Craig Camp

Le Colline, Monsecco Gattinara, Piemonte, 1978 When you taste wines like this you want to go burn all the barriques in Piemonte. Why anyone would want to destroy such a great wine is sad. A brilliant translucent scarlet with just a touch of orange at the edge. The aromas are explosive and delicate at the same time, full of the smell of fresh leather and dark wild cherries. The combination of silky and astringent flavors in the mouth are amazing. The delicious round, warm dark bitter cherry and cassis fruit flavors are mixed with a strong backbone of rich tannin. The complexity of this wine in the nose and on the palate is wonderful. The long finish sums up all the complexities of the aromas and flavors and lasts almost forever. A wine at its peak and the best Gattinara I have tasted.

Kalin Cellars Chardonnay, Cuvee LR, Sonoma County, 1988 The color is a dark..... that reminds me I have to make an appointment for my annual physical. Anyway, the nose is rich and full of butterscotch and butter with a surprising strong mineral component and a touch of lime. Full and round in the mouth with a firm almost tart backbone balancing the ripe tropical fruit (mango?) fruit and oak. The finish is firm with a stony/lime tartness to help carry all that richness and butterscotch. This was a pleasant surprise as I expected it to be shot and when I saw the color, well... Certainly not a wine to keep any longer but at this point is is a very interesting and complex wine showing both richness and a firm structure to carry its weight and oxidation.

When I started seriously tasting wines in the 70’s we would go to tastings of Burgundies and Baroli and the importers would stand up there and argue that these weird, stinky wines were actually complex and showing terroir. Terroir was the code word that would explain all the foul aromas and flavors in these wines. The implication was clear – if you did not like all that funk – you just did not understand. Then I was fortunate to be able to make multiple trips to Burgundy in the early 80’s and taste seriously under the guidance of Becky Wasserman and Dominque Lafon – I can’t think of better teachers. With them I tasted real terroir – not that funky, foul crap they were trying to sell as Burgundy in the United States. Terroir is complexity from the vineyard and microclimate where the vine is grown. The faults produced by brett hide the true flavors of terroir. The wines Becky showed me not only sang with the complexity of their terroir, but with the beauty and purity of their fruit. Today wines loaded with brett and dekkera are recognized as faulted wines the world over. This is not to argue that wines have to be squeaky clean like most California and Australian wines. However, any wines that have obvious aromas of brett or dekkera are faulted and should be returned as you would any faulted wine. Certainly there are wineries where very low levels of dekkera and brett exist and add to the overall complexity of the wine, but these wineries are few and the exception not the rule. I believe that even these wineries would prefer to be brett and dekkera free,but these yeast strains become part of the milieu of yeasts in the winery and you cannot get rid of them without getting rid of the beneficial natural yeasts that have become essential to producing a particular style of wine. Beaucastel spent all that money for good reason. Even they did not think the wine was better with all that brett in it.

I have never heard of a winemaker adding brett to a wine! Sometimes it is just there and a small amount may (MAY!) add some note of complexity to a wine but it does not take much to go over the top- but I can't believe anyone would add it who doesn't have it. Please see the information below. Certainly an excess of brett aromas are a reason to reject wines because often they reflect poor winemaking. "Barnyard, horse sweat, Band-aid, burnt plastic, wet animal, wet leather: all have been used to describe an aroma or flavor characteristics in some wines deemed "Bretty". The organisms cited for the production of this character are the yeasts of the genus Brettanomyces and Dekkera. In the literature, 4- ethyl phenol and 4-ethyl guaicol are the identified volatile phenolic compounds associated with this off-odor in wine. Included in this report is a review of "Brett" flavor and results from our recent study on wines identified by their respective wine makers as having "Brett" character . In wines with "Brett" character, sensory profiles showed an increase in plastic odors and a decrease in fruit odors." "Fugelsang (55) stated that wood cooperage is the most frequently cited source of Brettanomyces within the winery. In 1990, Van de Water (The Wine Lab, Napa, California) reported that in hundreds of wineries from across the United States, Brettanomyces infection within a winery could be traced to purchased wooden cooperage used previously for red and infrequently for white wine production (45). Even new barrels are suspected of having a stimulatory effect on the growth of Brettanomyces: some of the species can assimulate cellobiose and thrive on these fragments of cellulose in new barrels (56). Wineries are encouraged by some enologists in the United States to destroy Brettanomyces-infected barrels to avoid further contamination within the winery (56, 57). From What is "Brett" (Brettanomyces) Flavor? A Preliminary Investigation J. L. Licker, T. E. Acree, and T. Henick-Kling, Cornell University, Department of Food Science & Technology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY, 14456

For what its worth there are also no references to this wine on Google in Italy. Lots of people with that last name in Piemonte but that's it. I'll ask around a bit.

