Villa Bucci – wine from Le Marche

July 19, 2010

2008 Bucci Classico Superiore DOC

From Alessandro Mauceri and Il Grappolo Divino (Frascati) I acquired two bottles of wine from Villa Bucci, a red and a white one. Villa Bucci is located in Montecarotto (Pongelli), in the Le Marche region. The wines from this region are little known by the mainstream but definitely worth to be explored further.

Villa Bucci Verdicchio

Villa Bucci is a jewel of a winery from the Le Marche region. I was so happy with this discovery. Their Verdicchio wines are all made from their own grapes, grown on 21 ha at Castelli di Jesi.

Italy is maybe the place with the highest number of native vine varieties. Verdicchio, mainly grown in Le Marche, is one of them. High in acidity, the grape makes excellent white wines, fruity and nutty (almonds) with a capacity for aging gracefully.

Back label of 2008 Bucci Verdicchio

My bottle from 2008 had no time for that. We consumed it on a beautiful summers night with a delicious pasta. It is a young but elegant wine, with a golden greenish colour, fruity and fresh with a light almond aroma.

Thanks Alessandro for this selection. I highly recommend to everyone to try the wines from Villa Bucci in particular and Le Marche in general. Great learning.

Our pasta dish

Address:
Azienda Agricola F.lli BUCCI
Via Cona, 30
60010 Ostra Vetere (AN), Italy
e-mail: bucciwines@villabucci.com
Tel./Fax +39-71-964179
www.villabucci.com

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Cappuccino cornetto in Ariccia

July 13, 2010

The cafe where we had our breakfast in Ariccia

We visited Ariccia, one of the small towns in the Alban hills near Rome. Ariccia is a very picturesque place with great views of the coastal plains. We very much enjoyed strolling through its narrow roads and soaked in the atmosphere.

Cappuccino cornetto

We also enjoyed a simple Italian breakfast with cappuccino and a cornetto. The owner of the cafe was very friendly. We felt like locals.

Cornetti

The two cornetti were most delicious. Trip adviser: if in Rome go and see Ariccia.

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Frascati: vini, vini, vini

July 9, 2010

The main square of Frascati

While strolling through Frascati, the small town in Latio, central Italy, on the Alban Hills about 20 km southeast of Rome, we found the a “enoteca”, a wine shop in the historical center. Like a magnet it drew us in.

Il Grappolo Divino wine selection

Inside a friendly young man helped us with the wine selection. His name was Alessandro Mauceri and it turned out that this was the very first day of the opening of his shop, and we were his very first customers. How auspicious can it get?

Margit with Alessandro Mauceri

We selected a couple of bottles, as many as we could carry in about 35 degree heat to the car which was parked at the other end of town. Alessandro carries a wonderful selections of wines from the main Italian wine regions. He expected a major delivery from Frascati itself that;s why his selection of local wines was still small. Alessandro advised us on the following selection (all wines between 7 and 16 EURO):

– ‘2009 People Frascati Superiore’ from Poggio le Volpi, Frascati

– ‘2008 Epos Frascati Superiore’ from Poggio le Volpi, Frascati

– ‘2008 Bucci Classico Superiore’ from Azienda Agricolo Bucci in Ostra Vetere

– ‘2007 Poliziano Rosso di Montepulciano’ from Azienda Agricola Poliziano

– ‘2007 Bucci Pongelli Rosso Piceno’ from Azienda Agricolo Bucci in Ostra Vetere

– ‘2007 Vietti Nebbiolo Perbacco’ from Langhe in Piemont

The treasure I carried home

More on the wines in my next blog entry.

Address:
Il Grappolo Divino
Via dell’Olmo, 37
00044 Frascati
Italy
Tel.: +39-6-89026061

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Chapel Hill 2009 Savagnin

June 25, 2010

While wandering aimlessly around in Ho Chi Minh City, I found a wine shop which caught my interest. It’s name was “Bacchus Corner”. Later I learned that there is also a Bacchus Corner wine shop in Hanoi. I browsed through their shelves and picked up an interesting bottle of wine. A ‘2009 Il Vescovo Savagnin’ by Chapel Hill Winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia.

