Culatello di San Francisco

                       Photo courtesy of Marcia Gagliardi, aka "Tablehopper"
                       www.tablehopper.com


Apparently Kuleto's, that venerable Union Square ristorante (with the killer lamb sausage, chard and ricotta penne) gives a salumi/prosciutti mini course. It is now assumed that most good quality Italian restaurants in the Bay Area butcher an entire hog and make some sort of cured meat in house. It certainly looks beautiful, almost like a bluefin tuna from the Tsukiji or whatever that pesce market in Tokio is called. Nice photo.

Photos for sale

Achtung! Photos on the right margin, with one exception, are for sale. Sizes are 5x7 ($40), 8x10 ($50), and 11x14 ($60), + shipping. Only the photo itself is shipped, it is up to you to mat and frame. My recommendation is a plain white mat and a minimalist black frame. Keep it simple.

Thank you!

Porchetta truck in Culver City

$6, a bit ethereal and not quite the porky fatty wallop I was expecting. But very good and I will return. The Bucato truck is happening while chef Evan Funke is in preparing to open Bucato in the Helms Bakery complex in Culver City. According to Evan, the e.t.a. is 8 weeks. N'bocca al lupo, or in this case, al maiale!

Montalcino

Pretty much blown away by the 4 days I spent in Montalcino as a guest of the Consorzio di Brunello di Montalcino.

I've tasted Brunello before, I've been to Montalcino before. But what struck me was how the Consortium and the individual producers showed a very sophisticated and insightful brand of hospitality. Some examples:

*I walked into the front yard of Cupano and the proprietess Ornella Tondini knew my Twitter handle (@gnoccofritto) and the title of this blog, as soon as I introduced myself.

*The warmth, passion and emotion at Tenuta Croce di Mezzo. Not to mention the wines were brilliant.

*Our guide/driver Alessandro, who owns a wine shop in the center of Montalcino. Great guy, endlessly informative, funny. And he shipped me 11 bottles of wine (gifts from producers we visited) for 150 euro. Not bad at all.

*Special mention to Giulia Vitturi. She was presenting the wines of Il Ventolaio and had such a winning persistence and curiosity about our palates. A trained Sommelier, great skills, and very beautiful it should be mentioned too. Yes I am single and hopefully Giulia is reading this.

*The dining table scene at Ventolaio...mothers brothers cousins cooks colleagues pasta vino howling wind outside.

*All the wines were great...specifically the Brunello and the Rosso di Montalcino. I was not interested and nor did I like most of the "Super Tuscan"/IGT efforts. I don't come to Montalcino for Cabernet, or Merlot. I come for Sangiovese at its best expression.

*Castello di Romitorio...unbelievable wines and a quirky sense of humor.

*Bernardino at Argiano and the Argiano wines. I did not bring up their role in Brunellopoli (wouldn't have been polite) but I was impressed when Bernardino mentioned the phasing out of barriques. Excellent wines.

*Speaking of barriques...I hate them...I don't like what they do to wine. Some of the Brunello we tasted had a noticeable barrique influence. Some of the Brunello we tasted strove too hard for the international market, for the palate of the Hong Kong venture capitalist perhaps. Not for me at all, but thank you for allowing me and my colleagues to taste.

*One producer really struck out with me...robotic presentation...and inappropriately small tasting glasses, Sherry size, for the Rosso di Montalcino. If you care so little about putting your best wine foot forward, don't pour it in the first place. It's a shame because it's such a historic winery and an amazing cellar.

*Charlie Arturaola...is a force of nature and a great dude...even though I caught his flu. I look forward to the next time we can share some good vino.

*The lunch at Loacker Corte Pavone and the room itself...just wow...

*Favorites? I was impressed with Armilla, their small size and the quality of their wines. Especially the Rosso di Montalcino 2007. Tenuta Croce di Mezzo, Vitanza, Cupano, il Ventolaio, Altesino all rank highly with me.

*Lastly I want to thank the Consorzio for their planning and hospitality and IEEM + the one the only Mariana Nedic :-).

Enjoy the photos and as always, buona bevuta!

                                                                   Armilla

                                                                Cupano lunch prep

                                               Yes, parsley chopped with scissors...Cupano

            Why wasn't this served at the Cupano lunch?

