I'm a big fan of New Years... Blank calendars, infinite possibilities, new beginnings, resolutions, all that stuff. I enjoy looking back on the good things, jettisoning the bad things, and I love looking forward to the new... New journeys, new wines, new vintage...

What matters here is my desire (I fear using the word "resolution") to commit to TWO BLOG POSTS PER MONTH. I think this is a reasonable and attainable resolution and the minimum frequency to honestly and respectably call this a "blog". I put this out there as a way of self-motivation and the risk of humiliation if I don't follow through...

So let's kick off 2012 with what has become an annual event here... The Morellino Challenge!

This year we conducted the challenge at the beautiful home of AnnaMaria Cruciata (right, above) and her husband Hugh Maxwell, owners of the Val di Toro winery... And what a place to taste Morellino!
Smack-dab in the middle of the gorgeous hills of Maremma...

We had a battery of 16 Morellini to taste blind. In attendance there was Maurizio Castelli, Gabriele Gadenz, Luca Felicioni, Giulio Serafinelli, along with AnnaMaria and Hugh, our gracious hosts. We also had our own Emilio del Medico and Dennis Lepore, with yours truly rounding out the tabel of 9...

(L to R: Emilio, Luca, Gabriele, Giulio, AnnaMaria)

These tastings are important for us because it gives us an idea of where we stand compared to the competition, and if there are any trends in the Morellino world we should know about. For that reason I never show results here, but the 2009 I Perazzi Morellino from La Mozza arrived more or less in the same position as last year's challenge, but we noticed a trend with some wines to lean toward the sweet and overly oaky. Let's hope it doesn't become a trend. Morellino should be fruity and generous, but with good structure and a level of acidity lower than, say , chianti... Making it quaffable and easy for a red, but not insipid.

The wines that did well were mostly well-known producers, which seems to me to indicate that their fame was a result of quality, not marketing or mass production. Ours being one of those that faired well in the scores...

Plenty of debate, too.. Here Emilio is explaining something passionately to Maurizio...

This is a format we will repeat for other wines this year, for Aragone, for Vespa Bianco, for Adriatico... 

Hey! Counting this. that's 4 out of 24 blog posts right there!

 

 

It has been a crazy fall/harvest season here at the winery! Apart from a fantastic vintage I've been everywhere from New Orleans to Vienna... Merano to Monza... and it ain't over yet! I'm in Serbia this weekend and Belgium the next!

Travel aside, I came back after an extended tour of the US to have a talk with Emilio about his overall impression of the harvest. He basically said he had never seen a vintage like 2011... The dry, warm August started to dry the fruit on the vine. The 2011 vintage was feared to be a very early one, with picking anticipated for the middle of August, but the lack of water stressed the vines and slowed the ripening process, actually extending the season a little longer. A short burst of rain at the end of August re-activated the vines. Apart from another quick thunderstorm in the middle of September, the season was very dry and warm during the day and cool at night. The lack of humidity ensured super-clean and healthy fruit. The result? Very mature ripeness levels with great acidity and beautiful aromatics. 

It's basically EVERYTHING you could hope for in a vintage! What better than fully mature, healthy grapes with acidity and perfume... Quantity! There was about 20% less production overall, so I guess you really CAN'T have everything.

In Maremma where I Perazzi Morellino and Aragone are made at La Mozza, Gabriele Gadenz reported that the vintage was extremely hot and dry (and continues to be very dry to this day) allowing for a very ripe vintage. Gabriele was happy with the high ripeness levels and beautiful color of the 2011 reds from Maremma, but the lack of acidity might make them a little less age-worthy. Gabriele says he wasn't worried about this because when folks taste the 2011 La Mozza wines, they won't want to wait for aging! They'll be awesome upon release!

All in all good news from our wineries for 2011.

Please take a look at Andrew's great post about his visit to the Bastianich Vineyards and Winery with the EWBC post-conference tour!

Bastianich, Friulano

Thanks to Andrew for your detailed and favorable piece!

Friends and Amici Italiani! 

There is a contest on the web to vote for Italian television shows.

C'è un concorso sul web dove si puo votare per programmi Italiani.

Here is the link:

Ecco il link. 

http://www.tvblog.it/post/28611/tvblog-awards-2011-si-comincia

GO AND VOTE FOR MASTERCHEF ITALIA AND JOE BASTIANICH!

ANDATE E VOTARE PER MASTERCHEF E JOE BASTIANICH!

Thanks! Grazie!

Last week I had the pleasure of attending my second European Wine Bloggers Conference (ewbc) in Brescia. Two days of great talks and seminars, tastings and dinners with wines from Franciacorta to Chile, and LOTS of camaraderie between bloggers from 34 different nations!

