VINO

The Weekly Word of Vino, Italian Wine & Spirits

 

In This Issue:

September 20, 2006 

 

 

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Upcoming Events at Vino

•  

Wine Opinion: How I Became a Pizzaiolo (Part I)

 

 

 

•  

Wine Tastings: One of Our Favorite Importers

 

 

 

 

•  

Fall 2006 Class Schedule

 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events at Vino

 

Special Monday Tasting
5:30-7:30
FREE


Winemaker Filena Ruppi (pictured right) will be pouring her wines at the store on Monday, September 25, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The free tasting will also include a few labels by her husband, Donato d'Angelo.

Weekly Wine Tasting
Thursday and Friday
September 21-22
5:30-7:30
FREE!!!


Featured wines from one of our favorite importers,
Vignaioli Selections.

For more information see below.

Dinner with one of Italy's leading women winemakers
Filena Ruppi (pictured right), Tenuta del Portale (Basilicata)

Monday, September 25, 8:00 p.m.
Ristorante I Trulli
SOLD OUT

For those of you who were not able to reserve for the dinner, Filena Ruppi will be leading a free tasting of select wines from 5:30-7:30 at Vino on Monday September 25 prior to the dinner.

Vino and the Scicolones Partner with St. Vincent's
for a good cause...


On Tuesday, September 26, Michele and Charles Scicolone will be pouring, talking, tasting, and mingling at "A Taste of the Village and Beyond," where Vino will be among the sponsors providing donations.

The charity event will raise funds to help renovate St. Vincent Hospital's Manhattan Children's Inpatient Psychiatric Unit and will include food and wine tastings, auctions, and, of course, the chance to meet and chat with Michele and Charles.

For details, click here.

To shop and browse our wines online, click here.

 

Wine Tastings: One of Our Favorite Importers

 

Wines from one of our favorite importers, Vignaioli Selections.

This Thursday and Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
121 East 27th St.
between Park and Lex.
FREE
800-965-VINO
contact@vinosite.com

Ribolla Gialla 2004 Antico Broilo
(click here to order)

Ribolla Gialla is an indigenous grape of Friuli, often compared to Chardonnay. It makes for a wine rich in color with unusual aging ability for a white wine.

Vareij 2004 Hilberg
(click here to order)

Vareij is an unusual blend of Brachetto and Barbera. The term vareij means "varied" or "variation" in Piemontese dialect. It refers to the fact that Brachetto is rarely vinified as a still wine.

Uvarara 2004 Frecciarossa
(click here to order)

Uvarara is a grape grown in the Oltrepo' Pavese appellation. Often called Bonarda, it is slightly different than the Bonarda grown in Piemonte and in Emilia.

Amarone 2000 Begali
(click here to order)

This Amarone from an artisanal producer is a classic example of the appellation's unique character in the panorama of Italian winemaking.

Recioto 2003 Begali
(click here to order)

Recioto is the sweeter, more concentrated original version of Amarone. While it is often served with chocoloate outside Italy, in the Valpolicella (province of Verona) where it is made, the traditional pairing is pastissada, a horse-meat stew.

Click here to browse and shop our wines online.

http://www.vinositeshop.com/product-exec/product_id/721/nm/Ribolla_Gialla_br_2004_br_Antico_Broilo

 

Fall 2006 Class Schedule

 

All classes last approximately 2 hours.

To register, please send an email to register@vinosite.com.

Please be sure to include the following information:

* Class and Date.

* Names and Number of Persons Attending.

* Billing information including 1) name as it appears on the card 2) card number 3) expiration date and 4) billing address and phone number.

* Day and nighttime phone number.

All reservations will be confirmed via email.

Due to limited availability, all reservations are final and no refunds or exchanges are allowed.

Italian Wine 101
Wednesday, September 27, 6:30 p.m. ($55)


Wine educator Robert Scibelli, DWS, gives a command performance with his popular Introduction to Italian Wine course. Participants will sample wines from different regions of Italy, learn how wine is made, and explore Italy's wonderful range of winemaking styles and traditions.

A specialist in Italian wine, Robert Scibelli currently serves as the National Development Coordinator of the International Wine Center in Manhattan where he also lectures on a wide range of wine-related subjects.

