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Thursday, May 21, 6 p.m. EST
Bianca Ottone, founder of
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Metro Wines Blogs
This blog is dedicated to learning Italian La Dolce Vita, that is, fashion, food and wine! We will focus on the words and phrases you need to get by in Italy. We will learn by translating facebook posts from some of our favorite winemakers including Gaetana Jacono Gola of Valle dell'Acate and Giampaolo Tabarrini, "Menu Italian" from Ristorante...
This blog is dedicated to learning Italian La Dolce Vita, that is, fashion, food and wine! We will focus on the words and phrases you need to get by in Italy. We will learn by translating facebook posts from some of our favorite winemakers including Gaetana Jacono Gola of Valle dell'Acate and Giampaolo Tabarrini, "Menu Italian" from Ristorante Trippi in Valtellina as well as text from the winery websites for some of the many Italian Wines on the shelves @MetroWines. Andiamo! (let's go!)
Big Deal of The Week
With restaurants closed, sales are down for Asheville Wine Distributors.
That means that some of those wines destined for menus are now on our shelves.
We can help our Distributors and at the same time, provide a great wine opportunity for you!
This wine is one we might not have purchased due to the price but now.......
A blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappucio but primarily Mascalese.
Winemaker Chiara says that Cappucio gives color and boldness,
while the structure comes from the Mascalese
From Fattorie Romeo del Castello in Randazzo in Etna, Sicily
Burgundian style wine with wild strawberry fruit, fresh with a sweet core.
From a 14 hectare vineyard close to Etna that lost half its vines to the 1981 eruption.
** The Winemakers **
Interview with Winemakers: http://
$26 @MetroWines
This is What Sicily Can DO!
** The Dreaded Two Bottle Dilemma **
While some businesses are opening, restaurants are not yet back on radar.
One of the great pleasures of a restaurant is pairing each dish to just the right wine.
If you have a crab salad for an appetizer and a steak for an entree,
you probably don't want, nor should you, a bottle of Red Bordeaux for the entire meal.
At a restaurant, you could select just a glass of wine for each course.
But now we are playing DIY restaurant at home
and without a party of four or more, we are facing:
The Dreaded Two Bottle Dilemma!
MetroWines To The Rescue!
** Solution: Half Bottles!**
Tiefenbruner Pinot Grigio Alto-Adige, Italy $6.79
Catena Malbec Mendoza, Argentina $10.99
Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano Abruzzo, Italy $8.99
** Word is Out. Limited Supply **
Call (828) 575-9525 and stake your claim!
From The MetroWines Book Suggestion Department
Making wine on Europe's largest active volcano doesn't come easy.
Frequent changes in topography, elevation, and weather influence each vintage
and every winemaker has an interpretation of the evolving volcanic landscape.
This is part of what makes Etna so exciting. The wines are as inviting as the terrain. For millennia the mountain served as a backdrop in the development of Europe. Today, the UNESCO Heritage Site is a destination for the world.
American wine expert Benjamin Spencer goes beyond the vines to explore
the history and rebirth of the region that has everyone talking about Sicily.
https://www.malaprops.com/
%20wines%20of%20mount%20Etna%
Your Read it With Wines
But of course, from Mt. Etna
2018 Tascante Buonara Etna Bianca 2018 Caricante
Buonora is Tenuta Tascante’s white wine from Mount Etna’s indigenous
Carricante grape variety. Historically prized for its high acidity
and abundant productivity, Carricante is a multi-facited grape that ripens late
and gains complexity with aging. Grapes for the Tenuta Tascanate Buonora
are sourced from cool-climate vineyards on the north and east faces
of the volcano’s slopes. Really great bottle!
More about the Winery: https://www.
$21 @MetroWines by the bottle everyday all day!
As always, 10% off when you buy 6 of anything
and 15% on a case of regularly priced bottles!
Does wine have an expiration date? Some wines, even white wines
are bottled to age and,in fact improve with age. Coenobium, an orange wine
from Italy is such a bottle. Coenobium wants time in bottle.
