Osteria Le Logge (Siena)
fiori di zucca
vitello tonnato
fusilli broccoli basilico pomodoro
ravioli
happy baby-led weaning
visit to our favorite wine shop
Category Archives: de vino
Coming “holm” again for the first time: Fiorentina at Trattoria Il Pozzo (Sant’Angelo in Colle)
Above: A sine qua non fiorentina at Trattoria Il Pozzo in Sant’Angelo in Colle. We try to make it here — where everybody knows your name — at least once a year.
I try to make it back to Montalcino every year during harvest. I come in part because there’s no better way to wrap your mind around a vintage than to see the fruit right before it’s going to be picked and to talk to growers as their year’s work comes to fruition (literally). But it’s also because of my deep connection to the holm oak mountain (the mons ilex, as Montalcino was known in antiquity): ever since I first began seriously following fine wine after my first visit in 1989, this place has held profound meaning in my enoic awareness and life.
Above: Chef Franca Binarelli never misses the mark.
Tracie P and I will be meeting with a number of winemakers and growers while we’re here and Sunday morning I’ll be taking my yearly daybreak drive through the vineyards with my friend and “professor” Fabrizio Bindocci, winemaker at Tenuta Il Poggione, as Tracie P and Georgia P slumber.
Above: Front-of-the-house Paola Binarelli took such good care of us and held Georgia P as we ate our first course last night.
This year’s visit is extra special, of course, because it’s Georgia P’s first.
She has been having a BLAST here, between vineyard strolls and new and delicious foods. In America, people frown on bringing children to restaurants. In Italy, they rejoice. It’s so cool. :)
As soon as I get a chance, I’ll post my notes from our visits with growers. Stay tuned and thanks for reading…
E buon weekend yall!
Tagliatelle and Garganega at Locanda da Lino
Tagliatelle ai funghi porcini, de rigueur at Lino’s.
Between my meetings and tastings, we managed to stop at the famous Locanda da Lino for lunch. The locanda may have seen better days but it’s still one of the most interesting and beautiful rooms in the land of Prosecco. It would be worth the admission to see all the images of Toti dal Monte that adorn the walls. She was one of the locanda’s most famous guests (along with Marcello Mastroianni and other glitterati of their day).
Corte Sant’Alda Garganega. SO good.
Vegetable frolla.
Fagioli (beans).
Bigoli with ragù from Sorana (breed) beef.
Meatballs and tocio (gravy) with polenta.
Rabbit.
Happy bunny. She loved the beans and the meatballs. :)
Do bianchi at Osteria alla Veneta @Bele_Casel
At the end of our workday yesterday, Luca and I stopped for do bianchi, two glasses of white wine before dinnertime.
We went to the Osteria alla Veneta, a classic Veneto tavern, owned and run by a classic Veneto oste, tavern-keeper Claudio Oriandi (in the photo above).
The expression “do bianchi” (DOH BEE’AH-kee) is a good one to know when you visit the Veneto.
Given the choice, I opted for the 2007 Pacher Hof Sylvaner, a muscular expression of this grape variety. For the first taste of wine of the day, I probably would have opted for something a little lighter in body but it was delicious nonetheless.
I vin che ghe xe sempre… “The wines we always carry,” in other words, “wines by the glass.” Note the prices: Euro 1.30 or 1.50. And note the selection of grape varieties. Also note how Tocai is used (no on calls it Friulano here!).
Proverbs, words, expressions [of the day]: shortcomings are like smells; those who have shortcomings have a harder time smelling them than those who find themselves in the company of those who have shortcomings.
Claudio was super nice, the apotheosis of the Veneto oste. Man, I love me some Veneto! It’s where I feel at home in Italy… :)
Osteria alla Veneta
by Claudio Oriandi
31031 Caerano di San Marco (TV)
Via Altivole 45 cell. (011 39) 346 4923941
There’s no listing on Google Places for the osteria by here’s the Google map for the actual address. It’s practically across the street from Luca’s winery, Bele Casel. Highly recommended. Luca says it’s where all the truck drivers eat. “You eat well and the prices are great.”
the most amazing feeling in the world
I wish everyone could feel what we’re feeling right now here in Prosecco country. The Glera is ready to be picked and the salame has never been better. Georgia P is having (literally) the time of her life.
