Virtual Gourmet

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IN THIS ISSUE
TRIESTE
THE MELTING POT OF FRIULI
By John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER
CUCINA 8 1/2
By John Mariani

ANOTHER VERMEER
CHAPTER EIGHT
By John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
AN INTERVIEW WITH SONOMA-CUTRER'S
WINEMAKER ZIDANELLA ARCIDIACONO
By John Mariani

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On this week's episode of my WVOX Radio Show "Almost Golden," on Wed. February 23 at 11AM EST,I will be interviewing author

Michael Pitts on his book ASTOR PICTURES. Go to: WVOX.com. The episode will also be archived at: almostgolden.

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TRIESTE

THE MELTING POT OF FRIULI

By John Mariani

“Fusion cuisine”—by which various elements of various Eastern and Western food cultures are combined in both artful and wacky ways—may seem a contemporary, if passé, culinary buzzword. But nowhere does the term make more sense than in the beautiful port city of Trieste and its surrounding region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in northeastern Italy, where you may just as easily hear dialects of German and Slovenian as Italian.

For 600 years this deep-water port belonged to the Hapsburg Monarchy, which lost control during World War I, then was claimed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire until after World War II, and today it is a free state, with 200,000 residents, who are happiest being called Triestians, who speak a cadenced Venetian Italian inflected with German and Slovenian words.
The city is impeccably clean and tidy, surrounded to the north by green hills that lap over into Slovenia, where the towns have names like Lokev, Sežana and Pliskjovica. By the same token the broad streets and the architecture of the main square could easily

be mistaken for similar buildings in eastern Europe, like Warsaw, Vienna, or Belgrade—whose architecture was itself influenced by Italian neo-classic and Baroque styles. There is an ancient Roman stone arch and also the San Giusto Cathedral (right), built on 5th century Roman foundations, with its Byzantine mosaics. Ringing the Piazza dell’Unità (left) on three sides are façades built under the reign of the Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780), who granted the people a good degree of autonomous rule.
Trieste is still a lovely old fishing port, sometimes called the “Austrian Riviera,” and, at the end of the 19th century, it shared with Vienna a high reputation for art and literature, drawing Sigmund Freud and James Joyce by its quiet, dignified character. Indeed, Joyce has a statue on the waterside, striding and, being terribly nearsighted, looking like he’s trying not to fall in (below). He had come to the city in 1904 with Nora Barnacle (whom he married in 1931), and spent several years there, finishing his short story

collection Dubliners and beginning work on his masterpiece, Ulysses. His favorite hang-out was the Caffé Pirona (below), a pastry shop in the old quarter since 1863, taking its present name in 1902. It is now owned by the Di Marchi family, serving the same traditional sweets like the fruit-studded preznitz and coffee mit schlag (whipped cream).
There is a very strong coffee culture in Trieste and there seems to be a café or two on every street, usually with tables and chairs outside. In this regard, too, the fusion of one culture with another is imbedded in the history of the region.

Coffee culture began in the Muslim Middle East and was once even considered subversive by the Vatican. It was only natural that nearby Venice would pioneer the idea of the coffee house by the 17th century (the first coffee house opened there in 1654), soon adopted in France and England, but they didn’t make much headway in Austria until 1683, after which Vienna became famous for its cafés. The Italians invented espresso, but it was a Hungarian named Francesco Illy who invented the first automatic espresso machine in 1935—in Trieste, where the Illy headquarters is still located.
Caffè San Marco is more than a century old, with its décor of copper leaves and tiles in German Art Nouveau called Jugendstil (“young style) from the fin de siècle.
Al Bagotto (left) has been set near the sea for more than 60 years, and it has become a must for wine lovers, who will find wooden wineboxes set on the tables of this small, comfortable trattoria, run by the Leonardi family since 2018, with young chef Nada Jovic and wine specialist Marko Kutniak, who may point you to a wine from the Carso region, like Zidarich Vitovksa. When I first visited some years ago I recall the original owner, Giovanni Marussi, pointing to his fish tank

and recommending the best that came from the market that morning. Today the menu is more global, with specialties like glazed lobster with celery cream, crunchy pasta and wasabi caviar ; red prawn crudi with chickpea cream, sweet-and-sour daikon and mushroom shiitake’s; followed by tagliolini pasta with raw scampi on guanciale bacon and a carbonara and egg sauce (€22) and risotto acquarella of cuttlefish ink and dumplings with a purée and sprouts; then come second courses like salt cod with green cabbage, lard and smoked pecorino; finishing with a Viennese Sacher torte with smoked chocolate biscuit.
Kapuziner Keller is a big happy beer hall of a kind you’ll find anywhere in Austria or Bavaria, with long communal tables and lots of German and Italian pennants. It draws a young crowd that comes for the various beers on tap and for the mix of Austrian and Italian food cooked on a lava grill and served on the bare wooden tables. Indeed, the menu in this unassuming, very gregarious beer hall sums up what is so revelatory of