Good vintages but without good storage good luck. Also there were a lot of crappy Baroli made in those days. Are you sure on the producer name?

I agree with Steve completely. The food at a wine tasting dinner is like the frame on a painting. You go to this event to increase your understanding of Latour not the restaurant. The Chef must do the best he can in a difficult if not impossible food and wine situation. The worst at this are the Champagne houses that push these all Champagne dinners.

Casoncelli alla Bergamasca Ingredienti per 6/8 persone – for 6 to 8 people 400 grams of flour (double 00 in Italy - in the USA if you can’t find OO Italian flour use 1/3 cake flour with 2/3 unbleached all purpose flour) 100 grams of semolina flour and 2 eggs Stuffing: 125 grams bread crumbs, 1 egg, 70 grams of grated grana cheese (use parmigiano if you can’t find grana here), 150 grams of ground salami, 100 grams chopped roast beef, 5 grams of gound Amaretti cookies, 10 grams of chopped raisins, ½ pear peeled and seeded and chopped, one chopped garlic clove, a tablespoon o choppedf parsley, salt and pepper –( all chopped and mixed - I would use a food processor) Sauce: 80 grams of butter, 100 grams of Italian bacon (or American bacon boiled for 2 minutes and drained) cut into thin strips, 100 grams of grated grana cheese (use same as above), and some fresh sage leaves. (Please note you are going to brown the butter with the sage leaves later on) After you have mixed the flour, semolina flour, egg and salt with enough water to make the dough smooth leave it to rest for a 1/2 hour – (see Marcella Hazan’s Classic Italian Cookbook or other top Italian cookbook for a step by step explanation of how to make pasta) In the meantime prepare the stuffing. Put all the stuffing ingredients listed above in a food processor and chop finely. (Remember to put the hard to chop ingredients in first- chop – then add more – add eggs and liquids at the end) If the mixture is too dry add a little water or broth. Roll out the dough very thinly (I suggest a pasta rolling machine here- again look up a good recipe for making stuffed pasta for examples) and cut into discs of 6 to 8 cm., place in the middle of each disk a tablespoon of stuffing, fold over the disc and seal the edges (use a fork and a little water), fold the stuffed part of the disc again by pressing lightly on the center. Put the finished casoncelli in boiling salted water. Meanwhile cook the sauce by sautéing the butter, sage and pancetta in a sauté pan and cook until the butter is light brown. Toss the cooked caconcelli with the sauce and the cheese and serve immediately. Serve with a good Barolo wine.

Lousy 1. All alcohol - no elegance or balance and they taste like they are made from prunes instead of grapes. Lousy 2. Tastes like Vapolicella with Spanish brandy added to it. (no insult to Spanish brandy intended) Lousy 3. Tastes like it has been aged in a car trunk in Florida in August for a couple of weeks.

I'm with you. This was clearly a setup, and I couldn't help feeling that Batali and co were just toying with these two kids like a cat toys with its mouse before it kills it. What's the point of that? I'd have liked to see Mario take these kids under his wing and teach them something and help them along, rather than using them to get a couple of cheap laughs. This is probably the lowest point the Food Network has sunk in its long decline. The people in the kitchen of Babbo worked their butts off to get where they are. There is a long line of people willing to work in the kitchen of celebrity chefs just for the exposure and the item on their resume. I don't blame them for holding these cocky kids in a bit of contempt. The kids certainly did not respect their talents and made it clear that they thought it would be easy (“I don’t need to take notes – I can remember most of the things”) to do what it took the chefs at Babbo years of sweat to learn. I am willing to bet if they had come in with the right attitude (those of a student given the opportunity to work with a master) they would have been treated differently.

