Daniele Cernilli on Wine Writers and a Code Ethics

Signed DW | Published on DoctorWine N°202

Code of ethyl

by Daniele Cernilli 20-03-2017

What would you think of a famous Italian wine critic who allowed a surprise ‘secret’ birthday party to be organized for him by an equally famous wine producer who invited other producers who opened some very expensive bottles to pair them with some fine food? And what if everything was paid for by the organizer?

What objectivity could there be, what critical impartiality could one expect towards these wines, consumed while celebrating this critic with an over-sized ego, from this journalist when he is called upon to taste and evaluate them? This ‘secret’ party did in fact take place last January but I will not name names because I am not interested in gossip or ‘roasting’ anyone, only in a question of principle.

I will name names, however, about another event because their actions deserves praise. Monica Larner, a collaborator for Robert Parker, was invited by Francesco Ricasoli to Castello di Brolio for a special tasting of Vin Santo. She arrived in her own car, did not ask to be reimbursed for her expenses and even paid for her own room at the guest house. And she did this in accordance with her code of ethics and that of her publisher. The cost was not that much, a little more than 50 euros, but she wanted to do the right thing. Hers was a lesson for us all and a fine example of independence and even if, at least for me, she may have been a little too strict with herself, her actions exemplified what a code of ethics means for an influential American journalist.

We Italian journalists also have a code of ethics, drawn up by our colleagues at the economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore, which sets a ceiling of 150 euros for how much one can accept for an invitation or gift. And at DoctorWine I ask that all our collaborators respect this code. This means they must not accept invitations to restaurants that are excessively expensive nor gifts, including bottles of wine, the value of which exceed that limit. Producers who want to send us their wine for evaluation need only submit one bottle or a maximum of three if the wines are different. We rarely ask for wine directly and only if it was not possible to sample them at organized pubic tastings or at producer association meetings. We also taste them at events organized by others than producers and where the wine that was consumed remains with them for future tastings. The advertising we accept at DoctorWine is always out in the open and we organize three events a year, two in Italy and one abroad (this year in Washington D.C. which was a huge success) to present ourUltimate Guide to Italian Wine and nothing more. And so you can see that with us everything is above board and while we may not be perfect, we try to avoid any slippery slopes in regard to our objectivity and in respect of our readers.

I point this out not to tout myself as an example of correctness, Larner did so much better, but only to underscore that in a country like Italy, where it is still not clear that some things need not be free, it is important to find other and diversified systems of financing. What is important is that everything is transparent and everyone knows how it works. ‘Secret’ events, even birthday parties, have no place in our book. Unicuique suum (to each his own).

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione and Barolo Tasting at Gattopardo NYC

 

I was very happy to have the opportunity to host a wine tasting dinner featuring 3 top Gran Selezione Chianti Classico wines and 3 top Barolo’s at Il Gattopardo, one of New York City’s greatest Italian restaurants.

Duccio Corsini

The speaker for Chianti Classico Gran Selezione was Duccio Corsini, owner of Principe Corsini and counselor for the Chianti Classico Consortium. The Corsini Family is one of the oldest in Italy, going back to the 13^th century.

One of Duccio’s ancestors, the Cardinal Lorenzo Corsini, became Pope Clemente XII.

Corsini began by speaking about the Chianti Classico Gran Selection classification of 2010. He said that the wine must be produced from a single vineyard or from a selection of the estate’s best grapes. The minimum aging is 30 months including 3 months of bottle age. The wine must have excellent chemical and organoleptic characteristics. The producer must declare in advance that the wine is going to be Gran Selezione and the wine is tested. Minimum alcohol is 13%. He pointed out that this was the first time a new classification became the top of a wine classification pyramid.

Chianti Classico DOCG 2013 Gran Selezione 100% Sangiovese Castello di Radda Winery located in Radda in Chianti.The harvest takes place the second half of September. The grapes come from a single vineyard Il Corno (The Horn) which is at 400 meters with a southern exposure. The soil is clayey-calcareous with a rich texture. The vineyard is 20 years old. The grapes are picked at perfect ripeness and are sorted in the vineyard and at the winery.