Trieste’s gastronomy and history: Kapuziner’s menu lists everything in both German and Italian—a platter of wursts is subtitled affettati misti bavaressi (“mixed Bavarian sausages”), while Röstbraten in Balsamik-esseg und Parmesan mit Tofkartoffeln is copied as tagliata di manzo all’aceto balsamico e parmigiano con patate saltate. Those Speck-inflected dumplings with the gulasch are called Knödel in German and canederli in Italian on the menu. Then there’s the double listing for Wiener schnitzel and costoletta alla milanese—a flattened veal chop with its bone still attached, lightly breaded, sauteed in butter until golden and very crisp but still juicy on the inside, served with sliced lemons—an icon of both Viennese and Milanese gastronomy.
Located up a winding hill street called the Via Comici, the wonderfully rustic, multi-room Antica Trattoria Suban (right) dates back to 1865, and is still run by the family that gives the restaurant its name, now under paterfamilias Mario Suban, who loves nothing better than to show off his regional cuisine. You might easily mistake the décor of dark wood and pretty folk motifs for a chalet in the Tyrol, yet there seems an equal number of Audis and Alfa-Romeos parked outside, since its cooking draws people from all over the region and across several borders.
I began with a carpaccio of beef marinated in the local olive oil and served with a celery salad, then had a trio of dishes that were an amalgam of Italian pastas and eastern European dumplings—potato gnocchi with tender beets and

melted French Brie cheese; faggottini (“little bundles”) of potato with spinach, sausages and veal; and palacinke alla mandriera—a Hungarian crêpe perfumed with a quite minty local basil. With this I drank a delightfully fresh, young Riesling Renano; then came a fillet of pork with arugula and a mixed grill of beef and lamb, accompanied by a velvety Merlot. I finished with a semifreddo del Papa (pope’s dessert), a kind of frozen custard cake with raspberry and blueberry sauce, with which we sipped a slightly sweet and fairly rare Picolit from the Colli Orientali.
One of the liveliest restaurants and most popular among Friulians who want to eat very well is Lokanda Devetak, located near the Slovenian border and run by the Devetak Agostino family (below) since 1870, now in the hands of Gabriella, Nerina and self-taught chef Michela, who is

from Brescia and married into the family. The bread is made in the restaurant, the vegetables picked from the garden, and the olive oil is the finest from the region. More than 16,000 wines are cellared below the dining room. Upstairs looks very much like a private house prepared for a large family dinner, with fine linens and lace. You half expect someone to strike up a trill on a zither.
With exceptional grace Nerina and her staff minister to guests who find an extraordinary amalgam of dishes that seem to get more and more localized, from Slovenia, Austria and Italy to Friuli and Carso, which is the hill region wherein the restaurant is set. Begin with a selection of local salumi and prosciutto crudo, with a lemony Pinot Grigio from a vineyard named “Runc” as an aperitif, then have the snidjeno testa gnocchi with rabbit sauce or braised pork in red wine and laurel. Then a pretty tart of wild asparagus and freshly whipped mayonnaise, accompanied by a Sauvignon Blanc from a Carso winery named Boris Skerk. (I should add that many of the wines I sampled in the region were from young producers who were unknown even twenty years ago.)

Next came a juicy suckling pig with white polenta and a fondue of cheese accompanied by potatoes with pork cracklings—a dish one might readily expect to find on tables throughout eastern Europe—with a robust red wine from Isonzo called Vencjar by Giovanni Blason. Dessert was an old family recipe for a yeast cake (traditionally served at Easter time) called La Gibanica, whose name derives from either of two linguistic possibilities—a Friulian dialect for the word “abundance,” because it is usually stuffed with raisins, cocoa, candied fruit and grappa, or Slavic for “snail,” because it is often shaped in a coil.
Specializing in seafood is L’Antica Ghiacceretta (left) in the city center, where it is enchanting to dine al fresco. The menu changes with the seasons and what the sea brings in. Here you begin with pasta or a dish of Canaroli rice from Rustichella d’Abruzzo. Second course is fish and the third might be a light coconut ice cream or fruit tart.

