Craig Camp

The 2003 list for comparison: 95 - Gambero Rosso, San Vincenzo (Livorno) 93 - Ambasciata, Quistello (Mantua) 93 - La Pergola dell'Hotel Cavalieri Hilton, Roma 92 - Vissani, fraz. Civitella del Lago, Baschi (Terni) 92 - Dal Pescatore, Canneto sull'Oglio (Mantua) 91 - Da Guido (closed) 91 - Don Alfonso 1890, Massa Lubrense (Napoli) 91 - Paolo Teverini, Bagno di Romagna (Forli Cesena) 91 - La Stua de Michil, Corvara in Badia (Bolzano) 90 - Antica Osteria del Teatro, Piacenza 90 - La Madonnina, Senigallia (Ancona) 90 - Enoteca Pinchiorri, Firenze 90 - La Tenda Rossa, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, (Firenze) 90 - La Siriolo de l'Hotel Ciasa Salares, Badia (Bolzano) 90 - Il Desco, Verona 90 - Da Caino, Manciano (Grosetto)

here ...and here and many others you can find by using the search tool.

Luce is a great example of pricing set for marketing reasons only. They make over 100,000 bottles of Luce - it is not exactly a rarity.

As I sip on a Chinotto for refreshment or have a Fernet Branca after dinner, I am reminded that I like bitter flavors. I like them in my wine too. Isn't it the slight tartness or bitterness in wine that makes it such a perfect match with food. The little tannic bite, the tingle of acidity on the tongue the mixture of tartness and sweetness in the fruit flavors - these are the things that make wine light up the flavors in a dish. So why does it seem the mission of modern, so called international style of winemaking is to take all these components out of wine? Big fruit, low acid and tannins held prisoners in long chains -- a combination compelling only when matched with other wines - not food. It seems curious that as food becomes more delicate - foams and aromas - that wine is becoming more powerful. When I want an Amarone I order an Amarone - not a Bordeaux. Is wine becoming more and more separated from food?

You find a bargain. A nice rich, complex red wine that costs under $20. For awhile you delight and impress your friends with your great buy. Then it happens. You open up your Wine Advocate and there it is: your great discovery with a big fat 94 points from Mr. Parker who then raves what a great bargain it is. The next day your wine costs a few dollars more. The next month it is $5 more. When the next vintage comes out it gets another 90+ score and the price doubles. How much is too much? When does a wine become not just a bad value, but an absurdity. For instance Roberto Voerzio's Barolo Brunate sold for about $30 less than ten years ago (expensive at the time) today the retail price is well over $150. It is reasonable to assume that his costs of production are about the same. Not to pick on Mr. Voerzio and his wonderful wines because there are a long list of similar situations. Is there a valid reason to spend more than $100 on a bottle of wine in current release? It is reasonable to assume that at a certain price level it is likely that you can find other wines that cost less that can deliver equal (or more) pleasure. Why do so many insist on spending so much on wine?

Unless you are brought up wine it I think wine and food appreciation is often something that comes later in life. Sort of like learning to love Ornette Coleman; one day you just get it. Appreciating art takes time, attention, education and unfortunately - a little money.

That does not look like any bean soup I ever had in Toscana. There are as many recipes for this soup as there are villages in the region. First as Jim noted use dried beans. Then, as so many others have mentioned, many other things are often included: garlic, some peeled potatoes (to thicken) carrots, celery, all types of field greens and very often slice or two of old bread. Many times half of the beans are pureed for texture. Good EVOO and Parmigiano Reggiano are a must. Why would you throw out the pancetta. Pancetta is sometimes discarded, but only after long slow cooking times have removed all the flavor. In this case the pancetta is simmered as a chunk. Try again! It can be quite delicious.

Raccolta: a weekly Italian wine harvested by Craig Camp 2002 Librandi Critone, Calabria

Was it the food that changed your experience?? For me even the smells in the kitchen while I am cooking change my perceptions on wines. That is why I try to taste them over a day or two in different conditions - just like this. I change, the environment changes, the wine changes - a marvelous moving target. What fun. ...and I agree - really nice wine.

THIS is a great observation. Perhaps we should have an award for the most over-rated list. Once you get a Wine Spectator Award I guess you are always in the club. By the way I have seen the list many times, but are the steaks actually any good?

...the glamorous life of a wine salesperson.

I would not equate a restaurant owner forming a relationship of trust with a true wine professional and restaurant chains that make placements based only on marketing dollars or because they are just to cheap to buy their own wine list covers.

Mark just wondering - you have the logistics of the wine list under control. How do you handle: 20 different sales reps. and their supervisors. The long list of local winery and importer reps. who want to see you. Visiting winemakers and other VIP's. It would seem that there would be precious little time left.