I am with you on this one. I sat there with my mouth open, thinking these 2 just blew the oppurtunity of a lifetime and it seemed as if they did not even care. I do not know if that is reflective of youth today or just those 2 but it was amazing. Did they know it was an opportunity of a lifetime? I don't know. I am pretty sure, however, that the folks on that show are not as up on what's hot/what's not on the restaurant scene as the people on this board are. From what I understand, C-CAP is a non-profit program to help inner city students get training for the culinary field (someone please confirm if they know for sure?). So no, I don't expect them to view this as a "touch your dream" event or even know that this is an opportunity that other culinary students would kill for. Hey, at 18/19 I thought I knew everything too! Oh well. It's easy for us to second-guess everything from the comfort of our sofas and from the vantage point of our *cough* extra years. More on C-CAP: C-CAP info You would have thought with all the cameras and lights they would have picked up on the fact that this was something special - even if they never heard of Babbo before. C-cap sounds like a great program - there had to be two other kids that would have at least tried.

They should have been shot - or at least the show should have been re-shot. Can you imagine being 18 years old and given such an opportunity to touch your dream. They we so cocky they didn't even take notes. They both wasted our time, everyone at Babbo's time and wasted an opportunity that young cooks all over the country can only dream of!

No not an after dinner wine in the sweet sense as Amarone is dry as mentioned by other posters, but most definitely an after main course wine. Amarone with it 15% plus alcohol levels overwhelms almost everything, except maybe aged cignale (wild boar) which most of us don't eat very often. A great cheese course wine. The prices of this wine have been driven up by the demand in the USA which is fed by Italian American restaurants where it has become very popular over the years, (you can still taste it after 3 martinis) where it is consumed with little attention to producer name or quality. This demand means there is a lot of lousy Amarone out there to avoid. At its best it is a great and dramatic wine. The names Quintarelli and Dal Forno have become legendary which is interesting considering they produce wines in totally opposite styles. I certainly recommend the Speri, Allegrini Teneta Sant'Antonio and would also recommend a special search for Corte Sant'Alda.

$10 Amarone - That's a bit scary. It is very expensive to make serious Amarone.

Gavi is a wine produced from the Cortese grapes in Piemonte. IMO at its best, it is only a crisp and refreshing wine whose main attribute is that it is one of the few white wines made in Piemonte and fills that need when you are in the area and it is the only choice available. Its need outside Piemonte is somewhat more questionable considering other choices available at the same price. The name Gavi dei Gavi was originally coined by La Scolca who first figured out how to sell Gavi for big bucks. This made all the other growers jealous and they demanded to be able to use the name too. The name itself means nothing and Gavi and Gavi dei Gavi are equal in quality.

Click here for freedom!

This has everything to do with distributor consolidation, the three tier system and the fact that importer and distributor margins are increasing while retailer margins are being forced down. Large importers will run 40% plus margins to support their 'marketing' while wholesalers that 10 years ago lived on margins in the low 20's are now demanding gross profits in the low 30% ranges. They can do this only because of consolidation. Most restaurants are still commanding 3.5 to 4 time mark-ups just have they have for some time now - but the increases in distributor and wholesaler margins without a drop in restaurant mark-ups have forced pricing up there also. The irony is of course is that the retailer who is now providing most of the 'value added' activities to the consumer is the one whose margin is shrinking while the wholesalers, who are adding less value than in the past are making more. So you go to Astor Street and see a great selection, but it costs much more because of the three tier system and consolidation - even though the buyers at Astor Street have to do most of the work to find these wines from distributors that often barely know they have them. Your comparison of the three tier system to other business is wrong because this is a controlled industry that mandates the existence of wholesalers and importers. Astor Street does need either to offer the wines you are referring to. Their buyers are quite professional enough to buy these wines directly and then offer them to you at prices close to half what you are paying now. The importer/distributor you mention in your article is worth $50 million only because of the three tier system – not exactly the free enterprise model you refer to. By the way if you are thinking to drop $50 million on this company - think twice - I bet they don't have one contract with a producer and your investment can disolve overnight. Thanks for the invitation for the rest of the people in the United States to come buy their wine in New York. I am sure that this will make the retailers in New York very happy and solve everyone's problem.

