It’s been a little over 7 months since my last post so I figured
it was about time to get back on it. I
enjoy writing and while I write quite a bit at work, my topics aren’t all that
exciting. As you guys can probably tell
(those of you that actually read this blog), I enjoy writing about my travels
as much as (if not more so) I like writing about wine. So, to get back into writing about topics
that I enjoy, I figured that I’d start writing some posts about wine that I’m
currently drinking while adding some commentary/memories/insights about the
regions they’re from based on my own experiences. I know that I’ve done this quite a bit
already (see all of my trip logs), but I don’t think that I’ve ever paired my
trips with a wine that I’m currently drinking.
This idea came up because I just happened to open up a
bottle of wine from one of my favorite areas of the world today- Umbria. I tend to think of Chianti as my favorite
wine and it is because it’s so readily available all over the world. Wines from Umbria are much harder to find,
especially my favorite “unknown” wine: Rosso and Sagrantino di Montefalco. The best way I can describe these wines are
like a rustic version of the Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino wines that are
much better known. The Montefalco wines,
made from the Sagrantino grape are just as big and complex as the Montalcino
wines made from the Sangiovese Grosso grape, but the raw power and in your face
taste makes me prefer them (when I can find them). I’m not sure that a Montefalco wine would
ever get scores like the Montalcino wines consistently do, but the rustic
nature of them gives them a special appeal to me.
As is the case with almost anything, fond memories had while
drinking wine can give the drinker an especially positive (or negative) view of
the wine they’re drinking. Part of my
love for the Montefalco wines comes from the way I discovered them. A few years back, I made a trip to Italy to
visit my parents for the holidays (they were living in Florence for the year). It was to be a quick trip considering the
distance I traveled (and all that I wanted to see and do in Italy), but my
girlfriend and I still found some time to explore new places when we rented a
car for a few days.
We ended up with a little red Fiat 500 (the ones they now
sell stateside), and while the car was fun to drive, it felt a little too
Italian for me, especially since I’m used to driving a Jeep. Anyway, on our last full day with the car, we
decided to take a trip into Umbria. I had
been to Perugia and wanted to show her the cute little city that is famous for
its chocolate, so after taking a look around and having some sweets, we drove
further into Umbria. She had discovered
a small town in the middle of nowhere that was supposedly famous for its
truffles. I don’t think she really cared
for Perugia, mostly because she had truffles on her mind. After a nauseating drive that took us deep
into the mountains and valleys of Umbria, we arrived at our destination,
Norcia. As it was the middle of winter,
it was already beginning to get dark outside, but it was still relatively early
so we parked the car and headed into the little town on foot. Norcia is a lot like other medieval Italian
towns, it’s kind of placed on a hill and there seems to be just one main street
running from one side to the other. We perused
at all of the different touristy looking shops and quickly discovered that
these touristy shops weren’t like the ones we came to know well from our time
in Florence, these were tourist traps constructed for Italians, not
Americans. They didn’t sell cheap
t-shirts and postcards, but the delicacies of the region- truffles and
wine. Looking at all of the boar salami
made with black truffle, looking at the whole truffles, the truffle oil,
truffle pasta, truffle cookies (sense a theme yet), we finally noticed that all
the stores we visited had the same two types of wine.
Even back then, I thought myself pretty well versed in wine
so I was surprised when I did not recognize the bottles that seemed to be sold
at every corner. Finally, I asked a
butcher about the wine he was selling and asked him what it was. That was when I learned about Rosso di
Montefalco and Sagrantino di Montelfalco.
Since no one spoke English and since I was out of practice (and don’t know
much wine vocabulary) with my Italian, I just picked up that it was the local
wine, that it was very good, strong in taste (eat with steak, he said), and
that I had to try it. So, we asked him
for a good restaurant in the town and he gave us a few options.
