Old Pinot Grigio, old Tocai Friulano, young Picolit

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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

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This barley “risotto” with radicchio and Refosco was friggin’ DELIZIOSO! Everyone should be so lucky to have a mamma Butussi!

Tasting 42 Tocai

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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…

Mostarda porn

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Mostarda Cremonese at an otherwise forgettable restaurant in Valpolicella.

The one gastronomically (but not altogether) disappointing meal of the trip so far. But what a photo op!

The best trattoria in Valpolicella?

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Need more be said here? Run don’t walk to Trattoria Caprini in Torbe (Valpolicella).

Quintarelli and an incredible day of tastings in Valpolicella

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Our first tasting appointment yesterday was in the cellars of the legendary Valpolicella winery Quintarelli in Negrar. Amazing, on so many levels… simply stunning wines (you don’t need me to tell you that)… There will be a proper post dedicated to the illustrious flight of wines shared with Tracie P, Alfonso, and me (and you might be surprised by what I found out about the 1998 Alzero). But the 1997 Recioto della Valpolicella… wow… one of the greatest wines I have ever tasted…

Next came L’Arco, with owner Luca Fedrigo, who worked with winemaker Giuseppe Quintarelli in the latter’s cellar from the age of 17 to 27 before starting his own winery (he’s now 33). I met Luca in Austin in 2009 and was floored by the elegance and freshness of his wines. I believe that he is the best young winemaker in the appellation (by far) and his traditional-style wines — made proudly in the style of his mentor, aged in large cask — are phenomenal. They’re not easy to find in the U.S. but if you want to know what REAL Valpolicella wines taste like, seek them out…

Our last visit of the day was at Monte dei Ragni, where Zeno Zignoli (right) practices radical biodynamic and organic farming. Zeno is an “off the grid” character and winemaker. I met him thanks to the young Paduan student Andrea Fasolo (left) whom I met through blogging.

The “three different faces” of Valpolicella winemaking formed a 180° arc and were all fascinating in their own right.

But the face that stole my heart yesterday was this one: