Shopping at Corti Brothers: One of the best Italian specialty foods markets is in…Sacramento?

More than a few folks have had to hear me gripe about the lack of high quality Italian food in the Bay Area. Good Neapolitan style pizza? You can probably count your choices on one hand, with a couple fingers to spare. Good Italian restaurants? While I admit I have some more dining exploration to do, based on my few experiences thus far, as well as what I’ve heard from a few people in the know, I’m not too optimistic. Italian specialty deli and specialty shops? Lucca’s can’t be beat for reasonably priced prosciutto and the like, but is not known for a great variety of wines, cheeses or other specialty products.

So when I first heard about the Corti Brothers store from my girlfriend’s parents, who live in Sacramento, I must admit that I harbored a bit of skepticism – all of which quickly disappeared upon first checking out the store’s website (I might add that had I done my homework, Iwould have expected nothing less than the best; I'd have known that Darryl Corti is revered throughout the country for his exhaustive knowledge of all things food and wine). While the array of traditional foodstuffs was impressive, what really caught my attention was Mr. Corti’s write-ups. Explanations were succinct but detailed, the sentences short and simple but presenting the reader with everything you could ever want to know about these traditional, centuries old, treasured products. As an example, check out the description for Consorcio’s canned fishes. I cannot stand tuna fish; it’s a deeply ingrained dislike of mine and I’ll spare you the details. Anyway, even when in Spain where the tuna is much better, I cannot bring myself to order even a tapa of the stuff. However, having read Darryl Corti’s Consorcio tuna write-up, I could not resist purchasing a small tin of the ventrasca tuna this past Sunday, fully expecting it to be every bit as exquisite as he describes. I exercised restraint, limiting my purchases to just several items: straw colored, delicate acacia honey, rich amber hued, slightly bitter chestnut honey, hearty fussili pasta from Puglia, and delicious, flat, rusty brown Sicilian almonds – man were these good. They are so different from any other almonds I’ve ever eaten; they literally tasted of marzipan in whole nut form, with the essence of a maraschino cherry thrown in as well.

Since we had a state fair to head to, I did not have the opportunity to fully explore the shop, just a quick glance through the wines and some of the above mentioned comestibles. I look forward to a return trip when I have more time to think about what I really want to buy. For anyone living in or visiting the Bay area, Corti Brothers is a store you ought to visit, absolutely worth the trek to Sacramento. Just be prepared to keep a running tally of the cost of your purchases, they do quickly add up….

Tondonia Reserva '99 and Bosconia Reserva '00

Both of these wines are light, dilute feeble wines from the most noble of Spanish wine regions, Rioja. Drinkable, but not exciting. And what awful, limpid color! 81 pts for the Tondonia, 83 pts for the Bosconia.

I joke, I joke...so I tasted both of these side by side today and would like to share the experience. Later in the week I will post what will probably be a rather long entry on Lopez de Heredia and a recent visit there, but for now I thought I'd provide a couple of brief tasting notes and something of a teaser for the future LdH post.

Lopez de Heredia makes three reserva level wines: one white, Viña Tondonia Blanco (composed of Viura and Malvasia from the Tondonia vineyard, current release: 1989), Viña Tondonia and Viña Bosconia. Other than vineyard site, the main difference between these two wines is that the former typically has 75% tempranillo, the latter 80%. Aesthetically speaking, the Tondonia is bottled in a bordeaux bottle while Bosconia is in a Burgundy shaped one. Which, judging by my growing yet still relatively limited drinking experience with LdH, is a suggestion that carries over to the actual taste of these wines.

The 2000 Viña Bosconia Reserva has 80% tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo (carignane). It shows intense, spicy cherry and strawberry aromas. Amazingly bright and high-toned red fruits on the palate, with a combination of tense, yet rich fruit flavors framed by a suggestion of lightly toasted bread. While 'the 99 Bosconia Reserva was delicious, there seems to be a bit more intensity and flavor lingering underneath the surface of this 2000. Probably won't be at its best for another few years, and should improve for at least 4-5 years beyond that.

As for the 1999 Viña Tondonia Reserva (75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, 5% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo), it seems to be an especially subtle, but classy, bottle. While the requisite darker fruit is present on the nose, the palate is quite a bit less rich than usual. Tangy cherries, cinnamon stick, plum skins and blood oranges represent some of the flavor elements here, with some cocoa powder as well. If Bosconia is typically 'Burgundian,' than I would compare Tondonia to lighter, higher acid clarets or even aged Chinon (of course these wines are original statements all their own and defy comparison; I mention it here just as a frame of reference). One fellow taster noted mushroom aromas, another a sort of old school, mature Napa cab aspect to the palate. While it's tasty now, I probably wouldn't forget about this bottle in a cellar for over 5 years, though who knows? When wine has been slowly aged in older oak and thus exposed to air for as long as this one has, sometimes it can surprise with its ability to hang on to its freshness in the bottle.

