Les Caves de Pyrene, May 12, 2014

Vini di Territorio, Rome

lupus un tabula vinum in tabula

a touch of personality

easy to find the place with signs
in all the right places

The part about this career I have chosen for myself in the fantastic world of wine are days like these.

What are days like these?

Days like these are as they say in Italian, "una giornata diversa", a different day, not the usual.

And how are these days different from the rest?

Well, Graziano always takes the day off for a Les Caves Tasting, and that’s reason enough to celebrate.

Then we go somewhere in Tuscany or Rome just to taste wine all day for our enoteca, vinosofia.  The  selection of unique wines at vinosofia comes primarily from Les Caves distribution.  These wines are produced by usually young, passionate producers, with a small production, and are truely genuine.

unique artisan vinegar, I liked the Vinaigre de Muscat the best

vinegar tasting

Need I mention that all the wines in vinosofia are put through my strict headache test tasting as well.  This means that they have minimal intervention in the vineyards & winery. 

Cristiano, President of Les Caves & Vinaigrerie Artisanale La Guinelle lady 

Basically no added crap to make it look, smell or taste like something that it’s not. 

You know what I’m saying?

Les Caves always has these cool original art posters

Champagne Guy

Champagne Lady

we started out in this outdoor building 

where all the european wines were

some nice sydre

Gosset-Brabant Champagne, Ay
My favorites were Champagne Tradition Premier Cru Brut, 

Reserve Grand Cru Brut,
and Reserve Grand Cru Brut Nature

these are the Champagnes that we have at vinosofia

Graziano & Valter our rep.

fountain of....

the sweet French Wine Guy

Italian Wine rep at the French table

delicious Spanish Prosciutto

excellent vintage

Il Signore del Balgera, Valtellina

bucket lighting

Here’s some photo’s of our giornata diversa, enjoy.

Best wines of the tasting-some fantastic Spanish discoveries like I have never tasted before, the Terra de Cuques was a Muscat & Chenin Blanc that was excellent, the Pedra de Guix was nice and we really enjoyed the Torroja, a Grenache-fantastico!

a major vertical tasting of Balgera, Valtellina from 1999-2006 

Local Boy Peter Heilbron of
Bellafonte in Montefalco holding his
new baby Trebbiano Spoletino

Buonissima Bresaola

I need this t-shirt!

Fattoria San Lorenzo 

lost in thought

At this tasting there were 234 european wines.  We tasted 57!  

I taste, but I spit out everything but the champagne.  

Graziano on the other hand tastes, and swallows, but holds it all together and enjoys every moment of it.

the confident Spanish wine guy

Spanish Table

Subasio con Gusto!

This weekend at Vinosofia we are serving Rocciata  di Erbe Campagnola with your wine of choice!


Manifesto Subasio Con Gusto

http://www.prospello.it/images/documenti/manifesto-subasio-con-gusto.pdf

Learn more about this great treat!

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocciata

http://www.alacarta.es/blog/la-rocciata-con-le-erbe-delle-prata-di-colfiorito/rocciata-di-erba-campagnola-foligno/

What a difference a vermouth makes!

Martini’s are my weakness sometimes.  My first martini was with my dear friend Sue.  Yes, Sue is guilty of introducing me to this classic cocktail, that sometimes just really hits the spot.  

Martini Riserva

Then the second one gives you the complete attitude adjustment you needed for making it in the first place.  That said, let’s talk about what makes a great martini shall we?

Back to the first martini’s with Sue.  She used to make it with vodka, if I’m not mistaken we used Skye, Stoli or Absolute Vodka and the usual Martini Dry Vermouth.  Glasses well chilled with ice first, then we had this spray vermouth thing that we used sometimes, but usually just a capful of vermouth. In the ice filled classic stainless steel shaker, and like a good Bond Girl, shaken, not stirred.

Olives on the special shell tipped toothpicks and that was it. Great memories. Great Martini’s, thanks Sue!

Recently I had to fulfill a minimum order with one of my wine reps and I came across this special vermouth called Riserva Carlo Alberto in the catalogue.  I asked my wine guy what it was like? Naturally he didn’t know, but he said that certain bartenders swear by it and think it’s great.  I said ok, I’ll take one red and one dry (white).  With a cold winter ahead, maybe no vacation, for sure some Manhattan’s and Martini’s to look forward to would be exciting.

I have to say that this vermouth makes for a completely different cocktail. Completely!

I have switched from vodka to gin because I’m crazy about Hendrick’s Gin and that together with the Vermouth are out of this world.

I haven’t made a Manhattan yet, but I made a Negroni and it was quite good too.  

my Negroni Riserva

The Campari covers the vermouth, so you can’t quite taste it as much as you can in the Martini.

It’s not cheap though so I’m trying to make it last.  It cost’s more than double of what regular Martini Vermouth costs.

Always something new to discover.