6:30 PM

A legend among piedmontese producers, Giuseppe Rinaldi has been producing Barolo wine for over a century. As traditional as it gets, “Beppe” Rinaldi still ferments all of his Baroli in the massive, 110 year old piedmontese oak vat that his great grandfather used. The wines are aged in large old oak for two years before bottling. Rinaldi still holds to the tradition of blending fruit from different vineyards to create a perfectly balanced, long aging wine.

In recent years, Giuseppe’s daughter Marta Rinaldi has become more involved in the business.  Along with Eleanora Barale, Maria Teresa Mascarello, Mariacristina and Mariavittoria at Oddero, and Bruna Giacosa we are now seeing a younger generation of women making many of these traditionally masculine wines, ushering in the feminine future of Barolo.

Marta will join us for a very special prix fixe menu paired with select Rinaldi vintages.  For those interested in our regular à la carte menu, all of the Rinaldi wines will be available by the glass and half-glass to the whole dinning room.

1st Course
Antipasti Misti: Celery with marrow sauce, leeks with red wine sauce, and soft green chard with amaretti cookies

Wines:
Brunate 1998
Brunate 1999

2nd Course
Red Winter wheat bigoli with ragù of duck giblets

Wines:
Brunate 2000
Brunate 2001

3rd Course
Slow Roasted Liberty Farms duck with butter poached lobster

Wines:
Brunate 1996
Brunate 2006

Cheese Course
Brunate 1995

$260 + tax and service charge

please call 510-547-5356 to make a reservation

Thursday, March 24th

7:00 pm Robert Camuto discusses
Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey at Mrs. Dalloway’s
8:30 pm book signing & wine tasting in the Oliveto Cafe

Wines offered by the glass will include:
*Etna Bianco(Carricante and other indigenous varieties),
“Outis,” Biondi, Sicily 2009
*Ceresuolo di Vittoria Classico (Nero d’Avola-Frappato),
“Pithos”, COS, Sicily 2008
*Nero d’Avola, “Schiave,”Cantina Riofavara, Sicily 2007 (thank you, Kermit Lynch!)
and may include others….

Sicily has become the Italian wine region to watch, and for good reason. The island has a huge range of wines, delicate and complex reds and whites from Mt. Etna on the east coast, robust and earthy Nero d’Avola in the south, and rich whites, both sweet and dry in the west.

We’ll be tasting some of these wines and helping to celebrate the the publication of Palmento: Ascilian Wine Odyssey by Robert Camuto.

Palmento is a beautifully written travelogue of Camuto’s time spent on the island meeting winemakers, each providing a different look at life in Sicily.  In years past, Sicilian winemakers favored quantity over quality, and the wines produced were more industrialized. Today’s Sicilian winemakers seek to make wines of place, wines with their own specific identity.  Camuto’s book focuses on a dozen winemakers; my favorites include Guisto Occhipinti, Frank Cornelissen, Salvo Foti, and Alberto Graci.  All four of these men make wine in a more natural and traditional-style; they favor old techniques and use fewer machines.  Most of all, these winemakers are connected to the land, connected to Sicily.  Please join us as we taste and discuss some of these wines in the company of Robert Camuto.

Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey is available for sale at Mrs. Dalloway’s on College Avenue in Berkeley.
Robert Camuto will be reading at Mrs. Dalloway’s, Thursday March 24, 2011 at 7:00pm.

If you cannot attend the reading but would like to taste the wines, all are welcome at Cafe Oliveto.

Robert Camuto discusses Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (At Table) (Univ. of Nebraska, $24.95). Inspired by a deep passion for wine, an Italian heritage, and a desire for a land somewhat wilder than his home in southern France, Robert Camuto set out to explore Sicily ’s emerging wine scene. What he discovered during more than a year of traveling the region, however, was far more than a fascinating wine frontier. Chronicling his journey through Palermo to Marsala, and across the rugged interior of Sicily to the heights of Mount Etna, Camuto captures the personalities and flavors and the traditions and natural riches that have made Italy ’s largest and oldest wine region the world traveler ’s newest discovery. In the island’ s vastly different wines he finds an expression of humanity and nature and the space where the two merge into something more.

-Randall Grahm [Read the full article]

November 11 and November 12

Thursday, November 11, winemaker Cecilia Naldoni from Grifalco in the Monte Vulture region of Basilicata will be at Oliveto for a private winemaker dinner.  Chef Paul Canales will prepare a four-course menu inspired by Basilicata and perfect for Aglianico pairings.  Thursday’s dinner in the Siena room will allow for Cecilia to discuss her wines with a small group of guests. Please call (510) 547-5356 for pricing and reservations.

