Summer Dinner with Friends

Tom Maresca and Diane Darrow are two of our favorite dinner guests.  The conversation always revolves around food, wine  travel and the many wonderful experiences we have had together. Hopefully we will all be together in Rome in October.

We started our dinner last wee as usual with Champagne:

Champagne  Krug NV Grand Cuvée 168EEM Edition made from 45/55% Pinot Noir, 15/20 Pinot Meunier and 25/35 Chardonnay–the percentage depends upon the vintage. They blend about 120 wines from 10 or more different vintages and it is aged for at least 6 years in the cellars. All of their Champagnes are aged in used small oak barrels. They are all prestige cuvees made from Grand Cru and Premier Cru villages and are aged longer before release. The overall rating for the vineyards is 98% with Krug’s own vineyards rating 100%.  This is a Champagne with hints of dried citrus fruit, gingerbread, hazelnuts and almonds, a note of honey and a touch of brioche. It has a very long finish and a memorable aftertaste. Fantastic. Michele’s favorite Champagne.

With the Champagne we had roasted cremini mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese and rosemary, a new appetizer in Michele’s repertoire, that I unfortunately forgot to photograph.  But I am sure she will make it again soon.

Erbaluce di Caluso “Kin” 2015  Tappero Merlo made from 100% Erbaluce.  Erbaluce is a white grape and the vines are either pergola (know as topia locally) or guyot-trained. The clusters are usually wing shaped and the grapes are small to medium with thick skins. When fully ripe they take on an auburn color as if they were sun dried. Erbaluce can be vinified as a still wine, a classic method sparkling wine, or as a passito. Erba means grass and Luce means light.

 Caluso is an ancient Celtic village on the top of a hill where you can look across the plain and see Turin. The vines were planted in 2004 and the vineyard is at 295 meters. There are 4,500 to 5,000 plants per hectare and the pruning system is guyot. The vineyard is entirely organic. Manual harvest takes place at the end of September.

Fermentation is with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature. The wine matures for at least 18 months on the lees in 20hl barrels with weekly battonage. Then it remains in the bottle for another 3 years. The wine has hints of sage, citrus, white flowers and herbs with balsamic and spicy scents. This is a wine that can age and I waited five years before I opened as it is not a complete wine until after 5 years/ according to the producer Domenico Tappero Merol  but it could last for 10 to 20 years. The wine was showing very well

Linguine with Crab and Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce ready to serve

On the plate

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva 1999  made from large Sangiovese grapes (aka Prugnolo Gentile.) The age of the vines ranges from 15 to 25 years. The running system is guyot. Only natural fertilizer is used and treatments performed on the vines are only copper and sulphur based. The grapes are hand harvested and carefully selected and placed in dry ice. Carbonic maceration is performed with dry ice for two or three days. The pied de cuve (process of using wild yeast from the vineyard to ferment the wine) is prepared 3 to 4 days before using the best grapes at 4 degrees alcohol for preventing aciculate yeasts from hindering proper fermentation. Fermentation is from 15 to 30- 35 days depending on the quality of the pomace. During maceration the cap is broken by mechanical means. The wine is aged in barriques and 15hl barrels with weekly lees stirring. The wine ages for 18 to 20 months. Then it is transferred to large barrels. Wood aging is for about 40 months and the wine is bottled after it is filtered with propylene cartridges using a mobile system. The wine has hints of ripe berries, cranberries, cherry, clove and a touch of iris. It was drinking very well.

Our main course was Pork, Rosa di Parma style.  This was a roast loin of pork rolled around a filling of Parmigiano-Reggiano and Prosciutto.

To go with the pork, Michele made a Tian of Summer Vegetables.

On the plate

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2004 “Vigna Pianrosso” Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona made from 100% Sangiovese from  11.69 hectares named Pianrosso at 240 and 360 meters with a soil of medium grain with good levels of marl dating to the Eocene period. Fermentation is in stainless steel and glass concrete vats with temperature controlled via cooling plates and jackets. Aging is in 7.5 -30 Slavonian oak barrels, for 3 years followed by over 12 months of bottle aging before release. This is an intense, complex and full bodied wine wine with hints of red berries and spice.

Dessert

Because I love blueberry desserts, Michele made one of my favorites, a Blueberry Pudding Cake.

 

“KIN” Erbaluce di Caluso at its Best

 

Michael Romano of Romano Brands Fine Wine held a luncheon and tasting for the trade at Del Posto in NYC  to introduce two of his producers. I was the only wine writer at the lunch and Michael sat me next to the two speakers so I could ask questions.

I was so impressed with the wines of Az. Agricola Domenico Tappero Merlo-Vine Growers in Canavese-Piedmont that I devoted a blog just to this winery even though they showed only one wine in 3 different vintages.

Domenico

The speakers were Domenico Tappero Merlo owner of the winery and his daughter Sara.

Domenico began by saying he worked for the Olivetti computer company for many years. Then in 2001 he decided to return to the land from which he came and to perfect the Erbaluce grape. He said the people of Canavese have always been wine growers  and the ancient Salassi, the original settlers, had vineyards there long before they were conquered by the Romans. Canavese is located between Turin and the Valle d’Aosta with the Alps at its back.

Erbaluce Grapes

Erbaluce is a white grape and the vines are either pergola (know as topia locally) or guyot  trained. The clusters are usually wing shaped and the grapes are small to medium with thick skins. When fully ripe they  take on an auburn color as if they were sun dried. Erbaluce can be vinified as a still wine, a classic method sparkling wine, and as a passito.

Erba means grass and Luce means light. Caluso is an ancient Celtic village on the top of a hill where you can look across the plain and see Turin.

Erbaluce di Caluso “Kin” DOCG 100% Erbaluce. The vines were planted in 2004 and are at 295 meters.

The soil is morainic and very sandy. He said it was poor soil with no organic material and gave everyone a small box with samples of the soil because he wanted everyone to know how important the soil is for growing grapes.

There are 4,500 to 5,000 plants per hectare and the pruning system is guyot. The vineyard is entirely organic. Manual harvest takes place at the end of September.

Fermentation is with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature. The wine matures for at least 18 months on the lees in 20hl barrels with weekly battonage. Then it remains in the bottle for another 3 years.

Domenico said his wine is not ready to drink until it is at least 5 years old. He recommends opening the bottle at least one hour before it is to be consumed and then pouring in into a decanter.

He described his wine as elegant and balanced with notes of sage, balsamic and spicy scents , hints of citrus, flowers and herbs. He also kept referring to a “clear mineral” imprint. Then there was a short discussion on the problem of minerality–does it really exists. Domenico believes it does and one of the reasons he releases his wines after 4 years is that this “clear mineraity” does not show it self until this time and the wine would not be complete with out it.  He said  his wine could last for 10 to 20 years.

Domenico named the wine after his grandfather, a simple man whose life followed the rhythm of the vineyard and nothing was more important to him than his Erbaluce wine.

Sara said that the property once belonged to the Giacosa family.  One of the family members, Giuseppe Giacosa, wrote the words for Puccini’s opera masterpieces Madame Butterfly, Tosca and La Boheme.  They are some of my favorites.

We tasted 3 vintages of Erbaluce di Caluso Kin.

2014 was a vintage with a lot of rain but Domenico said that it was not a problem for his white wine.

2013 vintage produced a very large crop.

2011   was a perfect vintage.

There was a big difference between the 3 vintages.

The 2014 was still very ripe with a lot of fruit, while the 2013 was just starting to develop the “clear minerality.”  The 2011 had both

good minerality and acidity and it is a wine that can still age for a number of years. This is a very impressive white wine.