Roberto Stucchi: Chianti “shouldn’t be fattened by Merlot or Cab”

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Above: Roberto Stucchi, one of Italy’s leading winemakers, among the first, historically, to bring “Californian” technology to Tuscany after studying at UC Davis (photo via B-21).

Our recent VinoWire coverage of the Chianti producers association decision to allow IGTs (read “Super Tuscans”) at the body’s annual vintage debut event and its subsequent sea change (retracting the option for participating winemakers), really touched a nerve.

Over in a thread on my Facebook, wine writers Robert Whitley and Kyle Phillips (who argued for the inclusion of IGTs) squared off with Italian wine taste-makers Charles Scicolone and Colum Sheehan in a gentlemans’s however testy exchange on this sensitive issue. (Click here to read the entire thread, which includes comments from a number of interesting wine folks.)

In the spirit of Italian par condicio, I wanted to share the comment below by leading Chianti Classico producer Roberto Stucchi, who reported his notes from the meeting where it was decided not to allow the IGTs:

    I was at the assemblea [assembly]. There was little discussion about the IGT wines at the Anteprima [the annual debut of the new Chianti Classico vintage, held in Florence each year in February] at all. A few criticized it, but that’s it. The main topic was the reorganization of the C[hianti] C[lassico] appellation, and the one thing that came out very strongly was the rejection of the proposal of a “light young C. Classico” to help in this difficult economic time. The majority (but there where no votes) spoke in favor of reviving the riservas, and re-qualifying [re-classifying] the whole appellation. Also a mostly favorable opinion on the idea of sub-appellations by comune [township], but with very differentiated ideas about how to do it.My opinion about IGT at the Anteprima: why not? Many are pure Sangiovese. And unfortunately some Chianti Classicos are Bordeaux-like.

Here at Do Bianchi, he noted:

    As a C[hianti] Classico producer that has always worked only with Sangiovese, I’m not scandalized by the proposal to present IGT’s at the Anteprima. After all many are entirely from Sangiovese grapes.

    I find a lot more questionable that the rules have gradually increased the amount of non-traditional grapes allowed in the blend (now that’s a slippery slope to me).

    The Chianti “Bordelais” lobby keeps pushing to increase this percentage, the last proposal was to allow up to 40%. (It failed for now.)

    I need to make clear that I’m not at all against growing other varietals in Chianti; quite the opposite, I think that the Classico appellation should allow wines from other varietals to be called Chianti Classico, with a varietal appellation added.

    It’s just that CC alone shouldn’t be fattened by Merlot or Cab. It would be nice if things were more transparent, with things clearly stated on the label.

    I love CC from Sangiovese for its elegance, finesse, food friendliness, and for how the light penetrates it and gives it brilliance.

    What really bugs me is when an overly concentrated and heavily oaked muscular wine pretends to be a Sangiovese.

Above: I found this photograph of Roberto (from the 1980s, I believe) on a Russian site.

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…

What we paired with Frito pie at Cullen’s Upscale American Grille

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From the “just for the sheer fun of it” department…

I won’t conceal that cousin Marty and I were a little bit skeptical when we rolled up to Cullen’s Upscale American Grille the other night, not far from NASA Space Center, south of Houston. It’s a huge, sprawling events space, high-end restaurant, and music venue located smack dab in the center of one of those golden triangles of obscene wealth that orbit Houston proper. Honestly, it’s not the type of place that we would seek out. But after hanging with GM and wine director Ryan Roberts a few weeks ago at a very cool dinner where he and Cullen’s chef Paul Lewis cooked for 200 persons on a farm in the Texas plains, I knew that something interesting lay beneath the surface of this shiny, sparkling castle of indulgence in the wasteland of America’s greatest opulence.

You’d think that there would be only California Chardonnay and Napa Valley Cab to drink in a joint like this, but Ryan greeted us with raw gulf oysters and a white blend by one of my favorite Provence producers, Le Grand Blanc by Henri Milan. So salty and with such bright acidity, perfect for the oysters. Not bad, eh?

Next came the now famous Frito pie (check the thread of suggested wine pairings here). Ryan’s pairing was simply brilliant: Étienne Sauzet 2007 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er Cru. The gentle wood and subtle malolactic fermentation sang beautifully in the key of minerality with this rich and intensely flavored dish. Here’s the menu gloss btw: “Pork & Chairman’s reserve beef chili, Fritos, Texas goat cheese, Oregon cheddar, crème fraîche” (forget sour cream: crème fraîche on Frito Pie?) Chef Lewis’s meats are sourced rigorously from the Jolie Vue in Brenham where the owners employ strict pasture-based farming (Ryan told me that his restaurant was the first restaurant in Texas to be certified “Green,” btw, another surprise in what appears from the outside to be a purely commercial venture.)

