Craig Camp

Raccolta: a weekly Italian wine harvested by Craig Camp 2001 Pancrazi S. Donato, IGT Toscana

Wow. You must write ads for a living because that post sounds amazingly like a TV ad. You will find more comments HERE

jddoyle You could always start at the beginning.

As lovely as Montalcino is, for a 3 or 4 day wine experience I would recommend Siena or an agriturismo outside of Siena as a base for a first time visit. Montalcino is easily covered in a day in a day unless you want an in-depth education about Brunello. At Siena you are on the doorstep of the Chianti Classico zone and there are many wineries to visit and zones to see - Greve, Radda, Castellina etc. I would be happy to recommend some good wineries. Remember appointments at wineries are a must there are not walk-in tasting rooms like in Napa. You will find a long discussion about Cortona HERE so you can make up your own mind. I also encourage you to use our "search" tool as there are many threads on Toscana.

Don't know what prices you guys have to pay in tax but the cost price (or rather the one a very close supplier gets) of Veuve is about €17. I am sure that there are different prices for different companies. Then mark-up, shipping and tax makes up the rest. In this market the wholesale price to restaurants of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label is $32. The deal price for pouring it by the glass is $27. This is much higher than all the other large Champagne houses who usually let the NV Brut go for around $20. The retail price of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label in Italy is Euro 26. That includes a distributor and retail mark-up. Even considering the extra shipping costs and the $1+ a bottle sin tax imposed on sparking wine in the USA - there seems to be a large discrepancy.

I will second that. Carolina Wine Company has a tremendous reputation - well earned.

I live in a small town in Northern Italy which has two restaurants. The difference between the food quality offered is small, but one is slightly superior to the other. The better one has people waiting in line, while the other is literally empty. The reason is that Italians are culturally aware of food quality. In Italy restaurants that serve really mediocre food can only survive on tourists. The average consumer in the United States is just not culturally aware of the difference between average food and good food. Until the consumer changes and becomes more aware restaurants are trapped financially. While you are discussing the problems of a smaller market, as a former Chicagoan I can assure you there are also long lines at PJ Changs and in other chain restaurants in Chicago while innovative young chefs stare at empty tables in their restaurants. Remember independents in Chicago have to compete with the all-powerful Lettuce Entertain You chain. The Italian equivalent of the "Today Show", Uno Mattina, is on every morning. They devote at least an hour per program to food and wine (on weekends more). This show is followed by a show on healthy eating, which is followed by a show on cooking everything at home from scratch, which is followed by another cooking show. From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day the largest television channel in Italy devotes 4 to 5 hours to eating, cooking and wine. In addition there are two channels, Gambero Rosso and Alice, exclusively devoted to food. That's cultural awareness. The problems for a chef in the Triangle are the same for chefs throughout the United States - it is more only a matter of degree between Manhattan and Raleigh. Like all American cities they are more similar than they are different when it comes to food.

As far as your first point goes that is far from sure. Perhaps microclimate is misused in its definition. As I am not a scientist (I only play one on the Internet) - this could be the inspiration for a clarifying thread. I, for one, would like to see an expansion of your explanation and would invite you to start a thread in that regard. Microclimate/terroir/climat or whatever is the foundation of wines of personality and clarity in this regard is important. Thanks for the information.

Maybe it will do better this time around.

See the dead one here

Microclimate is the English word for terroir or climat For me this is a good definition of microclimate: "Term used in the wine world to describe the environmental factors affecting the quality of grapes. The factors, which aren't fully understood yet, include the type of soil, drainage, slope angle, bearing of the sun and amount of sun received by the growing area, altitude, both day and night temperature of the area, wind, and amount of rainfall and time when rainfall occurs. Each of these factors affect grape quality to some degree. They can even create circumstances whereby a small vineyard (or plot within a vineyard) can produce superb grapes while the immediate neighboring land never achieves the same quality. In burgundy the term climat is used to encompass these same factors, while in other parts of France the term terroir is used. " © Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst. Soil type must be included in microclimate because the way the soil holds temperature and water are an intricate part of the climate the vine must live in.

Very funny! But Mark is right - how much cheaper can they be? Any good examples?

Better stick with restaurant reviews. I think your chances as a playwright are a bit too long.

If you know the way it is just over 30 minutes from Verona. It is not easy to find so allow more time. I think there is a map on the website and the Michelin website also gives detailed directions. It is a unique dining/learning experience. One more thing... When you make your reservation request a table close to the kitchen. It is an open kitchen and you can watch Ferron cook. I would not suggest this is a culinary experience on the level of Le Calandre, but it is fascinating and you will look at rice in a whole new way afterwards.

Right on. Grey Power. Give me a hit of that foie gras.

"Get off of my cloud"

I gotta go with Mick Jagger on this one: "fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." I was thinking more of "You can't always get what you want."

How true.

If you know the way it is just over 30 minutes from Verona. It is not easy to find so allow more time. I think there is a map on the website and the Michelin website also gives detailed directions. It is a unique dining/learning experience.

So does that mean we should consider your opinion and Adam's equally valid? I don't think it is reasonable for us to ignore your years of professional training and broad experience in dining when it comes to your judgment of Trotter's any more than we should ignore Adam's lack of such experience in his judgment of the same restaurant. It is clear that you have already had your lessons. It is not a question of learning "how to enjoy it", but a question of knowing why you didn't like it. Few people like their first taste of Scotch, but once they "learn how to enjoy it" many become passionate collectors.

Pila Vecia is an incredible experince. Going there to eat is like going to a risotto university. Actually he uses and packages both carnaroli and vialone nano under the Pila Vecia label - not just vialone nano. His dishes at the restaurant do tend to feature vialone nano, but he does use carnaroli when he feels the dish calls for those textures. To the best of my knowlege he does not use or package arborio which he feels is inferior to the other two types (I agree). By the way you can get his rice in the USA from www.agferrari.com. For more info on the rice types click here

vmilor thank you as always for your wonderful posts. Please give us your reports on Da Caino, Gambero Rossi and Perbellini. Could you comment on how the Dal Forno went with the food? I have always found his wines a bit too highly extracted to balance well with such refined cooking. Also did he happen to comment on why he used artisanal vialone nano from Piemonte instead of one from Veneto?

I don't recall lemon or sugar being added at Harry's Bar in Venice. I've done a quick search on google and although not reprinted directly from Harry's Bar Cookbook, it seems to indicate that it is simply white pureed peaches and prosecco. The original Harry's bar recipe calls only for white peaches, but you better have perfect white peaches to make it that way. Sugar is typically added depending on the sweetness of the peaches. The lemon juice keeps the color bright when you make a whole pitcher. Faith Willinger does it in a similar way here

"The bread at Boccondivino is excellent," he said with a firm voice.

It is called a profit center. Orange Juice and Prosecco. Or any other sparkling wine for that matter. EDIT: No, I'm a dumbass, thats a Mimosa. A Bellini has peach nectar in it. Just to be clear a Bellini is: puree of peeled white peaches (about 1/2 Kilo per full bottle of sparkling wine) sugar - depending on how sweet the peaches are a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (1 lemon per full bottle of sparkling wine) Prosecco sparking wine. Peach juice or nectar does not enter into it.