Congratulations to Umani Ronchi, who picked up Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri AND Italian White Wine of the Year 2012 for their Verdicchio Vecchie Vigne 2009.  One of my favourite white wines, we’ve just shipped a small amount of the 2008 to Australia (also a Tre Bicchieri winner) for the first time.

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The 2012 Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri awards have just been released and we are stoked to announce that Umani Ronchi has won White Wine of the Year for their 2009 Verdicchio Casal di Serra Vecchie Vigne. Bravo to Michele and the team at Umani Ronchi and more on this great white wine to follow. Read more »

Italy’s leading grappa producer, Nonino, is hosting three of the USA’s leading mixologists in a cocktail challenge to be held at the Nonino distillery in Percoto, Friuli.

The trip is being blogged by Italian food and wine historian Jeremy Parzen from Do Bianchi. To follow their adventures, click here.  There are some great photos of the distillery and the group have already dined at one of my favourite restaurants, Valter Scarbolo’s excellent Frasca.

Not sure why I didn’t get an invite really. Nobody pours Nonino Amaro over ice like I can (not to mention a blood orange garnish of course) and I even use a set of Nonino tumblers.  Next year maybe?

Hopefully we’ll convince Cristina, Antonella or Elisabetta to overcome their fear of flying to visit Australia soon.

Next year Trembles is leading a gastronomic tour of Italy with leading travel company, The Captain’s Choice. The 17 day tour, beginning in Rome on July 2nd, is limited to eighteen guests and includes some of his favourite cities, restaurants and wineries.  For full details, click here

A question that we are often asked by our growers in Italy is to explain the wine market in Australia. The answer is in two parts, the first one being importation and distribution: “it’s very simple, unlike most countries we can import and distribute nationally”.  Easy. The second part is where it gets interesting: for retail sales “we have two supermarket companies that control about 75% of the market. In all, there are probably twenty independent retailers that we trade with that are actually interested in Italian wine”.  And the reply, always the same, is a disbelieving “che, solo venti”? Or, “what, only twenty”?

Sad but true. Our independent retailers champion the small growers of wine regions from around the world.  But competition is fierce and Falanghina could be fighting for shelf space alongside Austrian Grüner Veltliner,  let alone its neighbouring Greco, Fiano or Coda di Volpe. Every day we take calls from consumers looking to buy something interesting and Italian, often after they have tasted it in a bar or restaurant. Our policy is to always recommend a local stockist but, quite often, there isn’t one. This is why we developed Vino Italiano - not to cut anybody out, or ‘take sales’ from the supporting independent retailers. Rather, to do the right thing by our growers in ensuring that their wines are always available, all over the country.

On the weekend, I said goodbye to The George Melbourne Wine Room as I know it.  The doors closed on Saturday, but despite the fact that it will re-open with a new owner (and maybe the same name?), for me, it won’t be the same. That building has my blood, sweat and tears etched into it.

Fifteen years ago, I walked into The George on its opening night following its re-invention by the late Donlevy Fitzpatrick and Maurizio Terzini, and I knew then that this is where I wanted to be. By the end of the week, I was frantically washing glasses behind the bar, more glasses in one night than I had probably washed in a year.

Back then, Karen Martini was cooking out the front and, as the rookie, I was mesmerized by the action. I started as a 21 year old knowing very little about food and wine and it was here that I realised that food and wine was something I not only liked, but wanted to make my profession. There was no place like it and, perhaps, there hasn’t been since.

Donlevy’s big picture dreaming and Maurizio’s eagle eye for detail gave the George an incredible energy. Karen’s food taught me about simplicity and the importance of great produce.  Chappy and Marcus taught me about wine and then there was Michael – like a brother in the trenches when it came to a relentlessly jam-packed bar and dining room – running the room with military precision.

It was at this auspicious place that I met Michael Trembath and Virginia Taylor, now my fellow business partners, and tasted my first Italian wines – Hofstätter Pinot Nero Barthenau Vigna San Urbano 1994 and Brancaia Il Blu 1994. I knew then that these wines were ‘different’ and I couldn’t wait to explore the rest. I’m still exploring the rest today and that’s the wonderful thing about Italian wine, you can explore forever.

And then I got married there as well. Thanks for the memories George.

At our Sydney tasting last week, I would have loved a euro for every question on the Italian wine classification system. The short response – “it’s mostly bullshit” failed to convince a few, so the long version was “don’t worry about them, learn some grape varieties and regions you like best, and buy on the quality and reputation of the producer”. Simple, and a good rule to follow when buying any wine.