Fermentation is in 50 hl stainless steel vats with maceration on skins for about 4 weeks. The wine is on the lees for 5 months in 5hl barrels. Then it is put in the same barrels for 20 months and 12 months in bottle before release.

This is a wine with nice red berry fruit with hints of spice and vanilla. It is complex and well balanced and can age for 20 years. $46

Chianti Classico DOCG Gran Selezione “Dom Tommaso” 2013 80% Sangiovese and 20% Merlot Principe Corsini. The winery is located in San Casciano Val di Pesa. The vineyards are at 270-350 meters and have a southern exposure. Pilocenic hills rich in river stones. There are 5,800 plants per hectare. The training system is low-spurred cordon and the average age of vines is 25 years. This is a selection of the best grapes; hand harvested, destemmed and put in open frustum, cone–shaped stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature. After 24 hours at 20C the grapes are inoculated with selected indigenous yeasts. Fermentation for the Sangiovese is 18 days and for the Merlot is 16 days at a max temp of 28C. The wine is aged in 70% new barriques and 30% in used barriques for 18 months and 12 months in bottle before release.

This is a very impressive wine with hints of dark cherries, plums, violets dried roses licqorice and spice. $44

Chianti Classico DOCG 2013 Gran Selezione “Prunaio” 100% Sangiovese Grosso Viticcio $? The winery is in Greve in Chianti. When the wine was first produced in 1985 it was an IGT Toscana because it was against the rules to make a wine from 100% Sangivese and call it Chianti Classico. The grapes are from two single vineyards at 300 and 430 meters, and the exposure is south-southeast, east and west. Biodynamic agriculture is practiced and the Sangiovese Gross came from a massal selection in Montalcino. Soil is alberese stone and schist-based galestro. The training system is guyot. The vines are 13 and 10 years old and there are 6,000 plants per hectare. Manual harvest takes place the first week of October.

Fermentation is at 28/30C in stainless steel and maceration is for 25 days. Malolactic fermentation is in wood. The wine is aged in 225 liter and 500 liter barrels for 18 months and then in large Slavonian oak barrels for 6 months. The wine has ripe fruit aromas and flavors with hints of plum and violets. The wine can age for ten years or more. they are looking for an importer.

Corsini said that 2013 was an excellent vintage for Chianti Classico. In fact, he added, there has not been a bad vintage for Chianti Classico since 2002!

Speaking about Barolo was Giovanni Minetti the former President of the Barolo and Barbaresco Consortium. He has also served as the CEO for some of Piedmont’s most important estates including Tenuta Carretta. Giovanni Is one of the most respected and knowledgeable people working in Italian wine.

Giovanni Minetti

Minetti spoke about the 2012 vintage for Barolo. He said that this was a good but not a great vintage but the wines have balance and elegance. They are more approachable and would be ready to drink sooner than the 2011 and 2013 vintage. After tasting the wines, the other journalists agreed with him. I was in agreement on the first two wines but not the Tenuta Carretta. The grapes for this come from the Canubbi vineyard, which may be the best vineyard in Barolo, and the wine has great structure and body.

Barolo DOCG 2012 cru Rocche di Castelletto 100% Nebbiolo Cascina Chicco in Monforte d’Alba. In 2007, the Faccenda Family purchased a 5 hectare plot of land. This 5 hectare vineyard was purchased in 2007 in the Ginestre zone where the Barolo Rocche di Castelletto DOCG comes from. The vineyard has a southwest and west exposure and the soil is clay and limestone. Manual harvest takes place the second half of October and each plant in harvest twice.