2009 Savagnin by Chapel Hill in an unorthodox wine glass

When I bought the bottle I did not fully understand and appreciate what treasure I had acquired. I bought the wine because I had never before heard about the grape variety. What is Savagnin?

Well, Savagnin Blanc is a French grape variety grown mainly in the Jura region. However, Savagnin Blanc is also known as Traminer, grown around Tramin, a smlal Tyrolean town in Northern Italy. Experts think that the variety has “traveled” along the Alp mountains to the Jura region of France.

I also bought it because I found that most wines on offer were quite expensive. 340.000 Dong which is about US $ 17 is not small money for a bottle of white.

Chapel Hill Winery is of cause a well known producer of premium and award winning wines in McLaren Vale, South Australia. If you want to know more about this fascinating wine region, please visit the blog called “Lonely Grape” by Shane which makes an interesting read (it also contains interesting video clips).

2009 Savagnin

When researching this wine, I discovered that wine critics had awarded it 92 Parker point! Woh, I thought, what did I accidentally buy? The wine maker is Michael Fragos, and he has done an excellent job.

Alcohol is low (12.5%), and colour is a straw yellow. The wine is fresh and clean and shows fruity (lemon) and flowery aromas. It finishes rather abruptly but that does not take away anything from this exuberant and explosive white wine.

The crucial question you might ask is: Would I make it my house wine? Well, probably not. First of all it is not available in Bangkok were I live. Second, because of the price I most probably could not afford to drink it regularly. If you reside in Australia you belong to the lucky ones, I guess. My suggestion: indulge yourself.

Back label

If you are visiting Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City and you stay in the Rex Hotel, Bacchus is just around the corner in walking distance. Check it out.

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Mount Nelson Sauvignon Blanc

June 24, 2010

Our fish

I just love to eat fish, all kinds of fish. And there is good fish on offer in the markets of Bangkok. Often we do not have carbohydrates with it. But veggies are a must. They are a great complement for the protein.

What you need in addition is, if possible: a superb wine, preferably white.

A plate of fish and veg

Very delicious veggies

I admit that sometimes I drink red wine with fish but most of the time I select a white. Since I love to drink Riesling wines, that’s often my preferred choice. Another option I like is Sauvignon Blanc. But it needs to be a really good one. I like Sancerre style wines and the ‘2007 Mount Nelson Sauvignon Blanc’, from the Marlborough wine region of New Zealand seemed to be the right stuff.

But I did not buy the bottle because SB wines from New Zealand are in fashion right now. I bought it because the Mount Nelson brand is a project of a famous Italian wine dynasty, the Antinori’s from Tuscany.

Piero and Lodovico Antinori are the 26th generation of Italy’s most famous wine family. I wanted to know how their interpretation of New Zealand SB fruit would turn out. I should not be disappointed as it turned out later.

2007 Mount Nelson Sauvignon Blanc

In 2004 the Antinori brothers bought for US$ 1.8 million a 32 acres vineyard on the banks of the Taylor River near the mouth of Cloudy Bay not far from the Wither Hill Vineyard. To make the Mount Nelson SB additional fruit (about 40%) is purchased from the adjoining Meadowbank vineyard.

The 2007 vintage is just the best ever. This is the unanimous verdict of the wine critics (91 Parker points). I can only confirm this. My recommendation: buy buy buy.

The wine has zest, is fragrant with lime and lemon flavours and some mineral notes. The colour is beautiful straw-like. The finish is lasting. I forgot the alcohol content and the price. But rest assured if I see it in my local market again, I will buy all the bottles on the shelve.

Beautiful colour in the glass

In early July, we will be in Italy. There I will taste some more of the Antinori wines. This time Italian wines.

