napaman.com

My Favorite Kind of Wine Case – 15 Bottles!

For years, one of my favorite annual fall wine events in Napa Valley has been the release of a mixed case of stunning Stags Leap District Cabernets, called the Appellation Collection. It’s a promotion to familiarize wine lovers with wines in this appellation, organized by the Stags Leap District Winegrowers Association.

The group has just announced its 12th annual release and this one is an eye-popping case of 15 different 2004 Cabernets from Stags Leap District, one Cab from each of the producers in the association.

One of my favorite producers in Stags Leap District – Pine Ridge Winery.

This mixed case enables aficionados of these wines to get one bottle of the top, or near-top, wine from 15 different producers without having to run around the valley to each of the wineries. In effect, it’s a one-stop solution to obtain a case (albeit a case of 15 bottles) of the top wines from a top vintage of an entire appellation.

Or maybe I should say it’s a NO-STOP solution, because if you live in a shipment-friendly state, you can order a mixed case online without ever even having to leave your home; simply go to www.stagsleapdistrict.com/appellationcollection and order a mixed case. As there are only 300 mixed cases assembled, however, don’t wait too long to order.

The price for the 15-bottle Cab collection this year is $1,200. And for this princely sum, you receive a case-and-a-quarter of some gorgeous, tooth-staining, purple-red wines, which will easily age six to 10 years.

For the record: I’m just finishing the last few bottles from two full sets of the 1997 Appellation Collection, which I bought years ago upon release. I love the ability the mixed case affords – to go into the cellar and choose a Cab for dinner from any of 15 different wineries.

Site of this year’s tasting of the Appellation Collection – Silverado Vineyards.

The Stag’s Leap District is only 2,700 acres large, about half of which are planted in vines. The District starts seven miles north of the town of Napa on the Silverado Trail (east side of the valley). The northern boundary is the Yountville Crossroad.

Essentially, Stags Leap District, home to fewer than 20 wine producers, is a mile wide and about three miles long.

The hillsides here have western and southern exposures, which are particularly friendly to Cabernet Sauvignon. As is the soil, comprised of rich volcanic sediment and bale loam (with a clay-like substructure). You want complexity? The soil here has it in spades. So no wonder the wines do, too.

The University of California at Davis, the foremost wine research center in the US, has said of the soil in Stag’s Leap District: “We have not seen any valley floor soils elsewhere in Napa Valley similar to those of Stags Leap District.”

Which may be why the Cabernets produced here have an evident similarity in texture and taste and why they are among my personal favorites of all wines produced in the valley.

The Stags Leap District was designated an American Viticultural Appellation (AVA) in 1989, the first viticultural area in the US to be approved on the basis of the distinctiveness of its soils.

At the Association’s invitation, I had a chance last week, at Silverado Vineyards, to taste through the entire collection of 2004 Stags Leap District Cabs. My tasting notes and scores follow. This mixed case is the only Cabernet collection offered by any AVA in all the US. For the wine lover, it’s a simple way to own an assortment of wines that would otherwise be challenging to assemble.

What’s intriguing about the 2004 collection is the relative uniformity in quality, texture and taste in the wines. In the end, yes, each wine a bit different from the next, even though some wineries are contiguous.

“Never forget, there are 15 different Cabernets here… and 15 winemakers… which means 15 different spins on the same thing,” says Silverado Vineyards winemaker Jon Emmerich.

I asked Emmerich how he personally rates the 2004 wines from Stags Leap District among the six vintages of the decade so far.

“I rate it in the top three, probably after 2001 and 2005,” says the winemaker.

You can wait for the winegrowers to offer that mixed case of 2005 Cabs next year at this time… but you’d be making a mistake to pass up the 2004 collection. It’s a stunner.

This year's collection includes:

Baldacci Family Vineyards - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Lovely dark cherry notes and a bit of the aroma you get from red wax lips, which you sometimes get (and can chew) at Halloween. Grown on the family’s 17-acre vineyard, the grapes are 100 percent Cabernet. There are gorgeous flavors of ripe red and black fruits; the wine is elegant and has a focused, long finish. 91 points.