Fermentation lasts for 15 days in small stainless steel tanks with pumping over for color extraction. Maceration is for 40 to 45 days. Malolactic fermentation is in wood. The wine is put into barrels of 2,000, 2,500 and 5,000 liters for 30 months followed by 8 months in stainless steel. It is released 4 years after the harvest. This is an elegant, complex, full bodied wine with hints of raspberry, liquorice and spice. $75

 Barolo DOCG 2012 cru Ravera 100% Nebbiolo Réva Monforte d’Alba Ravera sub-zone. 100% Michet, one of the 3 principal sub varieties of Nebbiolo. The exposure is east and southeast and the vineyard is 1.1 ha at 380 meters and 4,500 plants per hectare. The soil is clay and limestone, alternating with marl and fossilferous sandstone, tending to “elveziano”.

This is an organic wine growing estate which uses only certified bio-products, organic fertilizers and natural yeast. The harvest is manual.

Spontaneous fermentation is on the skins in stainless steel tanks for 30 to 35 days. 80% of the malolactic fermentation takes place in large Austrian oak barrels and 20% in used barriques. Aging is for 24 months in oak barrels and wine was bottled in August. This is a complex, full bodied and balanced wine with hints of violets, blackberries and tobacco. They make 6 wines. Every that works in the winery is under 35!  $79

Minetti made it clear that Michet is not a clone of Nebbiolo but a sub variety. 

Barolo DOCG cru Cannubi 2012 100% Nebbiolo Tenuta Carretta in Piobesi d’Alba in the heart of the Roero zone. The vineyards are at 2.5 hectares. Cannubi may be the best vineyard for Barolo-best exposure and microclimate. The vineyards are at 250 and 350 meters and the training system is guyot. The soil is clay marl with layers of yellow stone and pebble, rich in mineral salts. The exposure is southern/ southwest.

Aging for a minimum of 36 months-at least 24 in casks a and 9 months in bottle. Wine does not go on sale before the 4^th year after the harvest. This is a very impressive Barolo complex with hints of wild red berries, tobacco, spice and chocolate. $130

Another Year in Recipes: “The Italian Vegetable Cookbook”

Another Year in Recipes

A weekly cycle of catering to my culinary curiosity

«Two End-of-Winter Soups

March 22, 2017 by Diane Darrow

The last week of winter sent us some nasty weather as a parting gift. It has been a peculiar winter hereabouts: many days’ temperature getting up into the 60s, followed by colder spells with lots of wind, then unseasonal warmth again. It had hardly snowed at all until a late nor’easter barreled toward us, threatening Manhattan with 15” or more of snow and wild blustery winds. It was definitely a day to stay home and make soup.

I remembered there were some soup recipes in Michele Scicolone’s Italian Vegetable Cookbook that I’d been meaning to try for a long time, so I pulled my copy off the shelf and started looking through it. Aha: Celery Rice Soup – the very thing! Beloved Spouse is always eager for dishes involving cooked celery, and I had just bought a large fresh head of it.
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With that incentive, he was more than happy to chop all the vegetables for the soup. He began working on the four biggest stalks of celery, then moved on to a big onion and two potatoes, while I measured out ½ cup of white rice, grated ½ cup of parmigiano, and defrosted 6 cups of homemade broth and 2 tablespoons of minced parsley.
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The cooking process was simple. In a soup pot I briefly softened the onion in olive oil, stirred in the celery and potatoes to coat them with the oil, poured in the broth, and simmered everything for 20 minutes. Then I added the rice and some salt and pepper, simmered it for another 20 minutes, and stirred in the parsley. The rice had absorbed a lot of the liquid, making the soup look almost like a vegetable stew.

For lunch that day we ate big bowls of it, topped with grated parmigiano. It was a perfect consolation for a mean, snowy, sleety day: hearty, homey, and comforting, with a mild and delicate flavor of celery.
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A few cold, windy days later I turned to another recipe from the same book:Pugliese-style Zucchini-Potato Soup. Its ingredients are similar in type but even fewer in number than the previous one’s: potatoes, zucchini, and spaghetti, with condiments of garlic, olive oil, and grated parmigiano.
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The cooking too is even simpler: Bring salted water to a boil, add cut-up potatoes and a minced clove of garlic, cook 10 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add cut-up zucchini and broken-up spaghetti; cook 10 more minutes, until the spaghetti is al dente. Stir in olive oil, black pepper, and grated cheese. Serve, passing more olive oil at the table.
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This minimal peasant soup was, once again, just what the weather needed. The final dressing of cheese and olive oil completed and enhanced its simple basic flavors. Beloved Spouse said it struck him as a grandmother’s soup. My only complaint was for the blandness of the out-of-season zucchini: They didn’t contribute all they should have to the mixture.

