Il Falcone

November 30, 2007

For those of you who have shopped at Vino over the years, you know that we have always been fans of southern Italian wines and the wines of Puglia in particular (after all, owner Nicola Marzovilla and his family come from the town of Rutigliano in the province of Bari). We have always found that southern Italy offers some of Italy’s best values in terms of price and quality. The food-friendly style and the earthy flavors and aromas of these wines make them ideal for holiday feasting with family and friends.

The Rivera winery calls this extraordinary blend of Negroamaro and Uva di Troia “Il Falcone” or “the falcon” as a nod to the thirteenth-century enlightened Sicilian King Frederick II, who enjoyed hunting with his falcon in Puglia where the grapes for this wine are sourced today. This bold red wine pairs beautifully with grills and roast meats.

Il Falcone has been one of Vino’s top-selling wines and is one of Nicola’s top picks for the holiday season.

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Guido Gualandi and his wines

November 27, 2007

Vino and I Trulli

If ever there were someone worthy of being called a “Renaissance man,” it’s the thirty-something Guido Gualandi: archeologist, painter, musician, and winemaker (just to mention some of his myriad talents), Guido is one of the most interesting producers to emerge from the Montespertoli subzone of Chianti in recent memory.

Mention of Guido’s family and the Gualandi knights, originally of Pisa, dates back to the thirteenth century and beyond. The Gualandi tower in Pisa was the setting for one of the most famous episodes in Dante’s Divine Comedy (the story of Ugolino della Gherardesca).

The cellar where Guido makes his wine once belonged to another Renaissance man, Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), one of Italy’s greatest statesmen and historians, and close friend of Niccolò Machiavelli.

Gualandus 2005 Gualandi

Like all of Guido’s wines, the Gualandus is made using 100% natural vinification: no herbicides or pesticides are used in the vineyard, only organic fertilizers are used, the grapes are picked and pressed — literally — by hand and foot respectively, and fermentation is carried out without temperature control in a cellar where wine has been made for more than 500 years. Gualandus is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes. Its natural fruit flavors and aromas and its bright acidity make a great “food” wine to pair with pasta and classic meat sauces and grilled meats.

Cavalleresco 2005 Gualandi

Cavalleresco is a blend of Sangiovese (which gives the wine its gentle fruit aromas and flavors), Colorino (which imparts its rich color), and a small amount of Merlot (which give the wine its rich body and opulent mouthfeel).

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Barbaresco 2003 Castello di Verduno

November 20, 2007

Castello di Verduno is one of Piemonte’s up-and-coming naturalist wineries and is always a favorite at the Vini Veri (Real Wine) alternative fair which is held outside Verona as a counterpoint to the Italian wine industry’s yearly trade show, Vinitaly. Their "classic" Barbaresco is blended from two of Barbaresco’s most famous and coveted vineyards, Rabajà and Faset, both known for their longevity and their distinct earthiness. Low-yields and minimalist intervention in the cellar create a gorgeous traditional-style Barbaresco with impressive aging potential.

This gentle nose of this wine reveals rich fruit aromas that give way to clove, tar, and rose petal flavors in the mouth. The 2003 vintage is proving to be a powerful one and this wine will only get better with age. If opening now, decant and allow for a few hours of aeration before serving.

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Thanksgiving Picks

November 19, 2007

Frank Bruni’s New York Times Thanksgiving Pick 2006

“Among the reds,” wrote Eric Asimov in last year’s New York Times Thanksgiving wine recommendations, “Frank, naturally, brought the most arcane wine of the meal, a 2004 Verduno Basadone from Castello di Verduno, made from the pelaverga piccolo grape, which is obscure even in its home territory in the Piedmont region of Italy. Nonetheless, this lithe, peppery wine hit the spot…”

The tiny Verduno or Verduno Pelaverga appellation is perhaps Italy’s smallest: the wine is made from the rare Pelaverga grape exclusively in the hamlet of Verduno. Spicy and aromatic, locals believe that this excellent food-pairing wine possesses aphrodisiacal properties, hence the name Basadone or baciadonne in Italian, the “lady kisser.”

