Stepping foot into the boot

I am beginning to develop a healthy obsession about Italy. It’s not just wine either, recently I purchased a new mixer and made fresh pasta and my first homemade pizza is in the oven as we speak! I think that Italy encompasses the importance of rich flavors and perfect spices the scream out in their food and wine. Recently, we have been dining at a few Italian restaurants as well, and seeing the variety of food and wine is one of the beautiful things as you move up and down the long skinny country. I love the food more than anything though, I make some mean pasta sauce, and I will go to an Italian restaurant over just about any other when given the choice. My wife’s family is originally from Italy, and her grandma makes some of the tastiest pasta’s and dishes that I have ever tried. What is particularly pleasing is that everyone has their own family recipe, that when I go to her house, I can taste something that I have never tasted before and won’t find anywhere else.

The more Italian restaurants that I go to, the more Italian wine I drink. That being said, the more Italian wine lists I see, the more confused I get about the wine structure of the country. It seems like everyone has their own wine, there are just too many regions, and you could drink a bottle a day for a year and not taste every varietal they have to offer. To be honest, I don’t even know how to break the surface of all the DOC’s and DOCG’s. At least with France, I have heard of most of the regions. I have an idea of where I want to go and (hopefully) I can get the name of the grape and know a bit of what to expect. With Italy, all of the noble grapes have different names, and then there is the multitude of varietals that only exist in Italy, in one state in Italy, or grow solely in one particular town in Italy. So I ask the waiter of course, and I hope that they know what they are talking about, because a list of Cannonau de Sardegna, Cannanau di Badde Nigolosu, and Cannonau Malvasia Nera all look the same to me!

I believe that I am more drawn to Italian wine than Californian or French wine. I am determined to really learn Italian wine, to tackle all of the regions and decipher the naming code. I am not going to drink a bottle a day (don’t worry mom), or even a bottle a week, I have more that I need to focus on, but I am going to make the effort to read and taste whenever possible. I love being drawn to Italy, it’s something mysterious about a country that I visited when I was younger and didn’t know about wine. Now, I am revisiting it, learning about the climate and geography, finding out the history and the changing taste of the country. So far, I have tried to taste some of the varietals, the major ones at least, Sangiovese, Barbera, Nebiollo, and a few whites as well. Two wines that have really stood out to me are the Lachryma grape, a super floral, almost soapy grape that is only grown in one small DOC. A white that I tried for the first time was a Torbata d’Alghero, a Sauv Blancish wine that was just perfect with baked fish.

I will keep my daily reader(s) up to date on my Italian wine exploration and hopefully by the time I take the WSET or the SWE test I will understand a bit of this country’s beautiful wine.

Wine of the week- 2005 Provenance Oakville Cab Sauvignon ($65)- Yah I know it’s a bit expensive, and picking a Cab from the Napa Valley could be considered a bit of an easy option, but damn was this wine is good. I just finished the bottle, two days after I opened it and it has continued to grow and blossom into what may be the nicest Cab I have ever tried. It started out a bit tight, with a bit of spice and mocha biancha on the nose, and blueberry and black fruit on the palate. Now that a bit of time has allowed it to open, I am getting tons of fruit, and a bit of bell pepper which is normal in a cab. This beautiful deep purple colored wine has a long lasting flavor and an intense nose. I would pair it with any strong Italian dish (see above). If you feel like blowing a bit of money on a can’t lose bottle, go for a Napa Cab like this one.