Steve and I agreed that the best wine we tasted yesterday was the 1991 Rosso del Gnemiz by Ronco del Gnemiz, one of my favorite wineries in the world.
I was so utterly psyched to get to meet the family, taste and talk with them. That’s son Iacopo and winemakers Christian Patat and Serena Palazzolo below.
I’m looking forward to posting my notes on what Serena, Christian, and Bobby had to say about this amazing property and the wines it delivers… Stay tuned…
Shelley treated the group to a mini-vertical of Gravner last night at Borgo Comello, a wonderful trattoria in Farra d’Isonzo (Gorizia). Be sure to ask owner Claudio Comello about wines not listed.
We rarely see Gravner red wines in the U.S. and so I was entirely geeked for this: the 98 was friggin’ AMAZING, so light in body but rich in aroma (goudron and earth) and flavor (dark berry fruit).
Thanks, Shelley! You rock!
Lachlan and I went back to the Caffè del Corso on the main piazza in Cividale del Friuli yesterday between winery visits for an audience with the grand master of the spritz, owner Simone, who delivered a lecture on the nuance of Aperol vs. Campari. When time and technology permit, I’ll relate what he had to say…
That’s Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey on the bus yesterday in Friuli talking to our group about why “Sauvignon Blanc is Friuli’s secret weapon.”
Bobby’s intense wine knowledge and his all-around good vibe have made this trip an extremely interesting and fun experience (however opulent, it’s still a “march,” with EXHAUSTING 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. days visiting wineries and food destinations).
It’s been tough to get online but I’m psyched to get back home next week to Tracie P (I MISS HER SO DAMN MUCH!) and start sharing some more-detailed and in-depth info about the Friulian and Tuscan legs of this amazing trip…
The team, from left, clockwise, each a taste-maker in her or his own right: Matthew Turner (head sommlier Michael Mina, San Francisco), Steve Wildy (beverage director, Vetri, Philadelphia), Brent Karlicek (wine merchant, Postino, Phoenix), Shelley Lindgren (wine director, A16, San Francisco), Bobby Stuckey (wine director, Frasca, Boulder), Jamie Garrett (sommelier, Sonnenalp, Vail), Joe Campanale (beverage director, Dell’Anima, New York), Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson (chef, Frasca, Boulder), Mario Nocifera (director of operations, Frasca, Boulder), and Lara Persello (our handler, Turismo FVG).
This morning we departed from Grado and headed toward the island of Ravaiarina.
The antipasto.
Turbot with its brodetto and white polenta.
A classic of Friulian viticulture.
The island has its own fish farm in the form of a humanmade saltwater lagoon and the chef fishes his catch with a fishing pole as needed, like this orata (Mediterranean sea bass). Ingenious…
The fishery is perfectly attuned to the island’s aquaculture and mariculture.
La Ravaiarina
tel. 0431 845 84576
To reach the island and restaurant, you take a taxi boat from Grado.
Dinner last night at the famous Ristorante all’Aquila d’Oro in Dolegna del Collio (Gorizia) began with this 1997 Vie di Romans Pinot Grigio Dessimis, which entirely blew me away with its nuance, and complexity. Pinot Grigio is so maligned and misunderstood and as much as Vie di Romans tends toward modernity (not my personal preference), there’s no denying that the winery delivers extreme elegance its bottlings. Fantastic wine…
Many excellent dishes were served last night (the stemware, dishware, silverware, and mise en place exquisite) but the course that impressed me the most was this incredible wild duck risotto. I was intrigued by the size and texture of the grain of rice and when queried, the owner revealed that it’s a Carnaroli hybrid that was developed for his family in Vercelli more than 30 years ago. Lachlan pointed out the fact that the grains do not stick together and the owner told me that no butter is used in this dish: only the stock was used to impart fat, thus bestowing a remarkable delicacy. Stunningly delicious…
Castello di Trussio dell’Aquila d’Oro
34070 Dolegna del Collio (Gorizia)
Località Ruttars 11
tel.: 0481 60545 (or 0481 61255)
Bobby, Lachlan, and I got our Aperol spritz on during the ora dell’aperitivo (the aperitif hour) in downtown Cividale del Friuli yesterday.
In keeping with my credo no wine without food, no food without wine, I just had to have a few mortadella cubes, even though I knew that much food lay in my immediate future…
The inimitable Ornella Venica greeted me in the late morning with a glass of Pinot Bianco by her family’s historic winery, Venica & Venica. “Maybe not the most popular or important,” she explained, “but my personal favorite.”
For the next 5 days and nights, I’m going to be staying at the Venica & Venica estate in Dolegna del Collio (Gorizia, Friuli) with leading U.S. food and wine professionals Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson (owners of Frasca in Boulder, CO), who asked me to join them and a group of wine buyers on a tour of Friuli (sponsored by the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia).
The main course at lunch was a delicious pork shank prepared by Ornella herself (note the kren in the foreground).
I’d never tasted the Venica Refosco. The 2008 (recently bottled) was killer… chewy and juicy.
I cannot conceal that I am very psyched to hang with Bobby (who helped Ornella clear the dishes after lunch) and Lachlan, two of the nicest dudes in the biz and undisputed Friulian insiders!
Stay tuned…
In Friuli, the default coffee service is caffé macchiato, i.e., an espresso with a spot of steamed milk, like this coffee that I had at the Caffè San Marco in Cividale del Friuli, where I stopped this morning on the way to my final destination.
One of my first major translations was the “Bottega del Caffè” (“The Coffee House”) by 18th-century Italian comediographer Carlo Goldoni, set in Venice with the then nascent European coffee culture as backdrop (New York, Marsilio, 1998).
Later today I hope to have the time to reveal why and how I’ve come to Friuli.
But before the official working leg of the trip begins, I wanted to take time out to catch up with my friend Wayne, who lives and works in Friuli as the sales and marketing director for the Bastianich winery here.
In a world where ego generally trumps humanity, Wayne is one of the rare and welcomed anomalies: a right guy, as one might have said a half-century ago, who just happens to work in the top tier of the food and wine industry. When he suggested we go meet winemaker Valter Scarbolo for dinner at his legendary restaurant La Frasca in Lauzacco (Udine), I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
Dinner began with Lorenzo d’Osvaldo’s superb prosciutto crudo and ossocollo and Valter’s housemade salame (above).
Next, di rigore, came tagliolini San Daniele.
This was followed by a dish that would have been met with wholehearted approval by any semiotician gourmand, Valter’s raviolo aperto, stuffed with montasio cheese and venison, topped with wild berries. (A bottle of sparkling Verduzzo for anyone who can place the exegetic pun I’ve made for this dish!)
As we were joined by Valter’s son Mattia who had arrived from his kick-boxing workout (and was evidently famished), the conversation turned to the current student housing crisis in Italy, soon to be faced by the young matricola.
As we lingered over intensely aromatic formàdi frant (formaggio frantumato, literally splintered cheese, a classic farmer’s cheese of Friuli), the wine I kept going back to was Valter’s My Time, so-called because, despite the urgings of his enologist, he waits to bottle and releases this wine only when he feels it’s achieved its full potential. As it warmed up in the glass, this wine (made from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Tocai fermented in cask) was simply gorgeous, with nuanced fruit and noble structure, delightful with the pasta dishes, intriguing and intellectually stimulating with the cheese course.
Last night wasn’t a time for delving into the details of enogastronomic science: it was time for catching up with an old friend and making a new one.
When it comes your time to go to Scarbolo fair, please remember me to the one who lives there…
Stay tuned…
Do Bianchi 