A Note from Sergio
One afternoon in my teens, I came home to find Rachel, my girlfriend at the time, sitting in the living room talking to my mom. I snuck up behind them, imagining the worst, and heard my girlfriend crying about my frivolous behavior while my mother tried to console her.
My mom looked at my girlfriend and said in her heavily accented English, "Rachel, you have to a-understand Sergio adore you."
"He does?" Rachel perked her head up and asked in a tiny, hopeful voice.
"Yes. He think about you all-a the time."
"He, he does?" Rachel asked, her tears clearing slightly.
"Yes," my mother said. "He think about you all-a the time every day."
"He does?" Rachel asked, sounding more confident.
"Oh, yes. He's a'love you all-a the time." My mother replied.
"He does?" Rachel asked, almost smiling.
"He's a'love you with all-a his heart," her arms flowing n the air to show her just how much. "Ma he's a'love ALL girls!" She naively butproudly exclaimed.
My girlfriend broke down again, letting out a loud hysterical screechwhile crying and sobbing. I did too!
Today, I reserve my love for only my wife. And yet that wanderlust hasn't left me: I have it for the wines I adore, the wines I choose.
One good thing about wine is that you can love many at once, and none will go crying to your mother. You can love many without shame, guilt or pain. In fact, the more you love, the better you are at understanding them, their individual idiosyncratic beauty, their quirks, their compatriots, their limitations and their strengths. Your heart grows by loving many wines, though most wine aficionados would say it's your palate. You become, I think, a better person, but then I admit my biases. However, not all wines inspire that love, that passion, and that's fine too. I don't love all wines; I love the ones that touch me in special places-my mouth, my gut and my imagination.
This week, I'm delighted to bring you a selection of wines that I love and that I hope you will too. And to illustrate my point that our love of wines can be panoramic in its breadth, the selections range from sparklers to Amarones to dessert wines. Each one, however different, has one thing in common: it'll raise your passion. This Valentine's Day, I urge you to raise a glass of whatever you love and toast to those whom you love, with all-a your heart.
My Best,
P.S. You can now follow me on Twitter: @Italian_Wine_SE.
Featured Wines
Fantinel
Brut Rose NV, 750ml, $19.80
This tank method Prosecco crafted from Pinot Nero and Chardonnay blushes a bewitching pink. A charming perlage, a palate of berries and cherries, and hints of bread and marmalade make this wine brim with fun.
Frecciarossa
Riesling Frizzante NAI 2008, 750ml, $19.80
Oltrepò Pavese's Frecciarossa uses only the very best crus for its whites, and that includes the Frecciarossa Riesling Frizzante Nai. A rich and intense white with hints of apricots, tropical fruits and minerals that carry through to the long finish.
Billecart-Salmon
Brut Reserve, 750ml, $58.44
Like a pretty girl in a summer dress, this Champagne has a fresh, winsome profile. Citrus, green apples and pear comprise the palate, which is shot with an alluring minerality. Pure, elegant and delicious.
Billecart-Salmon
Extra Brut NV, 750ml, $64.99
A Champagne free of dosage has to rely on the quality of its fruit. Fortunately, when the producer is Billecart-Salmon, that's not much of a problem. This flinty golden-yellow bubbly is dry as the proverbial bone, but it's fresh, glowing with white peaches, and incandescent with tiny bubbles. Delicious with blini, or however you like your caviar.
Billecart-Salmon
Vintage 2004, 750ml, $79.99
The '04 Billecart-Salmon Brut is a Champagne wearing a Cary Grant suit: all broad shoulders and elegant frame. Don't let the sunny hue fool you; this Champagne has structure for days, the better to support its delicate white floral aromas, succulent peach notes and streak of acidity. Drinking now to 2016.
Billecart-Salmon
Brut Rosé 750ml, $93.50
Racy, fresh, and structured, this Rosé is like the Lauren Bacall of Champagnes: surprisingly sexy and a complete class act. Strawberries and cassis layer over brioche and roses in this medium-bodied, beautifully blush, quintessentially elegant wine.
Billecart-Salmon
Brut Cuvee Nicolas Francois Billecart 2000, 750ml, $118.00
If you like your Champagnes larger than life, this '00 is your wine. Ebullient and charming, the Cuvee Nicolas Francois Billecart '00 packs a dense, creamy punch. Lots of ripe peaches and pears and a dash of spiciness strike a balance with acidity and minerality in this exuberant wine. Drinking now to 2020, but why wait?
Nicolis
Amarone della Valpolicella Ambrosan 2003, 750ml, $91.50
An IWM favorite, the Ambrosan achieves a rare and elusive balance that delivers a grace and integration despite Amarone's trademark opulence. The Ambrosan is a clean-cut Amarone, but its acidic freshness makes its raisin, currant, black pepper and tar profile pop. Drinking now to 2020.
Giuseppe Quintarelli
Amarone della Valpolicella 1998, 750ml, $355.00
This wine is replete with so many layers and flavors it demands to be contemplated rather than merely consumed. It is a magisterial, mystical wine created only in outstanding vintages and released only when Quintarelli deems it ready for the world. Always rich, opulent, sensuous and extraordinary, the 98's crushed flowers, ripe fruit, ethereal aromas, seductive spices and unbelievable balance will likely be deemed one of the top vintages of the past 40 years. Magical, poetic and drinking until at least 2028.
Giuseppe Quintarelli
Recioto della Valpolicella 1995, 375ml, $255.00
For Giuseppe, like his father, the challenge of Recioto is a labor of love, but then it's a historic wine: the Port-like Recioto della Valpolicella Classico dates back to the early days of the Venetian Empire. This gorgeous, graceful wine is unfortified and its fermentation is arrested earlier than Quintarelli's regular Valpolicella, thus leaving a higher amount of residual sugar and creating a sweeter wine with a palate of raisins, sweet spices, leather, and chocolate.