Chimney Rock Winery - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
100 percent new French oak adds cacao and cherry notes to the nose. Maybe there’s even a hint of raspberry. Very sweet on the palate, offering seductive flavors and tons of fleshy texture. There is a luscious middle palate and an exquisite finish. 92 points.

Cliff Lede Vineyards - 2004 Poetry
There is a striking nose of dark ripe fruit and also a hint of more wood on this sample of bottled poetry than on either of the two preceding wines (89% new French oak, barrel aging for 24 months). The wine has great grip at the front end a powerful focus toward the middle palate, and a fabulous, focused finish. 95 percent Cabernet, 3 percent Cab Franc, 2 percent Petit Verdot. 92 points.

Clos Du Val - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Ripe red fruit tweaks the nose; blackcurrants, cedar, and briar tease the palate. All these flavors are wound around a core of brightness. The wine is alive in the mouth, exhibiting textures that thrill you; velvet, silk, velour to name a few. A magnificent achievement. 93 points.

Malk Family Vineyards (labeled Griffin Vineyards) - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
The first bottle was challenged; it exhibited vanilla and wax on the nose with an imbalance of alcohol. This was a wine of many parts, not one of which sublimated with any other. Disjointed, unfocused, and unfriendly, I thought. 88 points, and only generously so. I thought it only fair to ask for a second bottle.
Second bottle: still a lot of vanilla on the nose, suggestive of too much wood. Bit on the high-alcohol range, as was the first bottle, but this sample had a thick, palpable texture, which had been lacking in the first bottle. Almost like velour in the mouth. But still out of balance with respect to the level of alcohol. 90 points.

Hartwell Vineyards - 2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Unlike earlier vintages, the Hartwells chose to tweak this year’s Cab with a smidgen of Petit Verdot. And it shows. This is a lush, sensual, alluring wine. The texture is “virtual silk.” This is was the first wine of the 15-wine tasting that I had to swallow, just couldn’t waste it spitting. This is a ripe, food-friendly – and did I say fabulous? – wine. 93 points.

Ilsley Vineyards - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
The Ilsley Vineyard abuts Shafer’s hillside on the east side of the Silverado Trail. Some 90 percent of the family’s fruit is sold to Shafer, some of it destined for the winery's One Point Five Cabernet (also part of this Appellation Collection). As David Ilsley is vineyard manager of his family’s vineyards and also vineyard manager for Shafer, no one’s shocked that Ilsley's Cab has similar features to Shafer's Cab.
In this case, the 2004 Ilsley offers deep dark ripe fruit on the nose and a bevy of stunning, complex flavors on the palate. The finish is magnificent, pushing this bottle over the top. 94 points.

Pine Ridge Winery - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Stacy Clark’s tasting notes (she’s the talented winemaker) point out that this wine is 86 percent Cab, 6 percent Merlot, 4 percent Cab Franc, 3 percent Petit Verdot, 1 percent Malbec. She could have added: “And 100 percent inspirational!”
My tasting notes: “Silk on steroids! Gorgeous wine, a stunner!”
To flesh out the notes: coffee aromas leap from the glass as well as ripe cherries, strawberries and raspberries. One of the most aromatic wines in the Collection this year. Penetrating flavors, too, and a memorable texture.
In sum, this wine is even more attractive than the 2004 Rutherford Pine Ridge Cab, which the winery also produces, and which I tasted blind and rated one of the top Rutherford Cabs from 2004. 94 points.

Regusci Winery - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Ripe black fruits and a touch of sweetness on the early attack; very focused flavors, particularly of blackcurrant, briar, tobacco. A really good wine, but somewhat lacking on the back end. Bottle variation? 92 points.

Robert Sinskey Vineyards - 2004 RSV Cabernet Sauvignon
Organically farmed grapes, TLC and patience have produced a really good wine, though slightly on the jammy edge. The nose suggests lushness, bordering on sur-mur, or over-ripeness. The palate further adds to the impression – there is an almost late-harvest quality to the fruit. If they market this as “late-harvest Cab for the Zin-lover” they will attract a large following. 90 points.

