Robert V. Camuto's Blog, page 9
September 8, 2021
Sunshine and the last of Summer
Last week I headed to the Adriatic coast and Abruzzo in central Italy — a land between the sea and Italy’s tallest mountains and an important Italian region for wheat, olive oil and wine.
The Abruzzese really like to feed you. On a day I had to beg off my second lunch, that evening I ate my best seafood meal of the year in a trabucco (trabocco in Abruzzese) – these old pine fishing platforms (below) that extend into the sea along Abruzzo’s so called Trabocco Coast.
The wine part is fascinating because it’s a land of contrasts.
Abruzzo’s Montepulciano reds and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo whites can be incredibly ordinary and cheap (nearly half leave the region in tankers to be bottled in Northern Italy for supermarket brands) or they can be sublime — think Valentini, Emidio Pepe and a slew of hot NewGen producers.
In the coming weeks I’ll be writing more about these new producers and resurrected grapes (like Pecorino).
For now, you can read about the 21st-century success story Binomio, a pair of buddies who set their mind on a project and with one old (unwanted) vineyard made it into the ring of elites. Read the full column at winespectator.com
August 30, 2021
The Ultimate Southern Italy Roadtrip
Summer is over for me and it’s time to get back on the road—this week I’m heading south to Abruzzo via train and automobile to immerse in the scene of new gen producers of delicious red Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and white Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. (The legendary landmarks being Emidio Pepe and Valentini).
Abruzzo (a kind of north of the South) is a big chapter in the book….but more of that later.
For now the third short video trailer for South of Somewhere launches—showing photos of the great three-year road trip that went into the writing of the book. (The photo above by the way is taken at a gathering of Generazione Vulture in Basilicata. Specifically the terrace of Basilisco).
It’s one of many great memories teased in the trailer.
“All roads must have once led to Rome, but ever since Italy has been about the detours. And the detours within the detours.”
Did I write that? I did.
And lots more....
Watch the trailer :
And in case you missed ‘em :
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMhRFEYVRaY
August 18, 2021
Amazing Vineyards to Dazzling Pizza !
“This is the essence of Italy … the chaos that gives birth to inspiration,” the narrator (me) says in this second South of Somewhere video trailer.
This short video — shot in the heroic vineyards of the Amalfi Coast and one of the most famous pizza kitchens of Italy in Vico Equense – highlights the incredible diversity of the Italian south.
“Scratch the surface and it’s a jungle out there…”
Watch the trailer (Part2) :
In case you missed it watch Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhSkTTIoXhY
Above, Pizza al Metro in Vico Equense
Waking up Old Burgundy
My July foray in Burgundy ended with a visit to what I expected to be the staid Chateau Vosne-Romanée and the current Chateau-born and bred Count Louis-Michel Liger-Belair.
Despite all the hyphens and neighbors like Domaine De La Romanée Conti I found Louis-Michel to be breath of fresh air in these parts. At 47 this engineer and enologist is smart, humble, biodynamically minded, a fanatic for quality and hankering for some change in the neighborhood.
In the last 20 years, he has led the rebirth of his family property that had dwindled to near nothing.
Now, among his current projects is a plan to enliven sleepy Vosne-Romanée with a wine-bar and café and organic local grocery in an old farmhouse across the street from the chateau. In Burgundy its practically a revolution.
As I greeted him for our appointment, he began with a grin and said “Let’s go visit the zoo.” The zoo being the underground cellars where he makes small quantities of elegant and nuanced cuvées from 300 to 3,000 bottles apiece.
Read about this encounter in my latest Robert Camuto Meets… column at winespectator.com
August 1, 2021
A Trendy Burgundy White for Summer
Aligoté doesn’t roll off the tongue like Chardonnay. And its prime terroir of Bouzeron sounds more like a description of a bachelor/bachelorette party than a noble wine terroir. In modern times it’s been used to be fill supermarket shelves and as part of Kir cocktails.
All that is changing.
On my summer trip to Burgundy, I drank quite a bit of good Aligoté — fresh, lively and slightly aromatic at prices that don’t make one flinch.