While these wines are not inexpensive, nor are they always easily appreciated by the uninitiated (though I've certainly observed some wine newbies enthusiastically enjoy them), I still wholeheartedly maintain that they are amongst the most interesting, food-friendly, and highest quality $35-$45 wines available.

Blog Post #300

Well, it was inevitable, I suppose. I've finally reached 300 posts on this gigantic free time vaccuum known to friends, colleagues, old and new acquaintances alike as 'my blog.' Rather than post something really impressive, detailed, personal and thoroughly entertaining such as this fellow blogger's recent 300th milestone, or this typically high quality entry from the creative mind of one very solid wine writer residing in B-r-o-o-k-lyn the planet, I thought that I would take the easy way out and do one of those 'by the numbers' deals (numbers may or may not be accurate).

- At least 60 youtube posts (that’s 20%, or 1 out of every 5 posts!) Some might call it laziness, I would prefer to highlight the fact that Old World Old School is truly your source for terrific, varied youtube programming on wine blogs.
- 9000 minutes (150 hours, or 6 ¼ days) of time spent considering, typing, re-considering, the content of all the posts on this site. That’s based on an average of 30 minutes per post. 150 hours would represent 2.5% of my waking hours since I started this blog last September
- More than 60% blogs are still not tagged, since I only figured out that I should tag posts a few months ago.
- 1 live Doobie Brothers post
- 2 DC go-go and 2 Bmore club posts
- 1 Bmore club re-mix of Dave Chapelle’s Samuel Jackson beer skit
- At least a few posts that actually discuss wine…
- 5 posts on my recent ‘camino de vino’ in Spain (with at least several more to come)
- 1,000 wine blogs which have started since mine
- According to feedburner, an average of .547 site views a day (in case you missed the decimal point, that would be a little more than half a site view per day).

Maybe post #500 will be a bit more milestone-like. Until then, hope you enjoy the stuff that follows.

Thank you to all my friends, family, co-workers and kindred spirits in wine/food/music geekdom for all of your support, comments, and attention. I tend to think that we bloggers blog primarily for ourselves, but having an audience sure makes it more enjoyable, educational and worthwhile. So, thanks. I sure do appreciate it.

Sunday at the state fair in Sac-to

That would be Sacramento for my readers outside of California. It's state fair season, which was the primary motivation for the trip. We started out with a primer on the diversity of the golden states' many counties, displayed in county exhibit booths which entertained and occasionally educated. Who knew that Butte County was home to Knudsen's juice company and Lundbergh Farms, the large producer of organic rices? Or that almond production contributes to as much as $85,000,000 of a few counties' GDP? Kudos to Solano County for their inspired, crazily outfitted barn booth and Lake County for having the friendliest exhibit staff of anyone. One piece of constructive criticism for Mendocino County, though: why not mention anything about your top cash crop (it's not grapes, that would be #2). Come on Mendo, that's not keeping it real....

From the county booths we toured the entomological, followed by the agricultural portions of the fair. Highlights included a lush, densely growing group of kiwi trees and an impressive variety of eggplants. Then it was on to the livestock: expecting cows, huge sows with their nursing piglets, sheep, and my favorite, the goats. I would advise against petting or sticking your hands in proximity of their mouths; those chompers look well-developed and goats do love to chew. Just admire them from a distance and move on.

After a quick walk-through of the fine arts pavillion (actually much better than I had expected) we finally made it to the rides and then the food (definitely recommended in that order, rides and then food). Try the fried artichoke hearts, terrific with just a sprinkle of salt and nothing else. Funnel cake (fried dough to some) was crisp, chewy and delicious. Lemon italian ice from a local purveyor (was it called Merino's, perhaps?) was fresh with loads of natural lemon flavor. Very refreshing on a 90+ degree, sunny day.

I definitely would recommend checking out a state fair if you haven't done so in a while. Brave the large crowds for as long as you can and you'll probably walk away having learned a few things. Just don't forget the livestock.

Spoonie Gee/Treacherous Three - Love Rap

This beat is contagious. Simple, infectious, conga driven perfection.

And Spoonie Gee just going off, non-stop. In the words of Prodigy, "Heavy air-play all day with no chorus."

A Query about 2005 Edmond Vatan 'Clos la Neore' Sancerre Chavignol

I picked up two of these for the cellar and need some advice. When should I open them? My usual cellaring routine involves buying a reasonably priced bottle, drinking it, purchasing more, asessing a rough time frame of checking in on the bottles (say, for example, opening a bottle three years after purchase, then another one after five years) and then putting away and forgetting about said bottles. As Vatan is allocated and not inexpensive, I will need to consult the public as well as my knowledgeable readership for advice with regards to cellaring time.

Well, readership, what do you think?

Galician (and one oaky Bierzo) Tasting with The Group

Last night it was my turn to host our PM Dub tasting group and it will probably not come as a surprise that I chose to feature Spanish wines. As with many other tasting groups, we usually taste double blind, i.e. brown bagging each bottle, so that we do not know the region(s) or producers.