RESTAURANTS

Prices are approximate for a three-course dinner for two, without wine, but including service and tax.

Kapuziner Keller—1 Pozzo del Mare; 011-39-040-307997. $60.

Antica Trattoria Suban—2 Via Comici; 040-54368. $90.

Al Bagotto—2 Via F. Venezian; 040-301771. $100.

Lokanda Gostilna Devetak—48 San Michele del Carso; 0481-882005. www.devetak.com. $100.

L' Antica Ghiacceretta—2 Via dei Fornelli; 040-322-0307.

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NEW YORK CORNER

CUCINA 8 1/2

9 West 57th Street

212-829-0812

By John Mariani

         Building owners abhor a vacuum, and while the lower floor of the iconic 54-story Solow skyscraper on 57th Street west of Fifth Avenue wasn’t going to turn into a storage room, the exit of the fine restaurant Brasserie 8 ½ made me fearful that it might not be used again as a restaurant. Fortunately, the space has been taken over by veteran restaurateurs
        August Ceradini (left), chef John Villa (below) and nightclub owner Tommy Pooch, have, thank heavens, done little to alter the magnificence of the room’s architecture and décor, which begin with a very red winding staircase grand enough for Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell to descend in fuchsia evening gowns singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
       The swank onyx bar, white terrazzo floors, tall columns, expansive flower displays, grand piano and deep leather booths are all still there, although I’m sorry to see that a stained-glass mural by Ferdnand Léger is gone; instead you now look into a wide open, brightly lighted kitchen, which doesn’t have quite the appeal of a modern master’s artwork.
        Brasserie 8 ½ had been a classic New York restaurant with French, European and American cuisine; now it is called Cucina 8 ½ to reflect its contemporary Italian menu with traditional breadth and innovative depth to show off Villa’s expertise, built up over years at Tao, Le Cirque, Judson Grill, the Boathouse and Philippe.
       You’ll want to begin with a well-made cocktail from that beautiful bar as you nibble on the warm, perfectly puffed focaccia scented with flecks of rosemary and sea salt with a little dried tomato chunks ($12). Surely a ristorante like Cucina 8 ½ doesn’t need to do pizza, but since every other restaurant in town is, why not do a really good one? Or five? Different versions include a piccante with spicy salumi, Calabrian chili and fior di latte ($22); pesto with basil ricotta and fior di latte ($18); and one with braised lamb with olives, tomato and pecorino di parca ($24). Villa has the crust down pat, too, not flat but a true corona with all the hoped-for charred bubbles of pliant dough amid the toppings.
        There are several other items that you can find in a lot of other Italian restaurants in New York, but in most cases Cucina 8 ½ is doing the most delicious versions, like its creamy burrata with a caponata of sweet-sour pickled vegetables, basil and crispy Speck bacon ($24). There is a tasting Italian charcuterie ($24) and grilled octopus with celery hearts, Vidalia onions and pungent Sicilian oregano ($24). And, if you always order fried zucchini strips elsewhere, the chips with cacio e pepe ($18) here are going to be a big, delectable surprise for their impeccable texture, greaselessness and the addition of that pungent pecorino and pepper. But the one antipasto you definitely need to order—and I don’t know why it’s not listed among the pastas—is a dish made famous at San Domenico Ristorante in Imola, Italy, then at its branch in New York: a fat raviolo stuffed with ricotta and a raw egg that cooks inside then emerges from the pasta wrapping in a golden lava flow, all of it topped with black truffles ($31). It is as magnificent as when I first tasted it decades ago, now brought back to New York with real panache.
     The pastas are all sumptuous and served in main course portions big enough to share, which is a very good idea for two. All good food depends on fine ingredients, and it shows in the simple rigatoni with plum tomatoes and bright basil ($24) as well as perfectly cooked paccheri macaroni all’amatriciana with tomato and guanciale bacon ($28). Tagliatelle ribbons come with a sauce of roasted butternut squash, sage and a dollop of mascarpone ($25), while spaghetti alla limone ($27) is dressed simply with lemon and parmigiano, and plump cavatelli take on a very rich, deeply flavorful lamb sugo with pecorino and rosemary ($32). But the big splash dish is spaghettoni with meaty chunks of lobster, cherry tomatoes and a shot of Calabrian chili ($45), a once popular dish that used to go by the name “fra diavolo.”
       I’ve complained (mildly) of the repetitious inclusion of branzino and salmon on every menu everywhere, so it was delightful to see on the menu a juicy swordfish steak poached in olive oil, with a salmoriglio of artichokes, capers, green olives and a chili pepper blast ($45)—a dish straight from the coast of Sicily.
       There is the requisite bone-in aged New York strip with the addition of roasted garlic, tomato and saba reduction ($58) as well as a nicely fatted Amish chicken with a lush salsa verde, grilled lemon and crispy potato ($34). The most generous dish of the entrées is a huge grilled pork chop with a tangy agrodolce. And, if you must splurge, there is a Prime porterhouse rubbed with rosemary and carved tableside for $150. Oh, and the chicken parmesan ($36) is a wonderful rendering of this Italian-American classic, once again because of the quality of ingredients used, the minimum of oil and the creaminess of the mozzarella.
    Desserts (all $14) are all worth sharing, from a plate of irresistible bombolini dumplings with salted caramel and candy crunch to a chocolate budino pudding with hazelnut caramel and drip of bittersweet amaro.
   The wine list is all it should be, and prices not exorbitant.
    I would have been happy with a lot of possibilities for this gorgeous space—it could have been a big Asian spot, like Tao without the noise and glitz, or a true French brasserie, like La Coupole in Paris—but it makes perfect sense that it is now Cucina 8 ½ at a time when a good deal of elegance has disappeared in the Italian segment of Manhattan dining. Women may not want to don a fuchsia gown, but they sure wouldn’t be out of place if they did.

