Garantito IGP: Forastera 2011 Ischia doc Pietratorcia

This time Luciano Pignataro takes the stand

One can tell from the very word, Forastera. Grapes that come from elsewhere (fuori, in Italian), i.e. forestiera. Certainly, of one were to take a broader, say American viewpoint, it would be difficult to say grapes that have been grown on terraces held up by paramine, dry masonry walls made from green volcanic rock, for more than 150 years are foreign, but Europeans are conservative. This white was introduced because, history repeats itself, it was considered superior to the delicate Biancolella that has always been grown on Ischia, Capri, and part of the Amalfi coast.

The current obsession for single-varietal wines led to its rediscovery, not as a partner, but as a soloist. The discovery was made by Casa D'Ambra a few years ago, and now Pietratorcia, the beautiful winery surrounded by olive trees, prickly pears, and Mediterranean scrub forest founded in 1966 by the Iacono, Verde e Regine families, has joined them.

Every time I visit these vineyards, surrounded by sea and sky, I feel as if I'm in an as-of-yet unexcavated archaeological site: columns, statues and pot shards stick up from the soil; the culture of the farmland that for centuries slaked Naples's thirst is very evident. There were 3,000 hectares of vineyards in 1900, and now less than 400.
Forastera interprets the Campania Style that almost all the winemakers have by now adopted: Freshness up front, savory, no sweetness. They complement the foods, the flavors, and the volcanic lands or the area that are in perpetual ferment, making the island and the nearby Campi Flegrei the perfect setting for disaster films that couldn't do a better job of bringing together day-to-day life and Hephaestus 's brutal power.
Pietratorcia's history is that of the recovery from a shadowy subculture of illegal construction and easy earnings from tourism that sapped people's will to cultivate the land, and drove them away from toil, the southern term for work. They could have fermented other people's grapes, but they decided to start from the ground up, replanting grapes at Chignole and Cuotto, while Gino studied winemaking at San Michele all'Adige.

Now the winery's primary wines are two blends, Tenuta Chignole (biancolella, forastera and fiano) and Tenuta Cuotto (biancolella, forastera e greco), in which the two foreign grapes of Irpinian origin confer, in the former, aromas, and in the latter acidity. Then there are the two single-varietal wines, Biancolella and Forastera. I decided to speak of the latter here because I want this varietal, unknown outside Campania, to enjoy the Garantito IGP limelight because it embodies biodiversity, essentiality, and elegance, and also has an extraordinary quality/price ratio.

A white wine of conviviality, to pair with the simple seafood cooking of the island, raw fish and fish carpaccio marinated in lemon juice, or pasta with legumes, especially peas and chick peas.

The winery is on the Via Provinciale Panza, 267
Tel.081.908206
www.pietratorcia.it
12 hectares.
Winemaker: Gino Iacono. 
Production: 180.000 bottles
Varietals: biancolella, forastera and fiano


Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: Coda Di Volpe, Discovering the Low-Cost Irpinian white in 8 interpretations

This time Luciano Pignataro takes the stand.

When we open a bottle we are not always looking for the Wine of Our Lives. I'd say, to the contrary, that 99% of the time we're opening only what we need, to enjoy with friends or with food. Without thinking overmuch.

Italy's genetic reservoir is infinite, and its study is supported by a paucity of funds and therefore incomplete, but there isn't one region that lacks a hidden ace ready to be played when everything seems to have been seen, read, and drunk.

In Campania one such ace is Coda di Volpe, a white grape widespread in Irpinia, which it likely reached from Vesuvius, on the way to the Sannio area. It's a grape that was always present in farmers' vineyards, used to balance the excessive acidity of Falanghina on Vesuvius, and Fiano and Greco di Tufo in the Irpinia area. Then the decision of two wineries, and we'll never know which thought of it first, to vinify it on its own, after harvesting it early, before San Gerardo, to capture the proper degree of freshness.

Professor Antonio Troisi, at Vadiaperti near Montefredane and Mimmi Oconoe at Ponte, near Beneveto, pioneered this white at the beginning of the 1980s. A wine that was then launched in the 1990s, with the sleek Renano-style bottles of the Cantina del Taburno. For reasons I cannot fathom Falanghina, in the same bottles, took off and became an acclaimed star.

Coda di Volpe instead mosied along, with few believing in it, perhaps because the market wasn't ready for it.

And this is why it's always a good sign if it's kept on a company's product list: it indicates a love for the land, and the existence of a faithful clientele. At the last Fiera Enologica di Taurasi we tasted almost al the Irpinian Coda Di Volpe, and I will now give you a quick rundown.

Cantina Giardino Paski Campania IGT 2010 | Score 85/100
This is an extreme version of a natural wine, long maceration on the skins, no filtration. A textbook example, which brings to mind the old farers' whites beginning with its color, while its freshness may be somewhat penalized. On the other hand, on the palate it's long and savory.

