In no real order, here are some photos from Amy and my honeymoon in Italy.
Meat Flower
Villa La Favorita
Rabaya
The cellar at Rabaya (good thing I didn't have my corkscrew!)
1990 Cappellano
Amy doing an Italian pose
More Favorita
Marta and Beppe
La Morra
I did this a lot in Venice
Babies are the new "must have" accessory for the coming season.
Venice
Amy took 300 pictures of me eating; this was number 299.
Me and Maria
That's a lot of oak.
The view of Falletto from La Morra
The Vaperetto on a rainy day with people pushing and yelling in 8 differen languages... (Amy weathers it better than I)
Nieve?
Highlights of the trip included:
Staying at Villa La Favorita, a small agritourismo on the slopes above Alba. Roberta, the hostess there, spoke English and helped us find excellent restaurants in the area, as well as set up key appointments with producers. The Villa itself was as beautiful as they come; with it's own vineyard, peach trees, fig trees, and a hot tub just below the Nebbiolo vines. Inside the Villa everything is classy and yet comfortable. Each morning was met with a complimentary breakfast of 7-9 courses - most of which was made from ingredients grown on the property. I can't recommend it enough.
Dining was interesting. Many places were closed strange hours, and dinner doesn't really begin until 8pm. Lunch is hard to come by, and your best bet is to pick up some meat and cheese and make yourself a sandwich. I ate Spech and cheese sandwiches most of the time (not that I'm complaining!). While meat and cheese for lunch is cheap, dinners were rather expensive with most places we ate costing over 120 euro. In Alba itself, we ate at one of the Slow Foods-endorsed restaurants, Osteria dell'Arco. Sadly, the food and atmosphere were sorely lacking. Excellent gnocchi was about the only thing they had going for them. In Barolo, we ate at a cozy spot called Osteria la Canti Nella. Most of the food was solid, if a bit on the predictable side. Tajarin (local pasta) with black truffles was the best we tasted here. We did get an outstanding bottle of wine in 1985 Barale Riserva. A bit on the masculine side, and still not giving much in secondary notes, but amazing weight and promise.
In Venice, we had a fantastic meal at Corte Sconta (A Thor-endorsed restaurant). They only cook seafood, and they perfect it. The recommendation is to order a slew of appetizers based upon whatever is freshest (which we did). Spider crab, some kind of crayfish, cuttlefish, shrimp and more were served after being expertly prepared. The highlight of the meal was black pasta with mussels, the likes of which I have never experienced. The pasta with tuna was the one downer. Desserts (while not seafood) were amazing as well. One of the top 10 meals of my life. An excellent white wine list is featured, though they keep shoving complimentary Prosecco in your hand. We ordered a bottle of the 2005 Emidio Pepe Tebbiano, which was absolutely killer.
Back at Villa la Favorita, Roberta suggested a restaurant in Roddino called Gemma for truly traditional fare. On Wednesdays (the day we were there) all the old women from the town gather at Gemma to cook. Three hours of strange courses both enjoyable and revolting ensue. Until you have seen 3 pounds of raw ground veal mixed with olive oil dumped in front of you, you don't really know what fear of food is (insalata di carne cruda). The roast that came out last was the best of the evening, so save room.
The best experience we had (food+atmosphere) came in Barbaresco in the Rabaja vineyard. My books list the restaurant name as Rabaja (like the vineyard), though the sign spells it Rabaya. As I said, the location of this restaurant was in the Rabaja vineyard: literally inside it. I have never encountered a more amazing view while dining as at this restaurant. When the sun goes down over the hills of Barbaresco, it’ll take your breath away. Surprising uncrowded, Amy and I dined outside on the terrace which was covered in vines that suspend grapes and lanterns over your head. The wine list was very reasonably priced, and we enjoyed a fantastic bottle of 1990 Cappellano Barolo. The meal itself was fantastic. An (almost) carpaccio of beef with fresh parmesan was so good that we wanted to skip the rest of the meal and just order 5 plates of it. The rabbit braised in Barbaresco for my main course might have shown a tad too much terroir, though Amy’s lamb was delish. Dessert was composed of fresh peaches, from our waiter’s garden.