But the vernal equinox is past, Earth’s northern hemisphere is tilting toward the sun, the days are getting longer, and soon the growing season will be upon us. And if winter delivers any Parthian shots to us, I can retaliate with the rest of my two soups.
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The Return Of Gruppo Italiano

The Gruppo Italiano held its first event at Il Gattopardo Restaurant in NYC the other night. Gianfranco Sorrentino, the President and Chairman of the Gruppo Italiano, and owner of Il Gattopardo, welcomed the guests and spoke about the Gruppo Italiano’s mission. The organization is dedicated to popularizing authentic Italian cuisine, products and the Italian life style and enhancing its image in the United States through education, member restaurants and promotions.

Paula Bolla- Sorrentino and Gianfranco Sorrentino

Italian food products, wine and Italian cookbooks were on display. Appetizers were passed, always a treat when they come from the kitchen of Il Gattopardo. Red, white and sparkling wines were poured.

Gianfranco said the Gruppo Italiano strives to provide a constant flow of information about Italian cuisine and wine to member restaurants, food and wine importers and distributors, the press, culinary schools and the general consumer with a serious interest in authentic Italian food. The GI also helps fund the Giacomo Bologna Scholarship program for culinary students through a partnership with the National Restaurant Association. They plan to organize events throughout the year to support the scholarship program.

Each year the GI will organize a trip to a different region of Italy with the purpose of highlighting its history, food and wine. Invitations to join the trip will be extended to members and the press. Trips to Italy for students of the American Culinary Institute are also planned as well as hosting Italian culinary students to study in the US.

Bloomberg news reported just a few days ago that despite Italy’s current problems, the country it has the healthiest people in the world and we know why. There is no better way to eat than to follow the Mediterranean diet. The GI would like to educate members and the public about eating well and to pay more attention to the quality of the products they buy.

Maurizio Forte, Italian Trade Commissioner, spoke about the importance of authentic Italian cuisine and authentic Italian products. He also said it was very important to have an association composed of Italian restaurateurs, importers and distributers that are so passionate about Italian food and wine.

Journalist John Mariani spoke about what he thinks is authentic Italian cuisine and its evolution in the United States.

John Mariani, Maurizio Forte, Paula Bolla-Sorrentino, Gianfranco Sorrentino, Charles Scicolone==Gruppo Italiano Members & Press Cocktail Reception==Il Gattopardo, NYC==March 20, 2017==©Patrick McMullan==Photo – Owen Hoffmann/PMC== ==

I spoke about the American market for Italian wine, and the importance of the small “boutique” importers and distributors that are promoting Italian indigenous grapes and artisanal wines versus industrial or mass-produced wines.

The annual membership is $50.00 to receive all of the services provided to GI members.

Contact: 13-15 West 54^th Street NY, NY

Phone 212-246-0412

e-mail: welcome@gruppo-italiano.com

http://www.Gruppo-Italiano.com

On Wine, Pizza and the Princess in Naples

 

In February, I received an invitation from an acquaintance to try a new restaurant in New York. But since I was in Naples, Italy, I responded that I could not attend. “In that case,” came the reply, “you must visit the Pizzeria Concettina ai Tre Santi. My mother, the princess, owns the building and lives upstairs.” It sounded like a great invitation but unfortunately my schedule was set and we were leaving Naples shortly so I had to decline.

I had an appointment to meet with winery owners Gilda Guida and her husband Salvatore Martusciello.

I met Gilda last year on the Campania Stories tour for journalists.

