Do Bianchi Wine Selections

January 25, 2010

Do Bianchi Wedding Six-Pack

The Do Bianchi Wedding Six-Pack is sold out. Thanks, everyone, for your support of Do Bianchi Wine Selections!

If you’d like to join my mailing list, please subscribe by clicking here.

Wow, the day is finally arriving… Our wedding! I wish I could share with all of you the sense of joy that I am experiencing right now. The journey of life has certainly had it’s ups and downs (although it’s never been boring). Two years ago, I felt like the singer in one of my favorite Gino Paoli songs, “Cosa farò da grande”: I’m still here, with my questions/I’m still here, what will I do when I grow up? Well, it rhymes in Italian! (Here’s a link to the song.)

Since Tracie B came into my life in August of 2008, things started to come back into focus and I found purpose and meaning in my life again. As a matter of fact, somehow, some way, I found the greatest calling in my life: to love her and to make her happy. And somehow, some way, even in this toughest of years (workwise), I’ve done some of my best work and best writing ever. Moving to Texas turned out to be the smartest thing I’ve ever done: life here is exciting and rich with flavors and aromas, and the Texas spirit really suits me, personally and professionally. I don’t know how it happened. But somehow it did. I guess, in the end, it sometimes is the journey not the destination.

For all of you who have been following the blog, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for accompanying me on this journey — which hasn’t always been easy. The blog has blossomed and brought rewards I could have never imagined (including meeting Tracie B). Thank you, to everyone, for the support and for the kind words and words of encouragement. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

For this first Do Bianchi offering in 2010, we’ve decided to share with you the wines that we will be drinking to celebrate our union. Each wine played a role in our coming together and each wine has a special significance to us. And each wine will be served at our wedding this weekend!

Do Bianchi Wedding Six-Pack

The wines we’ll be drinking at our wedding celebration.

Château Moncontour Cuvée Predilection 2005 Vouvray
(sparkling white, dry)
Suavia 2007 Soave Classico (still white)
Domaine de Terrebrune 2008 Bandol Rosé (dry rosé)
Produttori del Barbaresco 2008 Langhe Nebbiolo (dry red)
Tenuta Il Poggione 2007 Rosso di Montalcino (dry red)
Ca’ del Bosco NV Franciacorta (noble sparkling white)

$150 (plus tax, shipping, and handling if applicable)

N.B.: We’ll try to fulfill as many orders as possible on Friday but some orders will not ship until next week.

As with past offerings, this six-pack makes for a perfect 6-person dinner party and is ordered according to weight at the pace and structure of a festive meal.

Château Moncontour Cuvée Predilection 2005 Vouvray

The first time I came to visit Tracie B in Texas, when I checked into my hotel room, I found a chilled bottle of sparkling wine and a couple of flutes. It was at a wonderful little b&b in her neighborhood. She had followed me up to my room with my suitcase.

“Champagne! How wonderful,” I said.

“It’s not Champagne… It’s Vouvray,” Tracie B corrected me.

Is this a match made in heaven, or what?

(Here’s the post on how we met and came together.)

This is the first wine we ever tasted together and it’s the first wine our guests will taste when they arrive at the ceremony.

It’s Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley made to sparkle using the Champagne method (double-fermented in bottle). It’s yeasty and toasty, with bright acidity and gently biscuit and white fruit flavors. We still drink it all the time!

Suavia 2007 Soave Classico

I visited the Suavia winery last April for work and just completely dig this wine for the pricepoint. It’s got that “tongue-splitting” acidity that Tracie B loves, loads of minerality, and nice apricot fruit. It’s another one of those wines we drink all the time, one of our “house” whites.

Domaine de Terrebrune 2008 Bandol Rosé

Tracie B and I first tasted this wine together in San Francisco last May. The winemaker treated us to a tasting going back to 1978. Both BrooklynGuy and Kermit Lynch highly recommended it us and frankly, it was love at first sight. It’s one of the best rosé wines we’ve tasted in a long time, as good as the much more pricey Tempier (another wine we love). When Kermit came to play with us in November, we all had a good laugh sharing the story of how it came into our lives: it all started with a post I did about eating Tracie B’s nachos and watching American Idol — “Idol and Bandol.”