I’ve had a super busy day and the internet connection has been spotty. But just had to share this photo snapped today by our good best friend Giovanni in the Zanotto vineyards after lunch.
Giovanni, we love you, dude.
The Glera (Prosecco) is ready to be picked… @Bele_Casel
Unpasteurized beer (and Georgia P devours mozzarella di bufala)
Humankind cannot live by wine alone… We were pretty beat after a long journey from Texas night last and so we decided to have an early pizza for dinner before calling it a day.
Everyone in the village of Caerano di San Marco (in the province of Treviso) agrees that Pizzeria La Torre is the best in town.
We were thrilled when we found unpasteurized beer on the beverage menu. It’s nearly impossible to find in the U.S. but here in the trevigiano beer culture — artisinal and unpasteurized — was already very popular when I toured the area with my cover band in the 1990s. It was delicious. Note also the “head” of the beer: even in a family-oriented pizzeria like this one, the staff always pours the beer correctly. It was awesome…
Georgia P INHALED her mozzarella di bufala. Her first meal in Italy!
Pizza coi carciofi alla romana for Tracie P (pizza with Roman-style, artchokes braised in white wine, a specialty of the house).
Pizza alla romana (with anchovies) for me. Yum…
Pheasant under glass
Yesterday afternoon, after we arrived at our agriturismo (farm house bread and breakfast) Col delle Rane (which we LOVE btw, but more on that later), I took Georgia P for a stroll around the grounds while mommy took a nap.
A pheasant had somehow wandered into the glass-lined breakfast room and Georgia P was fascinated with it… Green acres, it’s the place to be! :)
Pinot Grigio overload @EatingOurWords
Honestly, when I walked into a Kroger in Houston the other day to pick up a bottle of the 2011 [Drew] Barrymore Pinot Grigio to review for the Houston Press, I had no idea that there would be a Pinot Grigio section at the supermarket (if you don’t know Kroger, it’s like Ralph’s in California or Gristedes in NYC).
And as much as I was surprised by some of the European offerings at Kroger (much better than at Ralph’s, where California dominates), I was simply overwhelmed by the selection: Menage à Trois, Middle Sister, Gnarly Head, Naked Grape, Be… Who are these people and why do they make wine?
The question is as rhetorical as the answer is obvious.
Pinot Grigio has become a lucrative brand in the United States, a misappropriation and colonization of an Italian grape variety.
Italians created the Pinot Grigio mania in the 1980s, marketing their wines to Americans. But they’ve been trumped at their own game.
I really wanted to like Drew Barrymore’s wine. After all, I like Drew Barrymore, the brand, and I imagined that the wine would be in line with the standard bearers of Italian Pinot Grigio, clean and fresh, however anonymous and forgettable.
I’m sorry to report that I was deeply disappointed.
1998 Bartolo Mascarello tasting notes (no cause for alarm)
When I tasted the 1998 Bartolo Mascarello last month in Houston, I was frankly disappointed by the amount of sediment in the wine, probably due to recent diassociation rather than issues at bottling. I’ve followed the wines for years now and have visited and tasted with Maria Teresa Mascarello on a number of occasions. These are wines conceived and produced for long-term aging and my suspicion is that the wine I had tasted in Texas had been damaged in some way (possibly heat exposure?).
When I went to California in August, I grabbed one of the few bottles of 1998 Bartolo Mascarello that I have in my cellar (I keep my wine locker in San Diego, where it’s less expensive to store wine and where I have access limited by distance, thus precluding and preempting impulsive visits!).
I’m happy to report that the wine (as can be seen in the photo above) showed beautiful and is still very young in its evolution. No issues with sediment whatsoever.
I snapped the above photo when I visited the winery a few years ago. In my view of the world, Bartolo Mascarello’s wines are a benchmark in Langa wines, where steadfastly traditional growing and winemaking practices align seamlessly with elegance and depth.
The 1998 is still very tannic in character but is already revealing some of its gorgeous fruit. I plan not to revisit my remaining (and sadly dwindling) allocation for at least another five year.
But no regrets here, coyote. Just keeping the world safe for Italian wine… thanks for reading…
Do Bianchi