mondosapore

Commenti sull'ennesimo viaggio in Italia

Partiamo per l'aeroporto fra poco, atterraggio Pisa domattina.  Mi piace tanto stare in Italia...ma...insomma però sono stufo di viaggiare...tante cantine da visitare, tanti salumi da mangiare nel freddo di cantina, tanto fango sugli stivali, tanta traduzione da fare al socio, boh! niente vacanza...ma BRAMO due tre buoni vini abruzzesi (solo rossi!) per il portafoglio...e non solo. 

Agli amici italiani, scusatemi, ci vedremo un'altra volta...Vinitaly a un mese...e dopo chi sa...adesso si sgobba...sgobbatissimamente...

Soave reviews on McDuff's blog

Just posted: a very favorable review of the Domenico Selections I Stefanini Monte de Toni Soave, by my blogging buddy, David McDuff. 

Yes, it's the full malolactic fermentation that gives this particular wine its mouthful.  No wood despite what some tasters believe.  It's a very quaffable Soave, as Mr. McDuff writes.  Link here to his post.

Grazie mille, David!

_____________________________

By the way, I am all packed and ready to go.  First to Pisa > Florence > Abruzzo > Rome.  Five wineries in six days.  Maybe by fall we'll see a couple of these on the Domenico Selections site.  News as we go along, even without a WiFi connection, thanks to BlackBerry  (I know you guys in Waterloo, Ontario, follow this site: I appreciate you.)  Pix depending on WiFi situation. 

A presto!

The undiplomatic ambassador

Giampiero Nadali humorously dubbed me "Signor Ambassador of Italian Wine in America" a few years ago.  Whenever I've been intemperate in my comments he's gently chided me for being unambassadorial.  In light of today's micro-mini-dustup on Facebook, my rep as a provocateur has been burnished anew.

In my usual smart-alecky way, I wrote:

Strappo has to go to the dentist. Teeth cleaning. Incidentally, such dental hygiene doesn't seem to be high on the list of Italians. Just saying.

Well. It may surprise you to hear that a couple of people took umbrage at this observation.  And observation it is.  I tried to justify myself by writing, with habitual irony:

Strappo is sorry if he offended any Italians with sparkly white teeth.

For I have, indeed, seen a few.

I went on to explain the ur-context of this by writing:

It's no worse than observing the crying need for orthodontia in England.

This is no unique observation, of course.  This is a frequent source of merriment among Americans.  Everyone points to the Royal Family as examples of this unmet need. 

And him

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Of course, there are plenty of stereotypes to go around.  For example, maybe we can start a rescue campaign for German fashion sense (How to Manage Plaids and Stripes When You Wear Sandals with White Socks).  Or the Japanese obsession with photographing every moment of their travels abroad (How to Inscribe Things in Your Heart Instead of Pissing Everyone Off by Stopping Dead in the Middle of Fifth Avenue to Take Your 118th Picture in 10 Minutes). 

Hell, it's so easy to pick on my fellow Americans.  But let's do it:

How to Waddle through Life Enjoying Stretchy Pants and Diabetes.    

Was that undiplomatic?  So what.

By the way, Strappo will be in his true homeland, the Land of a Thousand Discolored Teeth, all next week.  Read of his amusing encounters with the comical natives!

Funny kind of Lent

I forgot it was Lent until I saw some people walking by with smudges on their forehead. But, really, there is a lenten air in New York these days. I doubt much penance is going on, but certainly many passersby seem chastened and, of course, wear their fear on their well-tended faces.

My unwitting concession to Lent was putting on a violet-colored sweater and a white shirt, which gives me a jaunty vestimentary air if I do say so myself.

I don't feel especially penitential either. I think I spent most of my life being sorry for things, many of which weren't my doing. I do feel tired because we were at a great tasting dinner in New Jersey, which was still going strong at 10 pm. We dashed off to make one of the last trains back to New York. Missed it. We did get the last one, arriving home at 12:30. I was so revved up that I didn't go to bed till 3 -- on a school night!

I was so out of it that I showed up at an appointment an hour early. I'm cooling my heels at the cafe of a bookshop on Prince Street. The last time I was here I bumped into Clare Danes at the cashiers counter. No stars this time, I don't think. Mostly depressed looking people hunched over their MacBooks, polishing resumes or even "getting to work on that novel I always thought was in me." A great way to provide oneself with Purpose and Discipline when No One Cares.

