….in wine!

This Thanksgiving I did a “stage,” as the restaurant folks call it, at a wine shop here in Seattle. It was fantastic to focus on selling wine, with none of the visions of staffing, profit margins, or sales goals dancing in my head. And it’s different, how customers behave, when you’re just selling wine. It must have something to do with being a neighborhood shop. No deluge of once of year event shoppers; these people know you, trust you, and take your recommendations. What a concept!

King crab legs and lox from the fish guys next door, and a bottle of Cantalupo Il Mimo Nebbiolo Rose and I’m set for the big day. I know people think Nebbiolo means having to buck up for Barolo or something. But it doesn’t. The grape is more finicky and bitchy than Pinot Noir, and the reward is as great as its attitude problem. Tart raspberry and strawberry fruit, bone dry, and very aromatic–a sigh inducing blush at only $10.

On the day before Thanksgiving at the shop, we all got to wish upon the grape fairy for one bottle that we would like to drink at the end of the day. My choice was the 1995 Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia. Some people were predjudiced against it, since it followed someone else’s choice of a 1996 Dal Forno Valpolicella. I know, what a terrible predicament. You probably don’t want to hear about the Champagne or sublime Alsace Riesling we opened, then. I can tell you that the Felsina was everything I wanted it to be and a bit more. This guy makes Sangiovese like Galliano cuts on the bias. Flawless, sinewy, stewed red cherry, with oh so supple tannins. But the Dal Forno? Holy shit. Fuck Bordeaux. This wine blew our minds. When it first opened, it had a bit of peppery, fatty aroma to it, like old Rhone. Then it opened up a bit, softened up a bit and tasted like a most soothingly prime Margaux, but more exotic. Then the finish had a bright flush of acidity, and we didn’t know what to think. My professional diagnosis: Wow. Wowwy wow wow. But you must know I have a soft spot for extra-ordinary Northeastern Italian reds. You don’t have to drop this kind of dough to achieve Nirvana either. All it takes is $30 bucks:

Inama Bradisismo Veneto Rosso: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Carmenere, this Cabernet is some of the oldest planted in Italy–just North of Vicenza. Character, class, and approachable at an early age. Why wait for your 2nd wine of that 3rd growth to come around? Why drop the money on the Franken-wine that has become Ornellaia under the evil gaze of Monsieur Rolland when you can buy 6 of these instead? I don’t know. Why?