Di Meo Coda di Volpe Campania IGT 2011 | Score 86/100
From the beginning Roberto di Meo has lavished attention on Coda di Volpe, using grapes from Salza Irpina, Montemarano and Manocalzati that are grown at altitudes between 500 and 550 meters. Fermentation in steel; it's very pleasant on the palate, subtle, fresh, dry and zesty. The nose is more standard, and less interesting.

Di Prisco Coda di Volpe DOC 2011 | Score 87/100
Pasqualino Di Prisco's whites are always a pleasant surprise: they're worthy of attention and patience. Even his Coda di Volpe needs a little time. Good fruit on the nose and palate, savoriness, and nice body.

Donnachiara Coda di Volpe Irpinia DOC 2011 | Score 85/100
The first vintage for this winery from Montefalcone, whose attentions, in its initial phases, have been dedicated primarily to whites. Their Coda di Volpe, fermented in steel, has nice tension on the palate, with dryness and freshness, but on the nose has a useless excess of sweet fruit that initially distracts. Bitter clean finish.

Perillo Coda di Volpe Irpinia DOC 2010 | Score 87/100
An example of adherence to the land: A producer of Taurasi and Aglianico who makes just this white without buying Fiano or Greco di Tufo grapes as so many other small winemakers do, to meet the requests of ignorant, facile wine shop and restaurant owners. And what a white: Made simply in steel, but with patience for the release, which is at least a year after the harvest. The sweetness on the nose reflects ripe white berry fruit, flowing into gunflint, and on the palate it's full, ripe, pleasant, long, effective, and perfect with food thanks to the vibrant acidity that supports it from beginning to end, A savory, bitter, thirst-quenching sip.

Tenute del Cavalier Pepe Bianco di Bellona Coda di Volpe Irpinia DOC 2011 | Score 86/100
No winery more than this, managed by Milena Pepe, daughter of emigrants who invested in their home town, buying land and building cellars, believes more in Coda di Volpe, a white so territorial that they planted it without hesitation. The way they manage their grapes is evident in the glass; despite simple fermentation in steel it expresses ripe white fruit, freshness, and savoriness. Long and enjoyable.

Terredora Coda di Volpe Campania IGT 2011 | Score 85/100
Terradora is the only large Irpinian winery to make pure Coda Di Rospo. After a few uncertain vintages, the leap in quality of their other whites has also benefited this wine they consider lesser, with a delicate nose, moderate concentration, and simple freshness that's easy to drink, in a light pleasant interpretation

Vadiaperti Coda di Rospo Irpinia DOC 2011 | Score 88/100
The hand unused to half-measures is evident here too: An absolutely savory white, mineral, vertical, of terrific impact, which captures the attention of the person drinking it and takes center stage. Extremely long, with a clean bitter finish, a bottle that heads for the podium in blind tastings.

Does this tasting show some common trends? We think so:

1 - These are low-cost whites, never more than 10 euros in a wine shop
2 - They are fermented in steel
3 - They generally have simple, rather rustic noses, which are not that interesting
4 - On the plate, however, the markers characteristic of Campania are quite evident: freshness, savoriness, and the total absence of sweetness.
5 - Coda di Volpe is perfect with all manner of fish and vegetarian dishes made without tomatoes,

Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: Montevetrano 2010 Colli di Salerno IGT

This time Luciano Pignataro takes the stand:

Silvia Imparato's Adventure began precisely 20 years ago, on a hill near Salerno, at the feet of the Piacentini, the mountains of the Massiccio del Terminio that sit astride the Province of Avellino: She began to make wine with her Roman friends in the old family home out in the country.

It seem like, and is, a standard 1990s story, but with one important difference: It wasn't concocted by a marketing agency.

Because this adventure started in an area that was at the time unknown in terms of wine. The first Vini D'Italia Guide published in 1988 mentioned just 7 wineries. Now a guide worth its salt lists at least 90.

There were Mastroberardino's wines, especially the whites that were released by Christmas to be drunk on New Year's Eve. And the whites of Ischia, the reds from Moio, and Mondragone, and a tremendous volume of bulk wine made by the cooperatives and the wineries in the outskirts of Naples.

Montevetrano played a precise role, which is obvious today but was revolutionary in 1994: that in the South, and in Campania, it was possible to make noteworthy wines capable of holding their on in the world markets.

At the time the lethargy Campanian wine had fallen into before the war came to an end, with a reawakening of enthusiasm, success, and development. Much as was happening in other parts of Italy, but here the reawakening affected an area with great indigenous wines that was beset by all manner of problems.

As always happens, those who lead are contested. And so it was here, especially with the rise of Wine Criticism 2.0, which shifted its attention to other wineries, in part as a response to the "official" wine press that published on paper, and in part because everyone wanted to discover something new.