Part of the confusion lies in thinking that Italian wine laws are there to help the consumer. Established in the 1960’s, Denominazione d’Origine Controllata (DOC) helped Italy improve the quality of its wines. You could perhaps argue that they were, at one time, somewhat helpful to the consumer in identifying quality, but progressively the laws are there more and more to protect the growers and regions.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about DOC and the reason for the addition of the G (Guarantita). “The need for a DOCG identification arose when the DOC denomination was, in the view of many Italian food industries, given too liberally to different products. A new, more restrictive identification was then created, as similar as possible to the previous one so that buyers could still recognize it, but qualitatively different.”

In a race to the bottom, the Italians are busy rushing through the paperwork to bestow the DOCG title on just about anything made from grapes before the EU’s new legislation comes into effect. What these new EU regulations of PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) will do/improve/change we are yet to know and, so are the growers.

But, if DOCG was introduced because DOC’s were given too liberally, it must surely be time for DOCGG! How else can we separate the best of the best – Barbaresco, Barolo, Brunello – with the newly crowned Colli di Conegliano or Friularo di Bagnoli? Over at Alfonso Cevola’s blog, he has been diligently compiling an up-to-date list of the DOCG’s because an official record doesn’t exist – click here to see all 69 DOCG’s.  Like I said, if you like it buy it, and ignore the regulations. They’ll only confuse you, and me.

1990 was a great vintage in Italy and I have fond memories…when these grapes were being picked, I was a teenager at the MCG watching the Pies win the Grand Final! Virginia rescued this beauty from the mountain cellar label monster (forgot to cling film the label all those years ago) and we took it along to Bacash. Nobody cooks a piece of fish like Michael Bacash and, whilst blue eye and Brunello might not be your typical pairing, I love red wine, especially sangiovese, with fish.

The blue eye was an exercise in simplicity, beautifully cooked with nothing to mask the delicate sweetness of the fish.  But the wine stole the show and it was a timely reminder to get some of the newly released 2006 (one of Antonio Galloni’s wines of the vintage with 95+!) into the cellar before we sell out. This was 21 year old Brunello that barely looked ten years old. Perfectly mature, yet retaining a solid core of small red berry fruit and that unmistakebale flavour of Matrichese cru – best described as a polished mahogany character – this could have been cellared for another decade or two no problem. Trembles described it best – matured vivacity. Everything you want from a perfectly mature wine yet still so fresh and vibrant. The down side, it was our last bottle.

Rocca di Montegrossi is our new winery from Gaiole in Chianti, specifically from the sub-region of Monti, where the soil is very rocky and planting a vineyard here is a costly exercise. The going rate in Chianti Classico for clearing and planting a vineyard is 7-8K per hectare (euro). In Monti, it’s up around 4 times that much because of the work required to break through the rocks and prepare the ground.

It was a ‘meant to be’ meeting between us and Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi (yes, as in THE Ricasoli family – although Marco’s wines are very different to that of his cousin’s) and the wines did not disappoint.  Recently, Antonio Galloni of Wine Advocate awarded 92 points to the 2008 Chianti Classico and said the “progress this young estate has made under Ricasoli’s leadership is nothing short of remarkable”, adding that ”this is the equivalent of top-notch village level Burgundy….at a fraction of the price”.  I’d go one further to say that this blows the socks of village burgundy.  I do love Nebbiolo (some people say even a little too much), but when it comes to Sangiovese and Chianti Classico well, I could drink it every day.  And best of all, it will partner just about anything you put on the table. For my money, Chianti Classico remains one of the world’s great wine buys.

Rocca di Montegrossi’s Chianti Classico is 90% Sangiovese with 5% Canaiolo and 5% Colorino. Bright red berry fruit and floral notes, the palate balances the ripe fruit with Chianti’s typical freshness. Our first shipment, arriving later this month, includes the 2009 Chianti Classico and the single vineyard 2006 Chianti Classico ‘San Marcellino’.

And something you don’t see very often is the mixed wood caratelli (small barrels) used for the Vin Santo at Rocca di Montegrossi. This barrel is a mix of three types of wood: cherry (the dark wood on the left), chestnut (in the middle) and oak. So that’s what they mean when they say aged in various oak!  

And thankfully, no breakages in transit.  One of the best things we did on our recent trip was a little detour to Ceramiche Rampini in Radda in Chianti, one of the best places in Italy for ceramics of all shapes and sizes.

Michael's off the rack bowls

my bespoke Chianti design

Thanks Tiziana for all your assistance, and correctly pointing out that my Tuscan inspired design was, more accurately, Chianti inspired. Most of all, thanks for the impeccable packaging to ship these across the globe in one piece!

Can’t wait to plate the first bistecca.