As you may suspect, Amy and I also visited a few local winemakers. We actually intended to visit more than just Bartolo Mascarello, Giuseppe Rinaldi and Giuseppe Mascarello, but I had already bought more wine than I could transport home so we skipped Cappellano, Vietti, Brezza and Brovia (not wanting to bother them if we weren’t going to buy anything). Rinaldi was the toughest to get into. I’ve heard that he is a bit gruff, and he said that he was too busy at first, but Roberta was able to win him over by telling him we specifically came to the Piedmont to visit him. Beppe doesn’t speak any English, but his daughter does, so she gave us the tour of their very small facility beneath their house. Though shy, the young (22) Marta is very well learned having graduated from two schools of oenology. Already very traditionally minded, the future of Rinaldi seems secure. I’ll also add (and Amy doesn’t mind) that Marta is HOT! I wish I had a better picture, but… (I assume it won’t be long before Yaniger and Larry are buying a lot more Barolo). After the wedding, I decided to take some of our left over ESJ “Shadow” with us to give to the winemakers we visited. I wasn’t sure how novel this practice is (it’s not) until I gave a bottle to Marta which was placed on a wall with the other wine gifts they have received. It’s obvious that none of the gifts have ever been opened, as there are almost as many gifted wines in Rinaldi as there are historical bottles of Barolo. I got a bit of a chuckle imagining giving the pretty girl in high school a bouquet of roses who responds “Lovely! I’ll put them with the rest…”
Not thrilled with their 2003 Barolo, preferring the more stable 2001, Rinaldi still made a fine effort which, I felt, was even more successful in San Lorenzo Ravera (being a bit more “normal”). The 2005 Dolcetto produced by Rinaldi is a brute, but the 2005 Barbera is absolutely fantastic. Giuseppe Mascarello, Vietti and Giuseppe Rinaldi are about the only Barbera I find worth drinking. Judicious use of oak allows the fruit to express some of the finer elements of the grape. Sadly, almost all of the Rinaldi Barbera is sold locally. Even most of the Barolo never leaves the area. Rinaldi, along with Cappellano and Maria Theresa are a bit of local heroes in Barolo; which is interesting since G. Conterno and Giacosa gets most of the acclaim from traditionalists in the States, while Rinaldi and Cappellano are not as highly regarded. Amazingly enough, I only saw a handful of G. Conterno wine in the Piedmont, and the only person who mentioned either Conterno or Giacosa was Mauro Mascarello’s son, Guiseppe.
Speaking of Mauro Mascarello, it took Amy and I hours to find where the Guiseppe Mascarello facility is located. A good distance from any vineyards, Amy and I drove by Guisseppe Mascarello at least four times during our feeble search for it. Despite being two hours (!) late for our appointment, we were still welcomed into the more industrial (though still small) winery. Giuseppe Mascarello (the youngest) conducted the tour, and what a source of information he was! Giuseppe will ramble on without stopping in his flat monotone about every aspect of Barolo. Genuinely nice and more interested in the finer points of his wines than anyone we met with, Guiseppe tasted through his wines with us. Tasting his two Dolcetto side-by-side was interesting to see the differences in expression. Of his two Dolcetto, the Santa Stefano is the winner (and one of the better Dolcettos I have tasted). His Barbera was excellent as I expected, and the 2003 Scudetto is a missile that will explode your notions about 2003 being unable to make good wines. In fact, Giuseppe likes his 2003 and says he finds it to be one of his favorite recent vintages with 2001 (interesting!). Unlike Rinaldi, Giuseppe was thrilled by the gift of the ESJ Shadow. He informed us that he loves to try new things and said that we could take any of his wines in exchange. Amy’s favorite was the 2003 Scud, so we took a bottle of that. Unlike some of the more political comments that come from producers not wanting to upset their peers, Guiseppe was very open in his feeling about other Barolo (even traditional producers). I won’t get him into trouble by repeating his words, but it was great to be talked with honestly. Giuseppe really made you feel like he wanted to tell you everything about everything, rather than just answer your questions. In his opinion, G. Conterno is the best of Barolo. Certainly the recent release of Ca’d’Morissio from Mascarello would lead you to believe that they would like to emulate the success of Monfortino (though with a very different wine). We talked about the youth of the vines used in Ca’d’Morissio, and Guiseppe explained that Nebbiolo vines mature faster than other vines, but that quality will continue to go up as the vines age.
Near the end of the week, Amy and I were able to visit Maria Theresa at Bartolo Mascarello. Certainly the visit that I was most excited about, Maria Theresa did not disappoint. While Guiseppe Mascarello was interested in the actuality of his wine, Maria Theresa is much more interested in the philosophy of her wines. Tiny, but full of energy, Maria Theresa continues her father’s legacy of being the leader of preserving traditional ways. Right in the center of Barolo, the facilities of Bartolo Mascarello are beautiful, with her father’s artistic touches everywhere. We spent some 2 hours with Maria Theresa, and when it looked like she would be interrupted by work, she asked us to come back again to talk some more later. Genuinely happy to spend time with us, this was a real treat for me. I brought a bottle of 1979 Bartolo Mascarello to drink with Maria Theresa, but unfortunately it suffered from the weaker vintage and possibly some storage issues. The palate wasn’t spent, but the nose was dirty and showing a lot of reductive notes. As I told Maria Theresa, even drinking poor bottles of Bartolo Mascarello with her was a dream come true. We also drank her 2003 Barolo, which despite Maria Theresa’s claims that it is for early drinking, it’s still a powerhouse of tannin and good acidity. For our tenth wedding anniversary, Amy and I sprung for a Magnum of 1989 Barolo *grin*. As we left, Maria Theresa gifted us a bottle of her special Barolo Chinato which she only makes 200 bottles of for gifts to family and friends.
That’s about it for PG or wine-related events from the honeymoon. As usual, I had rental car troubles that involved me trying to find rubbing compound (try translating that into Italian!) and nail polish. Also, I learned that a diesel rental car will still run if you fill it with unleaded fuel.
It was a great trip.
Best,
Joe
Last edited by JoePerry on Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:11 pm, edited 6 times in total.