Christmas Recap

This Christmas was filled with even more good wine than the last, ranging from the familiar Altare and Vietti wines to less familiar Comte Lafon and Lechenaut. They all range in quality and price, and of course some were better than others.

I love decorating the table in the dining room. We rarely sit there, which makes eating there special. For christmas it's always silver, white and a little bit of green, as you see in the picture above. 

  

 Larigi is one of my favorites. Altare is always a good choice. And Christmas is about family, and I consider them part of mine. Elio, Lucia, Silvia, Leone and Polpetta!

New Year 2014: Felice Anno Nuovo

It's been a good year, with lots of good wine, great food and incredible people.
I've tried more new wines this year than the year before, met new people in the wine industry and tried different types of winery work. Safe to say it's been an amazing year "wine wise". 

Hopefully next year will be equally great or perhaps even better. Maybe I'll get to try Harvest, something I always miss due to school. Since I graduate in May, I hope that I'll be able to go to Harvest, even though I'll have to go to the gym everyday if I want to be any help at all. 

 

Thank you to everyone who made this year great! Especially my friends in Italy! I miss you guys and hope to see you soon!

Felice Anno Nuovo!

Flatiron Wines

Flatiron Wines in New York is a little wine shop with a surprising selection. It can be hard to miss this New York Gem, but it is a must to go if you are looking for good wines. 
The Italian section is larger than many other stores, and you can find both Elio Altare and Bartolo Mascarello. 

The French section holds the "cheaper" Comte Lafon, but also many other great wines, if you are in a Burgundy kind of mood.
The wines are fairly priced, and their selection fairly wide. 

Check out their website for more information. 

Cinque Terre

Elio Altare is famous for his Barolo's, Barbera's and hi Dolcetto's. What fewer know about, is his project on the edge of Cinque Terre. 
Altare produces white and red wine on the edge of a cliff along the ocean in Cinque Terre. The work is hard, the hills are steep, but the final product is very good. His white from this area is one of my favorites.

The project interests me for many reasons. He is, of course, Elio Altare. His passion for wine is contagious and it was on that cliff in his vineyard along the coast that I first started to love wine; and that was before I had even tasted it. 

A more practical aspect of the project: it helps keep the earth in tact and prevents mudlsides. Mudslides have been a problem in the area, and Altare's vineyard is part of preventing future ones.

Wine production is expensive and hard work, but this little adorable man eagrly runs up and down those hills. And there are no machines. I repeat, there is no tractor or car or anything. They carry the grapes on their backs. 

You can check out the project on their website here.

Toni Fadnes, author of How To Wine Travel wrote a wonderful article about Altare's project in Cinque Terre. You can find the article: here.

Read about Cinque Terre and Elio here: TheVipTable

Father and Daughter Wine Makers

This summer, my Dad joined me at Vietti for a day and Altare for a day.

 

When we worked for Vietti, we went to their Vineyard near Asti, where they have some Dolcetto and Barbera. We did what is called de-leafing, where we cut off the leaves to expose the grapes to the sun. Due to the wet weather this year, the grapes need to be exposed to the sun more than if it had been a dry year. Working so close to the grapes is amazing. You actually feel like you are making a difference, even though we may not have made any difference.

At Altare's, we did some labeling and packaging, preparing a shipment. Working with Silvia is always fun, and we played music and had some fun.
Labeling involves putting the full bottles onto the machine that labels for you, the packaging the bottles. Everything is done by hand, other than the actual labeling. It may not sound that way, but it is hard work. But we had some fun too!

DIY Gift: Cork Key Chain

When visiting someone, I try to bring something. This time, I brought Key Chains for everybody. Easy and simple, yet a nice gesture. You can see how to make them here.

Winemakerselfie

 

 

Summer 2014 in Wine

 

#tbt

The Beginning

Summer 2011, I went to Cinque Terre, Italy, with my family. There I met Elio Altare, the winemaker behind Altare wines, and it was one of the most memorable moments in my life. Señor Altare showed me the love he has for his wine, and it sparked something in me. Interest, curiosity, passion, love; call it what you want, but this initial meeting has started me on a sort of journey, a journey that evolved the next summer.

Cinque Terre

Summer, 2012, I had the pleasure of experiencing a wine tasting for the first time, in Piemonte, Italiy. My Dad has long been interested in wine, and finally I had the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. Because to me, wine was just wine. Alcohol. Some tasted good, some tasted not so good. But in the end, to me, it was just a bottle with alcoholic content. After last summer, I no longer see it that way. And I will tell you why.

I am not sure where to begin. But I soon figured out that the bottle sitting in front of me had more to it than first meets the eye. The people I met, the farmer who produce the wine, they are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. Their passion for what they do is contagious. They tell their story, using their whole bodies, explaining and elaborating on the long process behind the bottle sitting in your home. These people care for their grapes, they care for their wine, and they treat the whole process with lots and lots of love. They light up when talking about their wines, and it is clear they really love what they do.

After meeting some of the winemakers in person, it makes all the difference, at least to me. When I open a Vietti wine, not only do I enjoy the taste, but I recall all those incredible moments I had with Elena, one of makers of Vietti wine. And I think maybe that for me, that is the point. I’m not that interested in all the details of the actual process of making wine. I am interested in the people, the story, and the passion.

Rejoice.