$26 @MetroWines. Best price stateside.
Less in Europe but shipping is a dealbreaker!
Built to last. Brett Watson says you can drink it now. But if you do,
uncork and let it breath for a day. If you choose to wait, 2-3 years
from the vintage date,2018 in this case, would be optimal.
Coenobium is highly allocated meaning limited distribution to each retailer.
Brett tells me MetroWines has every bottle in NC!
Neapolitan PIZZA ***
Like so many of the country’s most prized gastronomic delights like wine,
olive oil and cheese, the quintessential pie from Naples, where pizza was born,
has become so cherished that it’s now worthy of its own Designation of Controlled Origin (DOC).
The city’s pizza-making tradition even received Unesco recognition in 2017
as an intangible cultural heritage item.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/
Your Bake it With and Serve it With Wine
Pierino 100% Organic Dolcetto
The delight of this wine is due to the terroir and the suitability of the grape to the area.
Dolcetto d'Asti is known for its softness, a wine "of all meals" typical of this area.
Delicate and fragrant red wine. Short aging from May to June,
Ruby red color with violet highlights. On the nose it offers fruity notes of cherry and raspberry.
On the palate, the wine is dry, with evident tannin and good structure.
Pierino Dolcetto d'Asti Borgo Monacato 2018
Importer Notes: https://www.
11.99
*** More News From Ciao Asheville ***
Al Pacino turned 80 yesterday!
Watch The Godfather, all 3 of them, even the weak one.
Or indulge yet again in my personal favorite,
"Dog Day Afternoon." Attica!
2017 is 95% Neurello Mascalese and 5% Neurello Cappuccio
'A Rina' is an earthy and red-fruited Nerello Mascalese dominant Etna Rosso,
marked by flavors of scorched earth, cherries, and tobacco. Russo's wines are rustic
and harmonious, marked by zesty acidity, volcanic-influenced flavors,
and a distinct sense of place.
The Power of the Balcony!
http://www.bbc.com/travel/
But What's a Balcony Without Rosé?
Deep salmon-pink in color, Le Rose offers delicate aromas of cherry, raspberry,
blackberry, and-appropriate to its name-rose petals. Rich on the palate
with refreshing acidity and a long, flavorful finish. Sicily in the summertime!
And What's a Balcony with Rosé Without Italy?
Dream of Italy with Kathy McCabe of PBS
Recommended as one of the 13 best podcasts for wandering souls.
https://dreamofitaly.com/2011/
Small bites: Ciao Asheville
https://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_3695-720x540.jpg 720w, https://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_3695-768x576.jpg 768w, https://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_3695-330x248.jpg 330w" sizes="(max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px">You don’t have to be Italian to join Ciao Asheville. The new cultural forum only asks interested members to bring their passion for the country’s cuisine, language, wine, film and literature with them to the monthly meetings at Metro Wines. “The mission of the group is to try to address all of those aspects,” says Gina Trippi, co-owner of Metro Wines and co-founder of the forum. “We want to bring the Italian cultural experience to Asheville.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 16, the group will host its inaugural meeting. Strada Italiano will supply pizza, and Mike Tiano of Haw River Wine Man will offer a brief presentation on Chianti wine. In addition, Gail Rampersaud, the group’s event coordinator, will discuss plans for the forum’s future and upcoming programs, which include presentations on the slow food movement and travel ideas when visiting Italy.
Along with monthly presentations, the group intends to host free Italian films at Metro Wines. Trippi and Rampersaud also hope to develop an Italian language speaking group to meet more frequently than the forum’s current monthly gathering.
“We really want to serve the needs of the people that are interested in this,” says Rampersaud. “The inaugural event is about bringing folks together, getting their feedback and figuring out the future direction of the group. We want our courses to be driven by our members. We want to provide what people want.”
Ciao Asheville: An Italian Cultural Forum will host its inaugural meeting 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 16, at Metro Wines, 169 Charlotte St. The event is free to attend. To learn more, visit avl.mx/5jc.