Produttori del Barbaresco 2008 Langhe Nebbiolo

Produttori del Barbaresco. Need I say more? If you follow Do Bianchi, you know that this is simply one of our favorite wines, a wine that Tracie B and I simply could not live with the wines of Produttori del Barbaresco. They’re earthy and savory, balanced by gentle red fruit and minerality and acidity. The 2008 is much brighter than the 2007 and is ready for drinking now. It’s just such a wonderful red wine and a red wine that we can afford to drink regularly.

Tenuta Il Poggione 2007 Rosso di Montalcino

We wanted to include this wine in the six-pack not just because we love it so much but also because Tenuta Il Poggione will be the first stop on our honeymoon! My friends at the estate have offered to let us stay in the farmhouse for the first two nights of our viaggio di nozze and I can only imagine what vintage of Il Poggione will be drinking on that first night with our bistecca fiorentina at the Trattoria Il Pozzo in “downtown” Sant’Angelo in Colle (population 30).

Ca’ del Bosco NV Franciacorta

As much as Tracie B and I love French wine, it didn’t seem right to close our wedding with something from France. After all, Italy and our love for Italian food, wine, culture, and history is what brought the two of us together. Tracie B and I both love bubbles and as much as we love Champagne, Franciacorta — when it’s good, like this Ca’ del Bosco — is one of our favorite celebration wines. While Champagne can be astringent and challenging in its aromas and flavors, the terroir of Franciacorta gives the noble wines a wonderful freshness, like a grass pasture after it’s rained, and a supple quality in the fruit (think pear and peach) that will end our celebration on a sweet note — well, it won’t end the celebration… it will just end the celebrating will be doing with our guests!

Enjoy! And thanks again for everything…

Do Bianchi Wedding Six-Pack

The wines we’ll be drinking at our wedding celebration.

$150 (plus tax, shipping, and handling if applicable)

N.B.: We’ll try to fulfill as many orders as possible on Friday but some orders will not ship until next week.

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Filed under Six Pack, Special Offering

December 24, 2009

Thank you for your support in 2009!

grigliata di mare

Above: “Grigliata di Mare,” Amalfi Coast, photo by friend and colleague Tom Hyland.

“Crisis or no crisis, Italians won’t say no to fish on Christmas eve,” says the daily dose of Italian wine news that finds its way to my inbox this morning. The tradition of eating fish on Christmas eve stretches back to the middle ages and beyond. Its origins lie in a monastic tradition of fasting as part of the holy rite: in a gesture of self-awareness and sacrifice, one “does without” the richness of fatty meat and milk reserved for feast days. Of course, as the bold statement above reveals, the tradition has been turned on its fish head, as it were: across the western world, we consume seafood delicacies on Christmas eve as an expression of luxury. Where I lived in the north of Italy, eel was served on Christmas eve. In the south, where Tracie B lived, a grigliata di mare (as in Tom’s photo above) might be served. (Alfonso posted interesting insight into the myth of the Dinner of Seven Fishes — yes, a myth! — here.)

gumbo

Above: Uncle Tim is an amazing cook and his gumbo is no exception. In Coonass country, where Tracie B grew up, east-Texas style gumbo is served on Christmas eve. When we visit with Tracie B’s family, Uncle Tim and I sit around and talk about food for hours.

Tracie B and I have a lot to be thankful for this Christmas, as we get ready to head east to her family’s place in Orange, Texas (where she and I will be eating Uncle Tim’s excellent gumbo tonight).

It’s been quite a year: I started a new job in the wine business shortly after I moved to Austin only to start over again during the summer when the company I worked for experienced its own financial difficulties. Somehow I managed to land on my feet and things are looking up for 2010 (I think that the loving support and tender words of my sweet and amatissima Tracie B had a little something to do with that).

However much we struggled financially, Tracie B and I are well aware of how lucky we are to be working and we are painfully aware that some in our business continue to struggle.

jeremy parzen

Above: Tracie B and I are getting married next month! Photo by the Nichols.

Crisis or no crisis, our lives have moved forward in wondrous ways I never could have imagined before Tracie B came into my life.