Over the years Silvia Imparato has produced great bottles that hold indefinitely, ignoring fashion and trend with classy assurance. In these 20 years the world has changed completely, while Montevetrano has become a classic.

A classic built upon real farming, organic farming that plays out the lives that go into the wine. A history that transcends the boring barriques/no barriques and indigenous/international arguments, because it was born the only tradition in the Salento was jugs of bulk wine made with every varietal one could name, including Piemontese Barbera. Now the traits identifying Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Aglianico are easy to recognize.

On this rich hillside was old the tale of a viticulture that was able to turn the tables on stereotypes and establish country life as an improvement with respect to life in the cities.

The 2010 is Good, and will be there to celebrate Montevetrano's 40th anniversary alongside the still extraordinarily fresh 1992.


Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: Byodynamic Primitivo di Manduria -- Lisa Gilbee and the Defence of the Alberello Style

This time Luciano takes the stand:

Lisa Gilbee and Gaetano Morella came to biodynamics though love. First of all that that grew between a young Australian winemaker who came to Italy for a stage, and later for their children, who were enrolled in the Sternian school of Manduria, the only one of its kind in the South. Thus, from the need to raise their children well came the desire to leave the lands they bought in Manduria better than they found them.

To begin at the beginning, in conventional agriculture grass between the vines is the first sign of abandonment. In biodynamic agriculture it instead indicates healthy soils.

Gaetano has me get into his car and we slowly leave the cement of Manduria to enter, as if in a dream, in vineyards, them Mediterranean scrub forest, and finally among the Alberello, or bush-pruned vines that yield 20-25 quintals per hectare , except in 2011, when yields dipped below 20 for the first time.

Lisa and Gaetano settled upon bush pruning because it is only by concentrating on the biodiversity present in the vineyards that one can think of the future in the currant, ever smaller global wine market. The relationship between bush and espalier pruning is the same as that between stone and cement houses. In other words, since the 60s cement has become popular because it's more practical, less expensive, and often dominated by organized crime, and therefore has devastated the hearts of a great many historic cities and towns. In like manner, the Alberello system is being fought by the authorities, who finance those who rip it out and replant to the spalleira system.

It is obvious that the selection of the pruning system shouldn't be dictated by ideology, but just as obvious that it shouldn't be legislated. Rather, it should be dictated by the land, climate and wine that one wants to make.

Now, with their more than 14 hectares, which are almost all together in a single block, they have the largest vineyard area in Manduria. And to return to our architectural simile, their situation is that of a stone house surrounded by cement buildings in a city.

Gaetano, son and grandson of farmers, says that their goal is to return to the craft practiced by his grandfather, following the foray into chemistry of his father's generation. Organic and conventional are not that different in terms of mindset, because they both expect the plants to feed themselves regardless. Byodynamics instead give the vines the opportunity to do so, but don't force it.

From their land in rural Manduria Lisa and gaetano make Primitivo Old Vines, a wine of considerable energy that is quite long lived, evolving with time.

In 2008 it was declared a Slow Wine. We enjoyed the 2009, which was still aging in bottle, as its release is scheduled for this July.

Oak and fruit are well integrated, the nose is rich with heady ripe fruit, hints of Mediterranenan scrub forest, and carob. On the palate it displays terrific energy, freshness, and length; it's concentrated but not heavy, sweet but not cloying, and has a long pleasantly dry finish that makes it easily pairable with foods.

Lisa and Gaetano's new project, given how packed they are in their garage sized cellar, is to build something new in the heart of the vineyards, to give their Primitivo an even better opportunity to express itself in a manner that's not forced, but rather natural, direct, immediate, and clear.

Another story of the South, where the vineyards make the best of its drawbacks: stubbornness and individuality.


Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: Pian di Stio 2011, the Fiano from Cilento Certified by Water Buffalo

This time Luciano takes the stand:

Grapes: Fiano
Price: 5 to 10 for a half-liter bottle
Fermented and aged in steel

Visual: 5/5. Nose: 22/30. Palate: 24/30. True to Type: 30/35

The southermost Fiano produced in Campania is from the town of Stio, at an altitude of 450 meters in the heart of the Parco Nazionale del Cilento, and is organic.

It is from this land, which in addition to the vineyard has woods, potatoes and beans, fruit, and olives, that Peppino Pagano's adventure began: He was a successful hostler with the good fortune to have a son who was able to take over, giving him the opportunity to do what he likes: ecocompatible agriculture and raising water buffalo.

The cellars are near a terraced vineyard from which one can also see Capri, and there are stalls and manure production nearby. A way of life with which to begin anew.

This is a little-known part of the South, a beautiful part along side the temples. I admit to being partial, because I am from the Cilento, when the wine suspends time.

