Wines from Italy - Cellar Group Meets, Washington DC, January 2024

Led by Grant Crandall, President of the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association, there is a group of wine lovers in the Northern Virginia area that meets 4 times a year at one of the members' home for a wine-pairing dinner where everyone brings a bottle of wine with a corresponing dish, always under a common theme. 

This time, the event took place at the home of Fuad Issa and Maureen Kelly in McLean, Northern Virginian (Greater Washington DC area), and the theme was: Italy, except Sangiove and sparkling wine.

16 guests, 16 different Italian wines, 16 corresponding small bites, 16 stories about the wines and the dishes. 

 

 

Roland Young:  A row of very unusual suspects that we all quaffed with great gusto!

 

Plus a "social" Weingut Steininger Sekt Brut from Austria in the kitchen before the wine-pairing dinner.

 

Roland Young: One of the best evenings of this group! Creative wonderful food and exposure to many excellent off-the-beaten path Italian wines. Great social event!

 

Wine-pairing Dinner 

 

1 Susan 2021 Donnafugata Anthilia 

Caesar Salad

2 Cindy 2022 Pallazzone Terre Vineate (white - Classico Superiore) from Orvieto 

Mini Caprese salads

3 Stephanie 2020 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis (Piemonte) 

Tuna mousse bruschette

4 Tickie 2015 Mastroberardino Nova Serra Greco Di Tufo (Campania) 

Spinach and Sun Dried Tomato Puffs

Roland Young: Puff pastry stuffed with a mixture of Green Dirt Farms Sheep’s Chevre, chopped spinach, sun dried tomatoes and eggs and baked fresh there in the oven.

5 Maureen 2019 Bettini Valgella Valtellina Superiore DOCG (Lombardia) 

Kibbe: meat & dark burghul shell stuffed with ground meat and nuts

6 Annette 2021, Foradori, Morei, Teroldego, Vigneti delle Dolomiti, IGT 

Pasta with Chanterrelles

See: Winemaker Dinner with Azienda Agricola Foradori (Trentino, Italy) at SchauMahl in Frankfurt, Germany 

 

Picture: Winemaker Dinner with Azienda Agricola Foradori (Trentino, Italy) at SchauMahl in Frankfurt, Germany -  Myrtha Zierock Foradori and Chef Björn Andreas

 

Christian Schiller: Elisabetta Foradori, the owner of Azienda Agricola Foradori in Trentino, Northern Italy, is a distinguished innovator and trendsetter in the world of wine. Importantly, she was instrumental in raising the local grape Teroldego from an everyday, inexpensive wine to one that is found now on some of the best wine lists in the world.

Elisabetta Foradori is one of most influential winemakers of Italy. She has become one of the leading green/ natural/ biodynamic wine makers in Italy. Italy’s most influential wine guide, Gambero Rosso’s Italian Wines, has consistently given her flagship Teroldego wine – Granato – is highest rating of Tre Bicchieri, of three glasses.

 

History

Elisabetta Foradori’s grandfather, a Trentino lawyer, bought the estate in 1929, little more than a decade after the Italian-speaking Trentino and German-speaking Alto Adige were annexed by Italy from Austria following World War I. Her grandfather sold the wine in bulk, but her father, Roberto, started bottling in the 1960s. When he died of cancer, Elisabetta, his only child, was 11 years old. Eight years later, after studying oenology and agriculture, she took over the winery.

Before World War I, the region was part of Austria and most of the wine produced in the region was sold in Austria’s a capital. Business was good but that changed after World War II, when the region was annexed by Italy. When Elisabetta's grandfather bought the estate, it was in a state of bankruptcy. The estate has been in the hands of the Foradori family ever since. 

 

Professor Rainer Zierock

Very early on in her career, Elisabetta Foradori met German Professor Rainer Zierock, who had a major impact both on her private and business life. In 1984, when Elisabetta Foradori began her winemaker career, Trentino was dominated by large wine co-operatives planting international varieties such as Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon was fashionable. Rainer Zierock pushed her not to go the international varieties route, but to keep and to focus on the local varieties, including Teroldego. The professional relationship led to marriage and three children, Emilio, Theo and Myrtha, who was our host, and, sadly, separation only five years later.

Professor Rainer Zierock died in 2009. He taught a various universities and worked as consultant in various countries. Following his relationship with Elisabetta Foradori, he established Weingut Ansitz Dolomytos Sacker in Unterinn am Ritten in the 1990s, together with Margret Hubmann. The small estate (2.7 hectares with 150 different grape varieties) was designed by Rainer Zierock, with a strong influence of Greek mythology.

Biodynamics

In 2002, Elisabetta Foradori sprayed her first biodynamic preparations on her vineyards. She stopped fertilizing and tilling her vineyards, and instead started to encourage wild grass and weeds, which are mowed and raked into the soil. Based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, biodynamic agriculture and winemaking aim to strengthen ecosystems methods pegged to the phases of the moon.

