Tag Archives: wine

99 Bottles of Wine on the Wall

Learning about Wine

There are few tasks more daunting than choosing a bottle of wine at a restaurant. Whether you’re an Everyday Enthusiast or simply a Weekend Wino, there’s always something slightly intimidating about being handed a list- or even worse, a book!- of wine names and being asked to choose the perfect bottle for your meal. In my experience, the struggle is attributable to three major factors: the pressure of picking a wine that everyone at the table (with their different tastes and food orders) will love, the impersonality of choosing a name from a page rather than a bottle from a shelf, and the price tag associated with what, nine times out of ten, boils down to simple guesswork.

Don’t get me wrong – I love wine. I love white wine, I love red wine, I love cheap wine, and (much to my bank account’s dismay) I definitely love expensive wine. The problem is, loving wine doesn’t always help matters much when set to the task of selecting wines for a particular setting. Which brings us to the question: how does one choose? What makes one vineyard’s Sagrantino different from another, and how do you know to choose between them? Silly as it sounds the answer seems to be ‘choose the one you like’.

Wine Tasting

Coming from a family that treats meal time with the same reverence as many would a church service, I have been fortunate to encounter some amazing food and wines. But as we eat and drink our way through Italy, one thing has become increasingly clear: learning the stories behind the wines, seeing where they come from, and meeting the people that created them imparts a special quality on each and every bottle. Even using the same grapes, and following all the same DOC regulations, vineyards all have a slightly different way of doing things, and it shows in their wines. While we may not remember the exact name of every bottle we’ve tried (especially after the second or third), our faces will always light up when we recognize a label, a vineyard we’ve been to, or recount the stories of an afternoon lost together in a tasting room – and this is an experience we want to share with you.

Augusta Pardi

On Friday evenings, Via Umbria is serving dinners CYOB (Choose Your Own Bottle). A step up from your typical BYOB, we encourage you to come a few minutes before your meal, and talk and taste with our wine staff to pick the perfect bottle for both you and your meal (at retail prices!) We’re excited for the opportunity to show you some of our unique bottles, all of which come from small production vineyards throughout Italy, tell you the stories behind them, and help you explore our selection to pick out something that you’re going to love. With nearly 100 distinct bottles to choose from, we’re sure we’ve got something for every palate. Our selection may not be considered typical; everything that we have, we have because we enjoy drinking it and we enjoy talking about it, and it’s meant to be interesting and accessible. You don’t have to know anything about tasting notes, wine regions, or Italian grapes, to enjoy these wines – although it’s great if you do. What’s most important to us in a bottle of wine is that you like it. Plain and simple.

So come join us for dinner at our Ristorante on Fridays, choose your bottle of wine (CYOB), and let’s head upstairs to share a meal. After all, drinking wine is great, but drinking great wine with great food is even better.

Discover our selection of Umbrian wines Read more

There are few tasks more daunting than choosing a bottle of wine at a restaurant. Whether you’re an Everyday Enthusiast or simply ...

Opera Wine

OW2016_gruppo_02We came to Verona on this visit to experience VinItaly, Italy’s biggest and most important wine expo that takes place annually in this northern Italian gem of a city. Housed under many roofs, thousands of exhibitors show off their wines to importers, distributors and retailers. Until this year the show was open to the public for at least one day but the incredible crush of the mass public on those open days caused VinItaly’s organizers to rethink this policy and this year it was open only to “trade” members. Thank you Via Umbria for giving us this modicum of credibility in order to snag a credential and an entry ticket.

IMG_0595But if VinItaly is becoming more exclusive, even more exclusive yet is Opera Wine, which we had the honor of attending on the eve of VinItaly’s opening. Organized by VinItaly in conjunction with the Wine Spectator, Opera Wine is an exhibition within an exhibition, showcasing what Wine Spectator has deemed to be Italy’s “best 100 wines.” Our good friends Giampaolo Tabarrini and Daniele Sassi from Giampaolo’s Tabarrini winery were honorees this year and our meal ticket. When Daniele offered us an entry ticket some months ago, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to sample these A List wines and meet their charismatic proprietors, even if it meant having to don a coat and tie.

