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IN THIS ISSUE
DRIVING THROUGH PUGLIA
By Brian Freedman


NEW YORK CORNER
Petaluma
By John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
WINE TOURISM IN BORDEAUX
By John Mariani
 



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DRIVING THROUGH PUGLIA
By
Brian Freedman

    Before the end of that evening, I had agreed to spend the month of June at his family’s summer home in Puglia. Never mind that my wife was pregnant with our second child and that we already had a three-year-old girl. Never mind that we’d never been to Puglia. Or that neither one of us spoke Italian. The opportunity to spend a month in Italy was too tempting for us to ever allow minor concerns like work or normal grown-up responsibilities get in our way.
         It turned out to be one of the best decisions my wife and I have ever made. The house, with sweeping views of the Ionian Sea and stunning beaches a quick walk from our front gate, was in the town of Torre Colimena, a quiet seaside destination for summering Italians from all over the country. And while there wasn’t much going on when we arrived on June 3rd--most of the shops and restaurants were just starting to open for the season--the town was in full swing by the second week, and from the Deja Vu Café with its excellent espresso to the Casa di Formaggio, from Ziu Belo Pizzeria to Macelleria da Enzo Fanuli and more, it proved to be an ideal base from which to explore all that Puglia has to offer.             And there is plenty of that, to be sure. Indeed, no other region of Italy has garnered quite so much adoring American press recently about its marked uptick in popularity among travelers. And while the more familiar Tuscany-Rome-Venice trifecta promises to maintain their primacy among first-time visitors, Puglia is bursting with its own unique charms, and enough of them to make it a part of the country that I strongly suspect will become a major international destination in its own right.
       The food and the wine are major contributors to its appeal. And while the great local grape varieties are perhaps less familiar to American consumers, Primitivo and Negroamaro promise to gain in popularity once they become better known. The spice and friendly fruit of the former and the depth and richness of the latter are well suited to the American palate and phenomenal, whether vinified as reds or rosati, with Puglian food.
       The Negroamaro Wine Festival, held annually in the bustling city of Brindisi, is occasion enough to warrant planning a trip to Puglia around its schedule, spread out over a week in June. Much of the city center is transformed into a huge open-air gala, replete with wine and food stands on the sidewalks, music and activities, and even, this past year, a performance by Kool and the Gang to wrap it all up.
      In addition to Brindisi, make sure to visit Lecce, a city of nearly 100,000 residents that, with its museums, exceptionally urbane vibe and excellent restaurants, more than earns its nickname, the Florence of the South. Over the course of our month in Puglia, we ventured there three separate times, and each resulted in the discovery of another side of this exceptionally beautiful and friendly city.
     Alle Due Corti provided one of our most memorable meals. The restaurant features the classics of the region prepared with the careful technique of a highly accomplished chef, and the result is stunning. Ciceri e trio (left), a dish composed of boiled and fried pasta whose sauce is thickened with the starch from cooked chickpeas, is a prime example of the heights that the cuisine here can achieve.    
    Doppiozero is not only known as home to one of the great bars of the country, but also features a menu that modernizes Puglian food without losing its soul. All’Ombra dell Barocco allows guests to enjoy their meal either inside, beneath stone arches, or outside in the cafe. We opted for the café--it was warm and sunny, as it was most of the time in June--and we were not disappointed. Frisa leccese multicereali, like a bruschetta on steroids but built on a base of rehydrated dried multigrain bread, is worth the trip by itself, as is so much of the rest of the menu. And, since this is Italy, no meal--or moment, for that matter--is complete without a scoop or three of gelato. Crem, a cheery Lecce storefront, is home to some of the best we tasted the entire month.
        Time and again, we found ourselves stunned to silence by a particularly wonderful bite of food. At Panificio Due Emme in the lovely town of Laterza, hearty, deeply soulful breads are baked the old-fashioned way (right): A fire is built in a stone hearth with wood, olive-tree clippings, and, when in season, apricot stones and almond shells, allowed to burn until it consumes itself, and then the ashes are swept out. Doughs are then placed right on the scorching stone, and the ambient heat of the oven cooks it all through. The result is a bread so hearty, so protected by its thick crust, that you can let it sit on the counter for a week before cutting into it without losing any of its texture. Not that you’d want to, of course. The aroma alone guarantees that you’ll tuck into it before you even get home. Or, rather, before you leave the shop.      