At 4:30 I go back to the venue I hit an hour early, the ultrachic Falai Cafe. Unlike the original Falai in the LES, this SoHo spot is open all day. The fabulous quotient is quite high -- younger and prettier people than on the UES, and no doubt as insouciant as the uptowners. More so, since the people down here are a lot less likely to have invested with the Talented Mr. Madoff; the right kind of trust fund babies, baby.

Remember, even during the other Great Depression, they had their Cafe Society.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Who plans a stop at Vini Veri or VinNatur?

Email me if you plan to hit either of those events during Vinitaly.

Also, if you have been to both of them in the past, which do you think is more valuable and interesting?

Grazie!

Vinitaly 2009 and some fringe events

That time of year looms.  Vinitaly time.  [Cue "Jaws" theme.]  When the wine-obsessed from five continents descend upon [cue "Psycho" shower scene theme] descend on a perfectly pleasant Italian city [cue "DaVinci Code" theme], Verona.

I never watch the Oscars, but the Oscars do have an insidious way of seeping into your consciousness I guess.

Anyway, recently I lamented having to go to Vinitaly, which is something of a Victorian-style Duty if you're into Italian wine.  Nevertheless, I want to share some critical information with you about that big event and a couple of the Verona Fringe events that are far smaller, more focused and far far less crowded.  Also potentially much more interesting and rewarding.

The way things seem after a couple of days/nights in Verona

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Vinitaly Information

WHERE:	in Verona - Veronafiere - V.le del Lavoro, 8
WHEN:	thursday 2, friday 3, saturday 4, sunday 5, monday 6 april 2009
OPENING HOURS:	continuous from 9.30 a.m. until 6.30 p.m
TICKETS:	- Daily ticket: € 40 (online starting february 18th € 35) - Repeat Entry ticket - 5 Entries: € 80 (online starting february 18th € 70)
HELP PHONE:	+39 045 8298854
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
GETTING TO VERONAFIERE:	By car By train By air By taxi By bus

This info applies to civilians -- anyone who is not an exhibitor or journalist.

Click here for the Vinitaly website in English.

But wait!  There's more!

Accordini Il Fornetto 2000

Verona, August 2006

It seems like a hundred years ago, my first trip to Verona and my first encounters with people who are now my fast friends in the wine world, like Elisabetta Tosi and Giampiero Nadali.  It was a trip and an encounter that actually did change my life.

One of the most memorable and pleasurable of my wine encounters back in August 2006 was a visit to the Stefano Accordini winery.  Guided by Lizzy (Elisabetta's nom de bloggeuse) we met Daniele Accordini, one of Stefano's sons, who is the winemaker.  (Later, at Merano, we met his brother Tiziano, who manages the winery and handles marketing.)

The Accordini operation is quite small and very typical of the best artisanal wineries in Italy:  family-owned and run, with each decision taken requiring the all-out support and work of the members of the family. 

I mention all this because last night we finally drank a bottle of Il Fornetto Amarone 2000 that we bought at the cantina that seemingly long-ago August.  We had dinner with Ken's sister and brother-in-law, with whom we shared part of our month-long stroll through Italy that summer. 

But before I share with you our impressions of the "Il Fornetto" crû that was not, I confess, stored in optimal conditions, let me republish the original post of that visit with Daniele, who has also been the oenologist for the Valpolicella "cantina sociale" (co-op), which has produced some exceptional wines under his aegis.  I have added new comments and notes, which appear in brackets [ ]. 

Pedemonte (VR), Monday, August 14

Valpolicella. 

Quick, what do you think of?  Chances are, you think of an insipid light red wine from Bolla.  Or you may confuse it with its even more insipid cousin, Bardolino. 

Yet the Valpolicella region of Veneto, in the Northeast of Italy, has been transforming itself no less than the wine-making areas of southern Italy.  Recioto, the traditional dessert wine of the area, gave rise to the potent Amarone, and Amarone gave rise to Ripasso (a cheaper, morefood-friendly version of itself).  At the same time, the increased attention to quality has led to the planting of vineyards higher and higher into the hills and mountains around the valley, with lower yields and Guyot vine-training to bring the quality improvements home. 