Thank you, everyone, for all the support and well wishes in 2009 and beyond. It’s been some year and as much as I’m glad it’s over, I’ll be sad to see it go: it’s filled with bright memories, even in the darkest times, of the first year of a new beginning and a new life — la vita nova.

Happy holidays to everyone, everywhere…

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December 2, 2009

Do Bianchi Holiday Dinner Six-Pack

The Holiday Dinner Party Six-Pack offering below ($137.93) includes six wines and pairing notes for a dinner party for 6 people — with pairings for 6 courses, including the aperitif and dessert.

If you’ve been following my blog, Do Bianchi, this year, you know that in early November I spent the week traveling with legendary wine importer Kermit Lynch, who had asked me to help him organize listening parties for his new record Man’s Temptation and to emcee his events. All of the wines below are imported by Kermit, who made his name in the late ’70s importing French wine and over the decades by turning America on to natural-style wine that tastes of place and that expresses the people who make it. He’s not a natural wine dogmatist by any means. As he likes to say, he likes it when “you can taste nature in the wine.”

Above: That’s me with my buddy Mark Sayre (awesome sommelier here in Austin) and Kermit, center.

It was a thrill for me and Tracie B to get to hang out with Kermit and crew and to taste and dine with him (he nearly cleaned me out of all of my older Barbaresco one night here in Austin at a BYOB bbq joint downtown after his event!). I’ve also been working with his distributor here in Texas, writing for the company’s new website. And so I’ve had the chance to taste and enjoy a lot of his wines lately. I’ve put together this six-pack based on what me and Tracie B have been drinking and the wines that have really won us over lately. I guess it’s kind of selfish: it’s the six-pack that I would want YOU to serve US if we came over for dinner!

This is my last offering for 2009 and I’ll be shipping and delivering the wines next week while I’m in California. Delivery is free for San Diego residents and I’ll be coming to LA on Monday and Tuesday: so for LA residents I can deliver then, if you like.

Thank you again, to everyone, for all your support with Do Bianchi Wine Selections and everything in my life in 2009. What a year it’s been! Tracie B is so good to me and takes such good care of me and we have a truly blessed life here in Texas (with the occasional visit to California!). Your support over the last year has meant the world to me and makes the joy of our union all the more sweet!

Do Bianchi Holiday Dinner Six-Pack
$137.93 plus tax and shipping and handling (if applicable)

to order, simply send me an email by clicking here

Tintero Non-Vintage Grangia
(sparkling white from Piedmont)

aperitif, as your guests arrive

Tracie B and I fell head-over-heels in love with this wine this year and we drink it often at our favorite Austin wine bar, Vino Vino. It’s a dry, gently sparkling white wine made from Favorita (Vermentino) and a smaller amount of Moscato grapes grown in Piedmont (northwestern Italy). It has everything that we love in food-friendly wine: LOW alcohol and bright acidity and fruit. It’s truly my favorite aperitif and seafood and appetizer wine for 2009. (“Grangia” is a dialectal form of granaio or granary, btw, because the grapes are sourced from vineyards dominated by a classic 19th-century wood-frame rustic granary at the estate.)

Punta Crena 2008 Vermentino Vigneto Isasco
(still white, Liguria)

antipasto/appetizer/seafood first course

Acidity plays an important role in this wine but the main elements that wow me are its freshness and minerality. The tiny village of Isasco overlooks the Tyrehhenian Sea about halfway between Sanremo and Genoa (not far from Nice) and the vineyards are located on steep slopes that face south overlooking the sea. There is wonderful savory, salty flavor to this wine that makes it ideal for the smoked fish appetizers that you find in the trattorie of the Ligurian coast towns.

Cantine Valpane 2006 Barbera del Monferrato Rosso Pietro
(rich but not tannic red, Piedmont)

appetizer/first course/pasta with meat sauce/risotto with mushrooms or butternut squash

This is another one of those super-groovy discoveries of Kermit. Most folks think of Alba and Asti but in my view (and experience), the BEST Barbera comes from Monferrato, where the nutrient-poor, ancient marl and sandy subsoil is ideal for creating wines with intense minerality and earthiness. This wine is ALL ABOUT umami (savory) flavors: earth, mushroom, rock… Totally traditional in style, this wine is also a great example of a carbonic maceration: the winemaker loads whole clusters of grapes into a vat and lets gravity break the skins and start fermentation naturally with native yeast. As in the wines of Beaujolais, it helps to create intense fruit flavor. Wine geeks with LOVE this wine. And we love it, too!

