Alejandro Escovedo (above, third from left) is one of America’s most iconic songwriters and performers. His new album, “The Crossing,” was recorded in Emilia-Romagna with a group he met serendipitously while touring in Italy. It tells the story of two young migrants — one from Mexico, the other from Italy — who meet while working in a restaurant in Galveston. 

Over the Christmas holiday, I had the opportunity to interview the legendary Texan musician. The following are excerpts from our conversation. 

He and his Italian band Don Antonio are playing this Sunday at the Heights Theater in Houston (see this preview on the Houston Press).

When it comes to rock ‘n’ roll, Italians have a different sensibility and a different sense of rhythm than Americans. What clicked for you working with Italian musicians?

I did not expect them to have that groove. I didn’t want them to be an American band. I wanted them to be an Italian band. And it was important that they kept their identity that way — musically. And that’s what impressed me about them.

When they bring in anything that’s slightly American, it’s about the Twist. Because the Twist was a popular form in the 1960s, in Italian movies and soundtracks. It’s not that they don’t love American music. They’re very well versed in blues and soul and R&B and the guitar players from Austin, songwriters from Tucson. Obviously they’re big fans of that stuff. [But] it doesn’t dictate who they are. And that’s what was really attractive to me.

So I did not expect them to sound like the Stooges from Detroit, I didn’t expect them to sound like the Zeros or the MC5. I wanted them to be Italian because the beauty in Italian music is that it’s always searching for melody. It’s got this beautiful, kind of dramatic soulful, very passionate kind of view. And that’s what I wanted from them. It wasn’t a problem for me that they didn’t sound like Muscle Shoals. That’s not what I wanted.

In interviews, you’ve talked a lot about how recording in Italy was a different experience than recording in America — in part because of the food.

The Italian press [like] Buscadero has been very generous with me. And I’ve always had great shows in Italy. I’ve done a lot of tours.

But when I met Antonio and the boys, they picked me up in Bologna at the airport. And they happened to have a friend who was also on the same plane. So they gave her a ride back to Faenza. And then we proceeded to Modigliana, which is their town. Then we immediately went to go eat, which the Italian thing, right? It’s essential.

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Happy new year, everyone!

Here are some of the trends in Italian wine that I’ll be following in 2019.

It’s incredible to think that more than 20 years have passed since the first major all-Italian wine lists were launched in New York in the late 1990s. Two decades after the advent of the Italian wine renaissance here, the category is stronger than ever. But the 2019 vintage will be a challenging one for Italian winemakers and grape growers.

Italian trade members here in America should also check out this awesome and extremely useful Intravino post with a calendar of top wine events planned in Italy this year.

May your 2019 be filled with happiness, health, and prosperity — and great Italian wine!

Thanks for being here in 2018…

5. Italian winemakers, both large- and small-scale, will face expanding difficulties in getting their wines to the U.S. market.

As one of America’s most important Italian wine importers pointed out in a seminar I attended this year, the Italian wine market is more saturated than ever but the channels of distribution are becoming more and more narrow. Twenty years after the Italian wine revolution began in New York thanks to a handful of visionary importers and restaurateurs, the competition for marketshare in the U.S. is fiercer than ever. But only a handful of the historic Italian wine importers, including those who helped shape the Italian wine renaissance, remain. Importing and distribution channels will become increasingly parcelized.

4. Political, social, and economic volatility will affect consumer choices.

Regardless of ideological affiliation, consumer confidence has already been shaken by the recent market swings and the political uncertainty that 2019 holds. Consumers are seriously asking themselves whether or not we are on the precipice of a recession or financial crisis. Producers are wondering how Brexit and the American trade wars will impact their sales and sales channels. This could actually help to bolster Italian sales since Italy represents some of the best value in fine wine in the market today.

3. So-called populist and illiberal democratic tendencies will begin to emerge from the fringe of Italian wine.

Many don’t realize that Italy’s (and Europe’s) terroirist and populist movements are closely aligned in certain corners of the industry, even among those considered to be (quote-unquote) progressive by English-speaking Italian wine lovers. Americans might be surprised by how European farmers are becoming more and more emboldened and vocal about their stands on immigration and national identity. As it has in the past, social media will amplify their attitudes. With the rise of populism and nationalism in the U.S., American consumers are also becoming more tolerant of intolerance among Italian winemakers.

2. Natural wine is here to stay (whether you like it or not).

Recently overheard in a hipster wine bar in Houston, spoken by a well-dressed 30-something professional who clearly did not work in the wine business: “Do you have anything really funky by the glass? I mean, really natural?” Natural wine is now part of the mainstream wine parlance and lexicon. From my 85-year-old mother who wants natural wine from Sicily (because she believes, however erroneously, that it won’t give her a headache) to the millennial consumer who’s beginning to have the spending power to afford it, natural wine has become as prevalent a category as Merlot or Pinot Grigio — despite the fact that an agreed-on definition of natural wine continues to elude us.