Cucina 8 ½ is open for lunch Mon.-Fri., dinner Mon.-Sat.

Note: NYC Health Dept. rules require both staff and guests 12 or older to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

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ANOTHER VERMEER

By John Mariani

To read previous chapters of ANOTHER VERMEER, go to the archive

CHAPTER EIGHT

         Using an article from a recent issue of Art Today that John Coleman had given Katie and David, a long listing the world’s most prominent art collectors, Katie began a log on them all. The number of multi-billionaires in so many countries was astonishing to her and the amounts spent on art in recent years staggering, which effectively kept nearly every major museum out of the market for the finest Old Masters. Even the Getty Museum (left), with an endowment from the J. Paul Getty Trust of more than $4 billion, had been outbid on major pieces.
         Since no further announcement about the auction date for the Vermeer had been made, Katie felt she had the time to research thoroughly those collectors who might be the most likely to bid. She eliminated all those who specialized only in individual artists or periods and concentrated on those known to bid on Old Masters, narrowing those down to Renaissance, then 17th century, then Dutch or German works.
        The fact that this was a new Vermeer coming to auction, however, expanded the pool of potential buyers dying to hang such a great rarity on his wall right between his Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko. Had this been a third-rate Rubens, or even a first-rate Franz Hals, the number of serious collectors would be far fewer or include museums trying to fill in gaps in their collections.
         Katie decided to start with the once ravenous Japanese collectors, because, as Gerald Kiley noted, by the 1990s the Japanese were largely out of the market. When the economy was booming, Japanese private collectors and corporations spent more than $8.7 billion on art, just from 1987 through 1991. But as the country’s economy cooled down in the mid-‘90s, corporations that once considered the purchase of an Old Master a mark of great prestige now regarded such purchases as hubris and began selling off their holdings to save face. So Katie figured current Japanese bidders would be few.
         She began by checking files on the late Ryoei Saito (above), the man who’d bought van Gogh’s Dr. Gachet for $82.5 million. Katie found that the magnate had long been a shady figure in Japanese corporate culture: From his father he had taken over the Daishowa paper factory after the war and expanded its scope and holdings so successfully that he even established his own family dynasty in the foothills of Mount Fuji, appointing his brother governor. Unofficially, he was often referred to as “The Emperor of Daishowa,” but his notoriety as a dictatorial swindler grew—he once bribed an official £625,000 to be allowed to destroy a national forest in order to build a golf course.
         Ironically, the more his company’s losses grew in the 1990s, the more flamboyant Saito became about buying Old Masters paintings. Despite increasing debts and tax liens, two days after he bought the van Gogh for $82.5 million, he also bought Renoir’s Au Moulin de la Galette (above) for $78.1 million, putting both paintings in storage, saying he might someday, perhaps ten years hence, allow the world to view them. In both cases, there’d been only two other bidders at the auctions. Katie made a note to find out their names.
         By 1993 Saito was in deep financial trouble, and in November that year, he was arrested for bribery; photos ran of the 77-year-old tycoon crouching in shame in the back of a police car (right).
         Creditors forced Saito to sell off both paintings, but the buyers remained secret. Then, just as the announcement about the new Vermeer came out, Saito died, effectively narrowing the field of potential buyers.
         Neither the van Gogh nor the Renoir ever resurfaced, despite various rumors that Dr. Gachet had been bought by either an Italian pasta magnate or an Austrian investment fund manager based in the Bahamas. Still others insisted the painting was somewhere in New York, or had gone to a French collector. If Dr. Gachet ever did surface and was shown in public, the security would have to be unmatched by anything short of that for the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. In fact, an international expert at Christie’s warned, “It will inevitably attract a nutcase if it’s on view. You’d have to show it behind 10 inches of bulletproof glass.”