You've Got Time to Read or Re-read
"A Room With a View" by E.M. Forster
A Ciao Asheville Recommended Read!
WSJ Review: https://www.wsj.com/
escape-to-a-room-with-a-view-
Lucy Honeychurch travels to Florence, Italy, with her cousin and they were assured
they would receive a room with a view of the River Arno, but instead are given a room overlooking
a dull courtyard. A one Mr. Emerson and his son George offer their room, which as the desirable view,
to the two ladies. From this opening sequence, A Room with a View sets off following young Lucy
as she navigates through the proprieties of Edwardian-era society.
https://www.malaprops.com/
Ciao Asheville Suggested Read it With Wine:
2018 Produced in Montalcino,Cinigiano, this blend of 85% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot 5% Colorino,
spends up to 3 months, a part in Slavonian oak barrels and a part in French oak barrique.
Ruby red in glass. Fresh and young red wine with hints of cherry, raspberry and black fruit.
Medium bodied. Always a shop favorite.
$19.99 and the book takes you to Tuscany
Organic and Biodynamic, this 2017 wine is a blend of 90%Sangiovese
and 10%Cabernet Sauvignon from Fabrizio Pratesi. Wine producers in the Carmignano
near Florence have been blending Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon since the 1600s!
Pratesi has brought attention back to a region The Medici Family prized for their table.
Bold aromas of ripe cherry, dark raspberry, and Bordeaux-like lead pencil
leads to a juicy, ripe, palate of dark red fruit, tobacco and spice. The wine is full of fruit,
but not really “fruity,” and finishes with layers of savory graphite and earth.
The wine works for a casual dinner or a sophisticated table.
Wine Spectator: 91 Points
“Leads off with an intense graphite aroma
and flavors of cherry, currant and mineral.
Fresh, fruity and saturated on the long, firm finish.
Drink now through 2024.”
$17.99
From The MetroWines Book Review Department
No Better Time to Bring The Outside IN !!
*** Broken Glass by Alex Beam ***
Tells the Story of the Building and the Builders of The Farnsworth House.
WSJ Review: https://www.wsj.com/
review-letting-the-outside-in-
https://www.malaprops.com/
broken%2520glass%2520Alex%
So bringing the outide in is not just about the fresh air and greenery,
it's about all that goes on outdoors. Maybe back yard parties. Maybe picnics.
Leverano Vechia Torre Rosé
Quality in a 5 liter Bottle holding over 6 bottles of wine!
80% Negroamaro with Malvasia Nero,
Tasting Notes:
Color: bright pink with violet highlights
Bouquet: intense and delicate
with hints of raspberries
Taste: soft and tangy
Serving Temperature: 8-10°C
Pairing: an ideal companion to all kinds
of meals, to first courses with tomato sauce,
white meat, fish soup and roast prawns.
All over Europe but not widely available
in this country.
$29 for what is over 6 bottles of wine!
bring all that is the outside IN!
Ciao Asheville Alert
Canceled events:
Olive Oil and Wine Tasting
Set for March 26th
Film Discussion
Set for Sunday, March 29th
Do Red Wine in the Bunker Instead!
With something about Leonardo, but of course, to read:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/
2015 100% Sangiovese is an intense ruby red color with a very concentrated red berry bouquet
that finishes with hints ofvanilla. On the palate, it is well-balanced and smooth with delicate tannins
and a persistent finish. This Chianti is made for pizza, pasta with red sauce, charcuterie,
grilled meats, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Spaghetti Carbonara.
*** $11.99 ***
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Stand in Solidarity with Italy
Country wide lockdown in progress to stop spread of virus.
Italians learning to adapt.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/
under-nationwide-lockdown-
We can help by supporting Italian Culture!
Sangiovese (with a small amount of Canaiolo) is vinified in thermo-regulated
stainless steel tanks at a fermentation temperature of 28° C. It then spends time
in steel tanks (30%), Sessile oak casks (50%) and barriques (20%).
After blending, the wine is refined in French oak casks for two to three months.
Pairs well with pasta dishes, pizza and appetizers.
