italy – Deep Red Cellar

Grappa di Passito

It was a dark and stormy night….no, it really was. The power threatened to go out during the day but thankfully did not. I threw a small and fully operational dinner party in the midst of hollowing winds and sheets of rain.

Our drinks for the evening were Italian specific. Not due to planning but coincidentally we started and ended the evening with Falanghina. Appetizers with Vino Spumante, a couple hearty, old vintage Italian reds with dinner (ooey, gooey, lasagna – yum!) and grappa as the culmination. That’s right, I said grappa! Dare I say, it was the rock star of the evening. I’m not usually a lover of distilled spirits but due to the rave reviews of my dinner guests, I took a few swallows to confirm what the others were saying – this stuff was GOOD!

The sentimental part of me loved that the grappa was the star of the evening. We brought it back from Italy about 9 years ago from Cantine del Mare, our favorite small, family-owned winery in Monte di Procida. It came with a tag, that had No. 161 handwritten on the bottom. Unfortunately, I don’t remember any background information but like to think it was a special small batch production for the maker as well.

A little back ground, grappa is a digestivo from Italy (and the part of Switzerland by the Italian border). It is made by using brandy to distill pomace (leftover skin, seeds, stems and pulp from winemaking) and usually comes in around 35-60% abv. It was originally created to prevent waste but now is deemed legit all on it’s own.

Our digestivo was Monté Grappa di Passito Falanghina – passito means the grapes were dried on mats concentrating the sugars and making for an absolutely delectable grappa. Aged in neutral French oak barrels for 8 months, the grappa had a harmonious and elegant structure, soft on the palate. The age was seen through the beautiful, amber color, rich and luxurious. Flavors of butterscotch, almond, sweet tobacco leaves, honey and spice swirled around the palate culminating in an evident 40% abv warm lingering sensation in the throat and chest.

The warm grappa, warm house and warm fellowship somehow made the rain and cold go away for the evening…until we opened the door. We said goodbye to our guests and watched them brave the dark and stormy night hoping the lingering warmth of the grappa somehow made the pelting rain a little less obnoxious.

Terredora Di Paolo Taurasi

Tonight I went back in time. I was enjoying every sip of this stunning 2004 Taurasi from Terredora when my mind starting doing a rewind back to the harvest of the vintage. When this vintage was being harvested, my now 15.5 year old daughter had recently turned 2 and was running around shirtless, saying adorable phrases that we still use today and was in love with toys that have long been donated. Wine has a way of bringing up beautiful memories of the past…one of the reasons I love it.

This wine has had plenty of time to relax in it’s bottle and contemplate what it wanted to become. It is a beautiful garnet color and swishes in the glass like a well framed water polo player. With each sip flavors of plum and dark cherry swirl around vines of black licorice, followed by worn leather and a heavily used cigar box. The flavors are rounded out with a sense of it all gently resting on a forest floor.

When I left Italy in 2010, I shipped back 12 bottles of the 2004 Terredora Di Paolo Falica Contadine Taurasi not knowing when I would drink it or if I would even care about running out. I have 2 bottles left and as it sits, it is perfectly aged. So now I have to decide. Will the wine still be as gorgeous as it is now in 6 years, the recommended ageing potential, or should I enjoy the last couple of bottles before that 2 year old is tossing her graduation cap in the air?

For The Love Of Falanghina!

Thanks to my former role as military spouse, I spent 3 years living in Naples, Italy. I loved living there – the food, the culture, the wine….oh the wine!

While indulging in the Italian experience, I developed an infatuation for Italian wine. Like many European countries, eating and drinking local is daily life in Italy; thus, I spent many days drinking the local wine. Unfortunately, that encompassed brief encounters with “landlord wine” (loosely translated, wet gym socks wrung into a wine bottle) – just to be clear, only brief encounters because I also had good landlord wine. I had the privilege of drinking exceptional local wine from the ancient, indigenous grapes of the region. One of the wines I grew especially fond of was Falanghina, a refreshing white wine with classic flavors of green apple, pear, citrus, and depending where it is grown, pineapple, floral, spice and/or mineral notes.

I always say “drink what you like, like what you drink” but in general agree with the saying, if you want a good pairing, pair wine and food from the same region. In fact, I would say that’s how I first fell in love with Falanghina, but have learned this wine just seems to go well with most any food. Seriously, I’ve had success pairing Falanghina with anything from Super Bowl junk food to gourmet artisanal salted dark chocolate.

When I moved from Italy it was with a heavy heart for many reasons. One being that I thought it would be hard to find Falanghina. Thankfully, Falanghina has been in my wine glass pretty much whenever I’ve wanted it, from sipping on it reminiscing about my days in bella Italia to pairing it with a pile of nachos.