This reinvention has been a necessity for the reasons all too familiar with the Italian wine scene: thousands of small to medium sized producers, a staggering variety of grapes and styles -- and a maze of labels and names that's hard for Italians to understand, let alone a wine retailer in Wisconsin or a consumer in Connecticut.

The variety of wine types and names is a double-edged sword, a marketing nightmare but a dream for people like me who love to explore "new" producers and discover great wines.  After all, as Aristide tells the people we meet in the cantine that we visit, "Terry Hughes è l'ambasciatore del vino italiano in America." (Your humble servant is the ambassador of Italian wine in America.)  Well, I do what I can.  It's a task that I've assumed with passion and a sense of long-term commitment.

Anyway, as your diplomatic presence in Valpolicella, ladies and gentlemen of the United States, I am happy to report on a most extraordinary find today, not three miles from where I am typing out this post, overlooking the valley and the mountains of this renascent denominazione di origine controllata. 

Thanks to Lizzy and Giampiero, we met with Daniele Accordini of the Azienda Agricola Stefano Accordini for what was supposed to be a brief tour and tasting.  Almost three hours later, during which time Daniele's son was repeatedly sent by his mother to find out exactly when his father was coming to pranzo (the big meal of the day, just as it was in America when I were a wee lad), we had run through seven wines, including a barrique tasting of the 2004 Amarone (an experiment with American oak!).

Daniele, the winemaker or enologo, and his brother Tiziano run the firm now.  Their total annual production is about 60,000 bottles [which is more or less the maximum a small family-run outfit can make].  This makes them a respectable player in Italy, artisanal in nature but commercially viable, which is apparent in the use of expensive new French barriques and their own bottling facility.  This Accordini firm (there are several in the area with the same surname) has a healthy export market to the US (especially California and New York), Russia, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium and Japan. 

Daniele talked at length about his firm's push for improved quality as expressed in -- what else -- terroir.  They began with land in the valley, have gradually moved up into the hillsides and are now acquiring more land in the nearby mountains.  The 2004 Amarone that we barrel-tested came from a new vineyard at 500 meters.  Of course, yields are lower up there, but the vines are less subject to botrytis (not the good kind, as he explained).  And as everywhere, Accordini is moving from tendone to the Guyot discipline of vines.  Lower yields, higher quality fruit.  [Raisined fruit was not a problem in the rainy 2008 season but may have been in previous years, though altitude and cooler nights should have minimized the problem].

I won't spend time transcribing notes or describing impressions of all the wines we tasted; suffice to say that it was the full range of wines from the region, from a basic and rather acidic Valpolicella Classico to Ripasso and so on up to two levels of Amarone.  I'm going right to the top wine, their cru (Il Fornetto), the firm's "super-Amarone."  If Amarone in general is the economic salvation of Valpolicella -- as it should be at US retail prices of at least $50-60 and up, way up -- then Accordini's Il Fornetto is an apotheosis. 

As with all Amarones, this one hit the nose with characteristic but unusually intense coffee and chocolate aromas.  At 16% it seemed a little too at first.  Overwhelming.  But with time, as it opened up, every sniff and taste revealed new flavors, new depths, more smoothness.  Raspberry.  Anise, a little.  Cherry, of course.  A thought I even detected a hint of mint, although I didn't want to say so aloud.  However it opened up in perfume and flavor, it was always rich, concentrated, powerful yet balanced.

I wish I were the exquisite tasting writer that Frederic Koeppel is, because he would have been able to write a precise sort of rhapsody about this wine.  I can tell you that all of us were stunned by its intensity and depth, its long long finish and its ability to develop in glass.  As we drove back to Lizzy's house, she told us that Daniele Accordini is known and respected locally for his consistency and high quality Amarone, even in difficult years.  In really bad years, of course, he doesn't make an Amarone at all.  He is also the president of the local cantina sociale (co-op) and of the regional association of winemakers.  With all those commitments, it's no wonder that, as Lizzy said, "His wife is a saint."

What food would best go with a wine of this power and character? 