The Killer B's: Barolo, Barbaresco, and Brunello
Wednesday, October 4, 6:30 p.m. ($95)


No, it's not an Alfred Hitchcock movie: Wine Director of Vino and I Trulli, Charles Scicolone, guides course-participants through a tasting of Italy's most sought-after and collectible appellations, Brunello di Montalcino, Barbaresco, and Barolo, including single-vineyard and blended wines from some of Toscana's and Piemonte's most famous producers. This seminar is a must for both connoisseurs and neophyte collectors of Italian wine.

Charles and I Trulli have been nominated for outstanding wine service and wine list for five years running by the James Beard Awards. Charles coordinated wines for the Italian-themed Year 2000 James Beard Awards. He has lectured on Italian wines for the Italy America Chamber of Commerce, the Agricultural Ministry of the Region of Sicily, La Cucina Italiana, The Italian Trade Commission and The Smithsonian Institute. Recently, Charles worked as a consultant for Waterford Crystal on their new line of stemware. He has appeared on national television on Emeril Live!, In Food Today, Ciao Italia, and Cooking Live and has been a guest on The Arthur Schwartz Show and was a weekly wine commentator on The Bea Lewis Show on radio. Charles is a member of the Wine Media Guild.

Pizza, Any Way You Slice It
Saturday, October 14, 1:30 p.m. ($85)


Charles Scicolone (see bio above) teams up with his wife, celebrated cookbook author Michele Scicolone, to teach this ever-popular course on pizza based on their best-selling and definitive work on the subject, Pizza, Any Way You Slice It. With Ristorante I Trulli as the backdrop, Michele and Charles lead this hands-on seminar where participants learn how to make true Neapolitan pizza dough, experiment with traditional and fusion toppings, and sample wines that pair well with pizza.

Michele Scicolone is a cookbook author and writer who specializes in food, wine and travel. Her Mastering Pasta, Noodles and Dumplings was published by Williams Sonoma/Free Press in October, 2005. Her 1,000 Italian Recipes, was nominated for a 2004 James Beard Award and was a main selection of The Good Cook book club. She is also the author of The Sopranos Family Cookbook and Entertaining with the Sopranos, cookbooks based on the popular television show. Michele's writing appears regularly in Bon Appetit, Wine Spectator, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Gourmet, Food Arts, and many others.

Noble Nebbiolo
Wednesday, October 18, 6:30 p.m. ($85)


Many believe that the word Nebbiolo comes from the Latin nebula or "cloud": the famous fog of Piemonte helps to keep the grapes cool as they ripen to perfection in the late summer/early fall. While the Nebbiolo grown in the Langhe hills is used to make the most notable expressions, Barolo and Barbaresco, Nebbiolo is also used to make Piemontese appellations Carema (in Carema) and Ghemme (in Novara) among others, as well as Valtellina in Lombardia (where it is used to make dried-grape Sfurzat or Sforzato) and the Valle d'Aosta. Participants in the Noble Nebbiolo seminar will sample a variety of Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo-based wines as they explore a wide range of winemaking styles and techniques. Wine director Charles Scicolone leads the guided tasting and comments on the many different Nebbiolo clones, aging potential, tasting profile, and the similarities and differences between the Nebbiolo grown in the Langhe and that cultivated in other parts of Italy.

Vintage Italian
Wednesday, October 25, 6:30 p.m. ($95)


Old wine is a topic dear to Wine Director Charles Scicolone's heart: there is perhaps no other subject that inspires him to wax poetic than a tasting of vintage Italian. Especially today, wine lovers are tempted -- by producers and wine sellers -- to drink open bottles young. In his Vintage Italian seminar, Charles leads participants through a guided tasting of young and old wines as he discusses what to look for in young wines in order to assess their longevity and reveals how wine and tasting profiles evolve (e.g., secondary and tertiary flavors and aromas found only in vintage wines). He will also discuss cellaring and wine collecting. Aglianico, Sangiovese, and Nebbiolo are just some of the grape varieties that will be tasted (young and old).

Italian Wine and Cheese
Saturday, November 4, 1:30 p.m. ($85)


What could be better than having dinner with Charles and Michele Scicolone over a variety of Italian wines and cheeses at I Trulli, where Michele discusses the formaggi and Charles pairs the wines? In what has become one our most popular courses, Charles and Michele hold court at the restaurant and discuss fresh, aged, and ripened cheeses, cow's milk vs. goat's vs. sheeps, and in what has proved to be the high point of the event, Michele tries to stump Charles with an unusual and hard-to-pair cheese. This seminar fills up fast and availability is extremely limited.