Valpolicella 2003 Capitel Sant’Eugenio

For the Valpolicella, the Galli family employs the “ripasso” method for a limited number of barrels. This method (ripasso means a “re-passing” or “second passage” in Italian) consists of fermenting some of the grapes in barrels containing the lees (dead yeast cells) and skins left over from the fermentation of Amarone (a dried-grape wine). This practice gives their Valpolicella added depth and structure — something you won’t find in commercially produced Valpolicella.

This light-bodied wine shows nice berry fruit on the nose and in the mouth and will pair well with all the Thanksgiving trimmings.

Amarone 2001 Capitel Sant’Eugenio

Wine Director Emeritus Charles Scicolone’s Thanksgiving Pick

The Galli’s Amarone is made from a “field blend”: while Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara are the three primary grapes used for this wine, the family allows other varieties — Sangiovese and Pinot Nero among them, depending on the vintage — to grow in their vineyards. They believe that this represents the true tradition of Amarone, where the vintage and Mother Nature herself determine which grapes will be used for the wines.

This rich, traditional-style Amarone is deep and complex. With earthy notes on the nose and red fruit on the palate, the opulent mouthfeel of this wine is classic Amarone. A great pairing for roast turkey and a perfect “meditative” wine to match with ripened cheeses after the holiday meal.

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Mary Taylor Simeti at Vino

November 12, 2007

Vino and Tour de Forks are proud to present Mary Taylor Simeti. She’ll speak about Sicilia, wine, terroir, and culture next Tuesday, November 13, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Celebrated author Mary Taylor Simeti first moved to Sicilia in 1962 to perform volunteer work after graduating from Radcliffe College. Her critically acclaimed On Persephone’s Island: A Sicilian Journal (Knopf, 1986) chronicled her life there with her Sicilian husband (a professor of agronomy) and their children. Living in 1960s Sicilia often proved harsh and difficult and the young woman from New York faced many cultural challenges in the place where she had chosen to make her home. But her informed, elegantly sparse writing revealed a wondrous world, rich with culinary and life experiences. She is also the author of Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food and — one of our personal favorites — Bitter Almonds: Recollections and Recipes from a Sicilian Girlhood, the memoirs of famed pastry maker Maria Grammatico (and co-author of the book).

Wine Director Emeritus Charles Scicolone will pour five Sicilian wines at the event.

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Vino and I Trulli at the NYC Marathon

Vino and I Trulli were proud to sponsor Vito Sardella, a 33-year-old native of Puglia, in this year’s NYC marathon. We’d like to congratulate him for placing 56th overall in last Sunday’s race across the five boroughs and look forward to cheering him on in next year’s race. Complimenti, Vito!

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This Week’s Free Tasting: Casa Emma

This week’s tasting (Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m., and Saturday, 4:00-6:00 p.m.) features a Tuscan winery that is new to our shelves and shop, Casa Emma.

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Casa Emma Merlot and Chianti

November 9, 2007

The Casa Emma estate is a small, family-owned and operated artisanal winery located in the heart of the Chianti Classico appellation (in the township of Castellina in Chianti). Of its 34 hectares, 21 hectares are used for the cultivation of Sangiovese (with a few rows of native Tuscan grape varieties Malvasia Nera and Canaiolo). A 3-hectare prized growing site is devoted exclusively to the Merlot used in the winery’s Super Tuscan Soloìo.

As early as the fourteenth century, the “Classico” subzone of Chianti was renowned for its superior wines. The original townships of Chianti all lie at higher altitudes with respect to the outer subzones of the appellation. Cooler evening temperatures help the grapes to ripen more slowly by cooling the fruit at the end of the day. This allows the winemaker to pick later in the growing season when the grapes have achieved ideal ripeness. All of Casa Emma’s vineyards lie above 400 meters a.s.l.

Casa Emma’s Soloìo (literally solo io or “only me” in Italian) is made from 100% Merlot grapes grown in one of the winery’s most prized vineyard sites. One and a half years of gentle oxygenation in French oak bring out the lush, opulent fruit and chocolate flavors of this truly decadent wine. A great pairing for winter roasts and stews and a fantastic gift idea for “trophy wine” lovers. 2004 was an excellent vintage in Chianti Classico and this wine will drink well for the next 5-10 years.