Shafer Vineyards - 2004 One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker Elias Fernandez says this vintage reminds him of the winery’s 1992 Cab. How lucky you are, then, if you are still holding on to a few bottles of the 1992 Shafer Cab. That vintage was stunningly good.  But so is this vintage. I find the nose is actually voluptuous – two layers of ripe fruit compete in a singular whiff for your attention.
This is likely the most sophisticated wine in the case. There is lovely balance, an elegance and a joie to this wine. Blackberry, dark chocolate and herbs dominate. The overall impression is: great wine-growing, great wine-making, great wine-drinking. 94 points.

Silverado Vineyards - 2004 Solo
Winemaker Jon Emmerich opened a bottle of the 1982 Stag’s Leap Cab from this vineyard and at 26 years of age, it blew everything else in this tasting out of the water. Unfortunately, they haven’t thought of introducing a “bonus bottle” enabling lucky buyers to find a surprise, 16th bottle in their mixed Appellation Collection case – this 1982 Silverado Vineyards Cab.
So we content ourselves with the 2004 Silverado offering, which has a lot of smoke and toast on the nose, suggesting that it is perhaps still early to be judging/drinking this wine. Purple fruit, young tannins, herbal notes, and a short finish suggest this wine needs more time than others in the Collection to mature. I hovered – between 91 and 92 points.

Stags' Leap Winery - 2004 The Leap Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker, Kevin Morrisey says 2004 was a terrific vintage and thinks this wine is a showcase for black and red fruit, toasted vanilla, tobacco, violets and charred meat.
I personally found this wine to offer a kaleidoscope of flavors, which rippled over my palate in gentle succession, most of them fruits, and all of them only rolling to a stop long after I’d swallowed. Balanced and elegant. A memorable wine. I wrote  “awesome” in my notes and circled it, then scored the entry 94 points.

Steltzner Vineyards - 2004 Reserve Barrel Select Cabernet Sauvignon
If you ever find me describing anything within the pages of napaman.com as ”nice,” drinks are on the house for all readers! I don’t like the word, and never use it. When used as an adjective, it says nothing about anything.
Take Steltzner’s own tasting notes for their wine: someone has described the 2004 Cab as having “nice acidity.”
Now what the hell is that? Too much acidity, not enough acidity, text-book acidity – any of these I understand. But “nice acidity???”
I don’t know about “nice acidity,” because the bottle we sampled exhibited mostly coffee and vanilla notes and presented a noticeable, jammy raspberry presence on the middle palate. In sum, more like a candied fruit experience than a wine-drinking experience. If anything this wine lacked acidity. 90 points.

Taylor Family Vineyards - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
This is the third  vintage, which the Taylor family has crushed for its own label. Lousy luck… a lousy bottle? My sample showed a medicinal nose suggestive of bandages and iodine. Comparing notes with the wine writer next to me, she found them evident, too. I wanted to ask for a second bottle to neutralize my first impression, but we ran out of tasting time. Given the location of these vines, the fruit they produce, and the wineries to whom these grapes used to be sold, I have to guess that this was an errant bottle. 88 points.

STOP THE PRESS!

Following publication of this story, I was contacted by Sandy Taylor Carlson whose family owns Taylor Family Vineyards. She said that I must have been served a punk bottle of her wine at the press tasting and offered to drop off a bottle for me to re-taste.
See the update below – this is a much better wine than noted here.



Unhappy with the tasting notes above, feisty winery owner Sandy Taylor Carlson emailed, asking if I would retry her 2004 Stags Leap District Cabernet. When I learned of her family’s winemaking history, I said, “Of course. Come by and we’ll taste together.”

For 17 years, the Taylors (Sandy’s dad grows the fruit) sold his grapes to Pine Ridge for its sensational Stags Leap District Cabernets. I have bought these wines for years and know how good the fruit is/was, so figured that I needed to revisit the wine, which we’d been offered at the press tasting (above).

2004 Taylor Family Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
What a difference a day makes. And a second bottle, too. Nothing like the sample served at the press tasting. Winemaker Gustavo Brambila has fashioned a wine with dark cherry, chocolate, cassis and tobacco on the nose. There are perhaps too many intrusive young tannins, but this wine is, for the record, not actually being released for another month, so youthful, bordering-on-aggressive, tannins are to be expected. Certainly tolerated. This wine needs at least two years to shape up, and shut up; the tannins, at this stage, overwhelm the fruit on the palate. Ends with a cranberry finish. Will retail for $60, or $65 (not yet decided) on release next month. 91 points.