The following day, Friday November 12, Cecilia will be in the general dining room floating to chat tableside with interested guests who would like to know more about her wines, the region of Basilicata and her choice to migrate from Tuscany to the South of Italy.  We will be serving our regular a la carte dinner menu and have a number of Grifalco wines available by the glass.  Please call or reserve online.

Available wines include:

2006 Gricos, consisting of fruit from all four vineyards, half of the wine seeing slovenian oak, the other half in stainless steel. The grapes from each vineyard are always kept separate and blended at maturity.

2004 and 2007 Grifalco, uses grapes from each of the four growing sites, a fifth of the wine spends twelve months in tonneau and barrique, all spends four months in bottle before release.

2005 and 2007 Damaschito, the least produced style, 4000 bottles a year, this is a single vineyard aglianico, using grapes from their best vineyard. The vines in the maschito vineyard are all over 30 years old, grown at high altitude on a windy plateau of clay and volcanic soil.

2005 and 2006 Bosco del Falco, this wine is made from fruit hand-harvested from the oldest (thirty plus years) vines in each of the four vineyards. Like Gricos and Grifalco, the fruit from each site is kept separate, Cecilia’s husband Fabrizio does this to ensure that proper oak treatment is used for the particular characteristics of each site. Bosco del Falco is aged 18 months in large oak barrels (25-50 hectoliters) then spends a year in bottle.

*

Basilicata is one of Italy’s least known or visited regions, however it is not overlooked for lack of culture. Located at the instep of the boot, surrounded by Campania to the north, Puglia to the east, and Calabria to the southwest. The region has never been of notable wealth and the predominant source of income for Basilicata has always been agricultural production. Wheat is still grown over much of the region and eaten regularly. The best know and most enjoyed foods are based on those eaten by the peasant class. Common vegetables are broccoli rabe, bitter chicories, eggplant, and most of all peppers. Meat is mostly pork, including the cured sausages, sopressata and salsiccia. Lamb is also eaten, and many locals believe it is best served with the locally grown Aglianico. For a long time Aglianico produced in Basilicata was harsh and difficult to drink. It’s acids and tannins were too rough. Until recently, Aglianico was not seen as capable of greatness, often vines were torn out and replaced with wheat. Much has changed in the past 15 years, Aglianico is now somewhat well known and sought-after, but this shift is owed to winemakers like Fabrizio and Cecilia Piccin of Grifalco who saw the potential in Aglianico grown on Monte Vulture.

It is hard to guess at the time of harvest how a vintage will eventually turn out. Only after malalactic fermentation has happened, some time in the spring of 2011, will there be a clear sense of the qualities of that year’s fruit.

But, here are Aldo’s best guesses:

The 2010 Barbaresco should make good, not great (he’s always so modest!), medium-bodied, well-balanced, classic wines. Similar to the 2005 vintage.

It was very rainy in Barbaresco on September 7, 19, 27 and October 4th, with dry/warm days in between. Although there wasn’t a mold problem and the harvest went well, the soil remained fairly wet, which makes for less concentrated juice. Sugar was good, 13.4.

Color was good in some vineyards, less so in others.

Produttori has several exceptional vintages in their cellar, not yet released, so they will decide in the springtime if they will make 2010 single vineyard wines.

This latest video was filmed by Aldo’s son, six-year-old Giacomo Vacca

With video taken last November and the editing prowess of Beryl Ray Levy, we’ve just cut a new piece on our friend Roberto Stucchi and the magnificent Badia a Coltibuono in Tuscany.

It seems like a good time to also mention we are currently serving the 2007 Riserva by the glass in both the restaurant and the cafe.   And the 1999 Sangioveto (one of Roberto’s personal favorites), which started out rather austere, has recently begun to open up.  Therefore we’ve taken some of our bottle out of the cellar and put them on the Wine In Time menu.  It will be interesting to observe how this wine changes over the next couple years.

Eighty-two degrees and rain in Barbaresco today. Aldo Vacca just sent us our latest vineyard report. The “green harvest” is now complete (thinning the vines of fruit, for the benefit of remaining grapes). We’re glad it looks like summer–somewhere.

