Wines of Italy Series: Puglia con Fabio-- Part 2

Adagio con Fabio Part 2

We dashed around Lecce in the rain stopping in a wine shop bookstore combination and in Maglio a chocolate store that was like a art gallery of confections. Books, wine and chocolate...now that's a perfect pairing for me. I showed some of what we ate and drank in the video on my last post, (see it again at the bottom of this post) but here are more details on the wine and food in southern Puglia with Fabio.

Lecce and Le Zie Trattoria

After poking around Lecce in the rain we had a glorious meal at the now famous, but still unassuming, Le Zie Trattoria, run by the Auntie of Franics Ford Coppola. Le Zie is small, with less than ten tables, it's like you are siting in someones living room. Coppola's picture hangs on the wall along above the chair rail where locals tuck their business cards.  

No menu. No wine list. Dishes just started to appear and it was all outstanding: A plate of cannellini beans was mind-boggling in it's simplicity and flavor. Also exceptional was the chickpea purée with chard and croutons soaked in olive oil, and the tipical Puglian orecchiette pasta with delicate pork and beef meat balls dusted with pecorino.

The end-cap of the meal-- homemade cannella (cinnamon) and bay laurel liquors were a tonic for my chest congestion and better than the Medi-Nait, the Italian version of Nyquil.

Cannella and Laurel liquors 

Wines of Puglia
Puglia is one of the few regions of Italy I had not previously visited. I got a great overview on the wines of Puglia during the sponsored tasting at the IWINETC conference and was looking forward to visiting the places Fabio had selected for my wine mini-tour.

Cantele

A visit to Cantele is a must. There is something special going on here. Paolo Cantele and his brother are carrying forward the traditions of the family wine business and doing a tremendous job of it. I found these wines to be elegant and balanced but very unassuming. I liked everything they poured from their spicy Negromaro Rose, to the solid Salice Salentino Riserva.

My favorite was the Amativo 60% Primitivo 40% Negroamaro-- soft and luscious with rich fruit balanced tannins. I also enjoyed the 2009 Teresamanara 100% Negroamaro a spicy and perfumed wine named after their grandmother. There is a great sense of harmony at Cantele. You can feel it in the people, the place, and especially in the wines.

Candido

At Candido, in San Donaci, we met with Francesca Mancarella who guided me through a tasting of several of their most popular wines. The delightfully dry Le Pozzelle Salice Salentino Rose was a standout as was the La Carta Salice Salentino Riseva made of 95% Negroamaro and 5% Malvasia Nera.

I also tasted the very bright Tenuta Marini Salento Fiano, that was full of fresh apple and mineral flavor. Francesca advised that the best way to experience their sweet red Aleatico was with a piece of dark chocolate and create a "Mon Cheri moment" as she called it. We took a bottle home and followed her advice and it was indeed the perfect pairing.

Apollonio

I liked the art and atmosphere at Apollonio, but I found the wines rather hit and miss. They came highly recommended, and I did try a 100% Negroamaro that  I liked very much at a previous tasting, as well as the Terragnolo 100% Primitivo. But the Valle Cupa 50/50 Negroamaro-Primitivo I purchased, while velvety at first, had no underlying structure and was not pleasing to my palate.  

Special thanks to Fabio and his cousins for hosting me. And to Cantele, Candido and Apollonio for their hospitality.

DETAILS:

Adagio con Fabio 

Wineries

Cantele

Candido

Apollonio

Dining

Le Zia Trattoria Cucina Caserccia 

Via Col. Costadura 19, Lecce, Puglia

Chocolate

Maglio Arte Dolciaria 

Adagio con Fabio-- Off the Grid in Puglia

 Auto Grill outside of Naples

It's the last day of May as I post this, but the memory of the deep freeze in Italy this past February is still present in my mind. After the International Wine Tourism Conference media trip ended in Naples, I met up with my friend Fabio who I wrote about previously here.  Despite the monumental amount of snow, we made it through the blizzard like conditions on the A16 to Puglia. There was an occasional burst of sun, but mostly I viewed the region through a scrim of grey.

