Edoardo Valentini (below) produced wine for sale from the 1956 vintage until his death at age 72 in 2006. During that half-century he became widely regarded as Abruzzo’s greatest winemaker. His renown among fans of fine Italian wines grew as bottles of his Montepulciano, Cerasuolo and Trebbiano found their way onto tables and into tastings all over the world. His unique approach to handling vines that were thought inferior by many in the wine community combined with his eccentric personality caused his legend to grow but it was the excellence in bottle that really solidified his reputation as one of Italy’s great craftsmen of natural wines.

Valentini gave up a career in law to return with his family to their ancestral home in the village of Loreto Aprutino, about a half hour inland from Pescara. He tended about 170 acres of vines spread across several vineyard sites as well as hundreds of acres planted to fruit trees and olives. While farming made up a good part of his living, life in a rural village also allowed him to count agriculture and winemaking among his intellectual pursuits. He was famously reluctant to advise visitors on his techniques in the cellar but we do know through the consistent quality of his wines across the decades that whatever those methods were he practiced them with discipline and expected excellence in quality and style.

Valentini became notorious for his shunning of the media and disregard for wine marketing. Consequently, what little information we can glean about the man and his wines only serves to enhance the mystique surrounding both. Since Edoardo Valentini’s passing his son Francesco Paolo has carried on the production of the family’s much-admired line of Abruzzese wines with fidelity and rigor. It is evident in tasting that the Valentini legacy remains strong and will be well tended.

Click here for the full selection of wines by Valentini!

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

We all know about Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s inexorable links to Papal history, but for Domaine de la Solitude owners Jean and Michel Lancon it’s a particularly tight connection. The Lancon family are descendants of the Barberinis, a wealthy family of Florentine merchants. In 1623, Maffeo Barberini (above, in a Bernini portrait) was elected Pope as Urbano VIII in Rome. A notorious nepotist, Barberini elevated several family members to the cardinalate who later settled in Avignon. Hélène Barberin (by that time the family name had been made to sound more French) married a vineyard owner, Claude Martin, whose grandson’s wife, Françoise Deloume, brought the Solitude estate as her dowry. Deloume’s great-great-grandson Albert Jacob resurrected the property: his daughter Paule married Pierre Lancon, whose two sons now find themselves at the helm of one of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s oldest and most prestigious estates.

Complex family histories aside, the Lancon brothers (above) have done a fine job in adapting the illustrious Domaine de la Solitude to the demands of twenty-first century wine consumption. In the last ten years yields have been lowered through bud pruning and green harvesting, yet the estate still boasts 100 acres of vines. The property is also blessed with an optimum terroir dominated by round, quartzite stones that absorb heat during the day then radiate it at night, ensuring grapes are fully ripened.

Cuvée Barberini is a blend of 60% Grenache, plus 20% Syrah and 20% Mourvèdre, each sourced from the estate’s best parcels. The three varieties are vinified and aged separately in small oak barrels for 24 months, after which the wine is blended in accordance with an expert testing panel, before spending a further six months in bottle before release. This 1999 vintage has spent some time lurking in our cellar. Revealing subtle spice aromas and flavors of cherry and blackcurrant, it retains all the typicity of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The wine offers exceptional value, especially given that the Lancon brothers project a long life for it through 2020. But why wait? Cuvée Barberini 1999 is already drinking marvelously: make room for it this year on your holiday table!

Domaine de la Solitude Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Barberini 1999 (Rhône Valley, France)
$80

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Today his name is among the most respected in Montalcino, but in 1975 winemaking success did not seem likely for Gabriele Mastrojanni. Mastrojanni, a lawyer from Rome, had bought two farmhouses in the heart of the Montalcino zone south of Siena. Surveying his newly-purchased land, he realized the surrounding area hardly lent itself to grape cultivation. The rugged, steep terrain had been routinely dismissed by generations of farmers as unworkable, but Mastrojanni would not be deterred. Selecting one sixth of his property he planted Sangiovese, believing it to be the likeliest variety to thrive in such difficult conditions. He also dreamed of producing a world class Brunello.

