Robert V. Camuto's Blog, page 8

“What d’ya think?”

Late in this just-passed year I had a couple of experiences that drove home what I expected : When people talk about wine (and a lot of other stuff in which they invest their time, treasure, and selves) they don’t really care what others think.

They are seeking confirmation. As in : Did I make the right decision? Am I not cool? How will others see me?

This nagging and human insecurity is exponentially more evident in collectors of fine wines, who like to watch their assets grow in cellars, where they know that eventually their “portfolio” will turn to vinegar or might fall out of fashion.

If the last couple of years have taught us anything it is Carpe Diem.

In my latest Robert Camuto Meets….column at Wine Spectator I discuss the best way to talk to a collector or anyone else who wants opinions on wines in closed bottles.

(Hint : It involves a corkscrew)

Read the latest at winespectator.com

From ‘loser’ to leader in Montalcino

Out on the wine trail, a week doesn’t go by that I don’t hear something about the changing climate — meaning hotter growing seasons, turbulent springtimes and early (sometimes unbalanced) ripening.

In Montalcino some wineries at the highest reaches of the Tuscan appellation (above 600 meters) have benefitted from the warming. None, more than Ragnaie, which was born with some of Montalcino’s highest vineyards and has only come into its own in the last 16 years.

Vineyards that were once considered too cool to produce ripe fruit are now sought after for their “freshness” and the likes of names like Antinori and Gaja are investing and planting along the high road.

Along with a changing (warmer) landscape. Drinking tastes have evolved since the turn of the century. Big high-alcohol wines are no longer the vogue they once were. Bombastic wines are out. Drinkable wines are in.

So Montalcino lovers, check out this week’s Robert Camuto Meets… column at winespectator.com – part 1 of this series on high-altitude Montalcino focuses on Le Ragnaie’s Riccardo Campinoti.

A poetic life ends

In what has been an otherwise extraordinary season, I was more than saddened this week to learn of the death of Andrea Franchetti.

Franchetti was—like the monuments of his native Rome or the eruptions of Mount Etna, where he shaped the 21st century wine scene—someone I just always expected to be there.

His mind was young, and he was one of the most interesting characters about whom I’ve written: the ultimate nonconformist and iconoclast with a personality that was a cross between old world nobleman and the original hipster.

He was also astonishingly truthful and self-reflective and laid it all out in a poetic sort of word jazz. No one else would have ever told me that for his first Nerello Mascalese vintage on Etna about 20 years ago, he smuggled in a barrel of his merlot from Tuscany to throw in the mix—even though it was illegal.

That was Franchetti, who I wrote about in both Palmento (2010) and my new book South of Somewhere: Wine, Food and the Soul of Italy.

His life—from the Dolce Vita 1960s of Rome to adventures that took him to Afghanistan, New York, Bordeaux, Tuscany and Sicily, is the stuff of a novel. Do read my tribute at winespectator.com, which I hope is worthy of the man.

Read the article on Wine Spectator

Listen Up!

As I think the song went….I’ve been up, down and all around in the last months.

In early November, of course I headed south to Rome for a presentation of South of Somewhere at Rome’s temple of terroir, Rimessa Roscioli. It was mild T-shirt weather, and I took some time to stroll along the Tiber at all hours.

The next day I trained down to Napoli, spun around the centro storico (after I left my bags with an honest looking cabbie), and then I rented a car and drove up into the Irpinia hills of Campania to Feudi San Gregorio, for a spectacular Fiano-only dinner and a couple of days of exploring this great white’s great producers. (I’ll be writing all that up for my Robert Camuto Meets….columns for February).

After returning to Verona, I recorded an episode of the Italian Wine Podcast with the gracious Marc Millon.

I was going to write how I overindulged a wee bit the night before Thanksgiving at Verona’s Caffè Dante with friends, and that we ate Bistecca Fiorentina and drank reds from Luigi Tecce (Taurasi) and Girolamo Russo (Etna), and that Gianpaolo offered us Caffè Dante caffès (which turned out to be gin & tonics! ), and that on Thanksgiving Day I was moving slowly and got my vaxx booster when I was already feeling bleary. But I don’t like to write about personal medical stuff you see. Way too indulgent.

Anyway, the aforementioned podcast popped out of the IWP oven this week. So have a listen : soundcloud.com/italianwinepodcast

Back to Biondi-Santi

Preserving a legend at Biondi-Santi

A decade ago I had the great fortune to spend time with Franco Biondi Santi at his family’s legendary estate that created what we know of as Brunello di Montalcino.

At the time – two years before his death at 91 – I was working on a cover story for the Wine Spectator. And I came to know “Dr. Franco” as a man of firm ideas about what Brunello ought to be.

Given his nature and his strong patriarchal role in the family I imagine he would not have been an easy act to follow. And in 2017 his heir Jacopo sold a controlling interest to the Descours family and their French luxury goods firm EPI, owner of Champagne brands Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck. Two years ago, all the rest of the shares were sold, leaving Biondi-Santi without a Biondi Santi family member.

This fall I had the chance to return, this time to check in with the new winemaker Federico Radi about the delicate changes being made—and not made—in Biondi-Santi’s vineyards and cellars.

“All of us feel the weight on our shoulders to keep the legacy,” he says.

Read my full report on Radi and his team here at winespectator.com

 

 

Got Pecorino?

Eccentric. Southern. Italian. Those three words sort of some up my oeuvre these days.