2003 Taylor Family Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
Sandy brought along two previous vintages, hoping to show me how her family’s wine ages over time. I love her spark, faith and optimism. She wasn’t going to take a lousy score lying down… and I’m glad that she didn’t, for I maligned her well-made wine (above) by basing my notes on a single, flawed bottle.
The 2003 is perhaps not as successful as the 2004 vintage. It has many of the same aromas on the nose – mostly cherries, vanilla and a large, looming Asian spice-pack. Lots of oak on this wine, possibly too much, overpowering the lushness of the fruit. This vintage retails for $60. 90 points.

2002 Taylor Family Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
Ah.. THIS is the daddy. The color alone sets you up for excitement; it is deep regal red, the color of sexy pajamas, the kind Hugh Hefner might wear. A very sophisticated nose, offering scents of blackcurrant and cassis. A lovely wine, with lots of flesh in the middle and a black cherry, raspberry, chocolate, Asian spice dance on the palate at the swallow. Available from the winery library at $65. A steal. 93 points.

These wines and their story can be found at www.tayorfamilyvineyards.com
-- and tell them that napaman.com sent you!

"Honey, I Think I Shrunk the Solar System!"

When I grew up, “the solar system" was a big, big, really big place, way the hell out there in outer space.

Today, “the solar system" is something that we’ve installed on the western-facing roof of our barn. And this shrunken solar system generates 6.27 kilowatts of electricity, or about 10,125 kilowatt-hours the first year. This will cut our annual PG&E electric bill in half.

Yes, Green is the way to go these days and yes, installing a solar electricity system is good for the environment. Our tiny system will reduce our planetary CO2 emissions by nearly 22,000 pounds a year, which is the equivalent of not driving nearly 310,000 miles a year!

But nothing was a stronger inducement to “go solar” than this economic reality: I will get a 14% Return on my Investment (ROI) in the first year alone, a figure that will grow annually as PG&E rates raise.

Better yet: this is a 14% after-tax ROI, which means the investment to “go solar” repays the equivalent of about 20% in pre-tax dollars per annum. Try to get a 20 percent return in the stock market year after year! (In the economic swamp in which we find ourselves just now, 20 percent sounds mighty good; oh how I wish that ALL our investments paid off so handsomely!)

The western-facing slope of our barn, adorned with shiny new solar panels.

Thinking that we wanted to “Go Green” and reduce our dependency on PG&E, I called and interviewed a number of Bay-area solar firms before choosing Borrego Solar, with offices in Berkeley and Petaluma, to install our solar electricity system.

Will Feeney, energy consultant for Borrego Solar.

I asked Will Feeney, an energy consultant with Borrego, to determine if our home was a candidate for generating solar electricity and if so, how large a system we might install.

“Forget about the eastern-facing roof of your barn,” he said. “There’s not enough exposure to bright afternoon sun to pay back the investment in panels on that side of the barn.”

So instead of selling us panels for the sake of selling more panels, he was honest and forthright, inspiring our confidence in Borrego Solar.

 

While other firms interviewed also suggested that we only install solar panels on the western-facing roof of our barn, none offered the amazing leaseback program, which Borrego Solar and an outfit called SunRun have developed.

Now it’s not an authentic leaseback system, not in the legal sense, but because it behaves like one, I am taking the liberty of describing it as such. In a way it’s a bit like leasing a car; someone else lays out the dough for the car on Day One, and you agree to lease it for a certain period and to pay for the miles you put on it. You don’t own the car during the duration of the lease, someone else does, and that someone else has to look after maintenance, repairs, etc. Which is how the solar service program works with Borrego/SunRun.

In their case, they install solar panels on your roof for about a third of the price you would pay if you bought the system outright. They also include a sexy monitoring device that calculates exactly how much energy is being generated.

In effect, Borrego Solar/SunRun pay for the system, then lease the sun collectors back to me for the next 18 years. And during all this time, they have total responsibility for maintaining the system, keeping the panels clean and functioning at capacity. I pay SunRun for kilowatts generated at a rate that is about one-third the price of those charged by PG&E at the top-tiered meter rate.