Catching a glimpse of Giampaolo Tabarrini in formal dress is about as common as seeing Bigfoot at the Met. But upon entering the Palazzo della Gran Guardia we headed to the Tabarrini table so we could see it for ourselves. And Giampaolo did not disappoint. Among a sea of short, tight fitting fashionable blue jackets with narrow lapels, elegant silk neckties and stylish shoes, Giampaolo stood out in his garish red blazer and Italian tricolore flag bowtie.   But it wasn’t just his attire that made him stand out. The man’s gas tank is filled with nitro while others are running on unleaded. A blur of activity with a perpetual smile and a twinkle in his eye that is visible from the next galaxy, Giampaolo tirelessly worked the room after room of producers, buyers and press, laughing, hugging and befriending everyone he could lay eyes or hands on. The secret to his ability to connect? It’s genuine.

IMG_0742After exchanging our hugs with Giampaolo and Daniele the former gave us some great advice that we took to heart for the next two hours. “Don’t miss out on drinking the wines from Piemonte. They are beautiful!” And indeed they were. Barolos mostly, from the biggest names in the business. We tasted and savored, met some of the owners and reacquainted ourselves with some we had met before. We recognized a few labels that we carry at Via Umbria and introduced ourselves, only to find, in the case of Bisol, that their rep had already spent an afternoon in our Georgetown store.

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TV cameras lit up, interviews flowed like wine and wine flowed like wine. And for two hours we truly were in another world, one inhabited by what Wine Spectator believes are the 100 best wines in Italy. Some may take issue with their particular list, but one thing is undeniable. To enter Opera Wine is to enter a truly special world, inhabited by truly special winemakers and their truly special wines. And it is a place that one truly does not want to leave.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy

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An exhibition showcasing Italy’s best wines Read more

We came to Verona on this visit to experience VinItaly, Italy’s biggest and most important wine expo that takes place annually in ...

Fifty Pounds of Cheese

On Wednesday March 30, passport in hand, our intrepid MELTers traveled through the raclette rivers and fondue forests to visit each of our five amazing cheese stations. First stop? The accompaniments table! A veritable cornucopia of mouthwatering treats from homemade pretzel bites to Gordy’s pickles, to a selection of our favorite charcuterie, this table featured something special for everyone (and every cheese).

Passport to Cheese

Choosing Accompaniments

Next, our fearless cheese fiends found sanctuary in a down-home Midwestern favorite: Wisconsin Cheese Curds. These ooey-gooey, deep fried pieces of heaven were an instant classic–especially when paired with Chef Johanna’s homemade marinara! Don’t just take our word for it though, stop by Spritz O’Clock soon to taste these mini marvels for yourself.

Wisconsin Cheese Curds

Further into the cafe, our daring patrons were treated to the dazzling spectacle (and mouthwatering aroma) of raclette being melted to order. When paired with Gordy’s Pickles and starchy potatoes, this station was a #MELTy indulgence beyond compare. For those of you looking to recreate this moment at home, stop by and pick up a Partyclette machine from our cheesemonger and be the host with the most at your next dinner party.

Enjoying Plates of Raclette

Before following the scent of cheesy goodness upstairs, our noshing nomads made a quick stop in the wine room for a triumphant taste of American Pub cheese. This beer based bite of bliss paired perfectly with the Port City Porter and Chef Johanna’s homemade pretzel bites. Pretzels, porter, and pub cheese? What more could a party provide?!

Dipping into American Fondue

The answer to that question lay waiting for patrons upstairs in our laboratorio where Chiara was serving an Italian Fonduta over perfectly toasted baguette. This truffle infused #MELTy masterpiece was clearly a crowd favorite, as it was the first to disappear. Fortunately, Federico came to the rescue and delighted our dauntless diners with handmade cheese ravioli. For those who missed it, he will be hosting an encore pasta performance in the Cafe every day at lunchtime.