This white is upright, savory, essential, and austere -- not padded with fruit as is often the case with the Fiano from Irpinia. The umpteenth demonstration of the potential of one of the most important Italian white varietals.

We drink it with pasta with peas, in an odd half bottle format, and enjoy it, including it forthwitch among the treasures of Garantito IGP.



Offices at Giungano (Sa). Cellars at Stio Cilento, Contrada Zerrilli. Tel. 0828.1990900. www.sansalvatore1988.it. Consulting winemaker: Riccardo Cotarella
16,50 hectares of vineyards, planted to fiano, falanghina, and aglianico. 70,000 bottles produced.

Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: Serra della Contessa 1999 Etna Rosso DOC

This time Luciano Pignataro takes the stand:

The Blend: Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio
Price: 25-30 Euros in wine shops
Fermentation and aging: In wood

There are wines one drinks for work, and others that give reason to the work. In the latter one seeks personality, though they shouldn't be eccentric, they should be true-to-type but not hide-bound, and clean but recognizable on nose and palate. And they must put the face and voice of those who made them into the glass, voyaging through space and time, and allowing one to find them.

Benanti is lucky to work in Sicily, but Sicily is just as lucky to have him. For what would Sicilian chocolate have been in the 1990s without this bitter, fine, faded, elegant, extraordinary corrective given by the puffs of Mount Etna?

The Greek individualism that provides the anthropologic foundation of most Italians leads to insurmountable problems in the organization of daily life, but also provides unsurpassable peaks in the Arts and in Beauty.

Like drinking Serra della Contessa 1999, freshness with fumè accents and echoes of wild cherries, savory, not the slightest sweetness, so far from the good volcano, from the Trout the Serva Brothers, who have already been noted by the Giovani IGP for their new dish, caramelized eel with honey, catch in the springs of Santa Susanna in Rivodutri.

Then you take a sip, and another. And you finish it. Thanks also to its freshness, which has always been the key to wine. The vintage is superb, bringing out the best in whites and reds from the Val D'Aosta to Etna. And what a wine.

From which I awaken in this body, after a long, long journey

Luciano Pignataro

Viagrande (CT) - Via Garibaldi, 475 - Tel. 095/7893438 - Fax 095/7893677 - benanti [at] vinicolabenanti.it - www.vinicolabenanti.it - Bottles produced: 165.000 - Hectares under vine: 55 - Varietals: Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Nero d'Avola.

Garantito IGP: Naples's Red, Contrada Salandra's 2008 Piedirosso

This time Luciano Pignataro takes the stand:




In the eyes of women their beauty endures with the passage of time, and in wine the agricultural greatness of the Campi Flegrei. The area north of Naples with its hundred craters, the heart of the Campania Felix with the Port of Pozzuoli, the major landing point of the Tyrrhenian, with the villas and farms between Vesuvius and Falerno in the days of Ancient Rome.

Now, after 40 years of systematic, methodical assaults on the land, we still have the ruined beauty of Rione Terra, incredible ruins preserved between sea, lava, tuffs, and the arches of the aqueduct under which stream thousands of cars per day. Here there are still traces of ancient agriculture, that which slaked the thirst of Naples in the 1800s and some of the 1900s with Falanghina and Piedirosso, and the Phlegraean cellars are a sort of museum one can visit to refresh one's eyes and palate.

The Piedirosso produced by Giuseppe Fortunato, a cellar that enjoys Slow status for the reasons I've just noted, is both an ancient and a modern wine. Subtle, juicy, with extraordinary cherry and geranium aromas on the nose, capable of holding over time, maturing and finding the proper equilibrium, the structure supported by good acidity, savoriness, sweetness of fruit and bitterness of the minerality from the land that paly on the palate like the sand and the water of the swash zone of the beach, now one, now the other, conferring depth and complexity to a wine that is simply laid out.

Ancient in its history, and modern in its subtle tannins, drinkability, digestibility, finesse, and elegance.

A wine with two secrets: Time and the meticulous, precise work in the vineyard, which is exclusively organic. And then, one really can say, fruit does all. And then the third secret: the balanced relationship between Peppino Fortunato, winemaker by choice, and Antonio Pesce, consulting enologist by family tradition. A wine for food, and also to be at peace with oneself.

Sede a Pozzuoli. Via Tre Piccioni, 40 - Tel. 081.8541651 and 081.5265259 (Fax too) www.dolciqualita.com, Consulting Enologist: Antonio Pesce. Bottles produced: 15.000 Vineyard Area: 4.5 hectares, 2,5 proprietary and 2 rented. Varietals: Falanghina and Piedirosso.


Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: Ristorante Vinarium Il Megaron

This time Luciano takes the stand.