Here’s a link to a geeky post I did about this wine for a client here in Texas.

Sesti 2007 Rosso di Montalcino
(rich gently tannic red)

second courses, grilled and roast meat

Tracie B and I first tasted this wine in May in San Francisco at the Kermit Lynch portfolio tasting. Sesti is actually a newer winery in Montalcino, owned by a rather colorful Venetian astronomist who favors biodynamic farming practices and who was able to obtain some excellent growing sites in my favorite part of the appellation (in the very southwest subzone) when he bought a castle there in the 1970s. I can’t really tell if this guy walked about of a Woody Allen movie or a John Waters movie but I do love his wines: they are totally traditional in style, aged in large Slavonian oak casks. The key is the right growing sites and the right attitudes about producing Sangiovese that expresses the place where it is made: the 2007 vintage, an excellent one in Montalcino from what I’ve tasted so far, made for a tannic, rich expression of Sangiovese. The Rosso di Montalcino is sourced from younger vines and so is approachable already: Tracie B and I cracked a bottle the other night and we just loved how grapey and real it was, with tannic backbone and minerality. Killer wine.

Giamello 2004 Barbaresco Vincenziana
(rich tannic red, Piedmont)

ripe stinky cow’s milk cheeses

Okay, if you’re still reading, this wine is MY NUMBER 1 PICK FOR 2009, both in terms of price and quality. I don’t even think Kermit understands how awesome this wine is (Stu and Rikkers are you listening?). I was completely blown away when I tasted this Barbaresco grown in the Ovello cru of Barbaresco (at the northern peak of the appellation). This is just one of those wines that hasn’t exploded yet and the reason is that the winemaker wants it that way (he told me so himself when I called him after tasting his wine; he really just doesn’t want to sell that much; he makes about 5,000 bottles a year and just wants to keep things simple). This is the killer, rustic-style OLD SCHOOL Nebbiolo that we go crazy for and there is still some of the 2004 left. If anyone wants me to place an order of 6 bottles of more, I’m offering at $34 a bottles (YES, $34!). I’ve got a couple of extra bottles coming with this order and I can get more. And there is plenty of 2005 available, too (also very good but 2004 is the better and longer-term aging vintage in my opinion).

Here’s a link to a detailed post I did about Giamello.

Tintero 2008 Moscato d’Asti
(gently sparkling, sweet white wine, Piedmont)

fresh fruit, sweets, desserts etc., but fresh fruit my number 1 choice for pairing, also a great brunch wine

I love drinking Moscato d’Asti at the end of a meal because it’s low in alcohol, it’s fresh and clean and a great palate-cleanser, and it’s the only wine that I like to pair with fresh fruit (in Italy, it is the ONLY wine traditionally paired with fresh fruit). Moscato d’Asti is made by fermenting Moscato grapes once in a pressurized environment. The winemaker then stops fermentation and gently filters out the live yeast, creating a wine that has residual sugar and very, very low alcohol (usually around 7%). This wine is a simple and simply beautiful way to end any meal (or serve to your guests for brunch the next day).

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Do Bianchi Holiday Dinner Six-Pack
$137.93 plus tax and shipping and handling (if applicable)

to order, simply send me an email by clicking here

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Filed under Current Inventory, Six Pack, Special Offering

Tags: Barbaresco, Favorita, Giamello, Grangia, Isasco, Kermit Lynch, Liguria, Nebbiolo, Piedmont, Sesti, Tintero

October 1, 2009

Old Australia Six-Pack

PLEASE NOTE: I’m asking clients to order a minimum of 6 bottles to reduce shipping cost and packing materials. Please feel free to email me to create a custom six-pack with the below wines and other wines I have in stock!

lovedale

Above: Seared scallops with greens and yellow tomato coulis vinaigrette paired gorgeously with the 1986 Mt. Pleasant Lovedale Semillon at Jaynes Gastropub on Saturday night.