In the commercial world, stores like Macy’s, Staples and Whole Foods have installed panels under this innovative program, known in the trade as PPA – Power Purchase Agreement. Now, for the first, time, this same service deal is being offered to residential customers by Borrego Solar and SunRun.

Here’s another part of the deal, which I really like: If the solar electricity, which the system is calculated to generate, falls 5% or more off projection, SunRun pays ME for the under-generated kilowatt-hours, as a sort of penalty for failing to live up to our agreement about how much electricity the system will generate.

As long as the system hums along, converting solar rays into current, which we put back into the PG&E grid, I pay Borrego Solar/SunRun 13.5 cents/kilowatt for electricity generated. This fixed rate is about one-third what I would pay PG&E at today’s top-tier metered rates (afternoon summer pricing) and the Borrego/SunRun rate never changes over the next 18 years. So even in 2025, I will still be paying 13.5 cents per kilowatt generated and who knows how much the PG&E rates will be by then? Surely more, not less, than what they are today.

Big solar panels, Big barn, Big sky…

In summary, we cut our electric bill in half this year and got a 14% after-tax return on our investment. This ROI is likely to grow annually for the next 18 years, as PG&E raises its rates.

Too bad we don’t have a larger barn roof – I’d install a HUGE solar panel system and retire on the savings/investment!

Every story about Global Warming needs to end on a happy note – and nothing makes me happier than a shot of my wonder dog, Linus, seen here inspecting the solar installation on our barn.

If you live in California, where Borrego Solar/SunRun operate and offer their unique solar service program, I suggest that you investigate your own savings potential. I haven’t found a better way to save, or make, this much money, while doing the “right thing for the environment.” If you figure out a better angle, contact me. Until then, I suggest you contact Will Feeney, energy consultant at Borrego, to set up a property inspection and learn whether you are a candidate for the program. His cell is 510-367-4556, or reach him by email at wfeeney@borregosolar.com.

Need more information? Full details of the Borrego/SunRun plan can be found at http://www.borregosolar.com/sun-run/ or at http://www.sunrunhome.com

The Best Food in Italy

The food emporium called Tamburini, in Bologna, is a feast for the eyes, as well as for the stomach. Locals call it an antica salsamenteria; for food travelers, it’s a door into our gastrocultural past.

Friends who know Italy well have long told me that the best food in the nation is in Emilia-Romagna, the narrow region that lies atop Tuscany, running west to east. You may know the big towns here: Bologna, Parma, Reggio Emilia, and Modena.

Having just spent two weeks in Emilia-Romagna and having eaten at such places as All'Osteria Bottega, in Bologna, Parizzi Ristorante in Parma, and Trattoria Della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia, I must agree with my know-it-all friends; this likely IS the best food in Italy.

The best single bowl of broth and pasta that I have ever had – at All’Osteria Bottega, in Bologna. You want THE Gold Medal-winning pasta dish? THIS IS IT.

The one dish that seems to separate the GREAT cooks in this region from the just-good cooks, is a regional specialty – small pasta shapes stuffed with a mixture of meats, served floating in brodo, or broth.

In Bologna, at All’Osteria Bottega, I had the single best bowl of broth that I have ever tasted, a perfectly made, rich brodo, which had nearly as much complexity as many Napa Valley Cabernets. Certainly as much texture and finish. The broth that chef Daniele Minarelli makes here relies on capons for flavor. His broth was served with homemade tortellini, tiny, navel-shaped pasta pockets filled with a tasty forcemeat of (equal parts) ground chicken, veal, pork, mortadella, and prosciutto.

Anolini in brodo at Ristorante Parizzi, in Parma

In Parma, about 60 miles west of Bologna, at Parizzi Ristorante, I succumbed to a sensational order of anolini (a variation on tortelli, tiny pillows  each about the size of an oyster cracker; they melt in your mouth) floating in a rich beef broth. How’s this for meticulous care: the anolini are made to order each time someone chooses the first-course soup!

For the record: other highlights of lunch at Parizzi included a tasting of three different prosciuttos di Parma aged 24-, 30- and 36-months, respectively as well as a tasting of three different Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses, aged 20-, 30- and 44-months.

Cappelletti in brodo at Della Ghiara – “worth the detour.”