Gilda Guida

At the Pizzeria Parule in Ercolano I drank the best Gragnano, which I consider the perfect pizza wine, that I have had. Gilda told me it was her and her husbands’ wine.  Salvatore had 26 years of experience in his family winery before going out on his own. His family’s was the first winery to produce sparkling wine in Campania over 30 years ago.  Their winery is in Quarto. We had a long conversation about wine and pizza and she had invited me to visit.

Salvatore in the Vineyard

Gilda and Salvatore picked us up in front of our hotel and drove us to see one of their vineyards located on a high hill in Gragnano with great views.

Salvatore said the training system is the spalliera. He said he does not own any vineyards but has arrangements with a number of small vineyard owners in the area. All of the arrangements are based on a handshake, he said. Salvatore showed us around the vineyard pointing out where the different grapes were grown. He spoke very enthusiastically about the terroir, the native grapes and this part of Campania in particular.

After we visited the vineyard, Gilda and Salvatore suggested we go for pizza to what they consider the best pizzeria in Naples right now. To my surprise, it was Concettina ai Tre Santi (S.Antonio, S.Anna and S. Alfonso) the same place my New York contact had recommended. I could not believe the coincidence! We called the Principessa who graciously came down to meet us and took us on a tour of her grand apartments.

Ciro  at the Wood Burning Oven

At the restaurant, we met the pizzaiolo/owner Ciro Oliva who is only 24 years old. The pizzeria is not in the best part of Naples,Via Arena della Sanità 7, but Ciro has become famous because of his great pizza and his charity work for the children and needy people in his neighborhood. The place is always crowded.

Ciro brought out a succession of fritti, fried appetizers, including little fried pizzette with different toppings,

little rice balls filled with cabbage and cheese, fried pasta and fried polenta. With them we drank Salvatore’s Trentapioli Spumante Brut Asprinino d’Aversa. It was an excellent combination.

“Trentapioli “Spumante Brut Asprinino d’Aversa 2015 (Metodo Martinotti Brut) Made from 100% Asprinio d’Aversa from the tree-lined historic vineyard in the town of Casapesenna, in the Agro Aversano. The name of the wine Trentapioli comes from the thirty pegs of the ladder used to climb up to harvest the grapes

The vines are typical Alberata Aversana. In the Alberata training system, which dates back to the Etruscans, the vines grow up to 18 meters tall and are tied to tall poplar trees. The harvest is manual because ladders up to 20 meters high are used in order to reach the grapes.  The grapes are placed in 18kg boxes. The soil is alluvial, volcanic and of medium texture. After crushing, the must is immediately separated from the skins and placed in an autoclave for a second fermentation. The wine is matured on its lees in an autoclave for about 90 days and was bottled on December 3. The wine has nice citrus fruit aromas and flavors with a hint of lime, herbs and good acidity. The wine can age for 5 to 6 years.

Then Ciro made a number of pizzas for us to share using local cheeses, vegetables and meats.

With the pizza we drank Salvatore and Gilda’s Ottouve Gragnano della Penisola Sorrentino 2015. This is a slightly frizzante red wine which Salvatore likes to describe as vivace (lively). It was good as I remember it from last year.

Ottouve Gragnano della Penisola Sorrentina DOC Made from 60% Piedrosso, Aglianico, Sciascinoso and 40%, Suppezza, Castagnara, Serbegna, Olivella and Sauca. That is why the wine is called eight grapes. Salvatore said it was a tribute to the lesser known grapes of the area. The training system is espalier.

The vineyard is at 300 meters. For 2015 the harvest began on September 24^th and ended on October 8^th. The grapes were hand harvested into boxes of 20kg. After destemming and crushing, maceration with the skins lasts for 5 days, soft pressing of the grapes in a pneumatic press  and fermentation in temperature controlled tanks at about 20C

The 2015 vintage was bottled on December 1^st. The wine should be served chilled and should be drunk within two years after it was bottled. This is the perfect pizza wine but it also goes with many other southern Italian dishes. It is only 11.5% alcohol. This is a  wine with light foam when poured, hints of strawberry, red currants and a hint of spice.