Casa Emma’s Chianti Classico DOCG is made from the following blend: Sangiovese 90%, Canaiolo 5% e Malvasia Nera 5%. This classic expression of the appellation is intended for drinking right away: judicious aging in new wood allows for gentle oxygenation of the wine, thus helping the tannins to mellow and the fruit to show beautifully. A great wine for the Thanksgiving table, this Chianti Classico — with bright acidity and red fruit in the mouth — will pair well with a wide variety of dishes.

Casa Emma’s Chianti Classico Riserva is made using Sangiovese grapes, with smaller amounts of Malvasia Nera added. This long-lived wine spends 2 years in traditional large oak barrels before being bottled and will only get better with aging (drink now or over the next 5-10 years). The most “classic” of Casa Emma’s wines, this Chianti benefits greatly from the high altitude. The cooler evening temperatures are a key element in the winery’s ability to achieve Sangiovese with immense aging potential. This Chianti Riserva is one of our all-time favorites at Vino. A very collectible Chianti and a perfect pairing for steak and other grilled meats.

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Zagat ratings are in!

November 5, 2007

The Zagat Marketplace 2008 is out and we are very pleased to announce that our ratings just keep getting better at Vino. Here’s what you had to say (thank you!):

Quality: 28 (unchanged)
Display: 25 (up from 22 last year)
Service: 25 (up from 24)

Take “a tour of the wine regions in Italy” at this Gramercy store devoted to producers from The Boot where the “lovely” stock (70 percent of it poured at the companion eatery, I Trulli) is “well-grouped” geographically and tended by staffers who “know their stuff”; it features “little known” finds plus numerous “aperitivos and digestivos”, and is a “must-stop” even if pricing skews “a touch high”; P.S. “don’t miss its wine classes” and weekend tastings.

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Paradise Found (in Piemonte)

November 1, 2007

Vino and I Trulli

Above: guests tasted 7 wines at the Taste of Piemonte dinners on Monday and Tuesday nights.

A grand time was had by all at the Taste of Piemonte dinners at I Trulli on Monday and Tuesday nights. Guests tasted seven wines, including the single-vineyard Barolo Rocche 2001 Monchiero, and enjoyed a five-course menu by Chef Patrick Nuti, featuring agnolotti stuffed with beef, veal, Castelmagno cheese, and white truffles, and topped with shaved white truffles. Owner Nicola Marzovilla tasted the flight of wines with each table: everyone agreed that both the Monchiero and the Barolo 1982 Borgogno were drinking beautifully (there are only a few bottles of the ’82 left at Vino but the 1996 and 1989 — both phenomenal vintages — are available; click to order).

For those of you who weren’t able to attend, our friend and acclaimed cookbook author Michele Scicolone shares one of her trips to Piemonte and a recipe below.

Look for more Regional Italian Cuisine dinners at I Trulli this spring and stay tuned for the Taste of Toscana dinner to be held at our sister restaurant Centovini in December.

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This Week’s Free Tasting: Castel Sallegg

This week’s tasting (Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m., and Saturday, 4:00-6:00 p.m.) features a winery that is new to our shelves and shop, Castel Sallegg, from Trentino-Alto Adige.

Weekly tastings at Vino are FREE.

Vino
121 East 27th St.
between Park and Lex.
NY NY 10016
800-965-8466
212-725-6516
www.VinoSiteShop.com

Click here to shop online.

– Same-Day Manhattan Delivery for Web Orders Placed before 3 p.m.
– Free Manhattan Delivery for Orders over $100
– In-Store Pick Up Available

(when ordering on the web, please let us know your delivery preferences in the “additional comments” box before check out)

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Il Giardino di Felicin
by Michele Scicolone

Michele Scicolone is a leading authority on Italian cuisine and is the author of countless Italian cookbooks, including 1,000 Italian Recipes and Pizza Any Way You Slice It, co-authored by our Wine Director Emeritus Charles Scicolone, Michele’s husband (click book titles to purchase).

Nestled in the lush rolling hills of the Langhe, Monforte d’Alba is a small town in the Piemonte region in northwestern Italy. The Langhe is an area known for Barolo and Barbaresco, outstanding natural beauty, exquisite white truffles, handmade cheeses that never go beyond its borders, fine restaurants, friendly people, and charming places to stay. One place in Monforte embodies all of those characteristics: Il Giardino di Felicin, an inn and restaurant founded in 1927 by Felicin Rocca.

Charles and I first stayed at the inn in the early 1980s when Felicin’s son Giorgio had taken on the dual role of chef and host. Tall and handsome in his chef’s whites and proud of his region’s charms, Giorgio put himself in charge of our stay, as he liked to do with most guests who were typically wine tourists from France, Switzerland, and Germany. Giorgio’s ability to speak French, English, and German in addition to Italian and the French-inflected Piemontese dialect was a real boon to travelers in an area that at that time rarely saw tourists.

Giorgio offered suggestions on which wineries we should visit and made all of the arrangements, plus our lunch reservations at the area’s restaurants. Since he pretty much knew our daily itinerary, Giorgio would debrief us in the evening over an aperitivo about where we had been, who we had seen, and what we had to eat and drink. He would sit with us and personally plan our dinners based on what we had eaten earlier and what we were in the mood for.

And since Giorgio is one of Piemonte’s finest chefs, what meals they were! A typical starter was fonduta, a golden puddle of melted Fontina Valle d’Aosta, a cow’s milk cheese, enriched with egg yolks and topped with a flurry of fresh white truffles. Next we had tajarin, the Piemontese version of tagliarini, made with many egg yolks and served with wild mushrooms or even more truffles, or perhaps Giorgio’s special ravioli del plin, ravioli with a pinched shape, stuffed with swiss chard, nuts, and cheese and served in buttery walnut sauce. For dessert, I never failed to order Giorgio’s panna cotta. The finest I have ever eaten, the barely gelled cream, topped with caramel or chocolate sauce, was so tender that it quivered and practically dissolved at the touch of a spoon.

Giorgio made a point of seating guests who spoke the same language in close proximity so it was easy to meet and strike up friendships. We all marveled at how he made everyone feel not like paying guests, but like visitors to his home. On Mondays, when the restaurant was officially closed, he prepared a meal for his extended family and anyone staying at the hotel. We joined the family at a big table and ate whatever he had prepared that night. Afterward, we piled into cars and drove to a local gelateria where Giorgio said they made the best gianduja, or hazelnut and chocolate gelato, and introduced us to several of the region’s top Barolo producers who were playing a friendly game of cards at a nearby table.

Giorgio is semi-retired now, though he is often at the restaurant. His son Nino is the current chef, executing his family’s time honored recipes with precision and style. Nino is just as gracious and multilingual as his father, and with the help of his wife Silvia, he proudly upholds the Rocca family tradition. The hotel has been expanded and modernized and the familiar dining rooms seem more polished and elegant while retaining their country charm.

What has not changed is the lush garden that Nino’s grandfather Felicin once tended, the spectacular views of the Langhe valley from the summer dining terrace, or the Rocca Family’s tradition of great wine, fine dining and warm hospitality Piedmont-style.

A typical main course in Piemonte is Brasato al Barolo, beef braised in hearty Barolo wine. Charles suggests you serve it with the Barolo Rocche 2001 Monchiero.

Brasato al Barolo

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 boneless beef bottom round rump roast (about 3-1/2 pounds)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups barolo or other hearty red wine
2 large peeled, seeded and chopped fresh tomatoes or 2 cups canned tomatoes
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 cup beef broth
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of ground cinnamon

1. In a large Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the beef and brown it well on all sides, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the meat to a plate.
2. Spoon off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat. Add the onion to the pot and cook stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 5 minutes more. Add the wine and bring it to a simmer.
3. Add the tomatoes, carrots, broth, cloves, and cinnamon and bring the liquid to a boil. Return the meat to the pot. Lower the heat so that liquid is just simmering. Cover and cook 2-1/2 to 3 hours or until the meat is tender when pierced with a fork.
4. Transfer the meat to a platter. Cover and keep warm. If the liquid in the pot is too thin, raise the heat and boil until slightly reduced. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. Slice the beef and serve it hot with the sauce.

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