And Luigi Cataldi Madonna — a philosophy professor from a noble family and a self-professed crazy (he’s been diagnosed as bi-polar) – fits the bill in the interior of Abruzzo.

He’s also a fascinating man who has brought the exuberant white Pecorino variety since 1996 when he confesses his first fermentation of the grape produced “lemon soda!”

Read more about Cataldi Madonna in my article at winespectator.com

Also, if you are in Rome next week—or anywhere near—don’t miss my South of Somewhere presentation at Rimessa Roscioli. For 69 Euros you’ll get great conversation, dinner with eight wines, and a copy of the book. There’s a lighter version with aperitivo/book only for 39 Euros.

 

Get details and sign up here : 

ROSCIOLI EVENT

 

 

Talking South of Somewhere and drinking Southern in New York

On Monday, Rizzoli Bookstore – with its soaring ceilings and beautiful old New York feel – was packed with a sold-out crowd for the launch of South of Somewhere.

On the dais with me was Jeff Porter, wine educator, native-Texan and fellow Italo-phile. At the start of what was supposed to be our fairly orchestrated Q&A (we were both a bit nervous to be actually publicly speaking to live humans after a year and a half of Covid and Zoom) Jeff chucked the script and improvised. And so did I. For the better part of an hour.

It was a lot of fun—a tribute to the soul of Italy and the South that way beyond wine into things like inspiring southern dishes, the concept of everyone being “south of somewhere else” and the social importance of the passeggiata.

It was fitting for South of Somewhere — which is not a classic wine book at all — but a personal memoir and reportage of the South in all its messy glory. (Recently a friend called who loved it—though he has not been able to drink wine or alcohol for more than 30 years.)

The next evening was a dream dinner with a dream Southern “Three Volcanoes” wine list at Misi, deserving star chef Missy Robbins’ Brooklyn temple to house-made pasta.

The evening started with bubbles — in Feudi di San Gregorio’s impossible-to find-in-the-US sparkling classic method Dubl. Accompanying Misi’s vibrant veggie antipasti were the whites (Pietracupa: Greco, Marisaa Cuomo: Fiorduva, Benanti: Pietramarina, Salvo Foti: Caselle Bianco, and Frank Cornellisen; Mungibel. )

Then came the pastas — four in all — like everything else in the meal served family style. As the occhi stuffed with ricotta, bottarga and lemon segued into the spicy tomatoes and rigatoni – we moved into reds from two volcanoes – Etna (Franchetti Passopisciaro: Passorosso, Girolamo Russo: ‘A Rina and Graci: Arcurìa Sopra il Pozzo) and Vulture (Elena Fucci: Titolo and Madonna delle Grazie Bauccio).

It was enough flavors and variety for a month. But there was one final epic matchup with Bistecca Fiorentina and wines from two of Italy’s greatest eccentrics : Etna’s Frank Cornelissen (Magma) and Vesuvius’s Luigi Tecce (Taurasi Poliphemo).

What’s the verdict? You should have been there.

I am writing this today after drinking only Yuzu tea at dinner.

From Matera to the Big Apple

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...the troglodyte, primordial, impossible honeycomb that is Matera, carved into the steep tuff stone cliffs above its ravine.

With ancient cave dwellings that were evacuated only after World War II in the early 1950s, Matera has transformed from a pit of poverty into a cultural center of the new South of Italy. Dotted with restaurants, boutiques, cafes and with a growing art community, Matera is indeed a symbol of Italians’ ability to find renaissance.

I presented South of Somewhere to a masterclass of Aglianico del Vulture (A chapter in the book focuses on a group of young producers there called Generazione Vulture) as part of the second edition of the small indy Matera Film Festival.

On a misty Saturday afternoon—after a long-as-it-was delicious Lucano meal in a local trattoria, I headed out on foot alone listening to the silence of the stones and after tourist season.

It was also a pleasure to befriend fellow Italian wine journalists Chiara Giorleo (who interviewed me for the presentation) as well as the bi-national (San Diego and Milan) Laura Donadoni (“The Italian Wine Girl”) and many others.

Later this week I’ll be on a plane to the Big Apple for the presentation of South of Somewhere with a series of events kicked off by a presentation of SoS at Rizzoli Bookstore on Oct. 18 – featuring me in conversation with wine educator, native-Texan-turned-Brooklynite and fellow Italo-phile Jeff Porter. Hope to see you there. Register in advance here .

 

register on Eventbrite

Why the South of Italy and why now?

In this week’s Robert Camuto Meets….column at winespectator.com, I explain why this is a golden age for Southern Italian wines, how great terroirs are made (Hint: It’s the people stupid), and what it’s like to not just drink well but “drink different daily.”

Read the column here : South Italy's Silver Lining

Meantime, I have New York on my mind.

I’ll soon be in the Big Apple for the presentation of South of Somewhere with a series of events kicked off by a presentation of SoS at Rizzoli Bookstore on Oct. 18 -- featuring me in conversation with wine educator, native-Texan-turned-Brooklynite and fellow Italo-phile Jeff Porter.

Reserve here

The Purist

“You must meet Cristiana,” I was told before heading to Abruzzo.

Now I understand why. Cristiana exudes a kind of yogic energy and understanding of her old once-abandoned she cultivates with brother Antonio. I’ve never met a purist quite like her.

Read about the woman and her wines in my latest Robert Camuto Meets…at winespectator.com