In Reggio Emilia, I had the pleasure of dining at Trattoria Della Ghiara, where owners Antonio Giordano and his wife, Marilena Braglia, lighten regional fare, but never neuter it. Marilena’s cappelletti in brodo presents brilliantly; she makes a forcemeat of ground beef, pork, veal, prosciutto, Parmigiano-Reggiano and mortadella and stuffs the mixture into tiny pillows of tender pasta. Her broth is made with beef and capon stock.

In short, if you want perfection at the dinner table, head to Bolgona, or Parma, or Reggio Emilia, to any of these restaurants. They deserve serious attention, not to mention a mountain of Michelin stars. There are many other fine restaurants throughout the region, too, most of them serving variations on these regional dishes.

The one disclaimer that I need to make is what this region lacks in term of cuisine. We always think of Italy as a land of sunshine and tomatoes. Well, Emilia-Romagna has lots of the former, sunshine, but the land is farmed to feed pigs for all that delicious prosciutto and for grasses and hay to feed cows -- to furnish 4,300 area farmers who supply milk to make Parmigiano-Reggiano. So there isn't much land left to farm tomatoes.

In addition to tomatoes, which are missing from the Emilia-Reggiano diet, so are other vegetables. Spending two weeks in E-R is a bit like spending time in Argentina; there, every meal, including breakfast, includes some form of beef. In E-R, every meal offers a selection of ham, prosciutto, or mortadella. Get used to it.

Okay, enough of the overview; let’s get back to Bologna.

Chef/owner Daniele Minarelli speaks with restaurant guest Claude Albertazzi at one of the best restaurants in Bologna, All’Osteria Bottega.

The chef at All’Osteria Bottega is Daniele Minarelli, who has been in business four years, but who has been in the restaurant trade for a total of 23. Recently, Daniele was asked to join the Slow Food movement, honoring his attention for using local, seasonal ingredients, as well as for his ambitious use of organic (biologique) ingredients.

A specialty of the region is the antipasti plate of prosciutto di Parma and slices of culatello, sliced from the heart of the ham leg, usually a deeper red color, usually a deeper meaty taste.

What does a full dinner with wine cost at this Best of Italy restaurant with 24 seats and where the lighting fixtures – bare bulbs – go out time and again during the course of an evening? Answer: 88 Euros ($125), including wine, service and as many digestifs after dinner as you can wash down.

But it is the brodo on which I am still stuck, two weeks after having it. Quite simply, this was the single best broth I have had in 30 years of professional tasting. I have no idea how many capons sacrificed their life for this soup, but they died a noble cause because this broth, were there an Olympic event for broth-making, would take the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals – all of them – hands down. Think of Chef Minarelli as the Michael Phelps of soup-making and you’ll understand this guy’s drive for perfection and culinary achievement.

At All’Osteria Bottega, Daniele’s at the stove; he’s at the phone; he slices the mortadella (which is excellent by the way), he takes your order, he runs the dishes to your table; he suggests what wine to have with your dinner as he IS the wine list (there is no printed selection).

Daniele is aided by two women on my first visit, and by only one serveuse on a second visit, but Daniele still does most of everything anyway. If you crossbred one of Louis de Funes’ food characters (one of my favorite French film comics) with Manuel, the waiter in Faulty Towers, and added the spice of a knowledgeable Italian cook such as Marcella Hazan, you’d have a good idea of Daniele’s strengths and focus.

Like the Soup Nazi, Daniele has rules. In the kitchen, it’s his way or the highway. He ONLY uses 3-year-old Parmigiano cheese because (translated from his Italian) “it must grate in a very particular way.” He says that if the cheese is younger, it is too moist, and if older than three years, it tends to crumble when grated.

At All’Osteria Bottega, Daniele tells you that you MUST start dinner with a selection of his delicate salumeria items, which Daniele will choose for you, of course. (As they say in the movies, Resistance is Futile!) Daniele’s mortadella is as light and ethereal as the best prosciutto di Parma that I’ve ever had.