Read about my visit to Domaine de Villaine (Yes, owned by that de Villaine) to discuss all things Aligoté with vigneron Pierre de Benoist, who once dreamed of being a police commissioner as a way to see “all the beautiful and ugly in life.” See my latest column at winespectator.com
July 30, 2021
See the Video Trailer: South of Somewhere (part 1), on the Sorrento peninsula south of Naples
Here we shot the first trailer for South of Somewhere (just hot off the video editing dock) focusing on southern Italy as a place of renewal and life return for me over the last 50 years.
The trailer begins with the stunner of a panorama that is my maternal ancestral town of Vico Equense and its Bay of Naples waterfront. Then it moves on the other side of the Lattari mountains to the Amalfi Coast and Furore, with footage from the Hostaria di Bacco and the dramatically heroic vineyards of Cantine Marisa Cuomo perched on terraces above the Med.
The finale returns to Vico waterfront, where you’ll see my cousin Vittoria Aiello at her famous restaurant – Torre Del Saracino—she runs with chef Gennaro Esposito.
I hope you find it almost as delicious to watch as it was to make. Look for parts 2 and 3 in the coming weeks of summer.
July 15, 2021
Are you a “nose” or “mouth” taster?
For a lot of my life I’ve had an ambivalent relationship with my nose. But this last winter I really began to appreciate it when I lost all sense of smell from Covid and had to work to regain it.
The nose is, of course, important for tasting in general and wine tasting in particular. Our mouth only connects us with five tastes : salt, sweet, bitter, sour and umami. All the rest comes from aromas detected by our olfaction.
But does modern wine tasting – with all that sniffing and swirling and sniffing again – exaggerate the nose’s importance?
In Burgundy, Jacky Rigaux, a career psychoanalyst, educator and wine writer says “yes!” Modern wine tasting focuses too much on aromas, and winemakers respond by making wines that show better to the shnoz. It’s a vicious cycle.
I went to meet Jacky less than two weeks ago and he explained his revived-from-the-past style of “Geosensorial wine tasting” – a school that believes it’s the mouth that is key to unlocking terroir in wine through things like wine texture and consistency.
Jacky took me to meet his friend, vigneron Bruno Clavelier in Vosne Romanée for a bouche-first tasting of his reds that ripple with mineral character.
These wines – all made from Pinot Noir in the same traditional method varied wildly in character. To be honest, with any kind of tasting – nose first, mouth first, or sprinkled on breakfast cereal – these wines would taste great. But I’m becoming a convert to the wisdom of the mouth.
Learn why by checking out the latest Robert Camuto Meets…
Try it and please let me know the results. Are you a nose person, a mouth taster or what ?
July 6, 2021
Italy’s Heroes of Summer
What do Southern Italy’s Amalfi Coast and the far North’s Piedmont town of Carema have in common?
Other than that I’ve visited both recently—the answer is “heroic viticulture” with centuries old vineyards planted in pergola style on some of the most steep mountain terraces anywhere.
They are considered heroic because of the near-impossibility of the work. Nearly all of it is done by hand. (The only way to get a tractor up there would be in pieces). Creating this type of stone terracing from scratch today would be unfathomable.
The valiant vineyards of the Amalfi Coast
The Amalfi Coast, where I revisited Cantine Marisa Cuomo in Furore, is a romantic ideal of the Mediterranean memorialized in countless films (from Sophia Loren to James Bond). It was hot and dry with a Sirocco wind blowing in from Africa. Here Marisa, husband Andrea Ferraioli, son Raffaele and their team produce unique local blends in the volcanic dust soils on terraces hanging from cliffs above the sea along with lemons, olives, figs, and a variety of stone fruits and wild herbs.
Far to the north on the road to Mont Blanc I also recently visited cool and wet Carema, a tiny mountain valley town (pop. 800) that farms a mere 50 acres of Nebbiolo on the slopes of its precipitous Mount Maletto.
Here the Ferrando brothers lead the way—one of the few families sticking with it to create elegant high-altitude wines. Check out my latest Robert Camuto Meets…on Ferrando’s pioneering “mountain Barolo”
For more on Marisa Cuomo on the Amalfi Coast check out the archived column on “Air-oir on the Amalfi Coast”
June 27, 2021
What’s my biggest guilty pleasure ?
Do I have one? Not sure. But thanks to Alfonso “The Italian Wine Guy” Cevola for including me in his "By The Bottle" series of interview Q&As with wine scribes. Good questions that got me thinking. Check out my responses on topics from the last great wine I drank, to guilty pleasures, to my fantasy dinner party and more.