The southern-style oysters Rockefeller were pretty awesome, too.

Paired beautifully with a palate cleanser in the form of Ferran Adrià’s new beer, Inedit (the beer is salty and delicious, the website is annoying but I thought I’d include it).

My main event was chicken fried steak paired with Boillot 2006 Pommard-Rugiens 1er Cru, another brilliant pairing, where the power and spiciness of this famous cru was just right against the richness of this dish.

The night couldn’t not end on a sweet note… Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad 2004 Scheurebe Auslese.

I knew Ryan would have a lot of great stuff in store for us: we’ve met professionally and socially a number of times and he’s an awesome guy, with a great palate (and a ton of experience in this business). He has all the usual suspects on his lists (think big Napa Cab and oaky California Chardonnay) but he also has a ton of wines that really thrill me, like the Henri Milan above, and even a 2002 Gravner white, which he sells for a great price. He’s the perfect balance of someone who is trying to do well by his family and get ahead in life but never forgetting what’s great about real wine, all the while turning his staff and anyone else willing to listen on to this groovy stuff…

My only regret? I wish we would have made it down earlier to do the tour of the Space Center! Next time…

Buon weekend, ya’ll…

Power of the press blog: Chianti producers vote not to allow Super Tuscans at tasting

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Above: the architects of Italian unification (1861). To the far left, Count Camillo Cavour, Italy’s first prime minister, a winemaker (Piedmont). In the center, unified Italy’s first king, Vittorio Emanuele II, a winemaker (Piedmont). To the far right, Baron Betting Ricasoli, Italy’s second prime minister, a land owner and winemaker in Chianti Classico, and the father of modern winemaking in Tuscany. Ricasoli’s estate Brolio and Vittorio Emanuele’s Fontanafredda still produce commercial wine today.

Would the founding fathers of Italy believed it if you were to tell them that a blog helped save Chianti Classico?

Today, Italy’s top wine blogger, Mr. Franco Ziliani, and I posted the following news story on VinoWire, our English-language blog devoted to the world of Italian wine: “Chianti Classico producers decide not to allow Super Tuscans at debut tasting.”

What we didn’t write was that Mr. Ziliani’s previously posted editorial, in which he harshly criticized the body for its inclusion of Super Tuscans in its annual new vintage preview, was cited by numerous members in the debate that preceded the decision (whereby the body’s president announced he was retracted the option).

It’s not the first time that Mr. Ziliani — a true flagellum principum — has helped to protect and promote traditional winemaking in Italy through his blog. Chapeau bas, Franco!

The pen is… scratch that… The pen blog is mightier than the sword!

Some of my best friends are Merlot (the Cocacolonization of Chianti Classico)

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Above: Ornellaia’s Masseto vineyard in Bolgheri, Tuscany is arguably Italy’s most famous expression of Merlot.

I don’t have anything against Merlot. In fact, some of my best friends are Merlot.

As a matter of fact, on my recent trip to Friuli, I had a bona fide Merlot revelation after tasting some truly fantastic bottlings of Merlot from Radikon, Edi Keber, and Ronco del Gnemiz. (BTW, I have a backlog of Friuli posts but am hoping to get to them soon.)

But when I read that the Chianti Classico producers association is going to allow member wineries to present IGT (read “Super Tuscan”) bottlings at their annual vintage debut show in February next year, I thought I was going to heave… The nausea only grew when I learned that it would only cost the producers an extra Euro 50 per bottle of Merlot or Cabernet they present.

Italy’s top wine blogger Mr. Franco Ziliani first reported the news on his blog and we posted about it today in English at VinoWire.

At the end of a decade of Italian wine marked by the high-profile Montalcino controversy and the less-talked-about but equally significant Tuscan blending scandal, the Cocacolonization of the Italian wine industry seemed to have shifted gears, leaning more toward Bethlehem than Babylon. Unfortunately, the organizers of this landmark event have once again decided to defile the Temple.

The Chianti Classico producers association represents Italy’s most recognizable wine brand and one of its greatest historic appellations. This aberration and contamination of the sanctity of Chianti Classico’s most important yearly event is — in my mind and on my palate — a hegemonical tragedy of Gramscian proportions.

Get this woman some unyeasted, unmaloed Falanghina STAT!

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The other day, when I was having lunch with BrooklynGuy in Brooklyn (of all places), we chatted about my life Texana and the wonderful “humanity” I’ve found here, even in places coastal dwellers wouldn’t expect in this mostly red state. At a certain point, he stopped me, looked me in the eye, and asked with a smile: “you’ve really fallen for Texas, haven’t you?”

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I love my wife dearly, I love my life Texana, I love my Texan family (from cousins Joanne and Marty to Mrs. and Rev. B) and I love Texas. But Texas has a problem.

