by whitney on April 1, 2010
Where: Jayne’s Gastropub, San Diego
What: Piedmont tasting (Cogno, Giacosa, Produttori oh my!)
Who: Jermey “The Jar” Parzen, Jon “Stylin’ & Profilin’” Erickson and Whitney “The Only Gal” Adams (almost exactly half of the famed, revered and feared blogilicious Barbera 7)
First things first- a little love letter to Jayne’s Gastropub. It is a thing of beauty, carefully and thoughtfully designed by owners Jayne Battle and Jon Erickson. The restaurant is beautiful, the food is beautiful, they are like the most beautiful couple ever… tons of beauty all up in there. I highly suggest you get your butt to San Diego and pay them a visit. Now on to the vino!
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by whitney on April 1, 2010
Every wine lover and/or professional has their own method of taking notes… or rather, not taking notes. I take notes as often as I can but am constantly disappointed in myself for not being more detailed and consistent. Especially after big tasting trips like my most recent in Asti, I realize so much of the wine gets lost in the shuffle. The shuffle of having fun. With long tasting dinners, vineyard visits and luncheons I spend my time enjoying the wine and the conversations about the wine. While in Asti at the Barbera Meeting a few weeks ago, I met a super cool Chinese wine writer/educator named Denis Lin, otherwise known as the honorary 8th member of the Barbera 7. He has also become my note-taking mentor, my spirit guide of wine notation, my vino scribing guru.
Yes, that is a Denis original hand drawn sketch. He has dozens of moleskin journals full of all the great wine he has tasted. When a bottle is opened (usually at one of his weekly tastings with friends), he sits with a glass and the bottle. He draws the label down to the finest of details and also writes his tasting notes. Color, body and aroma, acidity…by writing and drawing and thinking- the intimate relationship with that wine is formed. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s drinking some really great stuff.
Do Bianchi posted about Denis here, but I just had to give my own personal shout out. You have inspired me Denis. Thank you!
by whitney on March 8, 2010
Day 1. After 60 plus barbera wines under our belt, we hit the road for a mini tour of Asti wine country.
The guys doing what they do best. Jeremy- talking, Fredric- being a stone cold motha, Thor- smirking and Jon- looking like a Tom Ford model. First stop- a tasting of barbera senza solfiti (without sulfites) at Azienda Paolo Marcarino.
We tried a barbera that was blended with 20% dried grapes…a bit reductive and amarone like, otherwise known as bit “too much wine” via Cory. Also tasted was an extremely gulpable cortese (aka “grandpa wine” as says Jeremy) straight from the tank. Lovely little amaretti cookies were served with our final wine, a moscato d’asti, the region’s golden child.
Thor and the barbera soaked mouth of Mr. Stuart George.
As our little bus worked its way up the hills, blankets of snow crept onto the vineyard slopes. We reached the cellar at Il Falchetto for more barbera. And more moscato. A surprise hit was their “Lurei” 2007 Barbera D’Asti which that morning wasn’t as well received in the blind tasting for whatever reason. The mysteries of the palate and the bottle…
As evening approached, it was time to hit the road again. We had another 37 producers to work through- before dinner.
Bread was broken and wine was shared with the winemakers spread throughout the dining room and around our tables. After dinner, the boys hit the town for an ice cold beer- a welcome change of pace for their wine drenched palates. This gal decided to call it a day and hit the hay. Today- another full day of barbera. Giddy up!
by whitney 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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