Mid-May, several of our wine experts, including Bill Stobbs (west coast), Marie Griffin (west coast), Paul Quaglini (west coast) and Brad Lewis (fine wines buyer) set off for two weeks in Italy, touring some of our favorite wine estates, checking out new wines (and old). Bill sent us a bunch of pictures and some odd facts ....
Every trip requires at least one group photo to prove we were all there: l-r: Brad Lewis, wine supervisors Marie Griffin and Paul Quaglini, Andee Huy (PBI), Kris Zuments (PBI), and wine supervisor Bill Stobbs. Although it doesn’t prove everyone was there: Alex Poreda (SWS), Luciano Trevisol (TransAtlantic) and Alessandra Gamboretto (PBI) are missing from this shot.
We flew Orlando to London, London to Turin. Our first appointment was at Marchesi di Barolo in the town of Barolo. Here we had lunch with Marchesi di Barolo owner Anna Abbona at a restaurant that she opened on the winery property. Anna was very warm and gracious, and made everyone feel like a good friend from the moment we met her. The wines were spectacular, too.
This is a bottle from the very first vintage of Barolo in 1859. (ed. note: when I asked Bill if a wine that old could possibly still be drinkable, he responded “At another winery they still had 1902’s they said were drinking well. And Barolo is a big, tannic monster of a wine ….”)
Barolo 1941 Vintage. During WWII Barolo was often bottled in flat bottles that were hidden inside fake books.
We visited Anselmi in Soave. Anselmi no longer calls their wines "Soave" because they aim for a quality that goes beyond the rules of the DOC. The wines were deliciozo. Pictured is Lisa Anselmi in her very striking barrel and tasting room. Afterward she took us for a terrific lunch in town.
From Soave we traveled north, heading toward the Austrian border, to visit the mountainous vineyards of Trentino. Here we visited Cavit.
We often think of Cavit as Italian mass-produced entry level wine, but actually they are a co-operative that handles 60% of all the wine in Trentino, many of excellent quality. Photographs of this area never do justice to how steep the mountains really are.
The gang in Trentino..............