The other day I had the pleasure to attend a tasting of Piemontese wines represented by an importer that I have particularly high respect for, Neil Empson. The wines were excellent as usual with Marcarini (99 Brunate outstanding as you would expect) and Poderi Colla (99 Bussia, complex and classic Nebbiolo) standing out as the stars. Also encouraging were the new releases of Einaudi (especially the 99 Costa Grimaldi) which showed a pleasant retreat from the ‘modern school’ from recent vintages - except for the Cannubi which is still heavily oaked. Also, the 2000 Barbaresco ‘Rio Sordo’ from Ca’ Rome’ showed great promise with an expansive nose and mouth filling fruit balanced by firm tannins. By the way IMHO, the Marcarini was the clear star of the show. Both the Brunate and La Serra are outstanding Baroli with La Serra the pretty one and Brunate the brooding complex one. But the most striking thing was the look of the distributor representing these excellent wines. Empson had been represented for years by a serious fine wine distribution company that had been sold to a large (ahem) fine wine import company, but had maintained some of it fine wine personality. Now this company has been sold again to company that shall remain nameless here, but for the sake of this piece we shall call Engulf and Devour Fine Wines. Now read slowly here as you can’t tell all of the players without a scorecard. In addition to the company mentioned above, Engulf and Devour purchased another serious fine wine distributorship in the same market. What was Engulf and Devour to do with these two excellent fine wine distributorships? Why of course they decided to merge them into one. Now what stood out at this tasting featuring the outstanding wines mentioned above and the new combined sales team of this new hybrid distributorship? What stood out is that all the wine geeks were gone. Both companies had been, by industry standards anyway, well endowed with highly knowledgeable sales people and were well respected in their market as top wine professionals. What was strange was that in this new hybrid of these two companies is that all of these wine geeks were gone and all that remained were the sales types. The sales staff at this tasting sat at the back of the room with a bored look ignoring the chance to taste and discuss with the producers some of the finest wines of Piemonte. Only upon the arrival of a particularly lucrative customer did they leap up to approach the tasting tables. As distributor consolidation continues and accelerates where are all of these small producers going to find a way to get their wines to the American consumer. This is a strange problem to have when consumers themselves are increasing in knowledge and sophistication everyday and wines like Marcarini and Poderi Colla are just what they are seeking. Is there a way around this three tier system?

Barolo or Barbaresco would be the classic matches, but if that is hard to find or over your budget, look for a great Barbera d' Alba. Of course, in reality any good Italian like Chianti Classico (or good red wine from anywhere) that is not to heavily fruity or oaky (like Australian, Calif. Zinfandel) would go well. A good solid California Pinot Noir like Saintsbury or Sanford would also work as would an excellent Cotes du Rhone Villages from France. It is interesting that you mention Osso Bucco with Polenta as the classic combination in the area is with Risotto Milanese (italian rice with saffron) but when you eat at people homes in Lombardia polenta is more common.

Potentially very nice wines and great values. The more Montepulciano in the blend the better the wine – Sangiovese can be a bit thin here. Rosso Conero tends to make better wines but there are great producers like Saladini Pilastri in Piceno who make some serious wines - like their single vineyard Monteprandone (80% Montepulciano/ 20% Sangiovese) that stand out as some of the best values in Italy. Not a lot of finesse here but good hedonistic wines with big, earthy flavors.

Alright! it's a team already.

Italians are exceptionally demanding consumers when it comes to food products especially something as important to them as pork. This demand puts great pressure on the producers to offer high quality affettati and sausages. There is also the tradition of buying local products so the pressure is put on by your neighbors. Then of course there would be all the things the butcher in each region can tell you about – the type of pigs, what their fed, the weather. Each will have a million reasons why theirs is the best. There is a difference in texture between what I can buy at the Il Gigante (the local huge supermarket) and the butcher shop. The sausages at the butcher shop have more of a texture (not course) while the ones at the supermarket have a smoother texture in the mouth. They are all better than anything I have found in the United States.

Did the girls give up because of the food or the guy??? Hey Peter - are the girls all Italian - you know same taste in women, wine and food?

One for all - all for one. Count me in!

Steve - never mind I saw it in your other post.