Channeling Italy Through Lodi (Cali that is)

January 19, 2012
Channeling Italy Through Lodi (Cali that is)

If Jim Moore at Uvaggio never makes another bottle of wine, he has proven that delicious lower-alcohol wines can indeed be grown in California.  Moore works with traditionally Italian varietals grown in Lodi, California;  making nebbiolo, barbera, vermentino, moscato, and sangiovese the heart of his operation.  Moore says he is not trying to duplicate what Italy has to offer but he certainly shows a healthy respect for Italy and its tradition for crafting wines built around the food, soil, and the climate in which they are crafted. Uvaggio’s wines are not Italian varietals gone off the rails like so many attempts I’ve tried from other producers in California.  While Uvaggio’s white wines are not made to compete in the...

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Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana 1989: 22 & Ready

December 6, 2011
Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana 1989: 22 & Ready

I tasted this wine for the first time in the Fall of 1992.  I tasted it with the man who made it, Domenico Clerico, a man whose sense of humor eclipses even the splendor of his wines.  We were at his winery in the Langhe hills and after marveling at both his ’89 and ’90 barolo that we tasted from barrel,  we chuckled and then turned our attention to the less flattering weather.  It seemed like it rained every day in the Fall of ’92.  I was living in Italy at the time and every day the sun failed to appear for any length of time, never long enough to completely dry the vines, clear the roads, or erase...

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the two best white wines i’ve tasted in past 5 years

July 25, 2011
the two best white wines i’ve tasted in past 5 years

After 20 years of tasting Italian wines I’ve started to remember the day, time, and place where I notch an “ah ha” wine moment.  The more I taste over the years (and I don’t limit my tasting to only 90+ point wines) the less I come across wines that make me say ah-ha.  A few weeks ago I tasted several wines that were remarkable but in my decades of tasting I’ve rarely tasted two wines that were painfully gorgeous-one after another.  Two wines from the same producer and vintage that simply transcend the category.  Vie di Romans, a small-production winery situated in the gently rolling hills of the Collio in Friuli run by Gianfranco Gallo (no relation to the Gallo here in the States), has always made high quality wine; keeping...

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vermentino: a food friendly alternative to pinot grigio

July 21, 2011
vermentino: a food friendly alternative to pinot grigio

You know how I feel about pinot grigio at this point.  The wine is over produced, most of it is uninteresting at best, and the really good stuff will cost you $20 or more.  And with all due respect to Tony Terlato for pioneering the grape in the U.S., I’m not talking about Santa Margherita.  I can whine about it all I want but pinot grigio is the biggest selling imported white wine in America so there’s plenty who either don’t care or disagree.  I want to introduce you to vermentino.  If you know it already, you know it’s a crisp, clean, hi-toned white wine that usually seeks something rich to help calm its nerves.  Over the past several years most of the vermentino I’ve tasted from Tuscany’s coast...

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the italian wine challenge: remarkable yet affordable

July 13, 2011
the italian wine challenge: remarkable yet affordable

How many people can honestly say they’ve shared a meal with their real life hero?  I did, by chance, about 8 years ago and I’ll never forget it.  No it wasn’t Angelo Gaja, whom I’ve met and I still have a hole in my head from where he stared at me with his laser-beam eyes.  It was Ricardo Legorreta, an architect whose work takes my mind to another place-almost like an amazing barolo.  I riddled him with questions all afternoon and even at dinner the same evening and he graciously answered them all with humility.  He told me that what he designs is great fun and almost a fantasy because most of his projects come with rather unlimited budgets.  The work he admires most...

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my friends love “nothing” about frascati

July 13, 2011
my friends love “nothing” about frascati

I brought a bottle of frascati to a friends for dinner last night.  It’s been humid in San Diego lately and the weather called for something bright, light, and white.  Based on the speed in which the bottle was drained over dinner I’d say I picked a winner.  My friend took a picture of the bottle with his i-Phone that he could reference when he went to the store to look for it.  Both he and his wife said they liked it because there was “nothing to it”.  Actually, there’s plenty to it, but I know what they mean.  Sure, not enough to incite conversation about winemaking and terroir but enough to drink easily over dinner without effort.  That, I believe, is the point of...

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