1. Newly imposed EU limits on copper sulphate will have a major impact on organic wine growing.

Beyond this excellent piece on Wine Spectator, the mainstream wine media hasn’t devoted much coverage to the EU’s newly imposed limits on copper. But this is going to be a highly contentious topic among conventional and organic growers next year. The heart and soul of organic and biodyanmic farming is at stake and Italy is the biggest stakeholder. The issue is compounded by the fact that rainfall patterns in recent vegetative cycles have forced organic growers to increase their copper spraying to combat peronospera. See my thread on the copper debate, including my post on the newly imposed restrictions.

In early December, I had the remarkable opportunity to sit down with Giancarlo Moretti Polegato (above), CEO and legacy owner of his family’s Villa Sandi estate in Valdobbiadene, one of Prosecco’s greatest pioneers and one of its enduring cultural icons.

When our conversation turned to the “Biodiversity Friend Certification” of Villa Sandi’s vineyards, he explained to me that Villa Sandi had implemented the association’s environmentally friendly protocols for two main reasons.

First and foremost, he said, is the fact that the Prosecco DOCG is one of the few appellations in the world where residents literally live among the vines. If you’ve ever driven through the appellation, you know that town squares, schools, and residences are surrounded by and in many cases abut on vineyard land. In the light of how grape farming can impact residents’ quality of life, the winery felt it was imperative, he told me, to lead the way in creating a new benchmark of sustainability and biodiversity.

The other reason, he said, is that he expects Valdobbiadene and Conegliano to be added shortly to the list of UNESCO Heritage Sites.

Some readers may be unaware that “The Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene” were included in the “tentative list” of candidate sites in 2010. And in 2017, the area was upgraded to official candidate status. With heritage status on the horizon, he noted, maintaining and fostering Prosecco’s natural beauty and its unique landscape will be key elements in developing the wine- and nature-tourism industry they expect to grow there.

(Read the UNESCO entry for the Prosecco Hills here.)

Above: Biodiversity Friend certification reflects the growers commitment to sustainable vineyard and winery practices.

Another topic I was keen to cover with Giancarlo was the estate’s production methods. It’s not the only estate, nor was it the first, to make its Prosecco DOCG using must instead of a base wine for the second fermentation. But it is one of the few estates (if not the only) to produce all of its wines this way.

Villa Sandi began making its wines this way when it first started to ship its wines outside of Italy, said Giancarlo. It ensured the freshness of the products even after a year of shelf-life, he explained. Because the vinification process takes place in a reductive environment (i.e., in the absence of oxygen), it’s easier for the winemaker to preserve the distinctive fresh aromas of Glera. It also reduces the amount of sulfur needed to stabilize the wine.

He reminded me that in another era (one that I remember well from my university days in Veneto more than 30 years ago), Prosecco was always consumed within a year of the harvest. Today, the wines travel much greater distances and often spend more time on wine shop shelves.

I know that a handful of Prosecco producers use this method for some of their production. But to my knowledge, Villa Sandi is the only one that uses it exclusively for all of its Prosecco DOCG.

Our conversation spanned a number of topics, including the 17th-century Palladian-school villa that stands at the center of the Villa Sandi hydro-powered campus (below).

They use it for the winery’s gala events, of course. But it’s also open to the public year round.

All in all, it was a fascinating chat, with one of the wine world’s most charismatic and inspiring figures. His family is the embodiment of the Veneto spirit of entrepreneurship and the winery’s reception area is lined with photographs of Popes, aristocrats, politicians, and celebrities who have visited the estate.

But with is classic Veneto cadence and warm demeanor, he was also easy going and easy to talk to. He apologized profusely that he had to cut our conversation short: after his Do Bianchi interview, RAI 3 television would be filming him for a national broadcast.

I can’t wait until I can make it back that way again…

A trip to the land of Prosecco in early December was an opportunity to taste at a couple of my favorite houses.

Over the last 10 years or so, as more and more small-scale Prosecco has come to the U.S., many Italian wine lovers and trade observers have shifted their focus away from some of the bigger producers.

But they forget that Prosecco DOCG, even when produced in large volume, is almost always a “family grower” wine. That’s because the appellation, one of the most parcelized in the wine world, is made up of a vast patchwork of small farms. The best winemakers, even among the most commercial, rely on a network of generational relationships for their fruit.

Producers opened a lot of great wines for me during my stay earlier this month. These two were stand-outs.