    Laterza in its entirety is an excellent destination. Thanks to my new friend Monica Caradonna of Cantine Due Palme, we were fortunate enough to spend a day in Laterza with her, Mayor Gianfranco Lopane, and a phenomenal entourage, including Silvana Caldarazza, a translator who also rendered into English the book “Like A Song of Beauty…,” about the beautiful Santuario Mater Domini in Laterza.
         Naturalists will adore La Gravina di Laterza , a sweeping gorge lovingly referred to as the Grand Canyon of Italy; foodies will swoon over the magic woven in the kitchen at Trattoria del Purgatorio--the polpette were among the best I’ve tasted, and chicorelle con fave bianche, one of many memorable chicory dishes we enjoyed in Puglia, was transporting. Art lovers should make a visit for the famous blue-and-white ceramics that are perfected here at venues like SuMo Maioliche d’Arte, the level of detail breathtaking; and the Piazza Spagnola, a hidden gem of frescoes hundreds of years old.
       Located in the heel of the Italian boot, Puglia boasts countless beaches and beachfront communities, seemingly all of them pedestrian friendly and lined with cafés and restaurants  specializing in the sort of seafood that this part of Italy is famous for. Santa Maria di Leuca (left), the very bottom of the heel, is a breathtaking seascape with gorgeous grottoes that are easily visited by booking an inexpensive ticket (15 euros for adults) on one of the tour boats that leave the port regularly.
       If you do venture there and want to stay overnight, consider Villa Arditi, an agriturismo run by Francesco Arditi of a noble family. He is a young man of ambition and vision, and the work he has done transforming his family’s villa and grounds in nearby Presicce is remarkable.
      Further north in Puglia, towns like Gallipoli, Porto Cesareo, Ostuni, Otranto, and more are absolutely worth seeking out. And the good news is that the magnificent seafood of the region is available everywhere. Osteria Sud e Terre Lontane in Avetrana, for example, prepared a dish  I still dream about months later: spaghetti glistening with a crab-infused tomato sauce. Accompanied by some of the great local olive oil and washed down with a carafe of rosato, it’s pretty much perfect.
       As for that olive oil, it is more or less guaranteed to ruin you forever.  I have spent every day since returning to Philadelphia as an insufferable olive oil snob, glaring hatefully at the oversized bottle of Bertoli on our kitchen counter. It’s just what happens when you get so spoiled with the good Puglian oils.  
          Olive trees cover a significant portion of the land here. As you drive along at dusk, the sunlight slashes against the silvery leaves of the olive trees (right) and casts the entire landscape into a distinctly silver-toned glow. And the olive oil itself is amazing. Producers like Masseria Guidara and L’Acropoli di Oliva are crafting extra virgin olive oils as profound as the most accomplished wines. Le Ferre has won me over with its particularly delicious infused olive oils. Interestingly, you’re generally not offered olive oil to dip your bread into, and it was only at L’Acropli di Oliva that it was explained why: Because the local bread, so hearty and full of character itself, will overwhelm the oil, which is better suited to anointing more delicate dishes instead.
          The wines of the region are every bit as delicious, and I’ve rarely had so many great wines for such fair prices. The local markets sell nice bottles for around $7 each, and if you want to go just a bit higher, you can really taste something special. Over the course of our stay in Puglia, I toured and tasted at Cantine Due Palme, Cantele, Masseria Li Veli, and Gianfranco Fino, all of which were spectacular. From value-priced bottles to pricier ones that have been garnered with awards all over the world, they embody exactly what makes Puglian wine so special, as does the Cantine Risveglio “72100” Negroamaro: expressiveness, terroir specificity, and food friendliness, as well as a sense of exuberance that demands a second glass, and then a third,  let’s be honest here, a fourth, as long as you’re not driving.
       At the end of each day, it was nothing short of magic to drive back to our home in Torre Colimena, and every time we came through the roundabout in our little Fiat Panda and glimpsed the sea stretching out in front of us, and listened to the whisper of the olive trees as we sped on past, we were washed over by a perhaps paradoxical sense of calm and excitement: We were home, and giddy to be able to call this home for an entire month.