We stayed on an organic farm outside of Brindisi with Fabio's cousins. Over the course of several days Fabio took me to Lecce and on a modified version of the food and wine tours his clients can experience. The short video below is just a little slice of what I experienced -- Adagio con Fabio.

The area around Brindisi, Lecce and San Donaci is flat and full of vines and olive groves. Olive tree forests really. Miles and miles of ancient twisted trees line almost every road. In between the olive orchards are acres of grapes, many of them growing on alberello vines that are like little trees and un-trellised.

The primary grape grown in Puglia is Negroamaro, a red grape that produces dark and earthy wines with rustic sensibilities.  Fabio set up tastings for me at Candido, Cantele, and Apollonio --I'll tell you more about that in the next post. 

One very personal aspect of my visit to Puglia was staying with members of Fabio's family on their organic farm outside of Brindisi. Is there any better way to experience a place than living with locals? Not really. But it helps to have a guide like Fabio bring you close to "native" status. We ate most of our evening meals with the family and each night I was amazed as more people appeared and squeezed in around the table for some hearty and delicious fare direct from the garden. 

It does not get any more "farm to table" than this. No photos of the meals, as I did not want to drive one more nail in the the coffin of crazy Americans and their rude eating habits.  Italians love their iPhones as much as we do, but you rarely see them on the table at dinner. An exception was made for the wine shots. When one of the youngest members of the family asked her father what I was doing, he replied-- "That's her job, to drink and take pictures." Her eyes grew wide at this news and her teenage siblings nodded in approval. Wine Blogger -- ersatz role model. Someone has to do it. 

All glasses were pressed into service for the farewell evening

Mystery wine, Primitivo, Apollonio Valle Cupa, Candido Aleatico, Grapppa

It's always been my experience when staying with Italian friends and relatives that the serious partying is reserved for your last night there. All the "artisanal" mystery beverages are brought out and things can get interesting quickly. I added to the offerings with a bottle of Apollonio Valle Cupa and the Candido Aleatico which we were all surprised to find was a deep ruby color, not the amber or orange color expected in a sweet wine.

This bottle marked Primitivo with a piece of masking tape showed great promise and I think it's likely to be quite good in a few years. Frankly, I liked it better than the 50/50 blend of Primitivo/Negoramo I bought at Apollonio. The home brew had some tannin chops, maybe too choppy, but give it some time.

Fear not the hand labeled bottles there's some good, albeit powerful, stuff inside. The homemade grappa packed a wallop and darn near took the enamel off my teeth, but after the third sip it mellowed considerably. As did I.

I have no idea what was in the re-purposed Alcool bottle, but we all drank it and survived. Needless to say I slept very well that evening.

If you are planning a trip to Puglia and want to have a personalized food and wine experience with much laughter-- contact Fabio via twitter @fabiopittella or visit his web site linked below.

DETAILS:
Adagio con Fabio 

Terre Margaritelli -- Food, Wine & Friends Video Slideshow

Here's a short slideshow detailing the wine and food from our memorable night at Terre Margaritelli which I wrote about here.

Links to all Posts in this Series:

Part 1 --International Wine Tourism Conference 2012 –PREVIEW

Part 2--Wine Tourism Does Not Exist-- IWINETC 2012

Part 3--Wines of Italy: Birthday on the Wine Trail

Part 4--Wines of Italy: The Great Indoors of Benevento

Part 5--Wines of Italy: Goretti –Wine & Winetherapy

Part 6- Wines of Italy: Terre Margaritelli - Torgiano   

Wines of Italy Series: Goretti-Wine & Winetherapy

Fill'er up with Sagrantino! 

