ITALY 2003
Page 1
After nearly a month of driving around France, I flew from Paris to Torino
for a quick few days around Italia.
My first stop was "home," Castiglione Vietti in the Langhe region.
Here I met Giulia Currado for the first time. Her father is the famous
Luca Currado.
Luciana Vietti-Currado, Caterina Cordero and baby Giulia.
The increasingly handsome Francesco Cordero.
Mario Cordero and Luca Currado, proprietors and partners in the Vietti winery.
I think Luca just sat on a chair which had been outfitted with a whoopee
cushion.
Meanwhile, Luciana prepared a lovely dinner. The starter was fresh
cardoons and roasted peppers, all "bathed" in a sauce for Bagna Calda
(think anchovies, garlic, more anchovies, even more garlic and a bit of olive
oil).
This was followed by Tortellini in Brodo.
And then some sort of bird, pheasant, if I recall correctly and numerous bottles
of Vietti Barbera wines.
The 2001 Barbera d'Asti is superb and the 1999 Barbera wines are exceptional!
The next morning I visited a few wine producers. The weather was crystal
clear and quite cold.
The view of some Piemontese vineyards from the tasting facility of a small
estate in La Morra.
On a clear day you can actually see the "monte" of Piemonte.
They're snow covered on this lovely day in February, 2003.
I returned back to Vietti and we had a look around the old and the new cellars.
Luca is proud of his new wines.
As he should be!
Alfredo is also pleased with the new wines.
ALFREDO CURRADO.
2003.
The Vietti cellar features a combination of old, traditional cooperage and new,
smaller barrels.
After lunch I insisted on taking a photo of the Cordero Kids.
Francesco, Caterina and Lorenzo.
NONNA PIERINA, who has celebrated a number of "anniversaries" of her
90th Birthday!
A few more wineries to see on my Saturday afternoon in Piemonte!
The famous Elio Grasso and his lovely wines.
Terri Mascarello and her famous dad, Bartolo.
BACK TO VIETTI-VILLE !!!
Lorenzo Cordero and his Mom, Manuela Currado-Cordero.
On my rounds, I stopped at a famous place in Barolo for some grissini (they
still hand roll them!) and I also picked up a salame which was infused with
truffles! I was surprised you could actually detect the fragrance and
flavor of the truffles.
A bottle of 1998 Barolo from the Lazzarito vineyard was quite nice...a fairly
gentle rendition of Barolo, actually. The highlight of the young wines,
aside from the delicious Barbera's, is the 1999 Barolo
"Brunate." It is a wine that has wonderfully evolved and very
exotic, truffley notes of Nebbiolo.
With the Cordero family having gone to the movies and Luca's clan off skiing,
Alfredo dove into the cellar, returning with a bottle of 1979 Barbaresco from
the Masseria 'cru.' I decanted this and we sat around inhaling its
ethereal perfume for more than an hour!
The wine was fully mature, with some of the dried rose petal fragrances one
reads as a descriptor for some Nebbiolo wines.
Alfredo has been a bit cautious in predicting the condition of this
bottle. But, much like the 1969 vintage we had opened in 2001, this bottle
was terrific.
The Vietti sisters.
Giulia Currado.
It was a quick visit and the next morning I was on the autostrada, heading east
towards Trento.
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