Grappa and Italian Brandy
Wednesday, November 8, 6:30 p.m. ($75)


Back by popular request, the Grappa and Italian Brandy seminar includes a tasting of a wide variety of distillates, fruit- and pomace-based (spitting is encouraged!). Following the grappa mania of the late 1980s and early 90s, a tide of grappa flowed into this country, not all of it good. Today, myriad labels are available to the consumer but quality varies greatly and in some cases, you pay more for the hand-blown Murano bottles than you do for the contents. As an extra added bonus, I Trulli and Vino's Operations Manager Jim Hutchinson will lead a hands-on demonstration of how to prepare a flavored grappa (an excellent holiday gift idea).

Amarone and the Wines of Verona
Wednesday, November 15, 6:30 p.m. ($95)


This class is a must for collectors of Italian wine. The wines of Verona and the Valpolicella are often Italy's most misunderstood and are certainly among the most unique in the panorama of Italian winemaking. Amarone and Recioto (both dried-grape wines) are some of the world's most collected and collectible appellations. These are long-lived wines with great power and depth. But the province of Verona also produces Soave, an appellation that has enjoyed a renaissance as winemakers have moved away from commercial production, and a wide range of monovarietal wines. Wine director Charles Scicolone leads a guided tasting that includes dry and sweet wines, white and red classics, and some of the cutting-edge and more unusual labels that have appeared in recent years.

 

Wine Opinion: How I Became a Pizzaiolo (Part I)

 

editor's note: there are still some spaces available for Charles and Michele's Pizza class on Sat. November 14. To register, please email register@vinosite.com.

In 1970, I went on my honeymoon to Italy for three weeks. Among the places we visited was Napoli. A famous man once said, vedi Napoli e poi mori, "see Napoli and then die." When our visit in Napoli was over, I turned to Michele and said, "we saw Napoli, it was terrible, and I feel like I died." Even though we visit Italy three or four times a year, because of our experience, we never went back to Napoli. It seemed, when we were there, that everybody wanted to take you for a "ride." Not only the cab drivers, but even the police seemed to have their hand out looking for a "tip."

Twenty-five years went by and Michele went on a press trip to Napoli. When she was there, she telephoned and said that Napoli was wonderful and that we did not understand it the first time that we were there. Maybe we were too young and too naive. Michele kept on saying how wonderful the people were, that they did not speak but actually sang. The city was wonderful. The Bay of Napoli was incredible and the food was some of the best that she had ever eaten.

But the best thing that she had was the pizza. My response was, "How good could the pizza be?" I've eaten pizza all over Italy and I've eaten pizza in New York. How could it possibly be any better? We were scheduled to go on a trip to Roma a few months later and after much badgering, Michele convinced me that we would spend eight days in Roma and one day in Napoli. We went to Napoli first, and instead of spending one day there, we spent eight days. Michele was right: I fell in love with the city and all things Neapolitan. The caffe' and the sfogliatella at the Caffe' Gambrinus, the wonderful seafood, and, of course, pizza. I ate pizza three times a day. You can buy pizza and eat it as you walk because some of the restaurants have a stand outside and they ring a bell when the pizza is ready, and you come and buy the pizza and you fold it (because you can fold Neapolitan pizza without it falling apart), and you go on your way. I ate pizza for lunch and I ate pizza for dinner.

In his famous Allegory of the Cave (from the Republic), Plato writes that all we see are shadows and reality is hidden from us. The things that we see are not the things themselves but shadows of those things. Therefore, we never know the thing itself. I felt that I had tasted what pizza really should be. I was no longer in the shadows and I had come out into the sunlight and I could see. I could eat, I could taste. I was in heaven.

On the way home, I turned to Michele and said to her, "where am I going to find pizza like this in New York?" Michele turned to me and said, very sarcastically, "Make it yourself!"

Stay tuned for the next installment of “How I Became a Pizzaiolo,” where I will reveal the secrets behind my career as a pizza-maker and author of Pizza, Any Way You Slice It.

--Charles Scicolone, Wine Director, I Trulli and Vino

Charles would love to hear from you. Please email him at charles@vinosite.com.

To purchase Pizza Any Way You Slice It by Charles and Michele Scicolone, click here.