[wine] Sausage, Peppers, Pasta at Chez Gregory

Town Talk was a hoot, as usual. The place was jumping. Thanks for being prompt. Warren and Ruth are preparing a meal of pasta with sausages and peppers. Wines of Italy, Tuscany and South. Thursday at 6:30. Limit is 8. Please coordinate dishes w/ the BG's. (Bixler-Gregorys). Best, Jim Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 07:19:40 -0800 (PST) From: warren gregory <gregory.warren(a)yahoo.com> To: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> Jim, it would be great to see and Louise you at our place on Thursday. What we ask is that the number be held to six (that's Ruth and I and six others). We'll and a side and they should RSVP to us either by phone (651-698-5337) or e-mail (gregory.warren(a)yahoo.com) We will encourage a dessert from one person and a relish tray from another so if anyone has a urge to take up one of those asssignments they are welcom. thank you Jim. --- "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> wrote: Bob Cheeses Lori Desert? Betsy Salad? Not claiming these are all Tuscan and South.: Italian Reds, Cause to Celebrate Wednesday, December 13, 2006; F02 In Italian cuisine, wine has no purpose without food, and a grand meal cannot exist without either. That wonderful attitude of la cucina Italiana explains why Italian wines are a splendid choice for almost all holiday dinners and celebrations, whether the cuisine happens to be Italian, American, even Asian. Although Italy makes many good white wines, for winter holiday meals its many moderately priced reds are the stars. The following are highly recommended. Prices are approximate. Marchesi de Frescobaldi Chianti Rufina Castello di Nipozzano Riserva 2003 ($21; Bacchus, 443-692-6020): With real authority and depth of flavor, this artfully sculpted Chianti offers a heady perfume of violets, cherry and vanilla, followed by tastes of complex red berries and blackberries. Frescobaldi's Nipozzano estate is in the heart of the prized Rufina zone, which produces structured, age-worthy reds of great refinement. Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino 2003/2004 ($24-$29; Paterno/Washington Wholesale, javier_baquero(a)charmer-sunbelt.com) This wine captures the delicate violet- and truffle-scented notes of a $50 Brunello di Montalcino, which is made in the same area from the same grape, the sangiovese grosso. Without the formidable tannins and structure of Brunello, this Rosso di Montalcino is succulent and ready to drink now. Luigi d'Alessandro 2001 Syrah Cortona Il Bosco ($49; NDC, 202-388-8235): Quite full-bodied, with an open bouquet of blackberry, truffle and pepper, this sublime syrah from Tuscany should be served with the most special holiday meals of red meat and game. Its inner core of exotic, ultra-ripe fruit is truly memorable. Leonardo Da Vinci 2003 Chianti Riserva ($22; NDC); Da Vinci 2005 Chianti ($11; NDC): Although most riservas are from the esteemed Chianti Classico zone, this 2003 from the humbler Chianti DOCG is terrific. The fruit is complex, subtle and mouth-filling, and the wine finishes with gentle, round tannins. The vibrant 2005 regular Chianti from the same producer is trattoria-styled, great with pasta, pizza or Tuscan grill. Argentiera 2004 Poggio Ai Ginepri ($19; Banville & Jones Wine Merchants/Washington Wholesale): This innovative blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah from the Bolgheri area of western Tuscany offers spicy red berry fruit highlighted by hints of toasty oak. Perfect with roast lamb and wintry dishes such as duck confit and cassoulet. Do you have a question for wine columnist Ben Giliberti? E-mail him atfood(a)washpost.com. WINE OF THE WEEK: Allegrini 2003 Palazzo della Torre Wednesday, December 13, 2006; F02 WINE OF THE WEEK Allegrini 2003 Palazzo della Torre ($19; Italy) Tastes Like a ripe bouquet of spring flowers, vanilla and baked fruit, followed on the palate by silky, red berry fruit with hints of raisins and plums. Grape Variety Blend of 70 percent corvina, 25 percent rondinella and 5 percent sangiovese. What's Special About It This is like a cross between an Amarone, a rich, concentrated Italian red; and a soft, highly quaffable Valpolicella. For meeting the variable needs of holiday entertaining, it's hard to imagine a more versatile choice. Serve With Treat it like an Amarone by pouring at normal serving temperature to accompany deeply flavored holiday roasts of beef, pork or lamb. Or, as with a Valpolicella, chill it for 20 minutes in the refrigerator and pair with light appetizers. How It's Made About two-thirds of the grapes are fermented immediately after harvest, just as with Valpolicella. The rest are put on racks to dry until the end of December and are then fermented ripasso (with some of the wine and the lees from the initial fermentation), as is an Amarone. After blending, the wine is aged for 15 months in barrels and then for an additional seven months in the bottle. The result is a wine with more extraction and power than Valpolicella, but without the higher alcohol content and strong tannins typical of Amarone. Winery Allegrini is one of the most important wineries in the Valpolicella region. Its winemaking style emphasizes the unique character of the indigenous grapes. On the Label The grapes for this wine come from a single vineyard, Palazzo della Torre. Such vineyard-designated wines, which denote exceptional quality, are relatively rare in Valpolicella. Geography Allegrini is based in a subregion of Valpolicella called Fumane di Valpolicella, just north of Verona in northeastern Italy. The Palazzo della Torre vineyard is situated 787 feet above sea level. Its chalky soil provides good drainage, and an eastern exposure allows the grapes to catch the warmth of the morning sun. Vintage Note While the unusually warm 2003 created problems in some parts of Italy, in Valpolicella the hot summer allowed the grapes to achieve excellent ripeness and above-average concentration. Where to Get It Allegrini wines are imported nationally by Winebow. For information on retail availability in the Washington area, call the Winebow Washington office, 202-835-3062. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WINES OF TUSCANY Chianti may well be synonymous with Tuscany, but there is far more diversity here than a visit to your average wine merchant would suggest. Recent years have witnessed considerable changes, with most articles on Tuscan wine commenting upon the shift of emphasis from quantity to quality, Above all, Tuscany produces red wine and, above all, this wine is made from the Sangiovese grape. The practice of adding white grapes to the Chianti blend has, thankfully, all but disappeared; the last twenty or so years has seen Sangiovese find a new partner - Cabernet Sauvignon - and when this marriage works, as it often does, the resultant wines are usually excellent and, occasionally, truly great. Brunello di Montalcino manages ably to retain the crown of `Italy's most expensive wine', although the likes of Tignanello and Sassicaia are not too far behind. Some other areas worthy of investigation are Morellino di Scansano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Rosso di Montepulciano, and wines of Lucca & Montecarlo. The white wines of Tuscany are far less important than the reds. Produced predominantly from the workaday Trebbiano grape, a notable exception is Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Good Sauvignon and Chardonnay is made, but the prices tend to be quite high. Vin Santo, the famous after-dinner wine, is also seeing a renewed commitment to quality. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WINES OF CHIANTI Chianti is without a doubt the most well known of all Italian wines. There may be only one denomination - Chianti D.O.C.G - but there are many different styles, ranging from light Beaujolais-style quaffing wines to structured, complex wines with enough backbone to reward aging and maturing. The predominant grape variety is Sangiovese, but the laws allow for an addition of between 10 and 15% of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. A Riserva wine is one that has been aged longer before being released; it should come from a good year and benefit from further aging, although it is not always the guarantee of quality that might reasonably be expected. Click here for a brief history of the wines of Chianti over the centuries. The vineyards of Chianti are scattered over much of central Tuscany; the Classico zone begins northwards of Siena and reaches most of the way to Florence. This zone generally produces the best wine. The other six zones are: Colli Aretini The hills around Arezzo produce a medium-bodied Chianti, soft and best drunk young. Colli Senesi From the hills to the south and west of Siena, this is the largest Chianti sub-zone. Chianti plays second fiddle to Brunello and Montepulciano. Colli Fiorentini All styles of Chianti, from light everyday stuff to some excellent Riservas. Montalbano From the hills west of Florence. The better grapes tend to go to make Carmignano. Rufina The smallest of the seven, this zone, to the north east of Florence, produces some of the most complex and long-lived wines in Chianti. Colline Pisane Pleasant, light wines from the hills around Pisa There are various theories as to the origin of the name Chianti. The most popular has it that the word derives from the Latin clangor, meaning the cry of a bird or a high pitched note from a trumpet, and that this alludes to the wild and uncultivated countryside of the area, fit for hunting rather than agriculture. Another far more mundane theory ascribes the name to an Etruscan family of the area, or perhaps a winegrower from the hills above Florence. What is more certain is that the name was well established by the early fifteenth century, although the wine known as Chianti in those days was almost certainly a white wine. As late as the 1960's there was still a Chianti bianco and even the DOC laws of 1967 allowed for 30% of white grapes in the red wine. By the early 1900's the wines of Chianti had become very popular - or at least the 'style' had, as a bottle labelled as Chianti may not have come from Chianti proper, if indeed it came from Tuscany at all. The year 1924 saw the formation of the Consorzio per la difesa del vino tipico del Chianti, a group taking as its symbol the black cockerel, the Gallo Nero still seen on all bottles today. The significance of this dates to a border dispute between Siena and Florence, a dispute that saw the border drawn at the point where a horseman from each city would meet on the road. They were both to set out at the cock-crow, as indeed they did, except that the Florentine cockerel had been starved, and woke to greet the day considerably earlier than its Sienese counterpart. The DOCG regulations of 1984 attempted to achieve what the DOC ones of 1967 failed to do in terms of quality and consistency, and there is no doubt that post DOCG Chianti is a much improved wine, however, many growers still found the rules too restrictive and archaic. This led to the rise of the so-called 'Super-Tuscans', wines made from the same grapes and the same vineyards as traditional Chianti, yet made in a way and using blends that 'flouted' regulations, and led them to be labelled as table-wines. This didn't bother the growers overmuch as these wines (then and now) command prices way beyond even the best Chianti Classico. Eventually, the regulations were altered to