It was such a thrill for me to get to taste with Francesco Drusian, a legacy producer and appellation pioneer. His insights into the evolution of Prosecco and its extraordinary arc — literally from rags to riches — were fascinating to hear.

I loved the winery’s 30th anniversary release, 30 Raccolti, a dosage zero produced exclusively from 40+ year old vines from 30 different farms. No apples or bananas here, as the Prosecco old timers like to say. Just salty, minerality-driven Glera with gorgeous, juicy grapefruit notes. Very classic in style and very varietally expressive.

Like the man and winemaker, Francesco’s wines are among the most soulful in Prosecco today imho.

The Ruggeri Vecchie Viti was another highlight.

This historic estate, founded after the Second World War, is owned today by a German multi-national. But the Bisol family, whose winemaking and distilling roots run deep in Proseccoland, still manages the winery on a day-to-day and wine-by-wine basis. And the quality of their labels, across the board, really shined through during my visit there.

There were a number of wines that I really liked in the flight that afternoon but the Vecchie Viti (Old Vine) bottling was the showstopper.

The fruit is sourced from some of the oldest farms and vines in the DOCG, including 80+ year old plants.

The other really cool thing about this label is that it’s not 100 percent Glera: it’s an old school cuvée of Glera (around 90 percent) and Verdiso, Bianchetta, and Perera — the classic Prosecco field blend (no Chardonnay or Pinot Noir here, folks; and yes, both are also allowed by the DOCG).

The wine reminded of the Prosecco I used to drink from caraffe with my friends back in the late 1980s before the Prosecco revolution. Its rich balance of savory and fruity notes would have been ideal for washing down the economically priced rotisserie-fired chicken and French fries we used to gobble down in the hills outside of Padua.

It’s a pity that the wine hasn’t made it to the U.S. yet. It’s got eno-hipster written all over it.

More news from Proseccoland forthcoming. Are you drinking/serving Prosecco this New Year’s? Which one?

Happy holidays, everyone! Merry Christmas!

Love, the Parzen family

One of the biggest thrills of my year in wine was my first taste of the newly released 2015 Produttori del Barbaresco (classic) Barbaresco with one of Barbaresco’s coolest homeboys, Luca Cravanzola.

Although we’ve corresponded over the years on numerous occasions and we follow each other on social media, Luca and I had never met in person until this spring when we both attended the same raucous, blow-out party in Franciacorta.

Luca’s grandfather Riccardo was the first president of the storied cooperative and he’s worked in the marketing and sales department for some time now.

(Read about the winery’s history on Ken Vastola’s excellent Nebbiolo portal, Fine Wine Geek.)

And how else to put it? Luca is uno dei nostri, one of us as they say in Italian.

People who work in the wine business get asked the same question by laypeople all the time: what’s your favorite wine?

It’s only natural that we answer: well, it depends on where I am, what I’m eating, and with whom I’m eating it.

But when pressed for a more specific response to the inquiry, I always tell them that I have bought and own more Produttori del Barbaresco than any other wine.

In terms of price-quality ratio, there is no more value-driven wine in the world imho. And the generally reasonable pricing makes it affordable for average punters like me.

Especially when it comes to the classic, blended cuvée (as opposed to the single-vineyard designated bottlings), the wine can be spectacular even in its youth. But it can also be cellared with stunning results for decades, depending on the vintage.

I’ve never tasted a bad wine from them and apart from the occasionally corked bottle or a bottle that’s been mishandled or mistreated, my experience in drinking and collecting these wines has always been overarchingly and wonderfully positive.

It’s the wine we drink on special occasions at our house. And it’s the wine that enjoy especially when sharing with my friends.

Just in case you’re shopping for great but affordable red wine for the holidays (or in the off-chance you’re shopping for a gift for me), you can’t go wrong with Produttori del Barbaresco.

Luca, it was so fun to meet you in person for the first time and it was a truly moving experience to taste the new vintage with you — my first kiss from the harvest!

Above, from left: Nico Danesi and Giovanni Arcari are among my best friends in the world and they produce one of my favorite expressions of Franciacorta (image via the Arcari + Danesi Facebook).

Please click here to check out my “Capitalist’s Guide to Wine Gifts for Christmas,” published today by the Houston Press.

In case you’re thinking of getting me something wine-related for Christmas, it’s a great place to glean gift ideas!

And click here to read Walter Speller’s (unsurprisingly) controversial article and tasting notes on Giovanni Arcari and Nico Danesi’s Franciacorta, published earlier this week by JancisRobinson.com.

The article is available only to subscribers (and out of respect for Walter and his publisher, I can’t share the content in its entirety here).