90 Points Decanter - Delicate aromas of subtle herbs and oak.
The palate is elegant and fresh with flavours of red berries,
liquorice and plum to finish. Balanced, ripe, smooth tannins. $19.99
Ciao Asheville Presents
Sunday, March 29th starting 1pm
@MetroWines
https://metrowinesasheville.
******************************
*** Olive Oil and Wine Tasting ***
with Jessica Gaydos from "Olive This" @MetroWines
March 26th from 5:30 to 6:30
Sign up here: https://
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Meanwhile: In Memoriam: Joyce Gordon
For those of you who joined us for "once Upon a Time in the West"
and were certain the voice was Claudia Cardinale who must certainly
have mastered a fast class in English, not so! As Robert Formento assured us,
the movie was dubbed. And now we know who it was at the mic!
Joyce Gordonknown as "The Girl with Glasses" passed away at 90 this week.
She said of the movie: "It's an anonymous kind of gratification."
https://www.hollywoodreporter.
dead-screen-actors-guild-
Ciao Asheville extends posthumous membership to Joyce Gordon!
Ciao Asheville Presents
"Olive Oil and Wine Tasting"
Thursday, March 26th from 5:30 to 6:30
@MetroWines
Hosted by Jessica Gaydos of "Olive This" on Biltmore.
Different Olive Oils have different tastes and purposes.
Taste for yourself!
*** RESERVE YOUR SEAT ***
https://metrowinesasheville.
Ciao Asheville Presents
"Rome Open City"
Sunday, March 29th, 1pm @MetroWines
Notes from Robert Formento
Ciao Asheville Film Coordinator
This next movie, Rome Open City, was directed by Roberto Rossellini and is considered a film classic. Filming started in January 1945, only a few months after the Allies forced the Nazis to evacuate Rome. There was destruction in the city from Allied bombs, Cinecittà was turned into a homeless camp for thousands of Italian refugees and therefore not available to film makers. Money for production was hard to come by. Even film stock was difficult to find. As a result, filmmakers were forced to become creative. But, Italian filmmakers were ready to leave behind the happy, Hollywood type movies that Mussolini favored during his regime. “Necessity is the mother of invention” and thus began the Italian Neorealism era. Directors would show the reality of Italy without Cinecittà, with very little money and mostly with unprofessional actors. As a result, neorealism films would have almost a documentary feel to them. In fact, Rome Open City shows wartime Italy though the eyes of those who actually lived through it, starting with Rossellini (Director), the screen writers, and all of the actors. (including German POWs as the occupiers)
Rome, Open City is considered the first of this new style of film making. The story takes place in Rome during the 9 month occupation by the Nazis. (The occupation took place after Mussolini was deposed and the new government sided with the Allies.) Hitler was furious with Italy and vowed to make life miserable for Italy, especially the resistance leaders. They would go to any length to smash those in the resistance or anyone providing them assistance. And this is a story based on true events of the resistance.
Although Italian neorealism films used mostly non professional actors, this film has two professional actors who provide standout performances; Aldo Fabrice who plays the priest Don Pietro and Anna Magnani, who plays the fiancee of one of the resistance leaders both lived through the occupation and this is the film where Anna Magnani became a star. She would go on to work with Visconti, Jean Renoir, Pasolini, Fellini, Tennessee Williams, etc.
This is Rossellini’s tribute to Italy’s resistance fighters and it is a masterpiece. Given that the film was shot a few short months after the occupation, while the rest of Italy was still occupied, it is highly realistic. There are some scenes with violence, but those scenes are hardly gratuitous.
Film time - 105 minutes
Event is "on the house"
$7 for a glass of Red or White Italian Wine
Save your seat by calling (828) 575-9525
ONLINE HERE!
From Website: GUEST HOUSES
Fattoria Corzano e Paterno stretches out over two hills covered with vineyards, olive trees and woodland. It is set in the very heart of Chianti near the main road from Florence to Siena. The historic Villa Paterno, acquired from the Machiavelli family, together with the farm houses on the property, have been restored with great care to their original form.