We walked out of the store with some food souvenirs and went
out in search of one of the restaurants that he had recommended to us. It was still early for dinner by Italian
standards so the first one on our list was still closed, but the second one was
open. At 6:30ish, we were the first
customers for the evening and walked in while being warmly welcomed by the
owner, head chef, and waiter. He sat us
and handed us the wine list. With the
butcher’s recommendations fresh in my mind, I asked him to bring us a good
bottle of Sagrantino di Montefalco. He
brought it out and let me try it and I was shocked. I had been having wine with almost every
dinner on my trip, and had even had a Brunello a few days before, but I was
floored by the intensity of the wine I was trying. I loved it.
It was big. It was bold. It made my mouth water and I immediately knew
why our butcher recommended that we have it with steak.
We looked over the menu and I looked for the bistecca. I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the
only steak on the menu was a massive cut of meat meant for two. This being a date, I didn’t know how I’d be
able to sell this to the gf, but once she learned that it was topped with
truffle oil and shaved truffles, we were sold.
We ordered our appetizer, our obligatory truffle pasta, and our steak. The appetizer and pasta were delicious, but I
was trying to save room for the steak.
When it finally came out, I immediately realized why it was meant for
2. Only one other time had I ever been
served a bigger steak, and that was when I was eating a bistecca al fiorentina
with my Italian professor and roommate (ie. meant for 3). The steak, easily an inch and a half think
was as big as hubcap. It wasn’t just
topped with truffle shavings; it was piled high with the delicacy. We were both intimidated by the steak at
first, we took pictures just to prove its size and its impressive toppings, and
then I finally got to cut into it for the first bite. Much like the bistecca al fiorentina, it was
rawer than any American restaurant would dream serving a steak. It was delicious. So juicy.
I had never had truffle on a steak so the combination was a bit of a
surprise to me, but I liked it. By the
time it was less than 1/4th gone, the girl friend had had her fill
and it was up to me to work on the remainder.
I didn’t eat it all, and I quickly realized that much of its size and
great taste came from all the fat on the cut of meat (it wasn’t just a giant
t-bone type cut, it was the t-bone plus everything else in the vicinity of the
cow). So, I was able to eat most of the
best parts of the meat. At the end of
the meal, saying that we were full was an understatement. Saying that the food was delicious didn’t do
it justice. The wine went perfectly with
our meal. The giant steak and its
decadent toppings were barely able to tame the powerful wine that turned out to
be the perfect complement to the food.
The two hour drive home was rough. All I wanted to do was go to sleep, but
luckily the drive through the mountains kept me entertained and let me enjoy
the moment while thinking about the meal that was still I was still
digesting. I need to look up the name of
that restaurant. For how much I remember
about that evening, the name of the restaurant still escapes me. I still remember the wine: Rocca di Fabri
Sagrantino di Montelfalco 2006. It was
the best bottle of wine that I’ve ever had at a restaurant and it only cost us
about $30. It was the best meal I’ve had
at a restaurant and it was very cheap considering what we had to eat.
And, now, almost four years later, I still think about that
day often, but especially on nights like tonight when I open a bottle of wine
from that tiny part of the world.
Tonight, I’m drinking a 2009 Rosso di Montefalco. I don’t often find a Montefalco wine
stateside, but when I do, I always pick it up.
It’s not a wine for everyone. It’s
not a wine for everyday drinking (like Chianti), but it is an experience. Keep an eye out for it. If I were a better known author and had a
larger following, I’d be tempted not to write about a wine like this because I like
the fact that because no one knows about it keeps it relatively cheap, but I don’t
think I’m in a position to really change that by myself (yet). Try this wine. If you have a day in Italy, seek out
Norcia. It’ll be the best little town
that you’ve ever been to. You’ll likely
be the only one you know that will have ever been there. Or, a simpler solution, serve this wine next
time you have steak and it’ll be a hit and you’ll look like a genius for
introducing your friends to a delicious wine that none of them have ever heard
of.
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