But I will offer this passage:

“We are 1,200 km from Champagne and the phenolic ripeness of our grapes is completely different. Therefore we cannot use champagne methods and ways of working,” Giovanni Arcari, who runs the estate with winemaker Nico Danesi, explained. “In Italy we must not think of producing ‘champagne,’ especially because we actually can produce something radically different. Our style is based on the most banal of premises: Wine is made of ripe grapes.” It seems so logical, but hardly anybody in Franciacorta dares to go this way.

Disclosure (in case you hadn’t already figured it out): Giovanni and Nico are among my best friends of all time.

In May of this year, I attended a tasting very similar to the one that Walter describes in his piece (Walter is also a good friend; he was supposed to be at the tasting in May but was called away at the last minute).

Check out the interview and tasting notes here.

And btw, a gift subscription to JancisRobinson.com makes for a great Christmas present!

Buona lettura… enjoy the posts!

Whenever people ask for recommendations on where to eat in Bologna, my answer is always the same: there’s great food in Bologna but the best expressions of true Emilia cuisine are found in the countryside.

I stand by my position on this issue.

But I’d like to amend it: I enjoyed a bunch of great meals this year in Emilia but one of the best — one of the best meals I had in Italy this year — was at Caminetto d’Oro in downtown Bologna.

Those are the tagliatelle al ragù, above. (In Bologna they’re not called tagliatelle alla bolognese; they’re just called tagliatelle al ragù).

One of my best friends and clients, Paolo Cantele, and I had carved out time for a “working dinner,” so to speak. And he suggested we go there.

I’d actually been there once before, many years ago, with my dissertation advisor and the leading food studies scholar in Italy today, Massimo Montanari. But that was back in the days when I parsed hendecasyllables for a living and only gave a second thought to salumi and giardiniera (above).

I can’t think of a friend in Bologna (and I have many) who would opt to take you out to a restaurant for dinner instead of inviting you to her/his home for tagliatelle fatte in casa (and at the risk of sounding sexist and chauvinist, I have to point out that it’s always tagliatelle fatte dalla mamma).

But, man, the meal at the Caminetto d’Oro (the golden fireplace) was phenomenally good. And the white tablecloth setting didn’t detract one bit from the experience.

But the thing that really took it over the top for me personally was the wine list.

And here’s where the experts will disagree: most would contend that the true Emilian meal is paired exclusively with Lambrusco. And I mostly agree with that supposition.

But when sommelier Francesca Gori appeared with a bottle of Vigne di San Lorenzo macerated Albana (above), I thought I had died and gone to heaven. We opened a number of bottles that night (including a 2012 Bartolo Mascarello, thank you, Paolo!). But the stars of the meal where the Albana and Vigne di San Lorenzo’s stunning Sangiovese (one of the most original and most enjoyable wines I tasted this year in Italy).

Man, why is no one bringing these wines to the U.S. yet? Importers, please get on it!

Francesca also runs the wine and beverage program at storied restaurant’s newish wine bar next door, Twinside.

If I lived in Bologna, I’d be there every night (and Saturday nights in the main dining room).

What a great restaurant and what a great evening in Bologna! Francesca, thank you so much for sharing so many groovy wines.

And of course, no evening in Bologna is complete without a stroll sotto i portici, a walk under the porticoes, one of the city’s defining architectonic features.

When in Bologna, check it out. I highly recommend it (but be sure to reserve, especially for the main dining room).

From the department of “inner light”…

The mosaic of Italian wine is never-ending.

Just when you think you’ve wrapped your mind around all the classics (even after more than 20 years in the trade), another stunning wine seems to pop up out of nowhere as if to remind you that Italy is a fount of endless joy and pleasure.

To borrow a lyric from George Harrison, “The farther one travels/The less one knows/The less one really knows…”

Those lines dances through my brain a few weeks ago when my Italian bromance Giovanni poured me a glass of 2001 Barbaresco by Cascina Baricchi (above).

A bottle or two of the farm’s Timorasso had come my way (thank you, Chambers Street Wines). But this gem from the land of Nebbiolo had eluded my palate… until then.

Man, what a wine! Old school as it gets but with elegance, purity, and none of the rough edges that the old-line prophets of submerged cap once inscribed in their wines (I’m thinking of Roagna, for example, one of my all-time favorites, before Luca started making the wines).

It was no surprise to read, on the farm’s website, that its Barbaresco is raised (mostly) in large-format “un-toasted” cask. And it was equally unsurprising to learn that the winemaker views its wines as an expression of “Langa… the sensations, warmth, wildness, and class that only these wines, from these areas, can convey.”

According to the site, the estate is represented in the U.S. by Bliss Wines in Napa, an importer specialized in organically farmed and non-interventionist wines.

If you’ve never tasted Baricchi, look out for the wines. I know I’ll be snatching up every bottle I can lay my hands on.