The AGRITURISMO is comprised of four country large houses for holiday rental, positioned in pristine locations amid cypresses, olive groves and vineyards, views that have escaped the passage of time, and are reached by unpaved country roads. Their restoration has maintained, with the exception of modern kitchens and baths, the original structures of beamed ceilings, open sit-in fireplaces and large, airy rooms. Situated in this classic Tuscan landscape, near fields of our grazing sheep, the houses overlook the verdant valley that lies between the two distinctive hills of the farm.
The restoration of the buildings was undertaken by the architect Wendelin Gelpke himself, who tried to change as little as possible in the layout of the structures and to integrate modern facilities unobtrusively.
Florence 32 km – Siena 56 km – San Gimignano 37 km – Pisa 104 km – Lucca 101 km
Additional information concerning each house or flat can be found by using the links of the specific house/flat page in question.
General Facilities: Fireplaces, DVD, BBQ, washing machine, iron board, hairdryer, dishwasher, free parking, pools, equipped garden, microwave, toaster, wine and cheese tasting, fans, farm shop, reception, wi-fi area outdoor,mosquito screens, cot, highchair, toaster. Pets welcome
Services included in the price: Bed, bath and kitchen linens, water, gas for the kitchen, electricity, weekly change, final cleaning, welcome basket, wine and cheese tasting at our farm
Extra costs: from 1 March Local Tourist Tax, 1,50/pax/night up to max. 7 night
Children under 14 do not pay
Extra costs to be paid according to use: heating upon consumption
Upon request and not included in the price: domestic help, cook, cooking classes, baby sitter, taxi service, welcome dinner, horse riding, watercolour lessons, massages. Bookings can be secured by credit card. A deposit is required for larger groups.
More about the Winery from the Website: The vineyards of the Fattoria Corzano e Paterno lie on the steep and stony slopes surrounding the fortified farmhouse “Corzano” in San Casciano Val di Pesa. Roughly seventeen km south of Florence, the property runs along the ancient Via Cassia and the River “Pesa” which separates our land from the “Classico” region of Chianti.
Corzano sits like a natural stone outcrop, a serrated edge along the hilltop horizon. The building was constructed centuries ago from fieldstones as a watchtower overlooking the valley leading from Florence to Siena. It grows up out of medieval foundations, possibly even Etruscan, as nearby tombs testifies to their presence in the area. In 1969 the property changed hands for the first time in seven hundred years.
Six hectares of the farm’s one hundred and fourty were planted with vines in the very best positions around Corzano. At the altitude of three hundred meters they form a natural amphitheatre facing south-southwest in soil gravely in structure and rich in clay and lime. The farm’s herd of milk sheep supplied the natural manure; traditional local wine making techniques were modified and enhanced by the skills learned by the young winemakers in the Swiss wine school at Wädenswil, near Zurich.
Our first wines were bottled in 1972. Today we have seventeen hectares of vineyard and produce more than 80.000 bottles. Grapes varieties run from the usual Chianti selection of Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Malvasia, Trebbiano, to the foreign varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay. In a normal year the farm will produce one white wine, four reds and a sweet wine.
The vineyards and cellars are the domain of Aljoscha Goldschmidt and Arianna Gelpke, both enologist, the nephew and daughter of the founder Wendel Gelpke.
You should try Corzano e Paterno! You won't be disappointed. But get your mind off the basement thing. You have a very long line ahead of you!
Reprinted from The Laurel of Asheville:
The Grapevine: Mona Lisa’s Wine
https://thelaurelofasheville.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/grapevine-300x119.jpg 300w, By Gina Trippi
March is Women’s History Month. That made us ask what wine one of the most famous women, the Mona Lisa, might have preferred. It is hard to know for certain but we have scoured historical resources!
The Louvre, where the Mona Lisa hangs, says the portrait is likely that of Lisa Gherardini (1479-1572), the wife of a Florentine cloth merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, from which the alternative name of the painting, The Gioconda, is derived.