Mastrojanni soon accomplished his ambition, and the estate has long claimed that it’s the undoubted poverty of the land that has led to the winery’s history of quality Brunello production: the less nutrients the vines can find the harder they have to work to look for them. Vino is excited to showcase two of Mastrojanni’s finest examples of Brunello, plucked exclusively for you from our cellar.

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino 2006 (Toscana, Italy)
$54
Mastrojanni’s “rubino” Brunello is aged for three years in 15, 33 and 54-hectoliter Allier oak barrels before spending another 6-8 months in the bottle. Exemplary of top-flight Brunello, this wine represents outstanding value and will stand up to anything you throw at it. But if you really want to discover your inner rural Tuscan, you’ll pair it with a hearty, rustic pasta dish or red game prepared on the grill.

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino “Schiena d’Asino” 2004 (Toscana, Italy)
$105
This cru Brunello is made from fruit sourced from the “Schiena d’Asino” (donkey’s back), a south-eastern facing, one-hectare site that takes its name from its unusual shape. The vines are on average thirty-five years old and less-densely planted. As a result Mastrojanni’s oldest vineyard is also its lowest yielding: the wine isn’t released every year and of the 2004 vintage only 4,896 bottles left the winery. The wine is aged in 15-hectoliter Allier oak barrels for three-and-a-half years and in the bottle for between nine months to a year. This tremendous vintage is already drinking superbly, but will happily age for years to come.

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Here’s a cracking idea: combine our best-selling Karlsson’s Gold Vodka with a classic onion-friendly cocktail, The Gibson! Join Karlsson’s representatives Tom Michaelson and Lizz Spano next Thursday as they prepare Black Pepper Gibsons with Karlsson’s Gold Vodka and Karlsson’s own black pepper! Made by Börje Karlsson — the man behind Absolut — Karlsson’s Gold is currently tickling the tastebuds of Vodka drinkers across the U.S., earning press mentions in The New York Times and The Washington Post. See you Thursday!

COCKTAIL HOUR: BLACK PEPPER GIBSON feat. KARLSSON’S GOLD VODKA
Thursday, October 27
5:30-7:30pm

When we hear “Beaujolais” we’re quick to think of the basic “Nouveau” that flies off supermarket shelves and lands on bistro tables everywhere. But the success of this delightful yet uncomplicated wine has the tendency to obscure the fact that Cru Beaujolais, on the other hand, is a wine worthy of greater attention and praise. Indeed, the best Beaujolais can last for years, even taking on a Burgundian quality over time. With that in mind, we’ve picked out two of our favorite examples of approachable and age-worthy Beaujolais.

Jean-Paul Brun Terres Dorées “L’Ancien” Beaujolais 2010 (Beaujolais, France)
$19
In the very south of the Beaujolais zone, just north of Lyon, winemaker Jean-Paul Brun (below) has gained notoriety for his non-conformist production methods: in 2007 two-thirds of his “Vieilles Vignes” was rejected by the appellation for being “atypical”. Although his old vine Beaujolais doesn’t come from one of the area’s respected Cru sites, it shows an exceptional balance of ripe berry fruit and soft structure. Brun believes the Gamay grape expresses itself best when ripened naturally and treated with respect. Unlike many of his non-Cru producers of Beaujolais, Brun uses “Old Style” methods of winemaking to produce an honest representation of the wine without artificially inflating its fruit character. He vinifies in the classic method, using only indigenous yeast while minimising chaptalization and the use of sulfer. The wine is vinified in the traditional Burgundian method, forgoing extensive carbonic maceration and is barely filtered.

Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Côtes du Py Vieilles Vignes 2010 (Beaujolais, France)
$21
The latest in a long line of winemakers, Jean-Marc Burgaud (top) took over the family enterprise in 1989 after obtaining his diploma in oenology and viticulture. His eponymous winery is located in the village of Morgon, also a subzone in the heart of Beaujolais reknowned for producing deep, earthy wines. The finest examples of these bear the name “Côte du Py”, a reference to a prestigious vineyard site on the side of Mount Py. Burgaud’s Côte du Py Morgon is made from Gamay noir à jus blanc (to give the variety its full name) grown on fifty-year-old vines. He calls it his most typical wine, and one that achieves its unique character thanks to the rich soil of the Cru, which is made up of blue stones created by the disintegration of schist. A two-week maceration period results in a powerful wine with a ripe stone-fruit and cherry nose. Full-bodied and tannic with undoubted aging potential, the wine will drink well right now but also reward patience.