         How many inches would it take to protect a new Vermeer? Katie wondered, a question that might explain why its current owner was not about to expose the painting and himself to either a nutcase or an art thief.
        Just as she was about to take a break, David called to ask how things were going.
         “Slowly,” she answered. “The machinations of the art world were not something I ever learned about in college. My professors were too busy describing the symbolism of a rabbit in a portrait of a lady or how one landscape artist influenced another’s brushstrokes.”
         “Sounds fascinating. So what have you found?”
         “I’m trying to narrow down the possible buyers for the Vermeer. There are scores of prospects but some are more into 17th century Old Masters than others, so they sound the most logical. Then again, there are collectors who just want trophies, no matter what the period or style.”
         “That much I can verify,” said David. “I’ve been poking around, and it seems that there’s even interest in this auction out in Las Vegas.”
         “You mean they’re posting odds on how much it might sell for?”
         “That, too. But I’m hearing there are at least two casino tycoons out there who would kill to own a Vermeer.”
         “What do you mean ‘kill?’”
         “Slip of the tongue, although you never know about Vegas. I meant that there are at least two guys who have the money to buy the painting, from what I hear.”

Katie chuckled a little and said, “I must admit I never thought of anyone in Vegas having the taste for such things. I thought they just liked fake gilded Roman statues of naked goddesses.”

         “Now, now, Katie don’t act naïve. They’re out there building the ‘new’ Vegas and trying to get rid of that idea that it’s a completely tacky place for a bunch of rednecks, hustlers and bozos.”
         “O.K., so who are these billionaires? I assume they must be billionaires?”
         “Oh, that they are,” said David, riffling through his notes. “One is Steve Wynn, born Stephen Alan Weinberg, who owns the Mirage in Vegas (above) and the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. He’s been moving into the art market big time. From what I found out, he’s trying to buy stuff to stock his new billion dollar casino-hotel, which is supposed to open in 1999. Even plans to exhibit it in a museum there, maybe get a tax break, I don’t know. He’s bid on everything from van Gogh to Picasso, and probably salivating over the prospect of owning a Vermeer.”
         Katie was writing this all down.
         “O.K., who else?”
         “A guy named Harry Balaton. He owns the Baccarat casino and he’s connected with a Hong Kong syndicate in Macau.”
         “Are they mobsters?”
         “Didn’t you see ‘Casino,’ the Scorsese movie? How the feds cleaned everything up nice and tidy? No more mobsters in Vegas.”
         “So Wynn and what’s his name, Balaton? They’re clean?”
         “Wynn, definitely; Balaton is an older guy who came out of the mob era and survived by turning state’s evidence and got very rich in the process by helping put his enemies and a lot of competitors in jail.”
         Katie put down her pen and stared off into space.
         “Katie, you there?” asked David.
          “I’m here, just thinking that I’ve never been to Las Vegas. Have you?”
         “Uh, yeah, lotta times, mostly business related.”
         “And you probably know some people out there?”
         “You mean people who might know people who might know people?”
         “Them, too. I think we should fly out there.”
         “Katie, I know how good you are at bullshitting your editor, but is he really going to go for that?”
         “Jesus, David, all I have to do is wave the words ‘Las Vegas’ and ‘billionaire casino owners’ in his face and he’ll beg me to go. I might have to promise him an interview or a profile of one of those casino guys, but I doubt it’s going to be a problem. Wonder what I should pack? Capri pants? Tease out my hair? I think I’d like to look like Sharon Stone’s character in the movie, lots of gold lamé, leopard prints, gaudy jewelry.”
         “For Christ’s sake, Katie, you’re not going undercover as a hooker. Just dress for really warm weather.”
         “So what are you wearing?”
         “Oh, I guess my lime green leisure suit and white patent leather boots.”
         “Late Elvis?”
         “Even I might have to gain 40 pounds to pull that off."
          "How about early Elvis then?"
           "For that I'd have to lose forty pounds."