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NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

WINE TOURISM IN BORDEAUX
By John Mariani

                                                                                                        The City of Bordeaux  

    Do not look for mountains or valleys in Bordeaux. Do not look for rich red earth or vast forests.  And don’t look for spa resorts with Olympic-size swimming pools and cabanas.  That may be all well and good for Napa Valley or the hills of Tuscany or the stunning mountains along the Rhine, but Bordeaux has its own virtues: castles and chateaux of great beauty, impeccably maintained vineyards on gravelly soil, and some superb restaurants.
    The fact that you can easily arrange to visit the great wine estates of Bordeaux while staying in some sumptuous nearby hotels makes this area of southwest France one of the most soul- and appetite-satisfying vineyard regions in the world.  Indeed, most chateaux are open to the public, as long as you write ahead. (To obtain names and addresses, contact the Bordeaux Wine Bureau in NYC; 212-477-9800.)
    It is a huge area of more than 280,000 acres of vineyards, with 22,000 vineyard proprietors and 7,000 châteaux, or domaines, producing 800 million bottles of wine annually—compared with less than 36 million produced in the far smaller region of Burgundy.  Way back in 1855 the wine merchants of Bordeaux created a classification of the region’s very finest estates of the Médoc, Sauternes, and Barsac regions, based on the consistently high prices their wines sold for over the decades.  These were broken down into quality categories called “crus” (growths), which in Bordeaux referred to an estate. Thus, there were Premier Crus (First Growths), Deuxièmes Crus (Second Growths), and on down to Cinquièmes Crus (Fifth Growths). The wines of Graves and St. Émilion were also classified; those of Pomerol and other regions were not. One St. Émilion wine, Château Haut-Brion, was listed under the Premier Cru appellation.  In 1973, one wine of the Médoc, Château Mouton-Rothschild, was awarded First Growth status, but no other estate has succeeded in elevating its status since 1855. 
      Many of the classified crus are set on exquisite properties, usually home to their proprietors, with glorious manicured lawns and pebbly walkways leading to clear-cut vineyards ringed with roses. (If a pestilence is about to hit the vineyards, roses will catch it first and give the vineyard workers advance notice).  Château Margaux (right), for instance, is a butter-yellow 1810 Neo-Palladian edifice designed by architect Louis Combes for the Marquis de la Colonilla. It has been called “The Versailles of the Médoc” and since 1946 has been listed as an “historic monument” of France.
     The side effect is that visitors to the region are welcomed with open arms, by both the restaurants and the estates, which wouldn’t mind at all if you go home with several cases of their wines.  At Château Giscours (a Third Growth), which dates back to the 14^th century, you may not only visit, you may also dine in their splendid restaurant with the estate’s enologist, who will explain the wines you are drinking.  There are also beautiful banquet rooms available for meetings and receptions.
     The region, cut through by the Gironde River, which irrigates all the vineyards, also has some lovely places to stay while visiting the wineries.  The city of Bordeaux has become a much livelier place than it used to be, now with 15 museums, including the Bordeaux Wine Museum, and beautiful squares and mansions that date back to the time of Victor Hugo, who was a member of the National Assembly here.
    The city has many fine restaurants—including three with Michelin stars.  Le Chapon Fin (left), with its fanciful fin-de-siècle décor, opened in 1823 and still keeps a classic Bordelais menu, with plenty of foie gras, roast squab, and a renowned roast lamb with sage butter.  In warm weather take a table on the terrace of the more modern Pavillon des Boulevard, known for its delicious lobster in chestnut cream.  And the small, intimate Jean Ramet, on the river’s bank, is always populated with estate owners and merchants who come for the namesake chef’s refined regional cooking, like foie gras with candied dates and orange. For something more casual, the rustic bistro Tupiña cooks many of its dishes over an open fire fueled by grape vines.
 

    In the village of Pauillac there is the spectacular 17^th century Château Cordeillan Bages (below), once a Carthusian monastery, with 25 rooms and 4 suites, and a Michelin two-star restaurant that serves cuisine of great finesse, from eggplant marinated in olive oil with langoustines with lemon-thyme, and rack of lamb with a fricassée of vegetables. In St. Émilion the place to stay is the Hostellerie de Plaisance, restored to pristine 18^th century grandeur.
    With 7,000 châteaux to see, visiting Bordeaux may take a while.  But the pleasures of visiting once can only serve to bring you back again, wondering what wonderful wine you may have missed and what charming chateaux you haven’t seen.

 

 

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WRETCHED EXCESS NO. 45,887

In D.C., at Second State restaurant the ice cubes are "handcrafted,"
so if you want your cocktail on the rocks,  that will
cost you $1 extra.

 

 "The corn-fed, dry-aged Nebraskan rib-eye, with a carbon footprint big enough to make a climate-change denier horny, is bloody marvellous: rich, deep, earthy, with that dense tang that comes with proper hanging. And at £100 a kilo it bloody well should be. At that price they should lead the damn animal into the restaurant and install it under the table so it can pleasure me while I eat." —Jay Raynor, “Beast,” The Guardian (Oct. 19, 2014).

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