ITALY 2003
Page 2
Lunch at the Chiettini house in Grumo (near
Trento). Wonderful salame and homemade Teroldego!
That is the famous fisherman, Francesco Chiettini.
Chef Silvia Chiettini had a monster lunch prepared!!!
Polenta and Krauti.
I was hungry when I arrived, but this situation soon changed!
When it comes to home-cookin', Silvia is no amateur! The polenta is from
corn they've milled themselves. The sauerkraut is also home cured and
delicious! Silvia includes pork and a couple of different sausages,
including cotecchino (a really rich, intensely flavored pork sausage).
Wow! And Francesco's lovely Teroldego, a fruity, rather mild version is
just perfect served at cool cellar temperature with this terrific food.
Dessert.
Not having seen a winery since yesterday, Gianpaolo Chiettini and I drove to the
village of Lavis to pay a visit to Diego Bolognani.
We tasted some lovely wines, including his new "Bordeaux-styled"
blend.
Then up to Faedo for a tasting with Arcangelo Sandri. This is a small,
family-run estate, comprising just 3 hectares of vines.
Afterwards, another Faedo estate, POJER & SANDRI.
Fiorentino Sandri.
We tasted many excellent wines!
The 2000 Faye Bianco is superb, with ripe pear fruit and lots of smoky and
toasty notes.
A new wine from the 2000 vintage, Besler Blanck, features five different grape varieties.
This reminded me of some favorite white wines from Bordeaux's Pessac-Leognan
region.
The 2000 Rosso Faye is also fabulous, showing lots of black fruit and just the
right amount of sweet oak.
The 2001 Essenzia is thoroughly delicious! It is a honeyed, sweet, rich
dessert wine.
Young Federico Sandri also enjoys tasting and evaluating the new wines.
We then drove up the hill in the Sandri's Lancia (Fiorentino is, thusly, a
Lanciatore) to Chateau Sandri for a wonderful home-cooked dinner.
We started with a room-temperature "salad" of potatoes and
octopus. This is a simple combination, but one that is very flavorful and
delicious. A jug of olive oil is offered to further "enhance"
the aromas and flavors.
A pasta which resembles calamari "rings" is amazingly good, especially
with a minimum amount of tomato sauce and a tiny bit of calamari. The
Besler Ross was paired with this.
Federico helped in the kitchen and brought out this plate which he had made.
The Chef.
How about oven-roasted Dorade for a main course? These are roasted with
potatoes and green olives.
Little Fiamma knows the best parts of the fish, so she comes over to supervise
her Father's work in serving.
Fiamma is a big fan of desserts.
Here she brings out Panna Cotta.
Federico is a Renaissance Man!
Here he is playing some wonderful classical music on the piano.
The Sandri Sisters, Fiamma and Elisa.
Monday morning Gianpaolo and I drove to the Cesconi cellars for a tour and
tasting with Lorenzo Cesconi.
Gianpaolo Chiettini operates his own winemaking and consulting service. He
is a serious fellow who appreciates those who are in search of quality.
Gianpaolo works with wineries in various regions of Italy, so I appreciate his
perspectives on the wines we are tasting or drinking.
We then drove to the Dorigati cellars in Mezzocorona. This is an old
cellar, producing a range of wines, including a well-known sparkler called
"Methius."
In the Afternoon, We Met the famous Sudtiroler Wine-Taster, Christophe Tscholl.
Click here to see more.
CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO THE
PREVIOUS PAGE