Italian Fonduta Station

Last, but certainly not least, our gallant and engorged guests found themselves faced with a meal of mountainous proportions…or at least flavors. The Alpine Fondue station, featuring smooth, garlicky, Swiss flavors had everyone yodeling for more.

Bill at the Alpine Fondue Station

We would like to say a special Thank You to all of our courageous cheese connoisseurs for making this event such a success. We went through fifty pounds of cheese, but our cheese counter is still stocked! For those of you who weren’t able to attend (or want to relive the night), we have a special treat: visit our cheese counter and take home a fondue kit, specially curated by in-house Cheesemonger Alice Bergen Phillips and make a little #MELTed magic of your own.

Mini Fondue Kits

A MELT Retrospective Read more

On Wednesday March 30, passport in hand, our intrepid MELTers traveled through the raclette rivers and fondue forests to visit each of ...

Wine Wednesday

Nestled in the verdant, rolling hills of Umbria, the Terre Margaritelli estate was founded in 1950 by Fernando Margaritelli. The Torgiano vineyard simply produced grapes until 2005, when Fernando’s grandson met winemaker Federico Bibi. Soon, they were working to transform Terre Margaritelli into one of Umbria’s premiere organic wineries.

In preparation for Via Umbria’s Terre Margaritelli Winemaker Dinner this Saturday, we sat down with Federico to learn what the winery is all about.

“The idea,” Federico explains, “is to produce innovative wines without losing the tradition and the history.”

Umbria is a farming region known as the green heart of Italy. “Fifty, seventy years ago we were very poor,” Federico says. “The wine was not just a drink — it was actually a big part of the meal. Wine was the easiest and cheapest way to add calories to a meal, which would often be lentil soup, or chickpeas, and sometimes bread.” The region’s naturally sharp, acidic wines, Federico notes, were also used to disinfect drinking water.

A snapshot of the harvest at Terre Margaritelli.
A snapshot of the harvest at Terre Margaritelli.

As winemaker, Federico makes sure that Terre Margaritelli’s selection is both accessible and in keeping with Umbrian tradition. “We have very interesting blends. All of our wines are easy to drink, no matter the structure. I say I love to make complex wines, not complicated wines, because I love to finish the bottle.”

The grechetto, a Terre Margaritelli specialty, is the traditional white grape of Umbria. It’s an acidic, alcoholic grape without many perfumes. “Many people ask me, ‘then why do you use it?'” laughs Federico. “It’s considered indigenous, and in Umbria you will find it everywhere. Its beauty is in its strength.”

The grechetto is used to make Terre Margaritelli’s Greco di Renabianca, a rich, full-bodied white which ages for 3 months in oak barrels, called barriques, and then at least a year longer in the bottle, which balances the wood with the strength of the grape. In turn, the wood gives the wine a hint of perfume.

Wine barrels made of French oak.
Wine barrels made of French oak.

To develop the barriques, “we went to twenty different forests in France and tried out the wood from each one,” Federico recalls. “And now we have barrels made of French oak from the forest of Bertrange. It’s a very old forest, and a very light wood.” The oak barrels help to mitigate, but never dilute, the strength of the grape. They also allow the wine to maintain a low level of oxidation and remain fresh.

From start to finish, the Terre Margaritelli process is marked by a tireless commitment to vision. The vineyard’s organic farming methodologies are developed with extensive research. “We don’t fertilize the soil. We will grow fava beans to replenish nutrients and rest the fields, but we don’t need to add anything to the ground. It’s already there. We start from the vines. It’s just about the grape.”

A Terre Margaritelli tell-all with Federico Read more

Nestled in the verdant, rolling hills of Umbria, the Terre Margaritelli estate was founded in 1950 by Fernando Margaritelli. The Torgiano vineyard simply produced grapes until 2005, when Fernando's ...

Our Italian Library – The Battle for Wine and Love

Trebbiano Spoletino IGT 2013

This Monday, we are staying in. In DC it will reach 94 degrees. Time for us to reach for the good wine…and a great book.

We first came across Alice Feiring a few years ago on a recommendation from Elisabeth Minchilli. She thinks about wine in much the same way we do: with a drive for the exceptional, small producer that has a story to tell. She is a strong proponent of wine transporting you to a place, and for the grapes tasting of the soil.