As usual, there was a serie of post-trips, and one of them came to Friuli for 3 days to experience what makes this place so special for producing world-class wines. Day 3 of that tour brought the group to the Bastianich vineyards in Buttrio/Premariacco and then for a quick tasting of 4 wines ('09 Adriatico Friulano, '09 Vespa Bianco, '07 Plus and '07 Calabrone) at the winery...

 I truly appreciated the time and attention everyone paid to me while I told a little bit of our story here... 

I'd like to personally thank all the great people I met and hung out with at the conference and those nice enough to come and visit us at Bastianich. I wish I had the time and the energy to list your names here, but you are all on the EWBC list on Facebook, and if I remember you, I have "friended" you there...

Also, on Sunday, I drove, hungover and somewhat tired, from Brescia with my dear friend and blogger Sabina Maffei (If you read Italian, please read Sabina's brilliant blog HERE) and another well-known blogger, Donna Jackson aka "WiseQueen". Donna was slated to come on the Friuli trip, but realized she had schedule conflicts at the last minute. She asked if we could do Sunday, and even though I was NOT in TipTop shape, I managed to get her here and give her a taste of Friuli, first at Buttrio's Trattoria Al Parco (where we were treated to a full tasting of Meroi wines), and then on to the cantina in Cividale...

(Wisequeen and I tasting Vespa Bianco and Plus at the Foresteria)

At Valentino Butussi, I was really starting to fade fast. My Red Bull had worn off and all I could think about was sleeping. But we tasted a couple wines instead...

Filippo (whose blog you can read HERE) took Donna out to dinner as I retreated home... 

Woke up in the dark this morning to meet Daniele Borghello, pro Photographer, at our Buttrio vineyard for a sunrise shoot. The weather has been astounding recently, and it has been a fantastic vintage so far (more details to come). Today did not disappoint, although Daniele did complain of a little bit of foschia (haziness, light fog) that made the morning light more yellow than red.

Now, I'll admit (and you may have guessed) that I'm horribly jealous of great photographers who really know how to use those "big clicky cameras", as my friend Samantha calls them. Someday I'll get me one of those big clilcky cameras and take some good pictures... For now I entertain myself trying to snap a couple shots here and there, and I thought it would be interesting to take pictures of someone taking pictures... Like the movie "Inception", but with vineyard photos... vInception!

The sun came up and revealed a gorgeous morning, lighting the vineyards in Buttrio in a way I haven't seen since I worked the '02 vintage. I managed to pop off a couple of my own before heading home to shower and properly dress for the office. Daniele stuck around to watch the pickers do their thing and get some poetic shots of the old Tocai Friulano vines in the "Plus" vineyard... Something I have not managed to capture with my small, non-clicky camera.

I'm sure Daniele's photos will be stunning, but in the meantime, I'll hit you with my best shot...

Alder Yarrow's Vinography blog is certainly one of the most popular and best-written wine blogs on the internet, bar NONE. So how happy are we that Mr. Yarrow has taken the time to write a great post about the Adriatico line of wines from Bastianich.

I particularly like how complete and well-researched the post is. There is plenty of info there that he didn't get from a press release, showing a dimension of care and accuracy in his writing. Bravo! and thanks for the blog-love!

 Amici Italiani! Domani, 21 Settembre 2011 alle 21:00, si comincia MasterChef Italia sul canale CIELO con guidici Carlo Cracco, Bruno Barbieri e nostro Joe Bastianich! 

Non mancare il primo episodio!

 

(For our english-speaking friends...

Tomorrow September 21 at 9pm Masterchef Italia begins on the CIELO channel with judges Carlo Cracco, Bruno Barbieri and our own Joe Bastianich!

Don't miss he first episode!)

 
First grapes for the 2011 vintage are coming in as we speak! It's shaping up to be a great vintage... The heatwave broke this weekend and the weather is sunny and dry... Great for good grapes!

Here are some pictures from Harvest 2011, Day One:

Ethan Bastianich, last week's guest photog also lent a hand today with grape picking...

Along with big brother Miles!...

Sauvignon going on the big trailor...

Check out that bad-ass Bastianich T-shirt on Cristian!
 

Stay tuned for more pics as they come in!

I saw Joe Bastianich's youngest son Ethan walking around the winery with his camera today so I asked him to donate a few snaps to The Buzz blog... So here is Ethan at the Palio di San Donato medieval festival in Cividale yesterday:
 And a picture of some of the festivities...

And here are the shots he took today at the winery:

Botti and vasche...

Vineyards almost ready to pick.. (and MAN is it HOT)...

And last but not least, the obligatory "Tractor Shot"...

John Deere forever!... Thanks Ethan for the help on the blog! What do you think folks? Should I give him a full-time job?