Mt. Pleasant 1986 Lovedale Semillon 33
Tyrell’s 1995 HVD Semillon 49
Tyrell’s 1996 Vat 1 Semillon 47
Tower Estate 2001 Barossa Shiraz 42
Hardy’s Eileen Hardy 1998 Shiraz 90
Hardy’s Eileen Hardy 1999 Shiraz 90

Total cost: $351
With six-pack discount (15%): $298

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

This is by far my most ambitious offering and I wouldn’t be putting it out there if I didn’t wholeheartedly believe that these wines were fantastic — and a fantastic value.

I sourced them from a collector and friend in northern California. They were all purchased on release and have been cellared impeccably. There are limited quantities of each.

I have never been a fan of Australian wines but when my friend poured me the 1986 Mt. Pleasant Lovedale Semillon two years ago, I was blown away by how good it was: bright fruit and acidity, 11% alcohol, and seductive nuance as it evolved in my glass. I love drinking old wine and this was just one of those wines that I couldn’t stop talking and thinking about.

On subsequent visits, he began pouring me his older Tyrell’s, also equally seductive. And then came one of the biggest leaps of faith for me: he challenged me to try some old Shiraz and reveal my true thoughts about it. I can’t tell a lie: these big, tannic, gritty wines are fantastic when they have enough age to allow the tannin to mellow and the oak to become an integral part of the wine (not a fragrance it wears on top of its body).

On Saturday night at Jaynes Gastropub, we opened each of these wines and paired the whites with a variety of seafood and then the reds with lamb.

As with any wine drinking or tasting experience, I believe that wine should be served with food and when it comes to old wine, I hate it when people fetishize the wines and serve them like cocktails. These bottlings were fantastic with dinner: the acidity and bright fruit of the whites (all under 12% alcohol) balanced the intense spicy flavors and acidity of the seafood, while the tannin and very present acidity of the reds cut through the fattiness of the lamb chops like a sushi chef’s sharp blade.

And I’ll confess that the night before, when I arrived from Austin, I opened the 1999 Eileen Hardy and John Y and I paired it with a Jaynes burger: DECADENTLY AND ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

jaynes_burger

So much big wine comes our way but so little of it has the age to be served properly. This six-pack is a great example of big white and big red wines that are showing at their peak. And the 1986 Mt. Pleasant Lovedale has many years ahead of it (I tasted it for the first time two years ago and it is still showing powerfully).

These are wines that you cannot find on the market and they also make for truly special gifts. Thanks for reading and please feel free to ask me to put together a custom six-pack for you.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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Tags: Barossa, Eileen Hardy, HVD, Lovedale, Semillon, Shiraz, Tyrell's, Vat 1

October 1, 2009

Do Bianchi is the 9th most popular wine blog in the world!

yes, in the world!

My personal blog, Do Bianchi, was recently ranked number 9 in the statistical list of most visited wine blogs in the world…

I hear a Beatles song coming on!

Seriously, thanks to everyone for clicking and reading!

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Tags: ALA wine, Beatles, Do Bianchi, top wine blogs

September 16, 2009

Old Hunter Valley Semillon and other rare and interesting wines at Jaynes Gastropub, Sat., Sept. 26

an intimate wine tasting event, limited to 12 persons

lovedale Jaynes Gastropub
4677 30th St
San Diego, CA 92116
@ Adams in North Park
619-563-1011
Saturday, September 26
7:30 p.m.
$125.00 per person plus tax and gratuity

a 4-course dinner will be served

with Jeremy Parzen, Ph.D.

To reserve, please call 619-563-1011‎ or email by clicking here.

12 rare and unusual wines, including 3 bottlings of aged Hunter Valley Semillon, will be served together with a menu created especially for the event.

On the night of the event, the wines will be available for sale through Do Bianchi Wine Selections.