In Monday’s New York Times, wine writer Eric Asimov described a recent tasting of twenty Chianti Classicos and lamented the lack of classically styled wines from the region, particularly at the Riserva level.   His primary complaint centered on the unnaturally dense, dark appearance of many of these wines, often due to over-extraction, heavy use of oak, or blending of international varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.  We here at Oliveto couldn’t agree more. From the outset our wine program has focused on sourcing Italian wines made in a more traditional style: “Typicity, authenticity, and honest, traditional methods are key factors in the wines we typically find interesting.  Balance, elegance, and the ability to age gracefully are defining characteristics that guide each selection for our list.”   Of course, defining exactly what is typical, authentic, and honest is not a black and white issue; as Asimov points out, the indigenous grape, Colorino, has long been used to deepen the color of Tuscan wines, preceding the influence of international varietals and globe-trotting critics. Nevertheless, in our opinion and for our palates, over-extracted, heavily-oaked wines supplemented by non-indigenous varietals rarely, if ever, offer the balance, elegance, and ability to age that we prefer.

Thus, we took great pleasure in noting the top two producers that emerged from the NY Times panel’s tasting: Fèlsina and Fontodi.  Both estates are well represented on our regular list and our Wine-in-Time list of older vintages. We have been fortunate during the last 15 months to have Caterina Mazzocolin of Fèlsina and Giovanni Manetti visit Oliveto for wine dinners. While their styles are somewhat different (Fontodi is a bit more toward the modern end of the spectrum) we believe both estates strive to produce wines that are typical of what they are supposed to be and that reflect the distinctive qualities of the Sangiovese grape.  Each wine from these two producers is unmistakably Tuscan.

Finally, although the NY Times panel focused specifically on DOCG designated Chianti Classico Riservas, it is worth noting that a number of producers make similar quality wines either as basic Chianti Classico or even outside of the DOCG regulations. Two prime examples from our list are the tiny producer Le Boncie and the legendary Montevertine. At Le Boncie, Giovanna Morganti makes only one wine, “Le Trame,” which she designates as a simple Chianti Classico.   She focuses all her energy and best grapes into making one great wine and frequently produces what I consider to be the epitome of elegant, refined Chianti.  In 1968, Montevertine was one of the first producers to forego the prestige and marketing prowess of the Chianti designation in order to make wines exclusively from Sangiovese. At the time Chianti had to be a blend, but Sergio Manetti believed in Sangiovese as a noble grape. He parted ways with the Consorzio to pursue this vision, and today Montevertine is revered by Tuscan insiders and aficionados around the world for this unwavering commitment.

Admittedly, this isn’t my most timely post ever; my notes on the wines of Montevertine date from April 27th when the owner and winemaker, Martino Manetti visited the Bay area.  However, in a way it seems appropriate to have taken my time.  These wines are imbued with a sense permanence and classic style, with an emphasis on balance, clarity, and moderation. Since 1968 when Martino’s father, Sergio, started this fabled estate almost nothing has changed in the winemaking style, and I get the very strong feeling nothing will be changing in the near future either. The elder Manetti was among the first in Tuscany to leave the Consorzio and to forego the status of the Chianti Classico D.O.C.G. in order to follow his conviction that authentic and truly great wines can be made entirely of Sangiovese or other indigenous varietals such as Canaiolo and Colorino.

Montevertine makes three wines. The entry-level “Pian del Ciampolo” is essentially the equivalent of most producers’ Chianti Classico. “Montevertine” is the standard-bearer of the estate, made from at lest 90% Sangiovese with the balance Colorino, and aged 24 months in large barrels. Finally, made from 100% Sangiovese, “Le Pergole Torte” is the top wine only made in the best vintages. Although it used to be a single vineyard bottling, it is now a selection of the best grapes from the estate’s oldest vineyards.

production and produced no “Le Pergole Torte,” so all the best grapes went into the regular “Montevertine.” Deeper notes of baked raspberry, coffee grounds, and grilled meat are offset by fresher notes of bright cherry showing through now and then. The smoky, earthy complexity is punctuated by the expected tangy flashes of great Sangiovese. At only 13% alcohol and with impeccable balance it should have a very long life ahead, however, the softer nature of this vintage allows for great enjoyment now.

The 2004 “Le Pergole Torte” is a remarkable wine from an outstanding vintage. The bouquet is intoxicating; ripe Bing cherry, licorice, baking spice and pipe smoke all make an appearance. The palate offers similar flavors, densely packed yet somehow finely delineated. The wine has impressive power and intensity, but like all Montevertine wines it exhibits fantastic purity and balance.