Texas does not allow out-of-state retailers to ship to Texas. Technically, it has to allow them to ship here. But the big wine distributors’s shime-waza on the Texas legislature has allowed them to create a logistical obstacle, making it virtually impossible for out-of-state retailers to ship here (I’ve written about it, with documentation, here).

As a result I cannot get my beautiful wife (above) the unyeasted, unmaloed Falanghina that her heart calls out for. Please read her most recent post where she plaintively writes:

    So here we are back in Texas, and my heart calls out for the real thing. My DoBianchi brought home a shiny white ball of Mozzarella di Bufala and a bottle of Cantine del Taburno Falanghina, but, alas, I am still searching for an unoaked/unmalo-ed/non-acidified yet certified stateside version. I won’t give up. I can survive on the fumes of my memories just a little longer.

Get this woman some unyeasted, unmaloed Falanghina STAT!

In other news…

Yesterday, we officially launched a new project I’ve been working on, also close to my heart, a blog I’m writing for Houston restaurateur Tony Vallone.

We’ve been working on it for a month and I’ve really come to look forward and cherish our weekly hour-long chats where we talk about a day in the life of an Italian restaurateur in America. Check it out. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Buona lettura, ya’ll!

Mario Monicelli, Italian cinema giant, free at last

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One of the greatest artists of the last and current centuries, Italian film director Mario Monicelli, father of the commedia all’italiana, took his own life last night. He was 95 and terminally ill.

Please read this obituary in The New York Times, where Michael Roston quotes the director:

    “All Italian comedy is dramatic,” he said in a 2004 interview with Cineaste magazine “The situation is always dramatic, often tragic, but it’s treated in a humorous way. But people die in it, there’s no happy ending. That’s just what people like about it. The Italian comedy, the kind I make, always has this component.”

Please also see this obituary in the ANSA feed, where actor Stefania Sandrelli interprets his suicide.

I studied and loved his films in graduate school and have quoted them often here on the blog. The scene below (with Totò, Marcello Mastroianni, and Vittorio Gassman) is my favorite from I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958).

My favorite gag is when Mastroianni asks Totò if the famous safe-cracker Fu Cimin was Chinese. No, says, Totò, he was from Venice. “Cimin” was his last name. “Fu” means he died, he says.

Frito pie, impossible wine pairing?!?

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chili frito pie

Above: The other night an excellent Frito Pie prompted me and my dining companions to contemplate the moisture retention quotient of the humble Frito, which, I learn via the Wiki, originated in San Antonio, Texas (where else?).

I think I might have Dr. V stumped. Chips and salsa may be tough, but Frito Pie?

If you’ve never had Frito Pie, it’s essentially a heap of Fritos drowning in Texas chili and then topped with cheese and sour cream.

I had never had Frito Pie before moving to the south. Since my life Texana began nearly 3 years ago, I eat Frito Pie — a true Texan delicacy — whenever afforded the opportunity.

The other day outside of Houston, Cousin Marty and I had what we both agreed was the BEST FRITO PIE EVER.

What did our sommelier pair with it?

As BrooklynGuy occasionally asks of his readers, you be the sommelier!

Please add your recommendations in the comment thread and I’ll provide the answer (it was brilliant, btw) on Friday along with a story about the amazing place where we were served the pie above…

Raise a glass for Luigi Veronelli

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Above: I furtively managed to make a scan of Veronelli’s autograph when I visited the Terlato Wines International Tangley Oaks mansion earlier this year.

Luigi Veronelli, “intellectual, writer, liberatarian, literally the inventor of wine journalism in Italy,” wrote Italy’s top wine blogger Mr. Franco Ziliani this morning on his new blog Le Millle Bolle, raising a glass of traditional method sparkling wine to remember the architect of the Italian food and wine renaissance on the sixth anniversary of his passing.

Regrettably, very little of Veronelli’s writing has been translated into English (aside from what I’ve translated on my blog, where he appears often).

It’s difficult for the solely Anglophone lovers of Italian food and wine to gauge the reach and scope of Veronelli’s legacy (would Eataly have been possible — even conceivable — without him?).

Check out this amazing video, from 1975, when Veronelli was 49 years old and had yet to publish his landmark catalog of the wines of Italy (1983). It was posted in the comment thread of Mr. Ziliani’s post by the brilliant Giovanni Arcari, one of my favorite Italian winemakers and a good friend (look for Giovanni in the Franciacorta pavilion at Vinitaly this year and he will BLOW YOUR minds with the wines he makes and pours).

In it, he demonstrates how to make spaghetti alla chitarra. Italian is not required for viewing but the Pasolinian implications of the subtle dialectal inflections will not be lost on the Italophones among us.

Please join Tracie P and me in raising a glass tonight to this truly epic hero and sine qua non of contemporary Italian food and wine.