I chose to feature wines from Albariño and Mencia grapes, mainly because I do not believe that the group has had such a tasting, at least not during my tenure. The idea was to remind the group, with its typically Francophilian and occasionally italophilian wine geek tendencies, that Spanish wines are not all about fruity values to entice new world palates, or overoaked, over-priced wines from Ribera del Duero, Rioja and Priorat. And that there is more Spanish wine of interest to the well–informed, long tested wine palate than Lopez de Heredia, sherry and the occasional txakoli. That being said, there are more obscure wines from folks like Can Rafols (Penedes) I could have included, but the great northwest seemed to be calling, so Rias Baixas and Ribera Sacra it would be.

The Whites (in reverse order of group preference):

2006 Quinta do Couselo Turonia Albariño

Unusual for the O Rosal subzone, this is a 100% Albariño (usually Treixadura and Loureiro are in the mix). The wine was corked.

2005 Bodegas Pablo Padin Granbazar 'Ambar' Albariño

This relatively large producer (40,000 cases) located in the largest production zone of of Rias Baixas, Val do Salnes, generally makes good stuff. Their 'ambar' bottling is the nicest one they produce. People at first were put off by the funky aromas, but then warmed up a little to this wine. It echoes my experience with this wine a few months ago - at first I found it to be an over the hill, partially maderized bottle of albariño, going a little bit sweet and without any vibrancy. Over a period of several days in the fridge the wine opened up to show bright yellow stone fruit flavors with a streak of mineral. Same thing last night as the wine improved markedly in the glass.

2005 Lusco do Miño Pazo Pineiro Albariño
At first I really enjoyed this wine. The intensity and dripping ripe character were speaking to me. Almost like apricot preserves and tinned mandarins, but fully dry and with good balancing acidity. You can tell that this is from well situated, very old vines. While tasty, it was definitely a show wine, more front to mid-palate flavors, not much mineral, and a bit over the top for casual drinking. And at over $40, there is a whole lot in Rias Baixas that I think would show more typicity and work much better with a meal.

2006 Do Ferreiro Albariño
From the same subzone (Condado do Tea) as Lusco, this was the group favorite and mine as well. I'm not surprised. Small production, organic farming, indigenous yeasts. Not that they are the only ones in Rias Baixas doing this, but somehow they consistently produce some of the best albariño out there, year after year. It is always the albariño that, with its floral/herbal aromatic streak, smoky minerality and overall sense of poise, most brings to mind certain characteristics of German Riesling.

Overall, people thought these wines ok but were not particularly enthused. One taster commented on a green vegetal component he caught in three of the four wines. A few others thought that we were tasting a flight of sauvignon blanc. Clearly, however, only one wine seemed to truly pass muster with this discriminating group of palates.

Better luck, perhaps, with the reds (least favored to most favored):

2004 Dominio de Tares 'Exaltos' Bierzo
Oak juice, courtesy of aging in Missouri, Allier and Nevers oak. I went back to this wine the day after the tasting, and it still showed meaty, but muddled. There was a not entirely unappealing bloody, iron, meat like quality here that definitely brought to mind the arid Castilla y Leon countryside (as well as the region's meat and potatoes inspired cookery).

2006 D. Ventura 'Pena do Lobo' Ribeira Sacra
Red fruited and fairly one-dimensional. This could have just as easily been a Cotes du Rhone Village. Similarly put together, with a disappointing lack of acidity.

2006 D. Ventura 'Viña Caneiro' Ribeira Sacra
More dark fruit and spice on this offering, from higher elevated vineyards composed largely of 'pizzarra' or slate. While it shows more complexity, there is still a liveliness that is just lacking in this as well as the other Ventura wine.

2005 Algueira Ribeira Sacra
Ahh, now this is what I'm talking about. This must be why so many experts are hyping Ribeira Sacra as the next big thing in spanish wine producing regions. Very pretty blue fruits on the nose, with a tense interplay between fruit and acidity, subtle oak spice and slate minerality, on the palate. More finessed, higher toned, and classier wine. A unanimous (I think) wine of the flight.

Mostly everyone enjoyed the red flight more than the whites. Someone mentioned an appealing bloody quality (yes, 'bloody,' can be appealing in the realm of wine descriptors) that showed in all of them. Another taster mentioned a granite inflected mineral stamp - keen tasting on her part as all of these wines came from either granite or slate.

So did these wines truly impress? Will Albariño and Mencia make occasional appearances alongside cru beaujolais, Bourgueil, Menetou Salon Rouge and Langhe Nebbiolo on the tables of my fellow group members? Perhaps. The fact remains, however, that even I have far fewer Spanish wines in my cellar relative to Muscadet, Chinon, German Riesling, and others. My most recent splurge was for two bottles of '05 Edmund Vatan Sancerre, not '05 Pazo Pineiro albariño. So I need to be convinced as well. Four years ago, Spanish wines used to be the bee's knees for my younger palate. Now, not so much. The good news, however, is that Spain is diverse, dynamic and still learning. Given some time, I'm confident that there will still be plenty of wine for the masses, as well as more intriguing stuff for the geeks who demand a bit more authenticity and challenging, regionally specific flavors.