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NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

AN INTERVIEW WITH SONOMA-CUTRER'S
WINEMAKER ZIDANELLA ARCIDIACONO
By John Mariani

While growing up in the wine country of Mendoza, Argentina, Texas-born Zidanelia Arcidiacono was surrounded by winemakers and vineyard workers and listened to their stories, which made a deep impression on her that drew her to the wine industry when she grew up.
After earning her B.A. in wine making at the university in Mendoza, she traveled to the south of France to work in the cellars at the Cave Cooperative Les Vignerons du Pays d'Ensérune, then went to the U.S. in 2007 to be hired as an enologist at Sonoma-Cutrer and then at Fetzer Vineyards, where she would become the winemaker for Fetzer Reserve Wines and Little Black Dress. Sonoma-Cutrer coaxed her back in 2015 and she now crafts the winery’s Pinot Noirs. She lives in Sonoma County with her husband, Ariel, and her son, Gianluca. Like many in the wine industry, Arcidiacono is committed to battling climate change and maintaining sustainability, but she insists there is a human factor that must be part of that commitment.

You have said you had become aware that while spearheading initiatives within S-C that a lot of the professional development opportunities in the wine world were geared more towards sommeliers and winemakers, not the primarily Latino workers who have a hand in making the wines. How have you addressed that issue?

That is an excellent question and a topic that highly interests me. I believe being bilingual and multicultural is truly a plus I have. I get the opportunity to do my own presentations about wine production, wine tastings, sustainability, etc., in Spanish, English or both, and truly connect with my audience, whether it is my colleagues in production and other departments, sales and consumers in general.
I am proud to work for a company that offers training and growth opportunities for all employees in the different areas of work providing access to the next levels if they wish to pursue these. At Sonoma Cutrer, employee growth is highly valued and is reflected in the frequent internal promotions. Cultural diversity is welcomed and celebrated at Sonoma Cutrer, where we have a Latinix/Hispanic resource group called COPA. This group, part of Brown Forman, looks to attract, develop and retain Latinx and Hispanic talent by fostering the feeling of “Familia.” In our case, this opens up the opportunity of Sonoma Cutrer to this group, focusing on developing their visibility and skills within the company and understanding retention rates.

Tell us about Growing Remarkable & Outstanding Women (GROW).

GROW is a great program at Brown Forman with multiple chapters in different states across the U.S. and different countries. Regardless of where we are in our professional and personal lives, GROW provides a support network of women and allies where we can openly discuss relevant topics, such as adversity in the workplace, flexible work, work-life balance, etc. A few years back I had the opportunity to co-lead the GROW chapter at Sonoma-Cutrer and personally it was a wonderful experience that allowed me to connect with my coworkers and help each other grow. Keeping these necessary, and sometimes uncomfortable, conversations active helps us feel heard and allows us to generate positive changes.

How has your own Latino background affected your approach to American winemaking?

I grew up in Mendoza, Argentina, where wine and viticulture are the main industries. Wine was always shared with joy on our table as a daily occurrence, it was easy to feel attracted to this industry. I am proudly influenced by my immigrant roots from Mexico and Argentina; I like to think I have a very diverse palate. I enjoy experimenting with different food pairings that are familiar to me, like empanadas, tacos, ceviche, mole and many more, that may not be commonplace among the industry. For me this is an opportunity to be more inclusive of food and wine pairings and allow us to bridge the gap between Latinix community and the wine world.

Are conditions different for workers in Argentina?

