In November,
the Region of Puglia, Puglia DOC, invited Michele
and myself for seven days to tour the southern part of Puglia. For those of you who don't know, Puglia is the region that forms the heel of Italy's boot.
And, of course, the owner of I Trulli and Vino, Nicola Marzovilla, and his
family are from the town of Rutigliano
in the province of Bari, Puglia.
The restaurant I Trulli takes its name from the famous UNESCO-protected
cone-shaped houses that are found in the picturesque town of Alberobello (see
the pictures, right, by Nicola's brother Michael Marzovilla). If you've ever
been to I Trulli, you know that the wood-fired oven is shaped just like a trullo (singular of trulli).
The interesting part is that one half of the trulli
are in the sunlight and one half are in the shade.
The half that is in sunlight is where all the people have turned one of the
cones into some kind of tourist shop. The other half, in the shade, is where
"the other half" lives… in other words, all the normal people. In Alberobello, the church is a trullo,
the restaurants are trulli, and there is
even a trulli hotel.
We visited the cities of Lecce, a great baroque city,
Martina Franca, Locorotondo, and Trani, which is noted for its famous dessert wine,
Moscato di Trani. One of the highlights of the trip
was the visit to Conti Zecca in Leverano.
Conti Zecca is one of our favorite wineries and we
carry a number of its wines, like the popular Rosato which is made from Negro Amaro
and Malvasia Nera, and
the Cantalupi, a classic Salice Salentino made from the same grapes, of course, the Nero, a modern-style wine, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon
and Negro Amaro, a label that has won the coveted
Tre Bicchieri award and a wine that I know many of
you enjoy.
I first visited Conti Zecca twelve years ago with
Michele and Nicola and that was when I first tasted their wines and I really
liked them. Now, finally, after all these years, we have them in the store.
We were introduced to Conti Zecca by a mutual
acquaintance. That night one of the counts invited us for dinner at the
estate. This mutual acquaintance was not planning to dine with us but rather
was going to meet his wife for dinner in Lecce. However,
when the count counted the number of people, there were exactly thirteen. He
told our friend that he either needed to take one person away to dine with
him in Lecce
or he had to stay and eat dinner so that there would either be twelve or
fourteen at the table. He did this, he explained, because thirteen people at
a table is an unlucky number. The count was not
kidding. Our mutual friend called his wife and told her what was the
situation was. She understood and he did not leave until dessert was served.
That's a true story.
We also visited the area where some of the best Primitivo
is made. That is the Primitivo di Manduria. (This Friday and Saturday at Vino we will be tasting the Primitivo di Manduria Tradizione del Nonno, a traditional wine made in the
classic style, one of my absolute favorites.)
In the beginning of September, our friends at Tour de Forks
are doing a tour of Puglia
which looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. What makes it even better is
that they have invited Michele and myself to go
along on the trip. Michele, of course, will be the food expert, and I, of
course, will say something about the wines. We hope that some of you will be
able to join us but if you are otherwise engaged, please come this Friday and
Saturday and taste some of Puglia's
best wines with us at Vino. Until then…
--Charles Scicolone, Wine Director, I Trulli and Vino
Charles would love to hear from you: please email him at charles@vinosite.com.