The Taurasi area doesn't have much in the way of gastronomic options, though something is finally starting to happen. You have to go to Nusco, to Antonio Pisaniello's Locanda di Bu, the Pignata in Ariano irpino, or the Fischetti Brothers' Oasis in Vallesaccarda Ten minutes from here you will find this restaurant, run by Lina Martone, who handles the kitchen, and her husband Giovanni in the hall: a surprise in the heart of the Appellation that will leave you happy and satisfied, because the hand at the burners is authentic, culturally sound but not overly cerebral, and innovative without excessive virtuosity, and for the GM Free and organic Pasdaran, a club we of course belong to, almost everything served at table is made there, from the flour used to bake the bread, to the oil, to the fruit, and to the vegetables.

Her father opened the restaurant in the 80s, and to get an idea of how much things have changed one need only glance at the name, Megaron, aimed primarily at receptions, and is now perfectly in keeping with the size of modern outfits born for banqueting. In 2000 Lina Martone reopened it with her husband Giovanni: about 40 seats, a nice hall in which to enjoy an aperitif or a coffee, a good wine list, and great attention to detail.

One generally starts off with a beignet (chestnut or pomegranate glazed with nettles) and its interplay of hot and cold. Expressions of Irpinian garden cuisine, classic self-consuming agriculture.

To follow a good Irpinian zuppa, and fried baccalà with creamed chickpeas. In the past we have also sampled the Neapolitan-influenced bell pepper crostata on a bed of sun-dried tomato cream, and an excellent Savoy Cabbage cream.

Among the first courses, the home-made fusilli with broccoli from Paternopoli and home-made cotechino. Libidenous.

Finally, a small selection od cheeses followed by a great variety of desserts. Home-made Crostata, chiacchere, and millefoglie swith cream stuffing are but there of the possible choices.

The wine list varies with the seasons. Expect to spend about 35 Euros to dine.

Via Neviera, 11
Tel. / Fax 0827.71588
Closed Mondays.
Closed for Vacation During Part Of September
www.ilmegaron.it


Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: The Whites of the Costiera Amalfitana

This time Luciano Pignataro Takes the Stand.



There is the Costiera whose feet soak in Ulysses's Sea, and the Costiera whose head is in the mists wrapped around the pepella, ginestra, San Nicola, ripoli, binacazita, tintore, piedirosso, and sciasinoso vines. This extraordinarily vertical land, with the port of Amalfi below, and the highest bastions of the Repubblica overlooking the Chiunzi Pass above, is a tiny enological gem.

It seems just yesterday that the touristy restaurants served wine in ceramic pitchers, while the elegant restaurants just had French wines. In those days they fermented grapes from all over the south to make easy watery wines unable to express the character of an area like none other in the world, a place where nature and humanity come together with unequaled balance, to the point that it's impossible to tell which influenced which: the houses nestled among the rocks and the bell towers that rise up, or Nature, who brings together rock, earth, water and sky in the space of a few yards?

Polvica di Tramonti

With the establishment of the Costa D'Amalfi DOC, and its three subzones, Furore, Ravello, and Tramonti, the situation suddenly changed. For the better. In 1983 Marisa Cuomo led the way with the help of Luigi Moio, and suddenly great wines of the sort that linger in memory were possible. Then came the rush from Tremonti, with Fortunato Sebastiano from Gigino Reale in 2002, and Gerardo Vernazzaro from Monte di Grazia in 2004, Prisco Apicella from the Prisco Apicella winery -- the first in the region to bottle -- established by the Prisco Apicella family in 1977, and Carmine Valentino at the Fattoria San Francesco in 2004. Nor is this all; in the past few years there have been developments in Vietri, the extreme southern end of the Costiera, where Vigne di Raito (formerly Fortunato) and 'O Cammariello are followed by Mario Mazzitelli. And though the traditional parterre of Ravello has seen the closing of Episcopio, Ettore Sammarco, scraped his winery from the rocks along the climb from Amalfi to Ravello in 1965, has gained new vigor with son Bartolo's entry into the cellars.

Small estates, small numbers, but steadily increasing quality, which ever more frequently crosses the boundary into exciting. To the point that we can perhaps say that it is this wine making region, more than others, that can look Irpinia in the eyes, thanks to its marked acidity, minerality, and ability to improve and dominate with time. Of the 90 hectares registered in the Albo della DOC, 39 are white. However, only 29 are effectively producing, on average 100 quintals per hectare: this comes to 1641 quintals of grapes, 1418 hectoliters, or a little more than 190,000 bottles. A drop in the Campanian sea, but a unique and precious drop.

We tasted through them in the occasion of the presentation of the new Colatura di Alici di Cetara and noted, once again, that the adage that Campanian wines should not be opened earlier than a year from the harvest date to give the bottle time to work its magic is true.