allow these wines back into the fold. Grape varieties that were outlawed are now permitted, and the requirement to effectively ruin a wine by forcing the inclusion of white grapes in the blend has lapsed. There is a re-assessment of Chianti under way; ever higher standards coupled with some wonderful vintages are allowing the very best wines to walk tall, and many recent tastings have commented on the wonderful ageing potential of top Chianti. The prestige that that the 'Super-Tuscans' afforded the Sangiovese grape is now allowing the focus to return to the making of good Chianti. A QUESTION OF STYLE Between tradition and renewal, the challenge for Tuscan wines is to exploit the distinctive marks of the territory. To .dare. with less international wines but always with bigger personalities. It is a difficult world, felicitous at times but with an uncertain future. Or so the lyrics of a song that was popular a few years ago would have it. The lyrics are even more appropriate today when applied to the situation of the Italian wine sector. I don.t wish to take this article as a pretext for wandering the byways of the current market and dispensing advice on marketing and prices. Not at this time when censors of bad habits are admonishing those who have erred and who threaten apocalyptic scenarios for the future of sales of Italian products. It.s a shame that many of these admirable prophets were peddling entirely different theories until only a short time. Let.s say instead, and more honestly, that nearly all the leaders in the world wine sector galloped through the period of rampant euphoria of the last decade. In reality, however, there was no lack of factors that attenuated such attitudes. We went in the blink of an eye from the sour, immature, prickly, diluted and often defective wines of the past to products that are softer, rounder and fruitier. Perhaps a touch too marked by oak but even that, for heaven.s sake, is an indicator of renewal and modernity. It says .enough. with all those old, gross and stinking casks. And, then, why waste time with such irksome and capricious varieties like Sangiovese when we have at our disposal grapes of immediately efficacy like Cabernet and Merlot? The response to that question was wines that automatically raised the level of consumer satisfaction and enthused even us critics. What a difference from the .antique. wines! What a pleasure! What concentration! This is the new Italian and Tuscan wine! This is the model to follow! This type of recipe has worked without any setbacks until now but the first doubts are beginning to appear. The few bottles of some years ago are progressively becoming many, new vineyards are being planted and new estates are appearing, while others are giving themselves a makeover. Large numbers of wines have adopted the winning model or even expanding its intensity: super soft, super fruity, super concentrated and super boiséIn a few words, all are apparently more endowed but at the same time similar to one another. Have we, therefore, reached a notorious state of uniformity? Not yet, fortunately, but the risk is obvious and it is not easy to avoid it and to resist the pressures of the international market. The motive is clear. If I prepare wines with the flavor I have cited, which is accepted without complications by the majority of consumers and critics, the chances are good that I shall be able to sell it. At first glance, nothing to object to but, if we look more closely we may come to other conclusions. In a world context consisting not of a million but a billion bottles, a territory like Chianti Classico, which appears so big to us, represents only a small speck, the so-called niche. And, in a niche, what sense is there in having the prospect of producing wines with an international flavor beaten in advance on the level of price? We must, therefore, make our wine distinctive. Premium wines must possess recognizable characters traceable to the zone of origin. That is what occurred at Bordeaux where, with a minimum of experience, the taster cannot mistake a Pauillac for a Margaux, and even more so in Burgundy where an abyss separates a Chambertin from a Volnay. And that.s not to mention the clear difference between a Barolo from Monforte or another from La Morra. In Chianti Classico.but let.s expand the horizon to the whole of Tuscany.the imprint on a wine.s style of the enologist currently on duty is more frequently cited than the influence of the zone of origin. Please note, this is not an accusation directed at our technicians, who, like the referees in soccer, are among the best in the world. It is aimed instead at a diabolical system that demands determined results in time spans that, for viticulture are unnaturally short. The signs of the territory, on the other hand, emerge only with the value of the vineyard and will be much more incisive when the vines are older and more deeply rooted. Inevitably, more time is required along with a vision of greater depth and farsightedness in order to obtain results and a definite style. In that sense, the privilege, although it is not exclusive, of native varieties that are more acclimatized to the territory is manifest. And then we can finally emerge from the opportunism and the provisional character of the gilded cage made with false gold. We can withdraw from the internationality trap and create wines with more authentic characters, wines that are sapid and mineral, with marked but still elegant contrasts. They are drinkable and never boring or predictable. There is the loss, perhaps, of a pinch of fruit and the softness may be too facile but they are wines in magical accord with our cooking and with flavors that are just as decisive and never cloying. Ernesto Gentili