Wine Dinner with Legendary Chef Roberto Donna and the Wines of Amastuola in Puglia/ Italy at Roberto's Ristorante Italiano in Vienna/ Virginia, 2022

Annette and I enjoyed a great wine dinner at Roberto`s Ristorante Italiano in Vienna/ Virginia with legendary Chef Roberto Donna and the wines of Amastuola in Puglia/ Italy.

See also: 

Dinner with Legendary Chef Roberto Donna at his new Restaurant Roberto's Ristorante Italiano in Vienna/ Virginia 

Winemaker Sabrino Loffredo’s Pietracupa Wines and Chef Roberto Donna’s Food at a Winemaker Dinner at Alba Osteria in Washington DC, Italy/USA 

Invitation

Chef Roberto Donna and Italian importer Maurizio Farro continue their series of Sunday wine dinners at 5 pm on October 9 with a celebration of the Puglia wines of Amastuola. It’s a stunning estate in Italy’s deep South that’s making head-turning wines. 

The cost of the five course dinner with five matched wines is $105 per person plus tax and tip. You can reserve your seats via the restaurant’s website at https://www.robertosva.com/wine-dinner/ or by calling the restaurant at 202-257-0168. If you have any special seating requests (such as having different groups at the same table), please call Nancy at the restaurant as well. 

Roberto Donna

Chef Roberto Donna moved at about the same time (in the early 1980s) to the USA as Annette and I did, he from Northern Italy, we from the Frankfurt region in Germany. 

Picture: Christian Schiller and Chef Roberto Donna in 2014. See: Winemaker Sabrino Loffredo’s Pietracupa Wines and Chef Roberto Donna’s Food at a Winemaker Dinner at Alba Osteria in Washington DC, Italy/USA

Rather quickly Roberto became one of the leading chefs of the Washington DC area, owning restaurants like Galileo and I Matti and several others, with about 500 employees. But in 2004 Roberto's fortunes turned sour. Galileo's parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

Roberto had to struggle with financial and legal issues since then. Fortunately he did not go under. He is still cooking at the highest level. 

His latest adventure is Roberto's Ristorante Italiano on Church Street in Vienna/ Virginia, owned by Roberto's wife, Nancy Sabbagh, who also runs the service. 

Yesterday evening it was as it has always been at Roberto's restaurants: relaxed, exquisite food, top Italian wines and excellent service, like in a trattoria in Turino in the Piemonte area where Roberto spent the first 20 years of his life.

Chef Roberto Donna (from wikipedia) 

Roberto Donna is an Italian chef and restaurateur in Washington D.C. 

Donna was born in Turin, Italy, where he enrolled in culinary school at the age of 13. He came to the United States at the age of 19, working in an Italian restaurant on K Street in Washington, D.C. In 1984, Donna opened Galileo in Dupont Circle, which was an immediate success. The restaurant only seated 50, and in the early days, even Vice-President George H.W. Bush could not secure a last-minute reservation. Donna and his partner Savino Recine opened more casual trattorias, Primi Piatti, and then I Matti, serving pizza and pasta. 

By the end of the 1990s, Donna's empire grew to 12 restaurants, including Il Radicchio, Pesce, and Barolo. In 1999, he expanded Galileo into a neighboring space and opened a restaurant-within-a-restaurant, Il Laboratorio del Galileo, serving multi-course meals in a small (25-30 seats) dining room, with a glass-walled "showcase" kitchen. 

Donna published a cookbook, Cooking in Piedmont, in 1996. 

Donna won the 1996 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. The next year, Galileo was named one of the "10 Best Italian Restaurants in America" by Wine Spectator. The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington recognized Donna as the "Chef of the Year" in 1990, and the "Restaurateur of the Year" in 1995. Donna was invited to Rome in 1996 to receive the Insegna del Ristorante Italiano, awarded by the Italian Government in recognition of serving the best authentic Italian food outside Italy. 

In 2004, Donna's company declared bankruptcy and his restaurants began to close; Galileo closed in 2006, and he had no restaurants to his name when Bebo Trattoria closed in 2009. Donna was prosecuted for failing to pay taxes at Bebo, and in 2010, Donna pled guilty to felony embezzlement, receiving a five-year suspended sentence on condition of probation, good behavior, and restitution. Donna and his business partners still faced several civil lawsuits when he returned to the kitchen with the opening of Galileo III in October 2010. The restaurant closed abruptly after less than one year.