The ancestry of the Gherardinis, an ancient family of landowners, can be traced back to the 10th century in Tuscany. While Gherardini owned land in Tuscany, the family was neither aristocracy nor nobility. With constant economic and political uncertainty along with frequent wars, land ownership was not a guarantee of wealth.
By 1479, the Gherardini family, struggling financially, sold their land and moved to Florence. Lisa was born June 15, 1479, in a modest house at the corner of Via Squazza and Via Maggio. When she turned 16, she was married to Francesco del Giocondo.
Records show that the portrait was begun by Leonardo da Vinci in Florence around 1503. Research indicates that the situation was not that Leonardo asked Lisa to sit for his painting but that Lisa’s husband commissioned the portrait, perhaps, some suggest, to commemorate the upcoming birth of their second child.
Although Francesco was a very prominent silk merchant, securing Leonardo, an established painter who was already working for the likes of The Medici, to paint the portrait of his wife was still considered quite the achievement. There is no evidence that Francesco ever took delivery of the painting, as Mona Lisa stayed with Leonardo until his death.
Back in Tuscany, the history of making wine in what we now know as Chianti dates back to the 13th century. The grapes were growing, but it was not until 1716 that Cosimo III de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, issued an edict declaring the boundaries of Chianti.
While there is no evidence that Lisa Gherardini ever lived on a wine making estate, there is documentation that her family lived in Chianti for generations back and that Lisa spent time at a villa-turned-winery. Chianti, the region and the wine, are part of her heritage.
Chianti, despite its glorious roots, suffers from a decades-old image in this country as a low-quality wine in a bottle enclosed by a straw basket, appropriately called a “fiasco,” that is used for candles when the bottle is empty. But Chianti is actually a traditional red wine made from Sangiovese grapes generally tasting of dried cherries and oregano, a little aged Balsamic, a touch of espresso and sweet tobacco. Chianti Classico means the vines come from the oldest and most genuine areas of Chianti in Tuscany.
So after a tough day of dealing with the kids and sitting for portraits, our best guess is that Lisa Gherardini kicked back with a glass of Chianti. But which Chianti? While Casa Emma, a small, woman-owned winery outside Florence, was not in business in 1495, its Chianti Classico is the type that would have probably been available to Lisa. Made in a century-old Tuscan stone house with traditional methods from grapes grown organically, the wine has no modern-day additives and is, in that sense, historic itself.
Bring Women’s History month forward by sharing a glass of Chianti and a toast to Lisa Gherardini, Mona Lisa!
Gina Trippi is the co-owner of Metro Wines, 169 Charlotte Street in Asheville. Committed to the community, Metro Wines offers big shop selection with small shop service. Gina can be reached at gina@metrowinesasheville.com or 828.575.9525.
*** Trip to Italy ***
Ciao Asheville is Partnering with The Sister Cities
in Saluda and Hendersonville
to present the first program in our Travel Series
"Italy Off The Beaten Path"
Sunday, March 8th from 1 to 2:30
$15 for Presentation, Glass of Italian Wine and Light Appetizers
https://metrowinesasheville.
In other Italian News:
2018 "Due Amici"
90% Montepulciano and 10% Sangiovese
Click to image to check availability and price online. $13.99 @MetroWines.
Maurizio Marchetti is a charming character leading a charmed life.
He lives near the Adriatic coast of Italia in a region that sees nearly 3,000 hours
(200 days) of sun each year! Also, his wife is a cardiologist (so she brings home
the pancetta, as we like to say), leaving Maurizio free to pursue his two art forms: painting and making wine. Since he needn’t rely on wine to earn an income,
Maurizio can afford to be as picky with his grapes as he wants. He is so selective
that he sometimes produces as little as a half bottle of wine per plant!
Maurizio’s great-great-grandfather was an exotic spice trader,
sailing to the Far East over 250 years ago. He was quite successful,
allowing the family to buy the land that is now the Marchetti estate.
On their property, they have a castellino (‘little castle’) whose interior walls
have murals of Chinese sailors loading ships with the highly prized spices.