So this Monday, we are returning back to our bookshelf to take out her novel The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization, and reacquaint ourselves with its cast of characters, and, more importantly, cast of wines.

If you feel like some shorter reading, she also has an excellent newsletter, called “The Feiring Line.” She claims it is the only newsletter that focuses solely on natural, organic and biodynamic wines from the ground up. Perfect for geek as well as the new enthusiast.

The perfect pairing for this reading? Plani Arche Grechetto, which comes from a wonderful biodynamic vineyard a few steps away from La Fattoria del Gelso in Cannara. This Grechetto is crisp and light (perfect for this hot day).  One sip reminds us of the dedication and care for the land that is distilled, captured, and contained in the bottle. Certainly a wine that tastes of the land that we occasionally call home. Alice would approve.

 

Ci Vediamo!

–Via Umbria

This Monday, we are staying in. In DC it will reach 94 degrees. Time for us to reach for the good wine…and ...

Noteworthy Notizie

IMG_2302FRIDAY FEBUARY 27

E ‘Venerdì! Put a little prosecco in your glass and peruse the news! 

 

Fashion first!  We are smack dab in the middle of Milan Fashion week. Catch up with the catwalk on the official website.

 

In other fashion news, Neil Patrick Harris was wearing Umbrian designer Brunello Cucinelli at the Oscars last Sunday!

 

An interesting Op-Ed in the New York Times yesterday explored the issues surrounding changing the language of higher education in Engineering and Architecture to English, and then back to Italian. So what is the Lingua Franca of Engineering in Italy today?

 

Birra Perugia Wins Best Beer of the Year with their Calibro 7, at Beer Attraction, an international beer festival in Rimi. We are so proud…we had to take a bottle off our shelves and crack it open. See what the hype is about in our Georgetown store.

 

This Giant Catfish caught in the Po is absolutely terrifying.

 

James Bond hits his poor little head due to the cobblestones in Rome, re-igniting a debate on whether the old street should be updated.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

–Via Umbria

FRIDAY FEBUARY 27 E ‘Venerdì! Put a little prosecco in your glass and peruse the news!    Fashion first!  We are smack dab in the ...

Menard Musings

As February gives way to March (and aren’t we all looking forward to the prospect of non-Arctic March temperatures?) I can’t help but reflect that this young new year has for me featured a heavy dose of wine.  January was spent with Chef Simone crisscrossing the continent doing a series of promotional dinners that featured food/wine pairing nearly as much as the food itself.  February saw a return visit of our friend Daniele Sassi from the Tabarrini winery for a special winemaker’s dinner at DC hotspot Casa Luca.  And just a week ago we said our goodbyes to our friend Roberto DiFilippo, owner of DiFilippo and Plani Arche wineries who spent five days hosting winemaker dinners at Via Umbria and tasting events at the store.  Playing apprentice to and spending time around the table (always with glass in hand) with these professionals surely upped my wine game.  It was pretty darn enjoyable, too.

IMG_1072Chef Simone listens in at the Tabbarini Dinner at Casa Luca. IMG_1095

The first Tabbarini white wine is poured. IMG_1101

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I am happily in a wine – induced haze after the first course. IMG_1360

Daniele meets with guests to personally talk about his Sagrantino wine. 

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Suzy of Via Umbria gazes at the second course. 

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And so it was with heightened interest that I read Wednesday’s Washington Post’s Food section article on terroir (“You can’t define terroir, but you can taste it,” Wash Post 25 Feb. 2015, p. E5).  In the article Wine columnist Dave McIntyre noted that terroir “is a word with almost mystical charms for wine lovers,” holding that wine shows terroir “if it tastes like it came from somewhere.”  Wine exhibiting terroir contrasts with most wines, which McIntyre rightly points out taste “as if they could have come from anywhere.”  McIntyre opines that wine enthusiasts love the idea of terroir and wines that taste as though they could have only come from where they actually came from.  If love of terroir makes one a wine enthusiast, send us our membership cards.