Amastuola (winetourism.com)

Initially owned by the Prince of Taranto - Giovanni Antonio Orsini, Masseria Amastuola is located in San Vito del Pizzo, a beautiful Italo - Greek abbey in Taranto, Italy. The winery is a certified producer of high-quality organic wines, made with ancient traditions, clubbed with modern technology and innovative ideas. The wines of Masseria Amastuola have won several prizes and awards at national and international level.

The Masseria farm has traces of ancient times, dates back to 15th century. Over the years, the ownership of the winery has been passed to many a few families. Initially, it was owned by D’Afflitto, and Andrea D’Afflitto restored the lands and buildings of the winery in the early 1700s. She modernized the structures, built new outbuildings, established jazzi – a masonry fencing system, built trappeto – an Apulian oil mill, and cultivated new crops. Today, the Kaiku group of Montanaro family of Massafra owns Masseria Amastuola, and they have been managing the winery since 2003.

Maintaining the relationship between territory and nature, the Montanaro Family practices biological farming techniques and produces a broad range of rich-quality vines. The family cultivates world class Primitivo, Aglianico, Syrah, Merlot, and Fiano Minutolo. Masseria Amastuola also grows Malvasia, Chardonnay, Malvasia, and Sauvignon Blanc and in total produce delicious red, white and rosé wines, along with superb dessert and sparkling wines under the Puglia IGP status. Masseria Amastuola also consists of a charming winery resort, comprising of 18 rooms and suites to enjoy. The suites, with a private terrace and overlooking windows, are well-furnished with modern designs and sophisticated features. It also offers various exclusive and deluxe rooms that tell a lot about ancient stories and culture of the Puglia.

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Maison Guigal in Ampuis, Côte Rôtie, Northern Rhône: Cellar Tour, Tasting and Vineyard Tour - Rhône Valley Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Culture and History, France

Following an afternoon in Lyon, we spent 21/2 days in the Northern Rhône region. Our first stop was the famous and large producer Guigal in Ampuis in the Côte-Rôtie. 

Though Guigal is situated in the Northern Rhône it produces wine from appellations across the Rhône region, but is particularly noted for their Côte-Rôtie wines. We spent the whole morning at the Guigal estate learning a lot about the Northern Rhône and the Côte Rôtie. The visit had three parts.

First, we started with a tour of the large winemaking facilities Ampuis. Second, to get you a feel for the Côte Rôtie we took a trip through the vineyards to see the Côte Blonde and Côte Brune as far as our bus could negotiate the serpentine small roads. Finally, we went to the famous Château d’Ampuis for a tasting. 

Guigal

The Guigal Estate is a family business and was founded in 1946 by Etienne Guigal. Etienne Guigal worked at Vidal Fleury before establishing his own domaine. Much later in the 1980s Vidal Fleury was acquired by Guigal, but remains independently managed. 

Today Maison Guigal is run by Philippe Guigal, the third generation of the family who also is the head winemaker. Through carefully selected acquisitions Guigal grew and today the total vineyard holdings are around 120 acres of which half are in the Côte Rôtie. The estate also acquired the famous Château d’Ampuis, an important historic and oenological monument whose long history – an ancient fort built in the 12th century- is directly linked to the Côte-Rôtie appellation. The Château sits majestically on a hill surrounded by vineyards overlooking the Rhône river. 

With a current production of 6,5 million bottles Guigal is also the most important négociant in the Northern Rhône, although the majority of the purchased fruit comes from the Southern Rhône. Marcel Guigal, the second generation is credited with the biggest impact on the quality of the Northern Rhône wines when he introduced single vineyard cuvées from Côte Rôtie in the 1970s. 

Maison Guigal has the rare distinction of being a quality leader in both estate and négociant wines.

Guigal (Vintus)

The impact and influence of the Guigal family across the Rhône Valley, France, and all the world of fine wine is so immense, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that it’s all happened so quickly. In a country with such a rich and deep wine history, the Guigal family’s story is only in its third generation.  The more you learn about the family, the more astounding becomes their story. Their wines are the benchmarks for every Rhone appellation, and over the last thirty years they have become arguably the most lauded producer in the world. Year after year the Guigal family produces wines of exceptional quality that in all classes offer exceptional value.

The remarkable story begins with Etienne Guigal, a remarkably independent and both intellectually and physically capable man. He was the youngest child in his family, but as the most resilient he was sent off on his own at a very young age when his family could no longer afford to care for him. He came to Ampuis, half an hour south of the city of Lyon and the home of Cote-Rotie, to pick apricots. In the early 1930s his brother helped Etienne, still only 14 years of age, secure a job in the vineyards at the largest winery in the Rhône. Etienne started pruning in the vineyards and rose to cellar master over the course of 15 years, before eventually leaving just after the war in 1946 to start his own firm, E. Guigal.