“Hunter Valley Semillon is Australia’s unique gift to the world.”
—Jancis Robinson
Master of Wine and editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine

Mt. Pleasant 1986 Lovedale Semillon
Tyrell’s 1995 HVD Semillon
Tyrell’s 1996 Vat 1 Semillon
Bert Simon 2004 Serriger Würtzberg Kabinett
Bert Simon 2004 Serriger Würtzberg Spätlese
Casa Cadaval 2005 Trincadeira
Dessilani 2000 Ghemme Riserva
Martinenga 2007 Langhe Nebbiolo
Hardy’s Eileen Hardy 1998 Shiraz
Hardy’s Eileen Hardy 1999 Shiraz
Tower Estate 2001 Barossa Shiraz
Offley Forrester 1989 Vintage Port

I have to admit that I held a bias against the wines of Australia until a friend and northern Californian collector first poured me his 1986 Mt. Pleasant Lovedale Semillon from Hunter Valley. Frankly, I had never tasted anything like it before and its power, structure, and nuanced fruit and minerality and its tannin — yes, its tannin — blew me away. These old-vine Semillons are grown in the sandy un-irrigated subsoils of the Hunter Valley in Southern Australia where cooler temperatures prevail and allow for a long, even ripening period. The resulting wines are “red” wines masquerading as whites, an entirely unique sensorial experience. Thanks to my friendship with said collector, I was able to obtain an allocation of the wines for this event and I have also included some other interesting finds, some of which might surprise you partly because of their provenance and partly because of their surprisingly affordable prices. Please join me for this remarkable tasting at Jaynes.

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September 8, 2009

Teaching a series of seminars on Italian wine in Austin

From the “a Ph.D. has got to be good for something, doesn’t it?” department…

Jeremy Parzen

I am thrilled to announce that I’ll be teaching a six-part seminar on Italian wine starting a month from today, every Tuesday at 7 p.m., at The Austin Wine Merchant. The title of series, “Italy: Birth of Wine Nation,” was inspired by the vision of Italy’s first two prime ministers, Camillo Cavour and Bettino Ricasoli, both winemakers in their own right. As Italian independence and the Italian monarchy began to take shape in the second half of the nineteenth century, Cavour (in Piedmont) and Ricasoli (in Tuscany) envisioned the production of fine wine as a loadstone of the nascent Italian economy, identity, and nation. If only they were alive today to experience the renaissance of Italian wine!

Please join me in October and November for one or more of my classes and tastings (6 wines will be tasted during each session in one-ounce pours). Participants may reserve for individual or multiple sessions.

ITALY: BIRTH OF A WINE NATION

A 6-class series on Italian wine, past, present, and future with Jeremy Parzen, Ph.D.

Tuesdays in October and early November, staring at 7 p.m.

The Austin Wine Merchant
512 W 6th St.
Austin, TX 78701-2806

To reserve, please call: (512) 499-0512.

Italian Wine 101 — October 6 — $25

Introduction to Italian wines, an overview of Italy’s most important grapes and major wine production zones, and the secret to unlocking the mysteries of Italian wine labels. Taste 6 wines from 6 different regions.

Jeremy Parzen

Tuscany — October 13 — $37.50

Learn what makes Super Tuscans so super (you might be surprised at the answer), experience Italy’s quintessential red grape Sangiovese in its greatest expressions (modern and traditional). Taste six wines including Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico.

The “Other” Piedmont — October 20 — $25

This is the Piedmont your mother didn’t tell you about: Moscato d’Asti, Gavi, Freisa, Dolcetto, Barbera, and “outer borough” Nebbiolo. Taste 6 wines that the Piedmontese produce and drink regularly.

Jeremy Parzen

Piedmont’s De Facto Cru System — October 27 — $37.50
(recommended for wine professionals and collectors)

Learn the difference between the east and west sides of the Barolo to Alba road and explore the nuanced distinctions between Tortonian and Helvetian subsoils. Debunk the feminine vs. masculine in the Barbaresco and Barolo debate. Taste 6 noble expressions of Nebbiolo.

Jeremy Parzen

The Enigmatic Wines of the Veneto — November 3 — $37.50

Unlock the mysteries of Valpolicella, Amarone, and Recioto della Valpolicella, taste one of Italy’s most ancient noble wines, Soave, and learn why Venetians love their Prosecco so much. When in Venice: taste 6 ombre as the Venetians say!

