mauro vergano

What’s for Sipper, Maxwell Leer?

by whitney on August 24, 2011

Get ready to get inside the brain of one truly unique dude. Say hello to Mr. Maxwell Leer, everybody! Formerly of The Tasting Kitchen, he’s now popping bottles as Wine Director of The Bazaar. I must say that one of my favorite food and wine experiences of 2011 was a night I spent at Bazaar with Maxwell as the captain of my dining & drinking ship. The pairings were spot on. It was a delight of the senses!

So- let’s get to it, shall we?

Name: Maxwell Leer Hometown: Minneapolis, MN Location: Los Angeles

Favorite summertime beverage: GinPop (typically Squirt) Or WhiskeyPop (typically Limonata)

Favorite cocktail or spirit: Marolo’s vintaged ‘Dopo’ grappa, made of Zibibbo must from Pantelleria (thanks Lori!)

Favorite place to grab a drink: Pour Vous on Gower for whatever Dave sets in front of me.

Favorite toast: E cuyo es mio, mis brayas soun pagadas y cagarillou dins mis brayas si voulu (old pigeon saying of Cotes Catalan). “My ass is mine, my pants are paid for and I’ll shit in my pants if I want to.”

Favorite post-dinner quaff: Mauro Vergano Chinato or Cynar

Favorite food & beverage pairing: (No absolute “favorite” per se) I really like Mendall’s Macabeu ‘Abeurador’ with urchin or Hidalgo’s Manzanilla ‘La Gitana’ with apples and cheese.

If you could travel to one region of the world right now for its food and/or drink where would you go? Japan.

What’s for sipper? Tonight’s a lavish outing: Anfora Nosiola by the illustrious Elisabetta Foradori alongside the cookery of Nanbankan.

 

FYI- Check out the kind of list Maxwell puts together. That’s some cool *ish* right there.

 

And guess what? Maxwell and Domane LA‘s Jill Berneheimer are hosting a special night at the Bazaar with none other than Alice Feiring. If you want to eat “waves” of food and drink some glorious things of the natural variety AND pick Alice’s brain about her new book, making wine, men, whatever- be there: Monday 8/29, 7pm. Call the Bazaar for reservations.

An Americano in LA

by whitney on June 17, 2011

I began to really dig chinato when I met Mauro Vergano earlier this year. The former chemist turned his sights on wine and chinato and the world of fine beverages is most definitely better for it! What is chinato (kee-naht-oh)? Well, it’s a wine that is fortified and infused with herbs and quinine bark (china in italian). Throw some sugar and spices in there and let’s just go ahead and call it a magical potion of deliciousness.

Most chinato you see is Barolo chinato, made from nebbiolo grapes. But Vergano plays around with grignolino grapes for his Americano and moscato for his also amazing and not to be missed concoction called Luli.

The Americano is kind of like if sweet vermouth and Campari had a baby, which is why i think Vergano named this Americano; after the cocktail with those two main ingredients.* When tasting with Mauro, he preferred to have us enjoy the Americano on ice with sparkling water and an orange twist. I’ve already expressed my obsession with the spritz here on the blog many times ever since my first real encounter back in 2009. So you know any excuse I have to drink a spritz, I am DOWN.

My sparkling water was flavored with a hint of orange  (my favorite way to sneak in a bit more flavor) and I didn’t have any oranges around so I grabbed a grapefruit from my neighbor’s overflowing tree. I have to say the grapefruit aromas were pretty dope all up in this mix.

A bottle of Americano too can be yours for the sum of $40. Available at Domaine LA.

* this just in from Lou via Twitter….”Note: Americano not named after a cocktail but indicates a category of Italian apéritif wine (e.g., Cocchi, Gancia).” Grazie Lou!

Like A Tween & Justin Bieber

by whitney on March 23, 2011

This one time…at Domaine LA…I geeked out. You would have thought the Beebs made an appearance. Or Miley Cyrus. Oh wait- she did, sort of. But I digress. Last week, 8 winemakers that I think are absolutely awesome were pouring their wines in the store for the Farm Wine Imports and Louis/Dressner consumer tasting we were hosting. 7 Italians and one lone Frenchman (well, New Zealander actually) were all around me every which way I turned! Wine hero overload!

Just some of the lineup of wines tasted.

Elisabetta Foradori peaking through between two happy tasters. She’s like the Angelina Jolie of vino. Every hetero man I know in the business, drools when she walks into a room. When I grow up, I basically want to be Elisabetta. And she gives me courage to rock the salt and pepper!

Elisabetta and Luca Roagna. I’ve tasted the Roagna wines many times and have heard loads of good things about Luca and his crazy ways from my best friend Christina. They are pals who met through an Italian in London. The wine world is a small, small world.

The one and only Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa. Speaking of Christina and small worlds- we met Tom back in November when we were galavanting around France. Never met anyone like him. If you ever want to know his thoughts on natural winemaking he’ll talk to you for hours like you’re the only person in the room.

Silvio Messana of Montesecondo. Just to his left and off the frame unfortunately is Silvio’s Tuscan neighbor Francesca Padovani of Fontarenza. Showing us all that sangiovese is a noble grape worth standing alone. Alternately, Silvio’s cabernet sauvignon/petit verdot was surprisingly great.

Alessandra Bera pouring her white Arcese and dolcetto for some lucky dudes. Further down the bar are Nadia Verrua of Cascina ‘Tavijn and Mauro Vergano. Mauro is a former chemist that now makes some seriously delicious chinatos (chinato is a style of digestif or bitters where wine is infused with sugar, spices and quina bark). Once you try his Americano (made from Nadia’s grignolino grapes) and Luli (made from Alessandra’s moscato grapes) you will wonder why in the hell you haven’t been drinking his chinato since, well, birth.

Two of our most loyal customers, Maretta and Sharon.They brought me a bottle of some beer they brewed at home to try! They had read about my current obsession. I haven’t tried it yet, but will report back as soon as I do.

And last but not least…

None other than Do Bianchi himself walked through our doors. Great to have you Jar!

The next day, all of these guys plus 20 more amazing growers were pouring their wines at the official trade event at Tasting Kitchen in Venice. Too much for my little wine-soaked heart to handle in just 2 days time.