Things are different in sunny but freezing Cornwall. I'm about to print the list of a much celebrated local Restaurant. With Vintages. Third update. No out of stocks. Ever. AND I'm a local distributor. I Think something might be lost in translation. There are exceptions to every rule.

I'll second that. It is amazing how much payola goes out in the supposedly controlled wine business. Most chains basically sell their placements to the highest bidder (many big stores are worse). This makes it a tough business for middle size producers with good wine, but small pocketbooks - or worse yet: ethics. Small wineries can forget it. When I lived in Chicago there were all of these great ethnic restaurants where you could bring your own wine. As soon as they got successful they would want to put in a wine list and so got a license. No knowing anything about wine they would rely on some distributor sales rep. who would promptly put together a list of items they where being pressured on by their sales manager without any regard to how the wines matched with the food. I actually don't blame the sales reps. for this: the fault lies with their management who is only concerned about moving 'boxes' - as they so lovingly call wine.

'Self-placing' I think - i.e. Naturally occurring in their habitat. Kind of non-farmed. But I may be wrong. Might be another word for prawn. Italian wineries love this word. I shows up on almost every website and brochure translated into English. I never saw it before that. All I can think is that the British use it everyday (UK members?) or it is the translation they give in some big Italian dictionary.

Please place here your nominations for eGullets most frustrating restaurant wine lists of the year. It is not enough to just say who. It is important to say WHY! A wine list is bad because lacks appropriateness for the cuisine -- not because of its size or even necessarily the prices. Will there be a number one? Give me a break - do we look like Zagat?

Please place here your nominations for eGullets most loved restaurant wine lists of the year. It is not enough to just say who. It is important to say WHY! A wine list is great because of its appropriateness for the cuisine -- not because of its size. Will there be a number one? Give me a break - do we look like the Wine Spectator?

That's not the point. It's not like they're starting a price war in a huge market or anything. I believe, naively, that a word should mean what it says, and I wish that that they would just call their "grappas" what they are (whatever that is), but they are pretty damn good drinking. (I have refrained from judgement on this because I was given a sample [of the Germain-Robin merlot (I think) "grappa"] at a restaurant after my Calvados, so I was not in a position to taste much). And for those of you who like congac, I think you'll find the Germain-Robin alambic brandies a pleasant surprise. They are made by Hubert Germain-Robin, who came west after his family sold their congnac house to Martell... blah, blah blah -- you can read their spiel here. I'm not pushing their product, except insofar as I think it's well made, but I want people to realize that we're not just talking about E&J here. That is the longest defense (if you can call it that) of new world alcohol vis-a-vis the old that you will ever get out of me. 1. I agree. There are many great West Coast pinots that come to mind - Calera, Saintsbury, Sanford, Archery Summit among others 2. I disagree that they taste better than quite a few Borgogne rouge at the same price. There is a long list of excellent Borgogne rouge under $25 click here for more 3. While I have had pleasant brandy and grappa from the USA - I have never tasted one that approached the depth of good cognac or the elegance of great grappa.

Let us know your secret supplier! What exactly do you mean by "declassifed" - overproduction? Pinot is pretty tasting with Eurasian food. What are some of your favorite matchups.

I would love to learn more about Swiss pinot noir. A subject which I do not know much about - which is my fault because the Swiss border is only about a half-hour from our house. Please keep us up to date and give us some of your favorites.

This year’s French harvest will be the smallest for a decade

Last year, the United States sold 74 million gallons of wine around the world. Almost all of it was varietal, or identified by the grape it is made from: cabernet, chardonnay, zinfandel, syrah. Australia, Chile and South Africa, all aggressive wine exporters, also identify most of their wines by the grapes from which they are made.

I think there are many good red Burgundies under $25 that can be found with just a bit of effort. I would much rather drink these wines than many new world pinot noirs. I think the image that all inexpensive Burgundy is junk is indeed a cliche. From The Washington Post: It has become a cliche to say that great Pinot Noir is the universally sought but rarely found Holy Grail of winemaking, but this isn't quite true. You can find 100 killer Pinots almost every year in Burgundy, and in a great vintage like 1990 you can find 500 of them. The real problem is that virtually every one of them will set you back at least $60, with the very best ringing up at 10 times that amount. What do you get if you roll the dice and try red Burgundies priced at, say, $15 or less? You most likely get an acidic, thin, astringent, snarly little glass of something that tastes as if it was made by macerating sticks -- and sticks from a dead tree at that.

I'll say it. Italian grappa needs to worry about California grappa like Cognac has to worry about California brandy.