Apicella, Tramonti

Giuseppe Apicella Tramonti Bianco 2010 Costa d'Amalfi DOC |86
(Falanghina-Biancolella). 18,000 bottles

A territorial blend in which Falanghina provides structure and freshness, while Biancolella gives aromas and freshness. An excellent, typical sample, and unbeatable with the classic dishes of the Costiera Amalfitana. Still floral, with citris accents, on the palate a slightly soft attack becomes tonic and dynamic, leading into a clean dry finish. A fist of steel in a velvet glove.

Santa Marina 2010 Tramonti bianco doc |85 (Falanghina, Biancolella, Pepella, Ginestra). 4,000 bottles

Slightly overripe fruit, and a brief time in oak: they are seeking complexity in this local varietal blend, which in this vintage is already balanced and fairly soft. To drink now, because it's ahead with respect to the base wine.

Ettore Sammarco, Ravello Selvapiana

2010 Ravello Bianco Costa d'Amalfi doc |85
(Biancolella-Falanghina) 15,000 bottles

This base wine, with which the winery changed gears a few years ago, always has good fresh fruit. On the nose pears and lemons, and a dry attack that doesn't try to ingratiate. On the palate the acidity is still doing its own thing, but the wine will certainly have a lot to say in the next 2-3 years.

Fattoria San Francesco, Tramonti Gaetano Bove and a century-old vine (FotoPigna)

Tramonti Bianco 2010 Costa d'Amalfi doc |87
(Falanghina-Biancolella, Pepella), 18,000 bottles

Perhaps the freshest wine of all, with power beginning on the nose, where citric and white fruit prevail. On the palate it's decisive, with no sweetness to soften it; acidity runs the show through the finish, which is very persistent and enjoyable. It will also work with richer dishes.

PerEva Tramonti Bianco 2009 Costa d'Amalfi doc |88
(Falanghina-Pepella- Ginestra), 5,000 bottles
A selection of the best grapes, and a slight delay in its release, as long as they can ignore market pressures. Great raw materials, speed, and body. The nose is still citric, with mineral, broom (the shrub), and thyme. An impressive progression from mid- palate to a dry, savory persistent finish.

Marisa Cuomo, Furore

Marisa Cuomo Furore bianco 2010 Costa d'Amalfi doc |87
(Falanghina-Biancazita), 23,500 bottles

The grapes are those from the spectacular terraces of Furore, and the wine presents with considerable acidic verve from the outset, with on the nose nice floral accents, fruit, and vegetal echoes. On the palate fresh, long, and full bodied. At present nicely balanced.

Ravello bianco 2010 Costa d'Amalfi doc |86
(Falanghina-Biancolella, San Nicola), 13,500 bottles

The blend from Ravello is always softer than Furore, with well integrated acidity from the outset, with aromas of broom shrubs, tangerine skins, sage. On the palate it's thinner, but with a persistent and very pleasant finish.

Fiorduva 2009 Costa d'Amalfi Furore doc |88
(Ripoli-Fenile-Ginestra), 17,800 bottles

The wine that led the general public to discover the wineries and terroir. The time spent in barriques clearly matched the type popular in the 90s. Now wood accents may seem out of fashion, but if one is blessed with the patience to wait a few years this is an interesting wine in the style typical of Luigi Moio. The 2009 promises well thanks to lively acidity, considerable structure and tropical fruit on the nose.

Monte di Grazia, Tramonti

Alfonso Arpino Monte di Grazia bianco 2010 Campania igt | 86
(Pepella, Ginestra-Biancazita). 2,000 bottles

The least controlled of all the whites revolves around savory freshness. The nose brings up citrus, thyme and slight fumé. On the palate fresh, long, full, and quite interesting, a wine that will age beautifully in the coming years.

Reale, Tramonti

Gaetano and Gigino Reale Aliseo 2010 Tramonti Costa d'Amalfi doc |86
(Biancolella-Biancazita-Pepella). 2,400 bottles

It was fairly obvious at the outset, but a year after the harvest it is fully mature, quite fresh, compact, and a nice long finish with no hints of weakness. A wine that, thanks to its considerable freshness, will also work well with substantial dishes.


Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito Igp - Barolo Vigna La Rosa Vertical: 2007-2004-1999-1996-1982 and 1967

This time Luciano takes the stand:



It's not often that one can combine the technical requirements of a tasting with drinking pleasure. Quite the contrary, it's ever rarer due to conflicting appointments, the press of time, and the anxieties of wanting to know. But it does occasionally happen. For example, if we find ourselves in a historic estate, Fontanafredda in Serralunga, enjoying a pleasant evening seated around a table with a dear friend, Monica Tavella, a dynamic winemaker such as Danilo Drocco, and a few Promising Youths, for example Carlo Macchi, Kyle Phillips, and Pasquale Porcelli.