Jeremy Parzen

Italian Wine and Civilization — November 10 — $25

Read 6 passages from Italian literature and history and taste 6 related wine selections. Readings include Dante, Machiavelli, Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, Camillo Cavour (above, far left, 19th-century Piedmontese winemaker and Italy’s first prime minister), and Bettino “Iron Baron” Ricasoli (above, far right, 19th-century Tuscan winemaker and Italy’s second prime minister).

To reserve, please call: (512) 499-0512

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Tags: Austin Wine Merchant, Cavour, Italian wine education, Piedmont, Ricasoli, Tuscany, Veneto

September 4, 2009

Do Bianchi fall dinner party six-pack

Hi everyone. Lots of news and info in this offering.

If you’d like to order a six-pack or any of the wines below,
please just send me an email by clicking here.

Do Bianchi now takes credit cards! I’ll miss the nice notes that you included in the checks you used to send me but this way is a lot easier.

I’m still offering six packs because it just makes more sense in terms of delivery, shipping, environmental friendliness, and economy (I can discount the wines more steeply this way). If you don’t want to get a six pack, please email me and let’s figure something out: I have a lot of fun wines in my warehouse right now and we can always put something together for you depending on your needs.

Lastly, on my recent trip to California, I was able to secure some interesting wines at interesting prices through some private collectors. At the end of this email, there are six wines that need no introduction at attractive prices. Please email me if you’re interested and I’ll put an order together for you. There will be many more offerings to come between now and Xmas, so stay tuned!

Thanks again to everyone for your support!

Do Bianchi Fall Dinner Party Six Pack 150

Vittorio Bera 2007 Arcese (Piedmont, Italy)
Domaine Vrignaud 2006 Chablis Fourchaume (Chablis, France)
Movia 2006 Ribolla (Collio-Brda, Slovenia)
Guy Breton 2007 Beaujolais Morgon (Beaujolais, France)
Occhipinti 2008 SP 68 Rosso di Vittoria (Sicily, Italy)
Henri Milan 2005 St-Rémy-de-Provence (Provence, France)

I truly love each and every wine in this month’s six pack offering and again I’ve put together a flight of 6 wines that could be served at a dinner party for 6, starting with something really light and refreshing, a white sparkler from Piedmont, and then moving up in weight through 2 more whites and 3 reds, ending with a meaty Chateauneuf-du-Pape style wine from Provence.

Again, the average bottle price is $25, which also makes this flight a great value for the quality.

Even though I have been digging all of these, there are two stars for me.

ales

Above: That’s Ales in his cellar.

The Movia Ribolla is one of my all-time favorite wines and is made on a 100% biodynamic estate in Slovenia. You may remember from the blog that my band Nous Non Plus played a gig there a year ago April. We had had a small hit in Slovenia thanks to a cellphone add and when winemaker Ales Kristiancic (pronounced ah-LESH kris-TEE-AHN-chich) found out I was part of it, he invited us to stay there and play a few gigs.

lublijana

Above: I took this photo of my band Nous Non Plus a year ago April in Lublijana, Slovenia. We had a small hit in Slovenia that year. I had never felt like a rockstar before but we were that day! Seriously…

The wine is made from 100% Ribolla grapes, a white variety that is grown in the transnational appellation of Collio-Brda that saddles the Friuli-Slovenia border. This is such a great example of a truly natural wine (even the natural wine police would agree). Ribolla can be made in different styles and this one has a heavier weight than most (that’s why I put it after the Chablis in the flight). It’s amazing to watch how the wine will change in the glass, revealing all kinds of crazy flavors and aromas.

The other star is the Guy Breton Beaujolais single-vineyard Morgon, one of the so-called “Cru Beaujolais” that are beginning to emerge as serious wine for serious wine lovers from an appellation known for Beaujolais Nouveau (a wine that I highly recommend you avoid, a calculated marketing campaign that delivers low-quality wine in a pretty package, but I won’t digress). This wine was one of the famous wine importer Kermit Lynch’s early discoveries in Beaujolais and it’s a great example of a very low sulfur wine. Sulfur is added to 99.99999999999% of the wine that is sold commercially in the world and there’s nothing wrong with it: the wine would be undrinkable without it. It’s when large amounts are added that the quality and healthiness of the wine are diminished. Guy Breton has long been one of the champions and pioneers of low sulfur: when you make wine in a natural style (and you take the time to allow the wine to stabilize on its own in the cellar), you don’t need to add a lot of sulfur — that’s the key.

