Andrea Sottimano

Well, I think Guido (both Pollenzo or the Relais in Valdivilla ),Cesare di Albaretto, La Ciau in Treiso,Bardon del Belbo in the Asti zone.I will prepare a more detailed list,maybe with telephone;these are the first that came in my mind.

Hi cpalms, Piemonte is full of great restaurants with amazing wine lists....I will be more detailed in future days, now the first that came in my mind is La Ciau del Tornavento, in Treiso:one of the best chef of Italy, a Breathtaking terrasse on the Langhe and,of course, every Barolo or Barbaresco you can imagine with a profundity of at minimum 10 vintages!Don't miss it if you are in this zone. Another place(Craig knows it...)is Il Brutto Anatroccolo, the Ugly Duck......in Pezzolo Valle Uzzone. A very interesting and complete wine list, with some old Conterno's and Gaja's at very resonable prices.The meat, furthermore, is simply great Best, Andrea

Hi Gordon, I usually drink wines from all over the world, I am very lucky to have some good friends with great cellars and .........great munificence! In Italy I love old Barolo and Barbaresco, no matter the style( I saw a question about this, I will be more detailed there): A great Bruno Giacosa or Giacomo Conterno or Clerico( an amazing 89 two months ago....) or Gaja. In Tuscany my preferences go to Brunello:Case Basse Soldera,Cerbaiona,Pacenti the first that came in my mind. And then,Valentini and Masciarelli Montepulciano,Terre di Lavoro, Montevetrano are wines that I love. I love my region, the Langhe, and I love to go around to visit the others producers, but I often go to France too, I've got a lot of friend there, producers or not. I've been in Bordeaux,Rhone,etc...,but only one place catch me everytime I go:Burgundy. Every year I go there 3-4 times, and every time I enjoyed it a lot. There are some producers that are good friend of mine, like Bernard Dugat-Py,Jean marc Roulot, Rossignol, Denis Mortet, Comte Armand's enologist Benjamin. I love the power of the Charme of Dugat-PY, The Clos Vougeot of Denis Mortet, the wines of Comte Armand, Comte Lafon( yesterday evening for a good friend of mine's anniversary a Great Volnay-Santenots 91),Leroy,Claude Dugat,Etc... For the whites, no doubt: Chablis! Dauvissat and Ravenau on all, but also Billaud-Simon and Boudin.Of course the Mersault of Ramonet and Roulot are among the best wine in the world, for my tastes. Best, Andrea

Hi John, I think that your question is the best way to begin. 2004 was one of the most balanced summer , togheter with 2001.Sunny days without the great heat problems of 2003, some rains,with not very abundant quantity of water, but always at the right time! Then, starting from the middle of august, nights became colder, in some cases 15-17°C at the end of august:this is a very important factor for the grapes, first of all for skins.In fact, more is high the difference between night and day, more the skins will be heavier and healthy.Furthermore, it's very important for the antocianic and polifenolic growth. That said, in vintages like this it's very very important the green harvest( every year is necessary, but with this weather conditions more than ever...); you must have the lower possible quantity of grapes par plant to be sure that the maturation by sugar parameter will be matched by a slow but continue polifenolic growth. It's really too early to predict how it could be the vintage 2004, but, at now, every grape is healthy, hard, the maturation proceed slowly and every parameter is very balanced.It remember to me the 2001 characteristics, a vintage that I love. So, I will keep you informed about this.This morning the Dolcetto grape was at 19.5° Babo.( I think we will begin at the end of the week....) Best, Andrea

First of all, hallo to everyone on this forum! I began to read some of yours questions, they are all very interesting!I am sure it will be a very interesting week . Please, don't be too severe with my english and don't mind if my anwers won't arrive immediatly, sometimes.... Thank you all for yours words of welcome! Best, Andrea