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Merry Christmas 2009

December 25, 2009

Hi folks, it’s Christmas again and I wish all of you the best of all festive seasons. Cheers

Christmas time is “sparkling time” it seems. We bought a whole collection, some in prices reduced. At the moment we drink a lot of Taltarni, Australia and Prosecco by Cascine, Italy, both wonderful for any occasion, and moderately prced even by Thai standards. We are drinking lashings of it. Enjoy

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Brunello di Montalcino and pasta

November 27, 2009

2004 Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino

Just a simple dinner with a pasta and a salad. I grabbed a bottle of red from the wine fridge and woh, where did I buy this wine? It was a ripper of a red, ‘2004 Brunello di Montalcino’ by Pietroso (about 100 km south of Florence in Tuscany).

Aged for 36 months in oak barrels, this 100% Sangiovese wine is just a wonderful drop. Intense forest fruit flavours, great structure, good mid-palate weight and a long finish, round and silky. It took us by surprise.

A delicious pasta

We had just a simple pasta for an ordinary dinner during the week. When I went back to the supermarket the next day to look for this wine, I could not find it any more. I know why: it’s marvelous. Look out for this Brunello di Montalcino. It’s worth it. Azienda Agricola Pietroso produced 2004 about 13,000 bottles of this Brunello. I think it was one of the best wines we had had recently.

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Italian wines for Sunday lunch

September 23, 2009

Sundays in Bangkok is usually fish day. There are many beautiful fish for sale in the markets. So for lunch we select a fish and a white wine. Often I choose to have a Riesling with the food. This time we went “Italian” and bought two bottles of white wine, one on the cheap side, the other a bit dearer. The former was a ‘2007 Montecelli Soave Classico’ from Piave in the Veneto, the latter a ‘2008 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio’ from the Trentino, in Alto-Adige, Italy.

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2007 Montecelli Soave Classico

Pinot3

2008 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio

Pinot4

The Soave might costs about 3-4 Euro in Europe (or less). If I would buy the Pinot Grigio in the US I would have to pay 25 to 28 US$ for the bottle. In Thai Bath I paid about 500 for the Soave and about 1,000 for the Pinot, which corresponds roughly to 10 and 20 Euro respectively. We liked both wines. The Soave is a bit edgy and had a salty/oily after taste. The Pinot Grigio from Santa Margherita is just great, light bodied, spritzy with crisp acidity and a light lemon-citrus flavour.

Pinot6

Fried potatoes, zucchini and onions

Pinot7

Red snapper in caper and olive marinade

The food was simple. Red snapper is a beautiful fish which I like very much. The recipe is from the Philosopher’s Kitchen by Francine Segan. I have written about this fabulous cooking book in earlier entries of my blog.

I just love lunches like this one. We all relax, enjoy the food and the company. This was the first time we moved away from the dry Riesling-fish pairing and moved tp the Italian whites. We will repeat this, for sure.
And as Epicurus said: “Pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily”.

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Salve da Firenze

March 8, 2009

tignanello00

Our friends Lucija and Giuseppe came by on Saturday afternoon to treat us to a special treat. They brought with them a bottle of ‘2005 Antinori Tignanello’ from the Toscana.

tignanello0

Lucija and Giuseppe

Friends from Firenze had given them this wonderful wine and they wanted to enjoy it with us, and enjoy we did this heavenly drop. We sat on our terrace, I grabbed a couple of wine glasses and opened the bottle. Immediately, the djin was out: what a “profumo”. You could smell the scent from a distance.

My nose registered forest berries, dark fruit, moss and forest floor, hmm. In the mouth it felt round and silky. I loved the intense flavours of fresh fruit. The wine is full-bodied with very fine balanced tannins, a treat indeed.

tignanello1

2005 Tignanello

Later on the internet I found that Robert Parker had awarded 92 points to this wine. This blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc is a wonderful wine from Antinori which I can highly recommend. The Wine Spectator says it should be drank after 2011. We could not wait that long.

tignanello2

Captured by a wine

One bottle for four does not last long. But we had memorable minutes of utter pleasure. Thank you folks for this wonderful treat.