The food of good conversation with friends.  As Daniele himself said, "This is a wine fuori pasto -- outside of meals -- for friends to share slowly and talk about.  A vino di conversazione."  I'd have to agree.  For a terrific food wine, I'd pick his "Passo", a ripasso, over his other Amarone.  The Passo has some of the same characteristics of a full-blown Amarone but at about a quarter the price.  (12 euros vs. 60 euros for Il Fornetto and 25 euros for the "basic" Amarone at the cantina; double those figures for retail sales in Italy.  God knows what they are in the States.) [I've seen most bottles of Il Fornetto priced at about $200 in the New York area.]

...Il Fornetto was a strikingly individual wine of great character.  Unforgettable and unique...

Tre Bicchieri Press Pass

I won't be in New York for the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri hoo-raw on March 6.

If you want a press pass, which costs zero, email me mondosapore@gmail.com.

First contact, first served.

The big advantage of said pass is that it doesn't set you back fifty smackers. You also get into enter the hallowed precincts an hour or two earlier than the vulgar.

If you haven't attended this event, you'll soon be astonished to taste 100+ wines of stunning similarity, from Piemonte to Sicily.

And they say Italy is two countries.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The UES, Rome's biggest suburb

Tramping and down the cold rainy snowy windy avenues of the Upper East Side all day. The predominant language seems to be Italian. There may be a crisis in Italy too but these people do hang out in the best neighborhoods of la Grande Mela.

So it definitely helps to speak Italian when you're schlepping the vino around. It breaks down barriers with the resto folks. And the thing about being here, rather than almost any other place in America, including say Brooklyn even, is that these guys GET Italian wine. They can deal with esoteric grapes and flavors--they groove on them.

That said, the absolute worst are Italian-Americans, who are as bad as the American Irish at holding onto long-dead and ridiculous notions of "the old country", its food, its wine, its mores. In general they GET nothing. They're lost in some fantasy past that's got more to do with the Bronx or Brooklyn than with Palermo or Bari or Naples.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Favorite albums meme, etc.

Let's say that I've had a goodly amount of wine this evening.  Let's say that it was a day spent on the computer and phone.  Let's say that I spent much of the day with the iPod plugged into my ears.  And let's say I'm highly suggestible in such circumstances.

Marco Romano posted a link on Facebook that got me started on this...what, line of reasoning?  Ha. This line of free and progressively freer association, rather.  

Consider:

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. They might not be what you listen to now, but these are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.

When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!

This from Tom Watson of our fair city.

My first thought was, How cool!  How stimulating!  Etc.

Then I thought, "Jesus Christ, fifteen?!?  I'm too old to give a shit about that many albums.  Time and the erosion of youthful dreams -- even of Memory itself -- have obliterated almost everything that didn't have profound and highly meaningful consequences/associations/etc.!" 

So it went to ten, then to a mere trickle, five measly albums which, nonetheless, shaped and expressed my wormlike existence more than this struggling worm, stranded in a drying mud puddle in the middle of the busy thoroughfare, could hope to express for himself.

Anyway, 15 albums required too much research and thought and all that.  Forget about it.

"So, Wormboy," you may ask, "what are these oldies?  Is your addled old head full of Paul Whiteman orchestrations and Helen Reddy's Greatest Hit?"  (YES, BY THE WAY, AND EMPHATICALLY NO.)

But I am stalling.  Because my choices are so ordinary.  So unintellectual.  So...low.  I, personally, don't care how it reflects on me.  When it comes to public assessment, well, that's always another story. 

How many Italian varieties have you tasted? (Redux)

A year ago I wrote:  How many Italian varieties have you tasted?

At that time I was able to list 85 without too much trouble.  Your comments, dear readers, added several more.  I added a few myself even without your valued input:

Rossese
Sylvaner
Muller-Thurgau
Pinot grigio
Teroldego
Frappato

Which brought the total to 91. (Deletion of "Roero," a sloppy error pointed out by David Rodriguez, brought it to 90.)

Here were your adds (the ones which I had actually tasted):

Ciliegiolo
Zibbibo
Carricante
Erbaluce
Ruche'
Grecanico
Cortese
Rebo
Tocai friulano
Moscato giallo

That nets out to 100. 

But wait -- there's more!

