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Corti Brothers Newsletter for Fall 2006 Page 2 Finally a major producer of anchovies, Vincenzo Curreri, under his brand Talatta, produced at Sciacca, Sicily has packed a useful jar size of anchovies in salt, which you must wash and fillet before using. A freshly cleaned salt anchovy has a different flavor from the more common anchovy in oil in tin cans and is absolutely essential to the production of certain fall dishes. The Piemontese vegetable dip or sauce “bagna cauda” must be made with these anchovies rather than the ones in oil. However, Curreri also produces a 580g - 21 oz. jar of splendid anchovies fillets in oil. Normally, salt anchovies come in large, kilo tins, which are very inconvenient for home use. Bulky and in a metal container they just do not work well. But now with the Talatta jar, you have a small enough container, but a large enough quantity to use at home. Once they are filleted and dressed with a simple sauce of finely chopped fresh parsley and garlic mixed with good extra virgin olive oil, you have the beginning of a delicious antipasto. Just add some crusty bread. The already filleted anchovies in oil are ready to use. These are the best anchovies in oil we have found since the 1980s. All Talatta anchovies are from large size, spring harvest (May to July) fish, from the Sicilian coast, salted in small containers for about nine months, then re-packed. The fillets of anchovies in oil are packed in semi-conserve fashion–they must be kept cool. Perfect for anchovy lovers since they are ready to use, just keep them in the refrigerator until needed.
Isole e Olena is the name of a wonderful Chianti Classico Estate run by an exemplary winemaker, Paolo DeMarchi. This wine is always excellent, good year, poor year. In fact, it is the only property anywhere in the world that Corti Brothers has sold in every vintage since the winery’s beginning in 1975. Isole has also been at the forefront of research in Chianti Classico, being one of the first, if not the first property in modern times to produce in Tuscany a varietal Syrah called L’Eremo. Isole e Olena Chianti Classico is what I think Chianti Classico should be: nicely colored, not necessarily very dark, fragrant, flavorful, not heavy, but well balanced with a delicacy of flavor that makes Chianti Classico such an eminently drinkable wine. It is never tiring, boring or dull. The 2004 vintage of Isole e Olena is near perfect in my view. It is a wine which just slips down the throat. In fact, it is one of those wines that you are a little sad to see end when the bottle is emptied, since another glass or two would not be amiss. We have taken a shipment of the 2004 just to have the wine for this fall and winter drinking. We still have the 2003 vintage available which is a slightly more powerful wine due to the vintage, and possibly it will be longer lived. Vintage variation is what makes wine such an appealing drink. Isole e Olena Vin Santo is considered by almost every producer in Tuscany to be the best example of the sweet version of the wine type. Vin Santo is the traditional wine made from dehydrated grapes, usually Trebbiano and Malvasia, picked before the beginning of the harvest and ultimately crushed in February, when the wine meant for bottling is removed from the small casks (caratelli) containing the lees or “mother” of the Vin Santo. The must ferments spontaneously and is controlled by pressure in the heat of summer and cold of winter. Isole makes a sweet version of Vin Santo, but this wine can be dry, medium dry/sweet or sweet. It is the sweet version which is the most difficult to produce given the fact that fermentation is uncontrolled and sometimes the wines go dry in their casks–at times even turning to vinegar. It is a risky business! And it takes time. The 1999 vintage was just bottled at the end of February, when the 2005 vintage was pressed and the 1999 barrels refilled. Isole e Olena Vin Santo 1999 is the best vintage of this wine I have tasted. Amber in color, it has the concentrated, dry apricot/grape scent of the wine, with unctuous sweetness and a long flavory finish with a pleasant snap at the end. This is not an everyday dessert wine, but a very special one that is just beginning its life in bottle. In fact, this is what great, sweet Madeira would taste like if it could. We have purchased a majority of this wine. You are missing out on an astounding wine if you do not have some in your cellar. Proprieta Sperino Rosa del Rosa 2005 Rosato Coste della Sesia is the first wine to come out of a resurrected estate owned by the DeMarchi family in the north eastern Piemonte village of Lessona. Once owned by Paolo DeMarchi’s great great-uncle, the estate closed its cellar in 1952 and was not re-opened until 2004 when Paolo and his son Luca bought the property and produced the first wine made there in more than 50 years. At the end of the 19th century, the Lessona of Senatore Sperino was the most expensive wine sold in Italy. It is now on its way to renewed fame and fortune. The first wine out is a rosé made from nebbiolo, vespolina, and croatina grapes, selected for making this rosé. The wine is wonderful. It has a very pretty color, with a fine mineral scent coupled with the berry and floral fragrances of the varieties. Just shipped, it is perfect with fall dishes and cold cuts, accompanying sausages like no other wine. The red wines from Proprieta Sperino will come along in time. There will be Uvaggio and then Lessona itself. Once in hand, we will tell you about them since they are the rebirth of what could be the finest red wine of Piemonte. Watch for them!
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Corti Brothers
Sacramento CA