The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the Goretti Winery were the wine pumps! Hard to miss the gas station style pumps that locals use to fill up wine jugs and take home. With the price of gas so high, maybe we should all convert our cars to run on premium grape juice. Although with this wine you will need a locking gas cap  to prevent people from siphoning it out for the dinner table.

The wine shop had all the Goretti wines on display including some super-super sized bottles of Sagrantino almost half my height, I’d never seen bottles this big before. I doubt I could lift one much less get it in my suitcase!  But they certainly looked like a major party waiting to happen.

Also on display were a line of wine-based cosmetics that Sara Goretti developed with her sister. I took a closer look at the label and realized it was the same as the products provided in my bathroom at the Hotel Gio. I’d been amazed at the quality of the sample size hand creams and loved the aroma that was evocative of harvest on a crush pad, yet softer, almost a honeyed-sandalwood scent but lively and fresh.

After Sara explained each of their wine offerings, we repaired to the tower where the Goretti family was on hand, including Nonna Marcella, to pour some of the wines for us to pair with a wonderful array of Umbrian style hors d'oeuvres, cheeses, salads, and some limited production olive oil served on crostini. I particularly loved the Torta al testo ( shown below top middle) and the Crostini di carne alla Perugina (shown middle row left and bottom right corner below) both based on Nonna Marcella's recipes.

I was already familiar with several of the Goretti reds including Sagrantino di Montefalco and Rosso di Montefalco which are well distributed and easy to find in the states.  I was less familiar with the whites, and I favored the “Il Moggio” Grechetto a very aromatic and flavorful wine that paired best with the honey drizzled cheese.

New to me was the L'Arringatore a hearty red made from Sangiovese, Merlot and Ciliegiolo grapes and named after the famous bronze statue Aulo Metello. One sip of wine this and your arm may fly right up into a salute to the intense flavors and tannins. It happened to Melba. ( see below)

The vaulted ceiling of the room added to the atmosphere and although the temperature was rather cold, it hardly mattered by the time the grappa was served.

And what great grappas they were! Grappa di Sagrantino, Grappa di Grecetto and dark yellow Grappa made from the marc of red grapes.

Afterwards we went back to the wine shop and I bought a jar of the SG winetherapy moisturizer. All I can say is if I’d know how much I was going to like it I’ve have bought tank load. I’m not a super girly-girl but I do appreciate a great skin care product. It’s been over a month now since I’ve been using the winetherapy moisturizer and I do believe Sara Goretti has come very close to packaging the fountain of youth in her skincare products. Maybe that’s why all the women winemakers we met in Italy looked so gorgeous, they are applying the secrets of the vine to their skincare regime as well as in the bottle.

I know this sounds like some crazy infomercial, but it’s true and no one paid me a dime to say this! I’ve been a fan of the French Caudalie line of Vinotherapie products for years and firmly believe in the magic of polyphenols in their grape derived products. The Goretti winetherapy products are made with the same substances found in grape leaves and grape seeds.

If you can’t find the SG skincare line (hint look here) you can always drink Goretti wine instead and become beautiful from the inside out. Or try some Goretti Grappa and after a few shots I guarantee you will see a more youthful version of yourself in the mirror. That is if you can still see.

Links to all Posts in this Series:

Part 1 --International Wine Tourism Conference 2012 –PREVIEW

Part 2--Wine Tourism Does Not Exist-- IWINETC 2012

Part 3--Wines of Italy: Birthday on the Wine Trail

Part 4--Wines of Italy: The Great Indoors of Benevento

Part 5--Wines of Italy: Goretti –Wine & Winetherapy  

Part 6 -Wines of Italy: Terre Magaritelli --Torgiano 

Wines of Italy: The Great Indoors of Benevento

The night of my birthday I had a strange dream about being stranded in the hotel and stuck in the elevator; when the doors opened I saw Diane Arbus like twins standing foot deep in a sea of blood red merlot. It was right out of The Shining. No wonder I had that dream, with artwork like the one above in the hotel lobby, the red bar, and the snow outside, it did not take much for my subconscious to conjure a scene from the Overlook Hotel. REDRUM TOLREM REDRUM!