Dal Forno Romano
Amarone della Valpolicella 2003, 750 ml, $399.00
This is a giant of a wine. The '03 has a fantastic nose of dried dark fruits, peppery overtones and violets; these traits combine with the vintage's firm tannins to create a warm, generous wine that reflects the vintage's sunny, fairly stressful growing period. Each sip is like being hit with a bolt of delicious sunshine from within. Drinking now, and it'll live joyfully for another couple of decades.
Chateau Guiraud
Sauternes 2003, 375ml, $24.75
A giant of a Sauternes, this '03 is thick, rich, opulent and seductive--and for wine-drinkers who like their Sauternes heavy on the botrytis and jam-packed with toffee, honey, and cloves. It's a super-concentrated and intense wine, no doubt about it, and it's fairly crying out for some fois gras. Drinking now, but it'll wait for you to yearn to open it.
Querciabella
Orlando di Vin Santo 1990, 375ml, $50.00
The first word that comes to mind is "luscious." You know those wines that you hold in your mouth and feel the simultaneous coating of sweetness and the tingle of acidity? Those dessert wines that make your mouth water? That illogical, vertiginous mixing of fig, hazelnut and honey with pointy lemon, lavender and indescribable aromatics? This is one of those. Vin Santo "Orlando" makes dessert wine seem like a really good idea. They broke the mold when they made this one--you do not want to miss out. Drinking now until 2020.
A & GN Fantino
Nebbiolo Passito Nepas 1999, 500ml, $59.03
A recioto-style rendition of Nebbiolo, this quirky, unforgettable dessert wine fairly compels you to drink it. Brooding, sweet, tannic and opulent in fruit for the customarily restrained Nebbiolo, the '99 Passito Nepas teems with rich, concentrated, ripe fruit, underlain by a brush of roses, a curl smoke, and a hint of earth. It's a shocking, confounding beauty of a wine, and you won't want to put it down. Drinking now to 2020.
Huet
L'Echansonne Vouvray Cuvee Constance 1995, 500ml, $204.99
Luscious, lively, and lovely, this dessert wine holds a voluptuous, sexy profile. Its aromas of orange flower will seduce you, but its palate of dried fruit dipped in honey, dusted with spice and shot with acidity will pull you back to the glass. Come for the sweetness, but stay to watch the mystery unfold. Drinking now but can hold.
Antonio Ferrari
Solaria Jonica 1959, 500ml, $260.00
It's the lucky child of the hottest summer on record in Puglia, the skills of Piemonte master winemaker Antonio Ferrari, and sheer luck. The stunningly lavish, ruby-red Solaria Jonica has fifty years of age on it; it remains astoundingly vibrant, boasting aromas of blackberries and espresso. Somewhere between a Recioto and a Port, Solaria Jonica's palate bursts with flavors of raisins, chocolate and licorice. Rich, luscious, concentrated and warm, this wine needs to be tasted to be believed--and sipped slowly to be appreciated. Drinking now.
 Upcoming Wine Events:
Winemaker Dinners with
Vintage Chateau Musar
Featuring Serge Hochar and four decades of Chateau Musar
Date: Saturday, February 12, 2010 at Montagna Restaurant (Aspen)
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2010 at Italian Wine Merchants (New York)
IWM is pleased to announce the arrival of one of the world's most inspiring winemakers. Serge Hochar from Lebanon's historic Chateau Musar estate will join IWM for two separate five-course winemaker dinners, each featuring a vertical of his wines. It truly is an exceptional occasion to drink vintage Chateau Musar that goes back four decades, but it's even more unique to have this iconic winemaker join us in both New York and Colorado (through our IWM Cellars Aspen location) to personally guide us through his Bordeaux-inspired red wines from the Bekaa Valley, along with his ageworthy whites. These special dinners will include Chateau Musar Rouge from 2000, 1999, 1995, 1990, 1988; Chateau Musar Blanc from 2004, 1999, 1990, 1972; and the rare L'Arak de Musar.
The Chateau Musar winemaker dinner will be just in time to kick off the return, and rare visit, of La Paulée to Aspen. We have included information below on this legendary Burgundy event, should you be interested in learning more.
La Paulée Aspen
A Rare Burgundy Visit to the Rockies
Date(s): February 15-16, 2011
Location: The Little Nell
Details: (212) 625-2519 or
http://www.lapaulee.com/aspen/
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of La Paulée de New York with a return visit to the Rockies (the last time in Aspen was 2006). This exclusive extension of La Paulée de New York will allow a limited number of guests the rare opportunity to mingle intimately with the most sought-after winemakers of Burgundy (see list below). In addition, there will be cuisine from the finest chefs. The Chef D'Honneur, Daniel Boulud, will collaborate with Host Chef Ryan Hardy of the Little Nell and Michelin-starred Chefs Michael Mina and Michel Troisgros on an unforgettable menu. La Paulée Aspen will consist of two events, a Collector's Dinner at Montagna on Tuesday, February 15th and a special luncheon experience at the Aspen Mountain Club on Wednesday, February 16th.
Winemakers will include:
Domaine de L'Arlot with Jean-Pierre de Smet
Maison Champy with Pierre Meurgey
Domaine Jean Grivot with Etienne Grivot
Domaine des Comtes Lafon with Dominique Lafon
Domaine Roulot with Jean-Marc Roulot
Domaine Georges Roumier with Christophe Roumier
For more information, visit
http://www.lapaulee.com/aspen/index.html
|