There we were, after tasting the latest Mirafiore wines in Oscar Farinetti's avant-garde tasting room, in the dining room of the villa, enjoying a classic Piemontese meal: a cold chopped antipasto, a hot antipasto, agnoletti al plin with the sauce from a roast, meat, and dessert. And during the hours we enjoyed, we chatted of this and that, of icy harvests, of plans for the future, and as we sipped an unexpected Barolo vertical developed, leaving us with no choice but to accept Barolo's immortality.

You understand: We're at Fontanafredda, our base for the IGP in Langa Tastings. A hundred hectares of vineyards, planted in 1878 by King Vittorio Emanuele for his Bella Rosin, then property of the Monte dei Paschi Bank for 72 years, and since 2008 one of Oscar Farinetti's jewels.

We never tire of repeating it, This Is How Great Wines Should Be Tasted: Giving to them at least some of the time they gave us by enjoying them, with food, and if possible while talking with those who know them. It's a humanist tasting, one in which the notes taken, while indispensable, are only the key with which to gain access to the spirit in the glass, and, more importantly, to the spirit of the land and those who lived on it.

I always make this comparison: the aristocracies of Piemonte, Tuscany and the Veneto maintained solid ties to the land, investing and promoting innovations, whereas the Neapolitan aristocracy consumed their estates in the construction of palaces designed to rival those of the King. One of the reasons for the Neapolitan's defeat and ultimate collapse may be this differing approach to agriculture. Cavour and Ricasoli thought about wine, while Nicotera made pacts with the Mob to govern Naples after the fall of the Bourbons.

And this echoes down the paths of history, weighing upon the blameless generations that followed. More than to be or to have, the anthropological and psychological dichotomy is that which sets production and consumption in opposition.

2007 - We begin with a vintage I detest, because it brings me back to the concentrated fruity style of the 90s, which continues to do great damage in regions such as Calabria, Sicily and Puglia. It's not a deft vintage, even when a winemaker as good as Danilo does his best to maintain elegance, and succeeds in preserving freshness. The wine is perfect, and almost ready. Now, and that's the rub.

2004 - We step back three years; Monte Dei Paschi was still on the scene, though Danilo's hand was already on the wines. Our negative Kantian prejudice flips to positive when 4 replaces 7. A vintage that's always great and climbing, no matter the wine: From Barolo to Taurasi, passing through Gaglioppo, Amarone and Brunello. Intense, fresh, ample, dynamic, I'd almost say it's my favorite.

1999 - The vintage we all agree on: winemakers, enologists, wine lovers: a fullness of expression that began in the vineyard and ends in the glass. I won't talk to you about the wine's integrity after 12 years, because with Barolo it's what one expects. The nose still has considerable fruit and a nice spicy cast, while the attack on the palate is unhesitating, and perfectly balanced, with all the components at a very high level; the freshness is no longer distinct, but very long, and sustains it all. A long, intense, persistent finish that sends ripe cherry fruit up to the nose.

1996 - Here the audience is divides. Neither Carlo nor Pasquale find it exciting, whereas Kyle and I like it. Its strongpoint is certainly its acidity, which takes power in a leaner context, but the wine is on its toes and dynamic, without the least sign of failure; it opens with authority and closes cleanly. With respect to the 1999 and the 2004 it lacks complexity, and is thus considerably less seductive.

1982 - We're before the methanol scandal. A vintage justly considered great, and the quality of the wine emerges clearly. I mention integrity because I must, but know that in doing so I'll pass for a schoolboy: the nose is dominated by mature aromas, leather, ash, wood toast, but also wild and brandied cherries, hints of licorice, very pleasant rhubarb. Excellent acidity that is slightly separate from the wine, finesse, and delightful drinkability for and exciting, satisfying wine.

1967 - At this point Danilo, caught up in the moment, said the unexpected: "I want to taste the 1967 with you." Good, think I; when I was 10 I didn't drink, so here's an opportunity to make up for lost time. An excellent vintage according to the official Barolo vintage classification, and called "Convincing" by Giancarlo Montaldo in his summary la Langhian history for those drinking today. The wine is indeed perfectly fresh, no slippage after 44 years, nor sediments; the color is brilliant and lively, perhaps a little deeper than usual. The mature nose displays flashes of fruit; it's supported by alcohol, close to 14%, and by vibrant acidity. A drinkable Barolo, worlds apart from the styles in vogue in the 90s, and precisely because of this it displays an irresistible allure.

http://www.fontanafredda.it

Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Garantito IGP: Clavesana 2009 Dolcetto di Dogliani DOCG

An intraweekly post from Luciano Pignataro, who was very much impressed by the Clavesana area when we went to the Langhe to taste wines.


If you are are simple tourists, this week you can skip over this column. If you instead prefer to travel rather than just hurry though, take this Dolcetto and use it as a compass to discover a Low Cost Langa that is certainly older and more intriguing than what people generally think of at the mention of Langa.