Since the original post last March, these are grapes I tried for the first time:

At that time I was able to list 85 without too much trouble.  Your comments, dear readers, added several more.  I added a few myself even without your valued input:

Rossese
Sylvaner
Muller-Thurgau
Pinot grigio
Teroldego
Frappato

Which brought the total to 91. (Deletion of "Roero," a sloppy error pointed out by David Rodriguez, brought it to 90.)

Here were your adds (the ones which I had actually tasted):

Ciliegiolo
Zibbibo
Carricante
Erbaluce
Ruche'
Grecanico
Cortese
Rebo
Tocai friulano
Moscato giallo

That nets out to 100. 

But wait -- there's more!

Since the original post last March, these are grapes I tried for the first time:

Urban wine schlepp: Bad day, good day

"New England is a tough territory" -- Willy Loman

So's Manhattan, the center of the wine market in these United States.  From a consumer's point of view, it's paradise.  Many thousands of labels from all the wine-producing countries of the world in a plethora of good shops with competitive pricing (mostly).  And cheap liquor licenses mean that you can get a glass of wine everywhere from the dodgiest diner to the hippest wine bar and most august restaurant. It might even be an outstanding glass of wine.

Yes, we have it all.  Sometimes too much.

In a severe economic downturn, this of course means it's fiendishly hard to get a foothold in the stores and especially the restaurants of this city.  The established distributors and importers are scrambling to keep their product on the lists and shelves, while the new kids on the block sometimes feel they're swimming upstream with the salmon, only without the right fins. 

In the bleak winter whole days go by with nary an encouraging word or kept appointment.  You feel cold, wet, dejected, limping.  Carrying a filled Winecruzer (itself weighing 30 pounds without any wine inside) up and down the subway stairs and dragging it along the wilderness of streets.  You feel even worse when you show up for an appointment and they tell you, "So-and-so doesn't work here any more."  After a week on the job!?  You ache for humanity at that point; things are generally lousy, rotten and depressing.  And, believe me, I feel old and useless at that point.

At least lugging the Winecruzer around is good for toning your ancient musculature.

I've written about such things before.  What I haven't written about is the elation you feel when someone you respect tastes silently, maybe asking a question or two, then looks at you with the veil of skepticism removed.  And says, "These are very good wines.  I want to do business with you."

Yesterday was just such a day for me.  A string of very good appointments, no lacerating disappointments.  One new account opened, probably two more coming soon.  Good places, too.  And a warm, friendly reception when I stop at a restaurant where I've placed some wines and they give me referrals.

These are the days you think, "We're on our way.  We're going to make it after all." You feel young and full of hope.   

Tre Bicchieri in New York: Here's the dope

Cellar/Tasting Notes

are pleased to invite you to a tasting of the wines awarded Tre Bicchieri in our guide Italian Wines 2009

cost per ticket $50.00 per person With receipt at the tasting, you will receive a complimentary copy of Gambero Rosso’s Italian wines 2009, the ultimate guide to Italian wine, a $40.00 dollar value. Date: Friday, March 6, 2009 - Time: 4.30 pm Location: Metropolitan Pavilion - 125 West 18th Street, New York NY Cost: $50 per person

Lyle, I love you man!

Mr. Fass posted a very nice review of Rasott, the Aglianico that Domenico Selections has brought into the US market.  Well, currently just the New York and New Jersey slices of the US market so far.  You have to start someplace.

Here's the link to Lyle's post on Rockssandfruit:  here!

More about Amarone and the question of quality

Lately I wrote about Amarone in the wake of Sandro Boscaini's presentation at the Wine Media Guild luncheon.  Here is the link to an excellent elaboration of the subject of Mr. Boscaini's concerns over expanding Amarone production and maintaining quality standards.  It was written by Julia Harding MW, on Jancis Robinson's site: click here to read.

 

Julia also posted a tasting roundup of Amarones, "2005 Amarones by the Score."

In the tasting article, I'm very pleased to see the high scores given to some friends -- Stefano Accordini and Villa Monteleone in particular.  Bravi!

Yes, this would be Julia Harding.

Photo stolen specially for you from JancisRobinson.com

Gabrio redento

Gabrio redeemed 

My good buddy and fellow winelover, Gabrio Tosti, has relented and stocked a couple of the wines of Domenico Selections in his Lower East Side store, De Vino.