In one of the few instances in which I saw tomatoes in a restaurant in E-R, Daniele served a small, complementary bowl of papa al pomodoro (fresh tomato soup, made with organic tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, basil and then intensified with an oil-garlic emulsion). It tasted as though the chef had condensed the pulp of a bushel of ripe tomatoes into a single cup of chilled soup. I am not sure that I have ever eaten anything with a more intense tomato flavor; even if I squeezed tomato paste concentrate from a commercial tube onto my tongue, I do not expect that I would experience such an intensity of tomato-ness.

Attention to detail – without being supercilious – is the hallmark of service at Parizzi.

In Parma, the eating highlight was lunch at Parizzi Ristorante, which looks and feels like a Michelin 1-star restaurant. If you are lucky enough in a lifetime to be served ONCE by someone as pleasant and knowledgeable as Mimo (short for Cosimo), at this restaurant, you have had a blessed life, indeed. This is a THRILLING dining room. Nothing is left to chance; every aspect of your meal is looked after by chef Marco Parizzi.

If you head to Parizzi, in Parma, be sure to order the taste trial of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Here are 20-, 30- and 44-month aged Parmesan cheeses.

Culinary highlights at Parizzi included two tastings conducted at table; the chef chose three Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses, each of a different age. It was instructional -- I immediately understood how age transforms the acidity, salinity and texture of  this stunning regional cheese. I also now understand why Parmigiano is considered by many to be the King of Cheeses.

Three proscuittos of different age were selected by Marco Parizzi for a tableside tasting; slices of 24-, 30- and 36-month-aged prosciuttos were presented.

The menu also offered a tasting of three different prosciuttos di Parma, each a different age, and again I understood how age affects the taste and texture of this slightly sweet, slightly nutty, totally delicious, cured ham.

Everything on the menu at Della Ghiara, in Reggio Emilia, is delicious, but a favorite dish was the roasted black-eyed rabbit, served with a regional version of ratatouille.

One other regional restaurant on my Best Of list, which must not be overlooked, is Ristorante Cocchi (pronounced Coke-ee), in Parma. Located on the ground floor of the family’s hotel (Hotel Daniel), the restaurant is run by Corrado (front of the house and the one who chooses the fabulous wine list), by his wife Laura (who makes all the pasta from scratch) and their amiable son Daniel, all of whom share the common last name Cocchi.

Corrado’s father opened a restaurant at this location and he took over; and now, in Italian tradition, the son of the son (Daniel) will take over. Everything here is homemade, everything here is delicious. The pasta melts in your mouth, the meat sauces are meaty without being heavy, the wine list and the wine cellar (which Corrado opened for me) are gems for serious wine lovers.

Corrado, Laura and Daniel Cocchi at the family ristorante.

A private tour of the wine cellar at Cocchi reveals all sorts of secrets – where they age their prosciutto and culatello, where they keep their breakfast cereals, and, as you might suspect, where they keep the REAL killer reds.

If you are heading to Emilia-Romagna in the near future, be sure to print out and take this short list of Must-Not-Miss Restaurants.

All’Osteria Bottega, Via S. Caterina, 51, Bologna, Italy
Tel: 39-051-585-111
 
Parizzi Ristorante, Strada Repubblica 71, Parma, Italy.
Tel: 39-0521-285-952

Trattoria Della Ghiara, Vicolo Folletto 1C, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Tel: 39-0522-435-755

Ristorante Cocchi, Via Gramsci 16A, Parma, Italy.
Tel: 39-0521-981-990


This purple bike has absolutely NOTHING to do with this food story but I so loved the bike, and the color of the wall behind it, that I chose to include it in this story. Taken in Parma, Italy.

A Day in the Life of a Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheesemaker....

This report finds me in Italy, traveling the back roads of Emilia-Romagna, the province, which run west to east, just north of Tuscany. This is a mostly tourist-free zone, and home of some of the best foods in life -- including Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, prosciutto di Parma and Balsamic vinegar.

In my multi-part report (Hey! Napaman has to get out of the Valley every once in a while to explore other winemaking regions of the world… or he’ll get stale as a day-old sourdough baguette…), I am starting with a visit to an artisanal producer of one of my favorite cheeses.

 

On the road to Caseficio San Lucio

The San Lucio Dairy is about 20 km southeast of Parma. The head cheese-maker here oversees production everyday, 365 days a year, and has not missed a day in 40 years on the job! 