Yes, because the wine routes can lead directly from the Barolo Boys who made amazing waves in the 1990s to a 5-Euro bottle produced by the cooperative winery in Clavesana, whose 350 members turn their attention to Dolcetto in the Langa hills.

The difference is quite simple: Around Alba nothing but vineyards, like the fields of grain between Lucania and the Murge, and here, at a 30-minute drive, oak forests, chestnuts, vegetable patches, quiet little towns just like ours in the South. The rural spirit of a land not yet overrun by junk TV.

Here one understands how important cooperative wineries are for guaranteeing income from agriculture, and the ties of the land with a grape varietal, Dolcetto, which 30 years ago was much more in demand than Nebbiolo. Then things changed, thanks to the increase in the importance of exports, coupled with a decrease in local consumption.

Dolcetto is not an Important Wine, rather it's fresh and floral, with nice structure, and perfect for the traditional dishes of the region, starting with the wonderful bell peppers of Carmagnola in anchovy sauce. Fermented only in steel, steel as bright as the steely determination of Anna Bracco, the Cantina's managing director, who gave us a tour one evening, winding beautifully up and down the misty hills as dusk came on. We prefer Dolcetto like this, it has no need of wood to make it enjoyable, just good food.

Drink it during chestnut season, and with pasta e fagioli, and with white meats: it will captivate you, and invite you to discover this corner of Italy, a solid hard-working corner far from the limelight and the travel guides.

If you're travelers and not tourists, of course.

Clavesana (Cn)
Frazione Madonna della Neve, 19
www.inclavesana.it
Tel.0173.790451



We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Alfonso Caputo's Spaghetti alla Nerano and the 2009 Greco di Tufo From Contrada Marotta

This time Lugiano Pignataro takes the stage:


And here we come to a recipe that's a symbol of a season of love, of the balance between richness and ostentation, a manifest of the joy of life that came after the War and the hard work the reconstruction entailed.

Perhaps no other dish can better capture that atmosphere than this pasta with Zucchine alla Nerano, a dish from the days before the arrival of the hulking Russian yachts, when people went from Li Galli to Punta Campanella slowly, in fishing boats. Or in the classic wooden boats from Riva.

One of the few traditional dishes whose age is known: It emerged from Maria Grazia's kitchen above the pilings in Marina del Cantone in 1951. A simple peasant dish, with cheese from the Monti Lettari, zucchini grown under the summer sun, Mediterranean basil, and... a secret.

What? Every cook has one, but you can be certain of this: No eggs! Can it be? Yes, thanks to a strange mix of tradition and needs of the pantry that leads to Alfonso's saying, "Eggs? You've got to be kidding!" And with him saying that one can be certain the dish is made without, and those who resort to eggs to bind the sauce don't know how to cook.

A recipe like this could not fail to be adopted by the great Marina del Cantone kitchen, whose roots dig deep into the vegetable patch that plunges into the sea, and the fish caught fresh nightly.

And this brings us to Alfonso Caputo's recipe, as prepared at the Taverna del Capitano, which is easy to reproduce at home

To serve 4

• 320 grams (a little more than 2/3 pound) spaghetti (I prefer vermicelli)
• 80 g (2/5 cup) unsalted butter
• 500 grams (a little more than a pound) zucchini
• 3 tablespoons mixed cheeses (this is the secret you'll have to work out; the perfect mix is a sort of liquer d'expedition for the dish, and people keep their formulas to themselves. Pprovolone del Monaco and Mozzarella fiordilatte d'Agerola play a part in the formula)
• Basil, salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Preparation

Each has his, but you can be certain of this: No eggs! Can it be? Yes, thanks to a strange mix of tradition and needs of the pantry that leads to "Eggs? You've got to be kidding!"

Thinly slice the zucchini crosswise, and sauté them in abundant olive (1/3 cup at least) oil until done; drain them well lest the dish come out oily.

Bring pasta water to a boil, salt it, and cook the pasta until it reaches the al dente stage.
Melt the butter in a saucepot and add the zucchini.

Add the pasta and the cheese mixture and mix gently until the pasta and sauce are uniformly mixed.

This recipe must be paired with a serious, well structured white that has some acidity to it.

The ideal would be Greco di Tufo, which isn't too complex on the nose, but works very well with demanding food pairings. In this case the Villa Rainano cru developed by Fortunato Sebastiano, the young winemaker of Contrada Marotta in Montefusco, from whom the wine also draws its name. 3000 bottles of a 2000 worthy of being framed, at a price of about 12 Euros. The Greco faces up to the dish, which only appears simple, but is in truth quite structured, thanks to the sweetness and richness of the abundant sauce. The wine sweeps the palate with a wave of freshness, setting the stage for another bite.

I eat to drink, and drink to eat. If I leave, who remains? And if I remain, who leaves?





Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi