Take it Ella…
We’ve got smooth sailing, sailing
Looks like every drop of rain is
gone, gone, gone
Smooth sailing, sailing
And a blue sky full of rainbows from now on  - Ella Fitzgerald
The Tall Ships are here!  It’s a beautiful day.  The North End is bustling with summer energy.  The renovations are only slightly behind schedule.  We have heard from Matt and the wedding was flawless. (He is now taunting us with gorgeous pictures of sipping wine overlooking the clear blue waters of Mykonos)  Our very cool new guy (Mike) is starting tonight.  All sorts of good things are going on, it’s all smooth sailing…

2008 Antica Hirpinia Terra Solaris Falanghina del Beneventano, Campania, Italy $15/$13.50/$12

The spotlight has been shining on the ancient triumvirate of white grapes from Campania recently.  Fiano, Greco di Tufo and Falanghina have been planted on the sunny hills of Irpinia for thousands of years and now being re-discovered  by the world.  To give you your bearings, we are in Southern Italy, in Campania whose most famous city is Napoli.  If you travel about 40km east you reach the region around the town of Avellino, known as Irpinia along the Appenine Mountains.  Falanghina was known as Falernum during the Roman Empire and I remember it once being referenced as being enjoyed by Cleopatra!  The grape has a lovely balance of citrus, minerality and floral character that are usually characteristic of a much lighter wine.  The medium body and flavor profile of this wine make it an ideal wine accompaniment to fried seafood.  New England meets Campania with a clam roll and a glass of Falanghina?  Why not?

2007 Chateau Saint-Cyrgues “Cuvée Anna”, Costières de Nîmes, France $11/$9.90/$8.80

The site of this estate has a long wine history with excavations revealing amphora used for wine storage dating back to the sixth century BC.  In the 1600’s it was the site of the St. Circe monastery, which is where the current name comes from.  In 1991, a Swiss couple, Evelyne and Guy de Mercurio came across this beautiful plot and were immediately entranced.  They set about restoring it to its former glory and have definitely succeeded.  Located just to the west of the Rhone River on the eastern edge of the Languedoc, they grow the typical Southern French grape varietals and this rose is a blend of syrah, grenache and carignan.  The estate motto is “For the Love of Wine” and that sense of warmth and caring shines through in this charming quaffer.  Evelyne is also a talented painter and her artwork is on display at the winery.  They recommend serving it with shrimp with ginger sauce, I think it would be a great picnic wine with pasta salads.

2007 Cascina ‘Tavjin Ruche di Castagnole Monferrato, Piedmont, Italy $24/$21.60/$19.20

Mmm… ruché.  Often forgotten behind the Piemonte’s more famous grape varietals, ruché is a wine geek treat!  Fortunately, Nadia Verrua who has taken over winemaking at her family’s estate has a soft spot for indigenous grape varietals and crafts a delicious example of the wine.  The vineyards are located in a small corner of Asti and are tended by her father.  The grapes are hand harvested and vinified traditionally in older botti of Slavonian oak.  The result is a deep purple wine with notes of plums and rose petals.  This is a wine meant to be enjoyed in the freshness of its youth and it seems fitting that a young woman winemaker is behind it.  Her vibrancy comes right through the bottle!  This is a great match for an antipasto platter of cured meats and cheese as the freshness cuts through the rich savoriness of the food.

2005 Matthew Fioretti “Mattei” Barbera Colli Tortonesi, Piedmont, Italy $15/$13.50/$12

Walter Massa is a pretty big deal around the town of Tortona in Alessandria, Piedmont.  He is known for having some of the last vineyards of the unique white grape timorasso as well as for his incredible barbera.  He makes two different single vineyard barberas from his older vines, but from the vines aged 15 to 20 years, he would sell off the fruit.  Matthew Fioretti who owns the Italian wine importing company Summa Vitis, loves all of Walter’s wine and saw great potential in this additional fruit.  He asked Walter if he would be interested in making a special cuvee just for him and the Mattei was born.  Unlike the more expensive offerings from the estate this is all done in stainless steel.  As soon as we tasted the wine, we knew we had another Bottega classic.  Barbera is always one of our favorite grapes and the great juicy fruit combined with underlying savory earth of this wine will show you why in one sip.  Barbera works with just about any food and for any palate.  Grab a couple and thank us later!

2005 Tukulu Pinotage, Darling, South Africa $19/$17.10/$15.20

Pinotage is a grape that elicits strong reactions from many people.  You either love it or you hate it.  I have compared some of the most extreme examples to roadkill wrapped in fresh asphalt and I’m one of those people who actually like the wine!  I was very excited when I came across the Tukulu.  It has that dark soul that I love in the wine, but its been tamed just enough to lose it’s totally gnarly edges.  I think the couple of extra years of age have helped to mellow it out as well.  I was even more excited about the wine when I visited the Papkuifonstein Vineyards’ website to learn more about them.  They are located about an hour north of Cape Town in the region of Swartland.  The project is a partnership between Distell, the largest wine and spirits producer in South Africa, a team of black entrepreneurs and the local community in Groenekloof.  This is a much-needed black empowerment project in the still white dominated South African wine industry.  The estate is structured to become fully black owned as well as teaching winemaking and viticultural skills in the region and promoting land ownership.  The wine itself comes from vineyards  just 25 km from the sea and the breezes help moderate the heat.  The grapes are hand harvested and spend 12 months in a combination of French, American and Eastern European oak.  As a side note, the winemaker Samuel Viljoen also worked a vintage at Domaine Serene in Oregon.

2007 Camillo Donati Malvasia Dolce, Emilia Romagna, Italy $25/$22.50/$20

Get ready for a total freak out wine!!!  The Donati estate was founded in 1930 and Camillo Donati, his wife and their children are now the third generation to produce fantastic Lambrusco.  They farm and produce the wines organically and biodynamically utilizing the most natural of techniques. All the grapes, including the white, are fermented like red wines (with skin contact), without temperature control, and use no other controls or enhancers at fermentation, no fining, no acidification or de-acidification, no selected yeasts, etc.  In addition to Lambrusco they also produce small amounts of Malvasia, one of the oldest known grapes in the world, originally from Crete.  In the Dolce or sweet version, they halt the fermentation at only about 5% alcohol to retain some residual sugar.  This is a unique, delicate, special wine that should not be missed!