On average, this small coop produces 23 wheels of semi-hard gold each day. A wheel of Parmigiano weighs about 80 pounds.

When cheese leaves this coop, and is sold to the first of a line of middleman, or to a broker, or to an aging agent who will further-age the cheese, the coop charges about 7.30 Euros (about $11) a kilo.

Here's what I discovered today... about how they make The REAL DEAL....

 Milk taken from cows yesterday afternoon was delivered to the cheeseworks last night; it sat overnight, enabling the cream to rise to the top; this morning, the cream was skimmed off. This now day-old skim milk was mixed this morning in equal parts with fresh milk just delivered to the facility. This results in a milk mixture that is, in total, about 2.3% fat. By the time this milk is converted into finished cheese, the fat content will rise through evaporation to a level of about 28.4% butter fat -- still much less than the 60-75% level of butter fat in soft cheeses. 

Here the cheese-makers remove just-curdled milk solids in a cheese cloth...

 They let the curdled mass rest about 15 minutes....

 

They cut the mass in half with a special tool (below)... resulting in two blobs, each of which will be molded into a familiar wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

There are 4,300 milk farms in the region supplying 445 cheese makers. To be a True & Proper Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, there can only be four ingredients -- milk, rennet, whey, and salt.

And there are other restrictions and regulations in place: The milk must come from one of four different breeds of cow, and must be BHT-free. The cows must eat a certain diet that is free of pesticides, etc.

 

Each blubbery blob is nestled into a plastic mold to give initial shape to the cheese. This soon-to-be-cheese rests in this plastic mold one day....

Care is taken to fold the cheesecloth EXACTLY over and around the wet cheese so as not to leave marks or indentations on the surface of the cheese.

After one day in the plastic mold (above), the cheeses are transferred to a meshed, stainless steel mold (below), in which they rest another two days.

The famous markings on the rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano are imparted by a reverse stencil, which has been slipped around the edge of the wheel, and which is pressed into place by the tightened exterior stainless steel collar.

The cheeses are then transferred to a rack, which is immersed in a salt brine bath; the cheeses spend 20 days immersed in the brine, which starts the curing process. 

 

Cheeses, removed from their saltwater bath, are housed on shelves in a tall cellar kept at a constant temperature and at 80 percent humidity. 

They will spend one full year here before qualifying for "Parmigiano-Reggiano" designation. (No Parmigiano-Reggiano can be released into the marketplace without at least one year's aging.)

During their year of aging, the cheeses need to periodically be turned over and brushed to remove any spores or bacteria, which might think about growing on the surface of the rind.

Hence the cheesemakers turn loose a robotic "flipper" in the cellar. The robot turns over every single cheese in this cellar every fifth day for a year! It also automatically polishes the rind of each cheese, to remove undesirable bacteria.

I saw the robot in action and laughed when I imagined what it would be like the day the robot goes nuts, creating an I Love Lucy-like moment, flipping, hurling, and flinging 80-pound cheese wheels around the room, as though they were Frisbees.

Some special selection cheeses are aged further; I tasted 20-, 30- and 44-month-old Parmesan cheeses this week and agree with the experts that the cheese tastes best at 30 to 36 months (2.5 to 3 years). At this age, the cheese has a sweetness, a freshness, a noticeable tang, and a stunning Parmigiano-finish, which starts to diminish as the cheese gets yet older than this.

Outside San Vitale Baganza, site of the cheeseworks, I visited a hamlet called Torrechiara, noted for an old castle (closed, like everything else here on Mondays)... but the views from the mountain-top were spectacular....

Another mountain view....

 

And yet another....

There! the Parmigiana Express ride is over. You may remove your seat restraint, stand up and head to the nearest bar (like everyone here does) and treat yourself to a glass of sparkling red Lambrusuco wine (... not so much...) and a plate of perfectly aged 30-month-old Parmigiano-Reggiano. Major yum.

I couldn’t have done this trip, or understood much of what the cheesemaker said, without the expert help of Cristiana Clerici, director of public relations for the Parmigiano-Reggiano consortium of cheesemakers, who spent hours translating for me and explaining the cheesemaking process in great detail.

I trust this shorthand version for napaman.com readers will make Cristiana happy and proud!