by whit on September 9, 2010
In the 3rd installment of What’s For Sipper?, I dive into the philological brain of one Mr. Jeremy Parzen. I first met Jeremy back in March in Asti when he so kindly invited me to join him and some other rockstar wine dudes for a Barbera extravaganza. I became one of the Barbera 7. And my life changed. No- not really. But we had one hell of a fun time. He continues to impress with his linguistic acumen, musical skills, undying love for wife Tracie P. and knowing actually everything about Italian wine. I bow down to you.
Name: Jeremy Parzen, PhD. aka Do Bianchi aka Jar
Hometown: La Jolla, CA. Current location: Austin, TX
Favorite beverage: Nebbiolo, practically anything from 1989.
Favorite cocktail or spirit: Vodka (Absolut) martini, dry and dirty.
Favorite place to grab a drink: Train station in Vicenza, Italy.
Favorite toast: Melba and/or L’chaim.
Favorite post-dinner quaff: Bourbon (Basil Hayden).
Favorite food & beverage pairing: Lambrusco and zampone.
If you could travel to one wine region of the world where would you go? Valdobbiadene.
What’s for sipper? Tonight is erev Rosh Hashanah so probably some Manischevitz (for the nostalgia and ease of it). On any other night this week, Pichierri Tradizione del Nonno by Vinicola Savese.
by whit on March 13, 2010
Day 3 of Barbera Meeting came at just the right time for the Barbera Boys (& girl). Hearts were weak, hope almost lost…
Monferrato: Here I am to save the day!
The Barbera 7: Really? Monferrato! Bless you.
Monferrato: Some of my winemakers speak of the land, the barbera fruit, a thing called minerality…a sense of place. Barbera is our long time friend. We would like it to be yours too.
The Barbera 7: We thought you would never ask.
Monferrato: Meet Danilo Spinoglio. He enjoys the simple pleasures in life and shares with you his vision of barbera, of course, but also grignolino, cortese and freisa. Not to mention warm fires and the best grissini in Piemonte.
Monferrato: My land is rich…and old…full of stories and cellars and tuffaceous clay. And a man named Giovanni Rava and his La Casaccia barberas.
Monferrato: The life around the table. The real way to experience a wine. Salsiccia and ancient grains of polenta- Piemontese food. Piemontese wines.
The Barbera 7: Oh Monferrato… you vixen, you.
Monferrato: Ain’t no thang. You don’t know it yet, but you will soon be further enchanted by the mysterious Iuli, the sweetness of the black malvasia di casorzo and the drinking of barbera from my chalice of love.
- finito -
Piemonte, Piedmont for us Americanos, is a region of Italy that holds a special place in my wine-soaked heart. Among the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco, Monforte D’Alba and La Morra is where my love and fascination with Italian wine really took flight. Or rather, a wild vespa ride.
The picture above is one I took at the Banca del Vino in Pollenzo a few months ago. It is the home to an incredible collection of Italian wines within the University of Gastronomic Sciences in the heart of Piemonte wine country.
I fly back to that lovely place tomorrow evening and couldn’t be more excited. Not only because I am going to Italy (duh) but because I get to spend 4 days with one of my favorite grapes- barbera. To me, barbera wines are like old friends. The ones that you can be around 24 hours a day and never tire of. The ones, whom after 2 years of not seeing each other, conversations can flow forth effortlessly as if no time had passed at all. Without getting into acidity and tannins, fruit and body…I hope my simile makes some kind of sense. Barbera makes fun wine, drinkable wine, food friendly wine. Although by this time next week, I am sure I will have a whole lot more to say about it than that.
To give you a glimpse as to what is in store beyond the ridiculous amounts of barbera during Barbera Meeting 2010: barbera sans soufre, a tasting at Gaja with Angelo Gaja himself, tastings at Brovia and Produttori del Barbaresco, dinners and lunches galore (grignolino and oysters anyone?) and so many other crazy amazing things I am beginning to feel a little “we’re not worthy.” I will be writing and posting and photographing like a mad woman so you’ll be able to experience it all with me. Catch you on the flip side…a presto.
by whit on February 19, 2010
Me? I am a lucky son of a gun. In 2 weeks time, my nose will be deeply planted into a glass of Barbera. Not in my living room. Not in my kitchen. Not at a wine bar in LA. Not even in my bed (which may or may not have happened one or more times.) My nose and that glass of Barbera will be…in Italy. That’s right! And it won’t be just one glass of Barbera but hundreds. Jeremy Parzen, my official fairy godfather of Italian wine blogging, aka Do Bianchi enlisted me along with 7 other bloggers to cover the 2010 Barbera Meeting in Asti. I must confess writing that sentence is seriously surreal. I am almost sure someone named Reality is going to ring tomorrow and inform me of a misunderstanding. Until that call, I will continue on blissfully floating through my days and getting my bags packed.
This is how it goes down. All of us bloggers will be boarding flights from cities all over the country. On March 7 we will descend upon Malpensa airport in Milan with our laptops, empty bellies yearning for Piedmont’s finest grub and mouths ready for massive amounts of Barbera in them. We will spend 4 days tasting Asti, Alba and Monferrato’s finest and blogging like crazy. In the words of Mr. Parzen, it is sure to be a “blogilicious” event. Check out the Barbera Meeting’s official blog where we’ll be posting our thoughts and observations from the tasting and all the other rad dinners and winemaker visits we will be enjoying (the enjoyment factor of this trip is kind of getting out of control.)
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