 Salvatore also produces :

Settevulcani Falanghina dei Campi Flegrei DOC

Settevulcani Piedirosso dei Campo Flegrei DOC

Ottonove Lettere della Penisola Sorrentina DOC

 After having a very enjoyable time, making new friends, sightseeing, eating pizza and drinking wine, we did not have enough time to taste these wines.  I guess I will just have to return again.  But Salvatore and Gilda had one more surprise for us. They took us to visit their vineyard in the Campi Flegrei called Foglie di Amaltea.  It overlooks a large volcanic lake though they do not currently produce grapes there.

Excellent Article in the Washington Post on Wine Critic Daniele Cernilli

Food

Italy’s go-to critic confirms why America’s embracing his country’s vino

By Dave McIntyre Columnist, Food March 11  The Washington Post

Leading Italian wine critic Daniele Cernilli, author of “The Ultimate Guide to Italian Wine 2017,” at a recent tasting in Washington. (Dave McIntyre)

Searching for value, variety and excitement in wine? Look to Italy — or so says Daniele Cernilli.

Cernilli is the author of “The Ultimate Guide to Italian Wine 2017,” and a longtime champion of the wines of his native country. The Roman was one of the founding editors of Gambero Rosso, the leading Italian food and wine magazine that grew out of the Slow Food movement in the 1980s. Wine lovers around the world know Gambero Rosso’s “tre bicchieri,” or three glasses, as the highest rating an Italian wine can receive (at least in Italy).

“Italian wines are the new wave for high-quality wines for Americans,” because there are many with high quality for the price, Cernilli told me during a recent industry and consumer tasting at the Mayflower Hotel sponsored by the Wine Scholars Guild. The tasting included about 50 wines that were top scorers in his new guide.

“Quality is higher than Spain, but in price we are lower than France,” Cernilli said, explaining Italy’s appeal to value-conscious consumers.

Those consumers should look for wines from Campania, he said. “The wines there are improving in a tremendous way. It’s the Tuscany of the south.” He praised Campania for its local grape varieties such as fiano and greco di tufo, as well as wines made with international varieties.

At 62, Cernilli looks every bit the rumpled oenophile, with a wine-softened smile lifting his double chin, and a paunch coaxing out his shirttail. (Believe me, I know the look.) He is congenial, but he bristles at the mention of Gambero Rosso, which he left in 2011 to create his own website, DoctorWine.it.

When a winery representative offered a taste of a Chianti Classico during the event, saying, “It got tre bicchieri,” Cernilli waved it off and pointed to another wine.

“I created tre bicchieri,” he said. “I know what it has become. It’s all politics.

“I am too romantic to be in Gambero Rosso today,” he continued. “It is more modern and commercial. They gave 450 tre bicchieri last year. That’s too many high awards. They also do more than 50 events worldwide each year. In my day, we did three.

“I want to be a publisher, not a promoter,” he said.

So in addition to his website, Cernilli has self-published his third annual guide in Italian (and second translated in English) as a counterpart to Gambero Rosso’s annual Guide to Italian Wines, which he edited for more than two decades. In that respect, he is not unlike other prominent writers, such as Wine Spectator’s James Suckling or Wine Advocate’s Antonio Galloni, who have tried to leverage their own reputations independent of the publications that made them famous. It is available for $20 at Eataly in New York and will soon be on Amazon. (Amazon chief executive Jeffery P. Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.)

This might be a good time for this book. Americans are buying more Italian wine than ever, according to the business news website Il Sole 24 Ore. Italian wine exports to the U.S. market last year topped 1.8 billion euros (about $1.9 billion), up 6 percent over 2015. That was a volume increase of 4 percent.

Prosecco, the inexpensive and charming — if rarely compelling — sparkling wine, led the charge, with 2016 sales up 28.5 percent over the previous year.

With more than 500 grape varieties, Italy offers a lifetime of wine adventure and exploration. Cernilli’s book guides us, region by region, through the top producers as rated by him and his contributors. Wineries are evaluated from 0 to 3 stars, with their top wines scored on a 100-point scale. Wines that score 95 or higher receive an additional stamp of approval: Cernilli’s visage, dubbed a “DoctorWine Face” — his personal guarantee of the wine’s quality. Inexpensive wines that show extraordinary value are denoted by a thumbs-up symbol, the universal social media positive review. Cernilli and his team also named their best red and white wines of the year, as well as winery and winemaker of the year.