Terra Cotta Amphoras

In 2008, Elisabetta Foradori started to ferment wine in terra cotta amphoras (large-scale vessels), a technique that dates to ancient Greek and Roman eras. It is one of the oldest winemaking methods in the world. Basically, you get the breathable qualities of wood without oak flavor. Today Elisabetta Foradori has about 150 upright amphoras in her underground cellar.

Single Vineyard Wines

In her most recent step, Elisabetta Foradori moved to single vineyard wines. She felt that with the biodynamic practice in the vineyard and the amphoras in the wine cellar, she had all the ingredients for making terroir-driven wines. Therefore she decided to make single vineyard wines from the Morei and Sgarzon vineyards – in amphoras. Morei and Sgarzon, both about 2 hectares, are located close to the Azienda Agricola Foradori’s vineyard. On the bottle, the vineyard names are printed in much larger letters than the grape variety Teroldego.

In addition, in 2007 Elisabetta Foradori took on an 8 hectares vineyard in poor condition just above Trento. The Fontanasanta vineyard was born, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc were uprooted and the local grape varieties Nosiola, Manzani Bianco and Teroldego planted.

In total, Elisabetta Foradori currently makes 4 single-vineyard wines in amphoras: A Manzoni Bianco und Nosiola from the Fontanasanta vineyard and 2 Teroldego wines from the Morei vineyard and the Sgarzon vineyard. 

7 Dave 2021 Barbera del Monferrato 

Balsamic Mushroom and Sausage Pasta

8 Angela 2013 Ciabot Berton Barolo  

pasta e fagioli

9 Christian 2015, Pio Cesare, Barolo, Alba, DOCG 

Lamb Chop Lollipop

See: Pio Boffa and the Wines of Pio Cesare, Piedmont, Italy

Picture: Christian G.E. Schiller and Co-owner Pio Boffa, Pio Cesare, in Washington DC in 2010

Christian Schiller: This is a producer close to my heart.

 

When I retired and started my wine blog, a winemaker dinner with the wines of Pio Cesare was my first winemaker dinner I wrote about and it was the first time that I took a selfie from me and the winemaker. 

 

It was the late Pio Boffa, at the time the owner of Pio cesare, at Restaurant Teatro Goldoni on K Street in NW. 

 

The Teatro Goldoni is one of the opera houses and theatres of Venice. Restaurant Teatro Goldoni was at the time a very ambitious restaurant that wanted to be the new Café Milano, the place to “see and be seen” in Washington.

Pio Cesare:The estate was founded in 1881 by Cesare Pio, and is one of the oldest in the region and one of the first to export. It is still owned and run by his descendants. The cellar is located in the centre of Alba and its main walls date back to the Roman period.

The company owns 70 hectares of vineyards in the Barolo and Barbaresco regions. Fruit for Pio Cesare's wines is also sourced from managed vineyards under long term contracts.

At the dinner we had the 2005 Barolo, today we have the 2015 Barolo.

100% Nebbiolo

Vinification: In stainless steel tanks. Skin contact for about 20 days.

Ageing: In mid toasted French oak for 3 years: 70% in 20 to 50 hectoliters casks; 30% in barriques.

Tasting Notes of the 2015: A classic Barolo, ruby red in the glass with thick legs, eucalyptus, leather and mint with plum on the nose, full bodied wine with exotic aromas with tar, roses and white truffles on the palate, the tannins of the wine add texture and serve to balance, a wine with a long aging potential.

10 Karen 2019 Tenuta di Trinoro Le Cupole Rosso Toscana 

 Italian Braciole

11 Brian 2011 Batzella Peàn Bolgheri DOC Rosso (Toscano) 

porcini crusted pork loin

12 Roland 1995 Agricole Vallone Graticciaia Salento Rosso IGP Negroamaro Grape (Puglia)

Roasted Tarragon Beef Tenderloin Crostini

Roland Young:  Amarone style Negroamaro grape wine from Piglia. Vintage was 1995. Very limited production of around 200 cases.

Roland Young: Crostini with a cream cheese, fresh tarragon and horseradish spread, sliced Cornichons and medium rare roasted beef tenderloin with a scallion, brined crushed green peppercorns and fresh tarragon crust.

13 Fuad 2015 Giuseppe Campagnola Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (Veneto)

Lamb meatballs in cherry sauce

14 Grant 2010 Giuseppe Campagnola Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (Veneto)

blue cheese stuffed dates

15 Graydon 2022 Rinaldi Brachetto d’Acqui

Balsamic Strawberry Pazzo Cake with Herbed Creme Fraiche

16 Norm Carlo Martinez Marsala Fine Sweet DOC

Apple Pie

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