I was so pleasantly surprised to find a killer value Vermentino from Giovanni Cherchi this last weekend. I was traveling through San Francisco and was deciding on a place where my wife and I might find dinner and we happened across a new restaurant named Anchor and Hope. This is the third restaurant from the Town Hall and Salt House group and it was excellent. We ordered seafood and I could think of nothing better than to go to the Italian islands and find an excellent bottle of white wine to go with our dinner. Giovanni Cherchi is a cherished young winemaker from Sardegna, Italy. He has about 20+ hectares of land with about 60% of it planted to the delicious Vermentino variety. Almost all the vineyards in Sardegna are located close to the water and this is no exception. About 200 meter elevation and close to the cliffs of the coast Cherchi’s Vermention is the classique full bodied wine that you would expect with the coastal ocean terroir heavily influencing the nuances of the wine. Pale straw in color and delightful pear, honey and citrus fruit tones balance with the saline terroir to give an excellent finish and fine pairing to fresh seafood.
Explore a Vermentino if you haven’t already, they are worth the effort to seek out.
Have you heard of Cava? If not let me briefly explain. Cava is Spain’s version of Champagne. It was not until the 1980’s when the European Community outlawed everyone outside of Champagne, France from labeling their wines as Champagne, thus Spain adopted a new translation and this amazing wine now is known as Cava. in 1872 a young man named Josep M Raventos went to Champagne to study, record and learn the methode champenoise (or the rules and protocols of making true champagne). Mr Raventos brought the hand written notes, diagrams and directions back home and began making his own version of champagne with indigenous grape varietals of Penedes, Xarello, Macabeo and Parallada.
I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with his great grandson who oversees this venerable and magnificent property in Spain (about 25 east of Barcelona). Young Josep Raventos is the 19th generation in his family to grow grapes and the third generation to make wine under their family’s name, Raventos. It boggles my mind that just after Columbus set sail to “discover” the new world the Raventos family was planting their first vineyards, and on their property still lives a 500 year old oak tree that represents the time, terroir and history of the family and their lives that have been intertwined with all those seasons, all those vintages and good God, all those glorious wines.
If you are looking for truly one of the best Spanish wines and have not tried Cava this is the one that you must experience. Everything is done to perfection, balance and harmony, even their entry level Cava called l’Hereu (meaning heritage in Catalan) is as delicious as spring time. They also make a still wine named Silencis out of mainly Xarello. Stunningly bright with mineral edges and wafts of lemon blossom on the finish.
I can’t say enough about the family, so if you are in Spain look them up. If you are in the States just grab a bottle of Cava for your next dinner.
I was having lunch at my favorite Chicago Italian restaurant, Gioco, in the South Loop. The General Manager was kind enough to pour us some killer Gavi di Gavi. 2006 Stephano Massone Masera Gavi from Marc de Grazia Selection Imports. It was brilliant in structure, citrus and almond notes on the nose with a very good dose of terroir that is reminiscent of sun-baked granite. The structure and balance rings true on the palate and the wine was perfect with our first 60 degree day in Chicago this year!
And then we noticed a bottle on the back bar that just screamed SNAFU. Another blunderbuss in the wine industry. 40cs of Jewel Collection pinot noir of Provincia di Pavia made at Woodbridge were shipped to Chicago with the front label printed upside down. What, upside down? Who was on the bottling line having a smoke break? I was told the story over lunch and just couldn’t resist in sharing. Here’s to all the daily snafu’s that we meet in all walks of life.