Our relatively recent journey into the world of wines has been heavily influenced and shaped by the concept of terroir because the wines we have come of age with are wines that define the term terroir – Umbrian wines and in more cases (no pun intended) than not, wines from the tiny D.O.C. wine region of Montefalco.  Look up the word terroir in the dictionary and it wouldn’t be a stretch to think you might find a map of Italy with Umbria highlighted in red.

In Umbria and in Montefalco a number of factors – relative isolation, local consumption and a fierce pride in local culture (which includes their food and wine) – have led wine makers to produce traditional wines that represent the region, that utilize indigenous grapes (so long, cabernet sauvignon) and that pair sublimely with the region’s food.  Put simply, the wines of Umbria taste as though they could have only come from Umbria.  What a wonderful attribute for a wine to have!

If, like Suzy and me, you cut your wine teeth in a deep dive of a particular region’s wine (e.g., Bordeaux, Napa, Australia) your wine chops are highly developed but only with respect to a small sliver of the universe of wine.  This has truly been the case for us, and our next challenge in this relatively unusual situation has been to transfer and apply our Umbrian wine knowledge more generally to other regions.  And so we have been working to learn and appreciate the wines of California, of Washington State, of France.  It is a pretty good challenge to face.

Aside from the blessing of terroir, our Umbrian wine experience has offered us the blessing of accessible winemakers.  In Umbria winemaking has not been mystified and deified.  It is a simple act carried out by real people.  And these real people – farmers – don’t intimidate and try to make what they do into something it isn’t.  Instead they gladly invite you into their world, show you the grapes in their fields, talk to you about how they entice the best fruit possible from the vine.  They let you put your head in a stainless steel vessel to see grapes fermenting, to smell the yeast and the offed gasses.  They pour you a glass of cherry red juice that is still two to three years away from maturity, explaining how a winemaker can judge how this awful liquid will transform itself into sublime beauty.


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Roberto Di Filippo discusses his Grechetto with a guest. 

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Roberto speaks from the head of the table in the Via Umbria Galleria. IMG_1795

Terroir paired with access to real people, wine people.  It is something that sets Umbria and Umbrian wine apart in our minds, something that has made our journey along the strada dei vini unique.  And it has made the new year a truly enjoyable one.

We can’t wait to see how the next months unfold.

Ci vediamo!

Bill and Suzy

If you are interested in experiencing Umbrian terroir and Umbrian winemakers at their source, join Bill and Suzy on their first annual Vinopalooza wine tour, March 26-April 1, 2015.  For more information click here or call Suzy at (202) 957-3811.

Terroir Read more

As February gives way to March (and aren’t we all looking forward to the prospect of non-Arctic March temperatures?) I can’t help ...

Wine Wednesday – Sunday Routine 

We know, this last stretch of winter is rough. Just when you think you hear the birds tweeting about spring you are blasted with another arctic chill.

This can sometimes make Sunday’s turn from a day reserved for socializing on the town to a day reserved to snuggling as deep as you can possibly get into your covers. And while we respect that, sometimes you need something to entice you to get out of bed…

So how about tasting some wine on Sunday’s at Via Umbria?

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Our friend and wine connoisseur, Dick Parke, will be joining us in the store every Sunday from 2 to 5, offering complementary tastings of wines he has hand selected from our stock.

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Up this week? Vincastro Umbria Rosso and the Adanti Nispero both just $14 and the same blend of 90% Sangiovese and 10% Merlot. Stay tuned as we learn more about these delicious wines later this week!

—Via Umbria

We know, this last stretch of winter is rough. Just when you think you hear the birds tweeting about spring you are ...

Dancing (and Drinking) with the Stars

Back in my youth there was a period of a couple of months when I owned a Corvette.  It was pretty cool.  I felt pretty invincible and like I had arrived, driving around with the top down, not a care in the world (other than getting bombarded with gnats in the face).  One day I remember driving along the Rock Creek Parkway in DC with a friend of mine when we passed a Mustang and he exclaimed, “the enemy!”