Etienne’s son Marcel became involved very early in the business when in 1961 he was forced to rush back from school because his father was suddenly struck with total blindness. Marcel has led the firm since, and his unparalleled work ethic and dedication to quality have lifted the Guigal wines to the pinnacle of the wine world, and the Guigal domaine to its status as the leading winery from the Rhône Valley. In the process Marcel brought attention to Côte-Rôtie and other appellations throughout the Rhône that were in danger of being lost in the annals of wine history, despite the region’s distinguished past of 2,500 years as a superior wine-producing area, and the cradle of wine civilization in France. 

Today, Marcel’s son Philippe serves as Director and Oenologist at Guigal, and with his father is carrying on the tradition of leadership in the Rhône Valley and uncompromising excellence.

The Guigal firm is extraordinary in a number of dimensions. First is their decision that they will only purchase vineyards that are capable of producing truly great wines. Therefore despite their important production, they own only 150 acres, all in the Northern  Rhône. They own overwhelmingly the finest collection of vineyards in Côte-Rôtie, the finest, carefully selected sites in both Condrieu and Saint Joseph, four exquisite parcels in Hermitage, and some of the finest vineyards in Crozes-Hermitage. These 150 acres are truly the finest collection of vineyards in the Northern Rhône, and serve as the source for their estate-bottled wines and the foundation for their Northern Rhône appellation wines.

A second important dimension is Guigal’s approach to viticulture. The Guigal family is tireless in its work on the steeply sloped, terraced vineyards it owns, with views entirely to the long-term. They are methodically re-building vineyards today that won’t be planted for another five to ten years because of their belief in the soils, expositions and mesoclimates of these sites. Their philosophy in the vineyard is to prune low and strictly limit the number of shoots per vine, training for low vigor and low-yields and looking for natural balance and concentration in this manner. No pesticides, herbicides or chemicals are used in the vineyards, and the fact some of Guigal vines date back to the 1890s is a testimony to the nurturing, obsessive approach the Guigals have in their vineyards.

Thirdly, Guigal is a unique negociant company. The family knows the Northern Rhône like no one else, and supplements their holdings by buying grapes from long-time grower partners. In total, they vinify around 33% of Côte-Rôtie and 45% of Condrieu, and have access to top fruit in all the regions they work. In the Southern Rhône, they buy only wine, and with a distinctive approach. Namely, they do not have a single contract. Marcel and Philippe taste relentlessly – typically 200 wines a day before 8:30am, 7 days a week – and start from scratch every year. In a given year, they will purchase the top 1% of the wines they taste, and because of their longtime contacts, they have access to the best wines in the region; they select, in other words, 1% from the very finest wines in the Southern Rhône. Also important to note, they decide very early on what wine they will purchase, sometimes before malolactic fermentation is even finished, and they will not purchase later to meet demand. From their experience, access, and early work, they give themselves the opportunity to find the best possible wines, and if they find a great wine they buy it, regardless of vintage or price considerations. The Guigal’s work ethic in finding the best fruit and wines in the Rhône Valley can be summarized by the motto on the Chateau d’Ampuis: “Nul bien sans la peine” – no good without pain.

Fourthly, Guigal’s vinfication is singular in the world of wine, and allows their great raw materials to flourish in the bottle. Their vinification approach actually harkens back to tradition in the Rhône Valley, with long aging, which integrates tannins and flavors and creates wines of great complexity and refinement. Because of their superior fruit, the Guigals do not make “simple”  wines – these wines demand time to come together.  All wines undergo natural yeast fermentation, and intervention is at a bare minimum, with no fining or filtration. The top Guigal wines undergo famously long maturation period in barrel, up to three and a half years, but even parcels of old-vine Syrah for their Côtes du Rhône are aged in foudres for six months, completely atypical for the Côtes du Rhône category. The Guigals are so exacting about the aging process that, finding inconsistent barrels from even the best tonnelleries, they make every barrel used in their winery themselves. Every day, five barrels are produced by hand by their single cooper at the Chateau d’Ampuis; they are the only winery in the Rhône Valley with their own cooperage, and one of the only in France. These barrels are destined for their Northern Rhône wines, while they use foudres built to exacting specifications for their Southern Rhone wines. The reality is that it is enormously expensive to hold onto 3 or 4 vintages of Chateauneuf-du-Pape or Côte-Rôtie, or even to hold onto Côtes du Rhône that is two or three vintages behind what other producers are releasing, but it is done for the quality of the wine, and so that consumers can enjoy the wines for drinking upon release.

Year after year the Guigal family produces wines of exceptional quality that in all classes offer exceptional value.

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