Red Bar at Hotel 

Around 5am I was snapped out of my dream state by the sound of gunshots cracking through the eerie muffled silence of the pre-dawn. I looked out my balcony window to see our bus partially camouflaged by snow. Then I heard another gun shot and realized it was just the sound of tree limbs snapping under the weight of the snow.

I took a quick look at my twitter stream to make sure no one in our group had repeatedly tweeted  “All blogging and no wine makes Jack a dull boy.” Considering the circumstances it would have been appropriate.

My dream proved to be slightly predictive of what the day held. Due to the weather we were temporarily stranded and our visits to TerreDora, Mastroberardino and Cantina Feudi di San Gregorio were canceled. This was a huge disappointment to all of us, but probably no more so than for Daniela Mastroberardino who was eager to show us her winery and the Iripina region. But no amount of snow or disappointment could keep the irrepressibly bright and cheerful Daniela down or prevent her from coming up with some creative alternative plans for the bloggers. First up was an informative overview of the Campania region by Daniela, who in an inspired bit of super-meta-Italian-creativity used a bread stick as a pointer in the presentation.

When the going gets tough, the professionals break out the breadsticks! 

Following the presentation we made our way through the empty halls and a darkened dining room to the kitchen where Chef Angelo D'Amico and his staff gave us an impromptu cooking demonstration followed by a wine tasting.

The Hotel il Molino used to be a factory for the Rummo brand pasta so it all came full circle in the kitchen.

Potato Pasta with black pork and a touch of Anchovy

The dishes Chef D'Amico whipped up for us were so simple but so satisfying. First he made a traditional Campanian pasta dish with potatoes, tomatoes, some black pork, and anchovies.

Next, he made use of some day old bread mixed with sautéed garlic, onions and browned vegetables to create a savory dish I could of happily eaten everyday! Topped with some grated caciocavallo cheese it was like an inside out vegetable pot pie.

The Greco di Tufo D.O.C.G.by TerreDora, an unoaked white with a bright acidity and a peachy/apple nose, paired surprisingly well with the potato pasta.

One of the reds we sampled was a Moio Maiatico Primitivo that really snapped my head back. I took a sip and did a double take! The Primitivo grape is supposedly the Italian version of Zinfandel and I found this wine to be full of flavor but not overly jammy or sweet. There were notes of blackberry, black pepper and a touch of green olive. It had full body, nice soft tannins, a long finish and it was a even a bit salty too in a very good way. I was ready to grab the remaining bottles on the table and head back to my room for more, um, research on this wine. But a few other bloggers quickly caught on and the wine was finished in an instant. Oh how we pine for the ones that get away....

UNA Hotel il Molino

I was quite impressed with the cooking demo and my hat's off to Daniela and her team for turning a possible disaster of a day into a fun learning experience. Turns out the Hotel il Molino is a great place to get stranded. The rooms are large and comfortable and the staff is most accommodating, especially in the kitchen. You can find the recipes for the dishes Chef D'Amico made here.

All Aboard the Wine Bus

Later in the day we were able to board the bus and head to Naples. We were only 40 minutes away, but the trip took hours due to the snow and traffic. Luckily Mr. Wine Bus passed out tiny cups so we could hold an impromptu tasting as we inched along the highway. It's not a wine bus without wine!

Links to all Posts in this Series:

Part 1 --International Wine Tourism Conference 2012 –PREVIEW

Part 2--Wine Tourism Does Not Exist-- IWINETC 2012

Part 3--Wines of Italy: Birthday on the Wine Trail

Part 4--Wines of Italy: The Great Indoors of Benevento

Part 5--Wines of Italy: Goretti –Wine & Winetherapy 

Part 6- Wines of Italy: Terre Margaritelli - Torgiano