, he answered my request for a great risotto with an improvised risi e bisi, a classic dish of the Veneto (where he knows I lived) and a favorite dish of Italian Jews. It was fantastic.

It had been preceded by a burrata drizzled with honey and a balsamic reduction and then topped with freshly grated Alba truffles (SHEESH!).

The tip-to-stalk ratio in the asparagus with Pecorino Romano gave the dish just the right balance of bitter and sweet.

Tracie P’s halibut was served over a sea urchin sauce.

My lamb chops were served over a cannellini “humus” and topped with a crumbled green falafel. Can you humus a few bars?

Sommelier Scott Banks surprised us with a Nebbiolo we’d never tasted, this Colline Novaresi by Fontechiara (Borgomanero, Novara). Extreme value on an otherwise high-roller list, grapey and with bright acidity, fresh on the nose and earthy on the palate, perfect for the wide variety of foods set before us.

Joanne and Marty, thank you for such a wonderful dinner… a dinner-event, really! And thanks, from the bottom of our hearts, for all the support you’ve given me and Tracie P, in this first year of our marriage, as we’ve begun building a life for ourselves in Texas. I can’t tell you how much it means, on so many levels, to both of us. We have so very much to be thankful for and are truly blessed to have you as part of our lives. And who knew my relatives were such fressers and machers?