This scene was repeated automotively a number of years later when I purchased a BMW sedan.  Driving along Connecticut Avenue to work, every Mercedes I saw made something race in my heart.  Mercedes seemed to be the natural antagonist to BMW.  (Years even later I would buy a Mercedes and suddenly they were no longer the enemy).

Every great thing has its natural, not so much opposite, as opposition.  Yin has its yang.  Hertz has its Avis.  The Red Sox have their Yankees (although until the 1990s the Yankees may not have realized it).  And so for Italy it is – perhaps and in some contexts – France.  Italians tend to live their lives in the moment without thinking too much about how others live their lives and for the most part are accepting other cultures without giving them too much thought.  True, they do bristle at others occasionally (perhaps reserving most of their ire for the German).  But in my mind the one people that they seem to silently compare themselves to the most are the French.

Both value food.  Value art and culture and their proud histories.  They both produce olive oil and wine – boy do they produce olive oil and wine.  In a way they are like close cousins who like each other but are probably happier when the other one is not in the same room with everyone else.

So please don’t tell our Italian friends, but for the past days we snuck away from Italy and have spent time in the capital of enemy territory – Paris.  Taking up refuge in an apartment in the 7th arrondissement, in the shadow of the Eiffel tower we have walked eggshells trying not to enjoy France too much, while trying to sup all the pleasures it has to offer before returning to Umbria tomorrow.  I wonder how Jimmy Carter would judge us.

So being in France has caused us a little uneasiness to balance our joy, but we are completely unapologetic in having arranged a day trip to Reims and Epernay, the epicenter of the Champagne region of France.  Put simply, we love champagne and any and all sparkling wines.  To not visit the land where brother Dom Perignon accidentally discovered the secret to making sparking wine (reputedly exclaiming upon drinking the elixir for the first time, “it’s like drinking stars!”) would be a sin of the highest order.   I certainly don’t want that blot on my permanent record.

Day 8 001

And so we spent the day in Reims and Epernay devoted to one thing only.  Learning about and drinking – mostly drinking – liquid stars straight from the black hole that produced them.

One of our favorite champagnes is Veuve Clicquot.  There are many followers out there with whom we have shared a bottle or case in the past, and so a visit to the old widow Clicquot’s estate in Reims not just made sense, it seemed like a religious pilgrimage.  It was just that.

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Arriving at the estate, a modern but mostly modest reception area decked out in glass and the ubiquitous orange (Clicquot calls it yellow) color, we spent an hour or so on tour, learning about the widow’s contribution to modernizing and expanding the reach of champagne (God bless her).  Then the tour of the caves, underground chalk caverns originally excavated by the Romans two thousand years ago to obtain building materials but which now form a vast network of chambers where sparkling wine is aged, bottle fermented, and refined.  Here fermented wine is fermented a second time in the bottle, producing champagne’s unique taste and signature bubbles.  Here it is riddled or rotated over time to move the spent yeast to the neck of the bottle where it is ultimately degorged, the mass of solids ejected from the bottle and replaced with a secret elixir of sugar and liqueur.  Here is where the magic happens, below ground, out of sight, as if by some magic hands or ancient spirits.

Day 8 004

And what happens in the bottle, underground is truly the work of some benevolent spirits.  Back in the tasting room we sample the grande dame, Clicquot’s prestige vintage.  Its color and appearance reminded less of a gold liquid than soft, liquid gold itself.  And the taste was the same.  Pure gold.  Pure heaven.

Day 8 005

Suzy and I posed for a few obligatory photos in front of the iconic orange (yellow) signs, savoring the gift that was present in our glasses.  Whether Dom Perignon actually uttered those words he is said to have exclaimed, it truly was like drinking stars.  And whether you call them etoiles (French) or stelle (Italian), the stars undeniably look kindly upon all – French or Italian, or even American – who untwist the cage (six turns), ease out the cork, fill up a flute and pay homage to those brilliant men, women and even widows whose brilliance brought us stars in a bottle.

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Ci vediamo!

Bill and Suzy

Back in my youth there was a period of a couple of months when I owned a Corvette.  It was pretty cool.  ...