I used to go into De Vino, on Clinton Street, and gripe, "Eh, Gabrio, why you don't take none of my wines?  Cazzo, ragazzo, I thought you was a my friend!"

He'd start with the Italian hand thing -- you know, it starts as a shrug and ends up looking like he's throwing a dead cat at you with both hands. 

"Eh, business is shitty [retailers always complain of course, yadda yadda], and how you expect me to make room when I have too much wine in my cellar, which by the way you bastard, is air-condition at proper cellar temperature all year!  Why you say how hot it is in here on your blog?  Che merdata!  Plus I got all these relationships that go back for eight years.  Boh!" 

Big shrug.  Another dead cat cast in my direction.

Oh I knew if I went back often enough and let him vent, he'd relent, and he has. 

Gabrio does a great online business.  And did I mention?  He'll take special orders for Domenico Selections wines which are being ballyhooed all over, like here and here. 

Right, GT?

Soave ain't what it used to be

And Hurrah to That! 

The popular Dr. Debs ("Good Wine under $20") has written about a pair of Soaves from Domenico Selections producer I Stefanini. 

Read Deb's review here.

Francesco Tessari, the young winemaker, and his vineyardist father, Valentino, are delighted of course.

Those 25 things about moi

Generally, I don't go for those memes that sweep through the Internet with the frequency and force of wind after baked beans.  But I think it's time to take a stand on the insidious meme that's named something like "25 Random things about Me That Are Bound to End Up Embarrassing and Make Me an Object of Ridicule If Not Pity." 

Are you ready for the truth?  Can you handle the truth?

I doubt it but here goes...

"Is this the end of Strappo?"

It began as a casual remark. 

I had been telling Tyler Colman aka Dr. Vino that there would be a new blog attached to the Domenico Selections site, one called Muddy Boots. [When it's up, which should be fairly soon, it will be at muddybootsblog.com]. 

He asked, laughing, "So is this the death of Strappo?  Will you end mondosapore?"

 

"Is this is the end of Strappo?"

Strappo was at the table, watching and listening.  I caught the look of horror -- let's say the look of staring at Death itself on his sad corrugated old face, which reminds me of Cornelius the old elephant's in Babar -- as I replied, "Oh no, mondosapore will go on.  It will just have a more restricted role.  It's hard to keep two blogs going, after all."  Clear implication:  mondosapore will suck hind tit.

I know. I know. The correct response would have been, "Heaven forfend!  Mondosapore is 'my toy, my dream, my rest'.  Strappo is an integral part of mondosapore.  His soul is the soul of that site!"  Then I ought to have turned to Strappo and declared in ringing tones to the room at Felidia, "You are, Strappo!  Indeed you are!"

No, I did not say that.  I couldn't unsay what I had said.  Strappo heard, Strappo was a witness, poor old Strappo's visage spoke volumes about fear, desperation, anger, slyness, hope and the desire for revenge.  Further, as is well known in certain insufferable circles, Strappo, persona non grata, is excoriated for being a "not very nice person" and "a shit" and "a vile libeler." 

In short, Strappo is no one's ideal employee or, indeed, no one's idea of the next Gandhi.  In double short, Strappo has taken many an arrow for yours truly, Terence le Provo.  Strappo is a trouper.

Much as I wanted to avoid a conversation with Strappo on this head, he persisted as always, and he cornered me this weekend at Gemma, where I was having a glass of wine with friends before moving on to Perbacco in Alphabet City for dinner.  It was only 5:30 pm but already Strappo was weaving and profane as he spotted me at the bar and shoved a group of trust fund babies out of the way. 

Quoted!

Yours truly was extensively quoted in the Italian Sommelier online magazine just recently.  Franco Ziliani quoted my comments this week on the Benvenuto Brunello event, I daresay approvingly, here in New York, and my rather dyspeptic remarks about aged Amarone.  The latter ties in eerily well with Eric Asimov's posting on age-worthy wines.

Here's the link to the Sommelier column authored by Ziliani:  here.

Here's the link to Franco's often incendiary blog, Vino al Vino.

And to article in question on The Pour, of course.

By the way, Ziliani also quoted New York-based writer and sommelier Susannah Gold from her blog Avvinare.

Grazie mille, Franco.