This wine will surprise you with its structure and tannin but even at this young age it retains a beautiful lightness that I look for in wines. It’s berry flavors and super fresh aromas call out for grilled or roast meats. It’s just one of those, “man, this is so friggin’ good wines,” at least for me.

Just one other quick note (and there are brief notes and descriptions below) because I don’t want to bore you.

The last wine, the Henri Milan, is from a town called Les Baux de Provence in southern France. It’s about an hour south of the more famous appellation for red wine Châteauneuf du Pape. If you like rich Grenache from the latter, I think you like this wine: it’s 40% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cinsault, 5% Mourvèdre. It’s rich and yummy. Here’s a little map to show how close it is and indeed, you don’t think of Provence for this style of wine, but it produces some fantastic meaty, earthy reds like this.

map2

Vittorio Bera 2007 Arcese (Piedmont, Italy)

Made from Cortese, Favorita (Vermentino), and Arneis grapes, slightly sparkling, low in alcohol and 100% delicious (a perfect aperitif or great-your-guests wine).

Domaine Vrignaud 2006 Chablis Fourchaume (Chablis, France)

Gorgeous premier cru (first growth) Chablis, 100% Chardonnay, mineral-driven and elegant, a classic expression of traditional style Chablis. Showing beautiful right now.

Movia 2006 Ribolla (Collio-Brda, Slovenia)

See above. All I can say is that I managed to survive our lost weekend at the Movia estate! Seriuosly, great wines. One of my favorites.

Occhipinti 2008 SP 68 Rosso di Vittoria (Sicily, Italy)

Occhipinti is one of the coolest and hippest wines in the wine geek and natural wine scene right now. And everyone agrees it’s showing gorgeously. It’s a blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato, native grapes of Sicily, and is made in a totally natural style.

Guy Breton 2007 Beaujolais Morgon (Beaujolais, France)

See above. I’ve been talking every week with Kermit Lynch because I’m producing his listening party in Austin in November (he’s a singer and songwriter beyond his career as a legendary wine importer). This wine is one of his favorites, too.

Henri Milan 2005 St-Rémy-de-Provence (Provence, France)

See above. This wine blew me away when I tasted it for the first time last month and I managed to get some. If you like Châteauneuf-du-Pape…

Thanks for reading!

If you’d like to order a six-pack or any of the wines below,
please just send me an email by clicking here.

As promised, here are some higher end, iconic wines that I was able to procure through a private collector in California. The provenance is impeccable: the wines were bought on release and have remained in a temperature-controlled cellar since that time. I’ve tasted with the owner in her cellar and was thrilled when she offered to sell me some of her stash (there are others that will become available soon, as well). If you have a look around, you’ll see that the prices are more than competitive and the wines need no introduction. The 2005 Barbera from Mascarello is hard to find: this one is sourced from one of the vineyards where Nebbiolo is grown for Maria Teresa’s famed Barolo. “My father always planted Barbera alongside Nebbiolo, in rows that weren’t suited for Nebbiolo,” she told me when I tasted this wine with her in her cellar a year ago April. This Barbera is killer.

Gravner 2001 Breg 75
Gravner 2002 Breg 75
Gravner 2001 Ribolla Gialla 75
Gravner 2002 Ribolla Gialla 75

Bartolo Mascarello 2003 Barolo 89
Bartolo Mascarello 2005 Barbera Vigna San Lorenzo 36

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Filed under Six Pack, Special Offering

Tags: Arcese, Beaujolais, Bera, Brda, Chablis, Collio, Fourchaume, Guy Breton, Henri Milan, Italy, Lublijana, Morgon, Movia, Nous Non Plus, Occhipinti, Piedmont, Provence, Ribolla, Rosso di Vittoria, Sicily, Slovenia, SP 68, St-Rémy-de-Provence, Vrignaud