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A Note from Sergio

  

Italians don't celebrate Thanksgiving. There isn't even an equivalent holiday, as there is in Canada and other countries. However, not having Thanksgiving doesn't mean that Italians don't have something to say about how to celebrate it. Italians know a lot about how to structure a meal like a story, or like an opera. There's a sense of narrative, of building action, and of a satisfying finish that's created in a real Italian meal, and it's a good model for an American Thanksgiving, one of the great holiday traditions of this great country.

  

When Italians plan a meal, they don't just plan out the courses; they also plan out the wines for each course. There's no way that the wine that you start a meal is also the wine you drink as you finish it. The wine isn't serving the same purpose, and it isn't accompanying the same food. It's a form of blasphemy to jumble wines and foods in Italy--you'd no more serve Prosecco with the main course than you would serve a Barolo with your antipasti. To do so would be to present jarring notes, and the whole point is to create a seamless, escalating experience where each course gets you primed for the one that follows.

  

It can feel daunting to pair wines with foods, so to help my clients, I'm offering a brief Italian model in this week's offer. You start with a nice Prosecco or something other crisp and acidic wine; you move to a wine with a brush of salinity or minerals to get your mouth salivating; when the main course arrives, you choose something like a Barolo or a Brunello to properly celebrate the event; you choose for a soothing red or white for the cheese course; and you finish with a dessert wine that drinks like a sweet, piquant dream.

  

This year, my IWM family and I wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and warm Thanksgiving shared with people you love. Let your meal unfold at its own leisurely pace; take time to inhale the scents of the food, to watch the faces of your loved ones light up and sigh with happiness; enjoy yourselves. This too is what Italians do. After all, it's not just a meal, it's a story that you're living, one delicious mouthful at a time.

  

  

  

My Best,  

signature

P.S. You can now follow me on Twitter: @Italian_Wine_SE.  
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Fantinel Prosecco Brut Extra Dry NV
Fantinel Prosecco Brut Extra Dry NV 750ml
Price: $16.00

Take a walk on the soft side with this velvety Prosecco, a bright, lively wine that's quite elegant, with delightful floral aromas. Straw yellow and kissed by tropical fruits, this versatile Prosecco can serve as an aperitif, a complement to food, or lightly sweet palate cleanser before dinner.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Cappella Santo Stefano 1999
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Cappella Santo Stefano 1999, 750ml
Price: $79.99

A wine with the structure of a skyscraper, this '99 is massy, generous with both its ripe fruit and its tannins, and delightfully chewy in the mouth. If you like your Barolos to loom large, this is the one for you. Bountiful black cherries and brambly fruit mix with black walnuts, chestnuts, forest floor and tar in this wine whose mouth-feel is full, brooding and masculine. Drinking to the end of this decade.
Eraldo Viberti Barbera d'Alba Vigna Clara 2004
Eraldo Viberti Barbera d'Alba Vigna Clara 2004 750ml
Price: $43.75

Plush and pretty, this Barbera sits like a young Elizabeth Taylor.This wine has a supple body with a really pleasing mouth-feel, and it proffers handfuls of red and black berries to complement its thrumming mocha-and-spice bass line. Zesty acidity readies your palate for each new sip--or for your next bite of food. Drinking through the end of the decade.
Fattoria di Fubbiano Pampini 2003
Fattoria di Fubbiano Pampini 2003 750ml
Price: $42.25

Dark ruby red in color, round in body, and intense in personality, this is a big wine whose brambly fruits get the masculine touch with a base of smoke, earth, leather and warm spices. Drinking it is like savoring Marlon Brando at the height of his career. It’s a warm, macho, sensuous wine and it’s drinking now
Barone Pizzini Brut Franciacorta NV
Barone Pizzini Brut Franciacorta NV 750ml
Price: $37.20

This organically grown Chardonnay sparkler gets extensive aging on its lees, giving it delicious toasty notes. While you’ll find a lively palate of tropical fruits, orange marmalade and candied ginger, the wine itself isn’t an effusive bubbly. Zippy acidity, low-key bubbles and a fascinated palate profile make this Franciacorta a winner.
Fontodi Chianti Classico 2008
Fontodi Chianti Classico 2008 750ml
Price: $36.84

Embrace me, you sweet embraceable you. Drink the ’08 Fontodi Chianti Classico and feel like it’s wrapping you in an enveloping hug. Cherry, berry, and rain-spattered flowers blend with a lovely earthy base to make a wine that practically rises from the glass to kiss you on both cheeks. Cellar for a year or two, and then enjoy for the next decade, wonderfully.
Il Macchione Vino Nobile 2006
Il Macchione Vino Nobile 2006 750ml
Price: $46.50

This fresh, juicy classic Vino Nobile tastes like capturing an autumn walk through Toscana’s hills in a bottle. It’s pure Sangiovese at its piquant best—all mouth-watering acidity and caressing tannins cradling a profusion of ripe, brambly fruits and underbrush. It’s a food wine, pure and simple, made with artisanal care. Drinking for the next five years.
Conterno Aldo Chardonnay Bussiador 2008
Conterno Aldo Chardonnay Bussiador 2008 750ml
Price: $50.00

Although Aldo Conterno is best known for his Barolos, he also produces other interesting, modern wines like this Bussiador Chardonnay. It's a full-bodied 100 percent barrel fermented wine with rich notes of honey, tropical fruit and toasted oak. It's a very modern, expressive wine that's delightful to drink right now but will age well for several years as well.
Grattamacco Rosso 2000
Grattamacco Rosso 2000 750ml
Price: $50.00

This wine has the lithe muscularity of Andre Johnson. Powerful, ripe, balanced and in it for the long haul, the '00 Grattamacco has lots of berries and cherries, but they're offset by pipe tobacco, rich earth, and a hint of espresso. Velvety tannins, a clean finish and it's a touchdown all the way to the last sip. Drinking now and on into the next decade.
Venturini Massimino Amarone Campomasua 2005
Venturini Massimino Amarone Campomasua 2005 750ml
Price: $64.99

It’s Montgomery Clift, honey, a brooding, dark beauty of an Amarone, with handsome masculinity and a seductive profile. Fruit rides shotgun in this ’05 from small producer Venturini, but the wine more than compensates with its rich, voluptuous, dense mouth-feel. There’s smoke, pepper, olives, lavender and cedar in this opulent Amarone that wants some time in the cellar—or barring that, a few hours in the decanter. Drinking for the next decade or two.
   
 
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