Cernilli may have written the “ultimate” guide to Italian wine, but it isn’t an exhaustive one. The book includes nearly 1,000 wineries and about 2,500 wines. Some wineries familiar to U.S. wine lovers are conspicuous by their absence, such as Alois Lageder in Alto Adige, the cult winery Radikon in Friuli and Tenuta delle Terre Nere on Sicily’s Mount Etna.

“We choose wineries by the quality of their wines year by year,” Cernilli told me. When wineries don’t perform as expected, he leaves them out rather than writing a bad review, “out of respect to their history and international image.”

“The Ultimate Guide to Italian Wine 2017” is a valuable reference, engagingly written in an Italian accent. Let Italy’s foremost wine critic introduce you to the exciting variety Italy has to offer.

Checchino dal 1887- Dining like the Romans

Checchino dal 1887

 Via di Monte Testaccio 30

http://www.checchino1887.com  

 e-mail: checchinoroma.it

Open from 12:30 to 15:00 and from 20:00 to 24:00     

Closed Sunday night and all day Monday

The Mariani Family has owned the restaurant Checchino dal 1887 since it opened in 1887.

Francesco and Elio

Francesco Mariani takes care of the front of the house while his brother  Elio is in the kitchen and their sister Marina handles the accounting. Considering the wine and the food, it is the best restaurant in Rome with over six hundred wines from Italy and all over the world.

The wine is stored in a cellar that was dug into Monte Testaccio, a hill made from broken amphorae, which dates back to Ancient Rome.

The slaughterhouses of Rome used to be located across the street and the restaurant still specializes in innards and other spare parts, which the Romans called the quinto quarto, or fifth quarter, which the poor people used to eat.

Michele and I first came here over 30 years ago and return every time we are in Rome, which is very often. There is an outdoor space but we prefer to sit inside.

Usually when we arrive, Francesco will make some wine suggestions for me, saying something like “I have the 1971 Fiorano, or the 1971 Torre Ercolana or the 1983 Colle Picchione, which one do you want.”

This time he proudly announced that the restaurant has a new plate Buon Ricordo plate in honor of the 130 anniversary of the restaurant and the 35 year anniversary of the Unione Ristoranti Del Buon Ricordo. Restaurants that are members of this collectors club give you a colorful souvenir plate if you order a certain traditional dish on the menu. Checchino’s new plate features Bue Garofolato, a beef pot roast cooked in a tomato sauce accented with cloves.

Michele then got up to look at the plate that was hanging on the wall and I knew what she was going to order it.

I started with the Assaggio di Fagioli e Cotiche, pig skin and borlotti beans cooked with tomato. This dish is so good, so intense, that I cannot resist!

Michele had the Artichoke alla Romana to start,

then the Pasta e Ceci, a thick chick pea and pasta soup flavored with rosemary.

Bucatini all’Amatriciana is my favorite pasta dish and as they say “nobody does it better”. I always order it here.

Fegato di vitello ai ferri,  thin slices of grilled veal liver, very flavorful and tender, was my main course and as a side dish I had an Artichoke alla Romana.

For the secondo Michele had the Bue Garofola, the piatti dell buon ricordo, served with cabbage braised with fennel seed.

We drank the 1971 Torre Ercolano and Francesco said it was the last bottle.

I finished with warm Apple Cake topped with Vanilla Gelato.

A week or so later, I invited Daniele Cernilli, aka “Doctor Wine,” author of The Ultimate Guide to Italian Wine 2017, and his wife Marina Thompson to lunch at Checchino. I have to go there at least twice when I am in Rome and found out it is one of Daniele’s favorite restaurants and that he has been going there since 1979–even longer than Michele and I. We had great lunch along with a bottle of 1983 Colle Picchione