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

BODEGAS ONTAÑÓN RIOJA TASTING
with Laine Boswell
Wednesday, October 26
5:30-7:30pm

ENZO MECELLA TASTING
Saturday, October 22
3:00-6:00pm

With cooler times approaching we decided to delve into the depths of our cellar and see what surprises we could rustle up for Fall. And just look what we found! Not just three vintages, but three great vintages of Barolo by Scarzello, one of the most esteemed producers of this noblest of wines. Each of these three wines hails from a superior Barolo vintage and is now entering its phase of optimum drinkability.

Located in the center of the town of Barolo, Azienda Agricola Scarzello comprises just five hectares of vineyards, but boasts an impressive history dating back some three-hundred years. Scarzello is one of the only estates not formerly owned by the powerful Marchese Falletto (the grandfather of the Barolo wine), and although wines were not bottled under the Scarzello brand until the 1930s, the winery has long prided itself on its winemaking independence and individuality. This attitude continues today: the property is still owned and operated by the Scarzello family as it has been for the past eight generations. The current enologist is fifth-generation winemaker Federico Scarzello. Using mostly traditional cultivation and wine-making techniques, Federico continues to improve the quality of the wines and to preserve the acclaim of the vineyard, earning the winery its first Tre Bicchieri award for a 1999 vintage.

Having abandoned Dolcetto production, the winery now focuses on just two grape varieties: Barbera and Nebbiolo. As one of the region’s youngest producers, Federico is part of a new generation of Piemontese winemakers determined to expand the possibilities of their respective appellations through fearless experimentation and respect for tradition. His meticulous desire for perfection has resulted in some of the most age-worthy and approachable Barolo we’ve had the pleasure to taste in recent years.

Scarzello Barolo 2001
$80

Scarzello Barolo 1998
$90

Scarzello Barolo 1996
$120

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Believe it or not, autumn is already upon us. But we’re not busting out the Barbaresco just yet. Instead, right now we’re enjoying some of our favorite fall whites, including those by Pugliese producer Pirro Varone. You can taste both Malvasia “Grecale” and Fiano Minutolo “Le Vigne Rare” this Saturday afternoon! But first, a little local legend…

According to the Librone Magno, a gigantic tome documenting the history of the families of Manduria, Pirro Varone was a sixteenth-century Jewish nobleman who converted to Catholicism. By the late-1500s this magnanimous benefactor had donated his fortune to various local churches and founded the organized charity Monte di Pietà. Varone’s spirit of generosity seems to have been inherited by the area’s land, which today provides excellent growing conditions for the region’s top wineries.

The town of Manduria is located in the province of Taranto in the southern Italian region of Puglia. Though probably best known for its excellent Primitivo wines, the area is also home to some excellent whites. Pirro Varone owner Pietro Ribezzo cultivates fifteen hectares of vineyards in Surani, a favorable subzone of Manduria’s countryside particularly suited to the traditional grape varieties of the Salento peninsula. Among these are the popular Malvasia Bianca, and the lesser-known Fiano Minutolo, a native pugliese variety dating back to the Roman Empire, which is enjoying a reappraisal in the 21st century.

The Pirro Varone winery is extremely mindful of traditional viticultural methods, insisting upon the hand-harvesting of its ICEA-certified vines. Grapes are culled from these sites twice a season, thus increasing the quality of those remaining and ensuring that less than half of the grapes grown will actually reach the harvest.

Pirro Varone Salento IGT Malvasia Bianca “Grecale” 2008
$16

Pirro Varone Salento IGT Fiano Minutolo “Le Vigne Rare” 2009
$21

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.