It has been so many years since I have worked in the wine industry in Argentina that I cannot give a detailed opinion. Comparing the years I was there, I do believe that the conditions were different, as they were in France when I was working in the 2006 vintage. But, for some reason, the industry unites us with the same goal of having successful vintages.

What are you aiming for in making S-C wines?

What I seek to achieve with the wines of Sonoma-Cutrer (right) is to produce wines that express our terroir and all the care taken during their elaboration. I want to make memorable wines recognized for their great quality that encourage the consumer to share and enjoy with friends.

How do you work together with Wine Director Mick Schroeter?

Mick is a great mentor and he gives me the freedom and the confidence to make the Pinot Noirs we love. Many times we’ve become partners in crime for some fun winery projects like the sparkling Pinot Noir, our Grand Noir de Noir, or the submerged cap Pinot Noir. We share the energy and enthusiasm for making new wine expressions. To my benefit, he has the experience and is not afraid to share it.
We are a very collaborative group and we make all wine decisions together as a team; it’s always a “We” attitude. I enjoy his spontaneity and his appreciation for those of us who work with him.

How are S-C’s Pinot Noirs different from Burgundies or Argentine versions?

I think they all shine with their own light. We cannot deny the great quality and trajectory of Pinot Noirs from Burgundy, nor fail to recognize that excellent quality Pinot Noirs are being produced in Patagonia, Argentina. Our Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noirs are grown in the Russian River Valley, and they are more fruit-driven versus more earth and mineral notes found in most Burgundy Pinots. In the palate, our wines deliver a medium to full body and a very balanced acid, in contrast to higher acids and lighter bodies found in some high elevation and cool climate Argentinian Pinot Noirs. Each region has its own style and there are consumers and situations for each of them.

What are the main problems of climate change in California wineries?

As a result of climate change, in California we have to deal with higher temperatures and drier conditions that increase the risk for wildfires. With this extreme weather we are pushed to make changes: we monitor the plants and soil to evaluate water stress, to plan a better irrigation regime based on the plants’ needs, changes to canopy management and removing leaves from only one side of the plant to minimize overexposing the fruit; we continue to make our picking decisions based on sugar analysis, flavor and also weather forecast. We adapt to the new conditions.
At Sonoma-Cutrer we focus our practices on sustainability. Our vineyards and winery have been certified sustainable since 2014/2015. Some of our sustainable practices include the annual planting of cover crops to pull CO2 from the atmosphere and deposit it into the soil, while feeding beneficial microbes to improve the soil health and fertility, acting like a green fertilizer. The cover crops around the perimeter of the vineyards also attract and help build bee populations. Water is a very precious resource. In the past 5 years we have converted over 60% of our acreage from water usage to fans for frost protection, resulting in a significant decrease in our overall water usage. We also treat and reuse the water used in production for vineyard and landscaping irrigation.

How concerned are you about fires in the area?

Fires have become a latent danger during each harvest. With the experiences of previous years we have gained resilience and knowledge of how to act and prepare. Of course it is something that distresses me, but we’ve taken the necessary measures from vineyards to winery by removing brush and tree trimming; we do frequent air quality monitoring and communicate to employees working out in the vineyards and outdoor areas. To be more prepared during an emergency, we do emergency preparedness training and have an emergency line to communicate and update employees.

What about drought conditions?

The permanent state of drought is very alarming for everyone in California. In the vineyards we must make changes to adapt to this reality; some examples are metered and more efficient irrigation through drip irrigation and use of pressure bombs to measure the water status of the plants. In addition, all the water used in the winery is treated and reused to irrigate our vineyards. We also have water saving programs such as: "Every Drop Counts" and a “Water Leak Team”; these employee-driven campaigns look at how we can make improvements to our processes and eliminate water waste.

How do you see the California wine industry growing in the next five years?

The future of the wine industry can be difficult to predict. We depend heavily on mother nature; we move from years of oversupply to years of inventory shortages, leading us to wisely reach a balance in the market.Premium wine sales continue to be positively impacted, consumers prefer to drink less but better. Online sales and DTC [direct to consumer] really grew during the pandemic and may be changed permanently and will continue to grow. There are so many options for the consumer from seltzers, beer, ready to drink mix, wine, etc. In the wine industry we have to retain and attract the younger consumer and engage with their values. This is a big and very exciting challenge for us wine producers.

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish. Contributing Photographer: Galina Dargery. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.