                                              Simple pleasures at Cupano

                                                    It is what you think it is

                                              Cicale...like langoustines...Cupano

                                             Doesn't get much better than this...Cupano

                                                       Pinci al cinghiale...Ventolaio

                                                       Che abbondanza...Altesino

                                                    Old wine...Fattoria dei Barbi

                                                Former billiards table...Fattoria dei Barbi

                                                   Cantina at Castello Romitorio

                                                Cinta Senese...Loacker Corte Pavone

                                                 My terrace...don't be jealous...don't H8

                                           It rained a little in Montalcino that week

Bella Modena

Modena is a very, very special place...I lived there from 2002-2003 and in 2009. When I return for a visit I feel like "The Mayor". It's good to be recognized and treated well. OK enough navel gazing...it was a beautiful Fall day, snuck in two lunches, sat a true 'communal' table at Trattoria Aldina with a priest, an elderly Japanese woman eating by herself, and two locals. Fantastico.

                                                         Via Ganaceto

                                             Full house for my homecoming speech

                                                     Best paninoteca ever

                                   Panino di cotechino, salsa verde, aceto balsamico
                                   + Paltrinieri Lambrusco di Sorbara

                                                        The list of panini

                                                     Piazza San Giacomo

                                                           Trattoria Aldina

                                                 Lambrusco at Aldina

                                                 Gnocchi al ragù at Aldina

                                                           Scarpetta

                                   SF Giants fever reaches Modena (that's not my hat)

                                                       Giardini pubblici

Opera 02...Castelvetro's young masters of Lambrusco

I am not going to bore you with the old trope of Riunite on ice Riunite so nice and how far Lambrusco has come in the last generation and a half, and that dry Lambrusco is in vogue. This is an American concept meant to sell magazines and create page views on silly blogs such as this. Sometimes it's better just to taste the range of Lambrusco and decide what you like best. Drink and zip it, maybe have some salumi with it.

Better yet...travel to the heartland of Lambrusco, the area around the small village of Castelvetro known for the Grasparossa variety. There are several notable producers within a short drive of each other: Pederzana, Vittorio Graziano, Venturini Baldini, and the standard bearer and in my opinion the most balanced Lambrusco Grasparossa is Opera 02, in the Castelvetro suburb (!) of Levizzano Rangone. Mattia Montanari, the President and co-enologist, and Roberto Ballestrazzi, the sales/marketing chief, were my very warm and gracious hosts.

First: what a venue. Super modern, with a restaurant and a 9 room b and b and an Aceto Balsamico aging room, and a recent story in Food and Wine magazine. This is the place to be right now. Was I wowed? Yes. Was I charmed by the Eva Mendes look alike server in the restaurant? Oh most definitely (is she single?). But strip away the infinity pool, the kitchen tile oligarchs taking over for a conference, the fine attention to detail, and all you are left with is a lovely Lambrusco. No beasty rusticity, not overly tannic, not a 3 Bicchieri award winning slick fruit bomb...balance. Without further bloviating, here is a photo journey with Opera 02...buona bevuta!

                                      Would you like some juice?

                                  Swimming pool full of Lambrusco

                                 Vertical of Lambrusco Grasparossa 2007-2011

                                    Brochure sadly non drinkable

                                 Near Opera 02 is a postcard scene

                                  Back to the farm post tasting...

The Yoda of Lambrusco

Two months ago I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Castelvetro, a hamlet south of Modena that is known for Lambrusco Grasparossa, generally the most full bodied and tannic of Lambrusco varieties. Most producers use steel tank fermentation or Charmat method, but a handful are doing a metodo classico or Champagne method of Lambrusco, which induces a secondary fermentation in the bottle. The Agriturismo Cavaliera, in Solignano Vecchio, and incidentally where I stayed, is one of them. But one of the motives I had to stay in Castelvetro was to meet the elusive Vittorio Graziano, whose metodo classico Lambrusco I first tried at a tasting at Via Emilia in New York City. It took a few e-mail exchanges and a few phone calls to arrange an afternoon visit and taste his Lambrusco in his cantina. At the source. Was it worth it? Certainly...to meet and talk wine and history and territory with Vittorio validated my travel. The wines I tasted that day were of the most recent vintage, 2010. They did not show as well as his wines from an earlier vintage did in New York back in March 2011. But Vittorio has been making Lambrusco for a very long time and I look forward to tasting that 2010 vintage on another visit. Without further delay, I present a photo journey to the Yoda of Lambrusco, Vittorio Graziano:

                                      Told me his Ferrari was in the shop

                                      Vittorio's favorite spot

                                      Winemaking facility under the cloud

                                      Grasparossa

                                             Always a thrill to taste with a producer

                                 
                                                        Grazie Vittorio!