PS: Later that day we were joined by about 10 more people and had a barbecue on our terrace. It was a jolly good day with lashings of food and drink.

At about 10 at night I found myself laying on the terrace tiles, feeling the heat emitting, my head on a pillow which I shared with my two daughters Lucy and Charlotte, the crown of our heads touching and our bodies radiating out like the spokes of a wheel. We were watching the night sky of Bangkok, the moon and the clouds travelling fast elsewhere. We talked about life and the universe and our thoughts attached themselves to the clouds. Our dreams carried us away, and in a heartbeat we were gone into other worlds.

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Restaurant Review: Libertine in Melbourne

January 22, 2009

libertine

During the four weeks in Glenburn, Victoria I made it to the big city (= Melbourne) only once. My friend Tony Arthur had organised a lunch with Joe and Helen and myself at “Libertine”, a French restaurant in North Melbourne.

When Tony mentioned the name of the place we were supposed to meet in town over the phone, I was already enthralled. For a liberal like me, “libertine” augured well, promising freedom of French provenance.

libertine1

The restaurant is tucked away between various other entrances and not easily glimpsed. I came in my pick-up truck from the countryside and had to circle the place.

The dining area downstairs is rather small but I understand they have more facilities upstairs. When I arrived at 12:30 sharp, my friends had already assembled. Most tables were still empty but that would change very quickly. The place was packed just a little later.

Tony, Helen and Joe had been travelling together in France. As a native of Trier, Mosel, just a few kilometres from France I am not exactly a stranger to French culture and cuisine and consider myself a “francophile”.

We started with aperitifs. I was introduced to a Floc de Gascogne. Based on a XVI century local recipe, this is a fortified sweet wine, a blend so to say, between fresh grape juice (2/3) and Armagnac (1/3). It is kept for about 10 months in the cellar. The aromas it displays are almond, jasmine, roses and honey. The alcohol content of the drink varies between 16 and 18%.

Also the second aperitif, a Pommeau de Normandie was a “mistelle”, in this case a mixture of apple juice with Calvados. It’s usually aged in oak barrels for about 30 months and contains 17% alcohol. The drink displays aromas of vanilla, caramel and butterscotch flavours.

libertine2

The Pommeau de Normandie

libertine3

The Floc de Gascogne

The next two photos introduce the diners. A happy lot they were. We had not met for more than a year. It was easy to lure me down to town from my farm upcountry in the Upper Goulburn to meet up and dwell on the happenings of the past months.

libertine5

Tony and Joe

libertine41

Helen and me

libertine6

My steak

We all ordered the set menue were you have a couple of choices. I opted for the fresh onion soup, followed by a steak. The dessert I choose was a “tarte de pomme”, all very delicious. The service was relaxed but very attentive; the food of an excellent quality and taste for a very reasonable price.

We were also advised on the wines. We went with the house wine, all from bottles, a Roundstone Cabernet Merlot from the Yarra Valley. Helen had a Lis Neris Bianco from Italy. The blokes followed up with a glass of Tempranillo but by that time we were beyond producers and other wine information. I just did not record any of it any more because we were deep in philosophical conversation about love, life and the universe.

libertine7

The dessert

We had a coffee at the end, bid each other farewell and scattered in all direction with the sincere promise to repeat this as soon as possible but latest at our next visit in Australia.

The Libertine is a great restaurant. If you visit Melbourne you should schedule a meal either lunch or dinner with your friends in this atmospheric little place.

Address:
Libertine
500 Victoria Stret
North Melbourne 3051
Melbourne, Victoria
Australia
Tel.:+61-3-93295228
http://www.libertinedining.com.au

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