Finally Spring

The winter is over, trees are blossoming and nature is waking up from a long slumber. That means that also at La Spinetta the busy work in the vineyards has begun again. 

Last week many hands were necessary to pluck all the weeds from underneath the vines so that they can put all their energy into growing healthy leaves and luscious grapes to be harvested at the end of the summer. 

Spring is our favorite time of year, to see nature and the vineyards coming back to life. Fresh green, blue skies and crisp air. The only disadvantage Spring has compared to the Fall is that there are no white truffles!

Bruno, Carlo and Giorgio Rivetti and the La Spinetta Team

A word from Giorgio

When we think about great quality wines, we think about a wonderful bouquet, an amazing long lasting taste and a bottle that we can forget in the cellar for years and after rediscovering and opening it, finding that all the flavors are even more stunning. Unfortunately these kind of wines are not easy to make, but involve a great effort in the vineyards and later in the cellar and therefore end up having a price that is beyond our everyday wine-drinking budget. But also with our everyday wines, we should aim for quality and while we think about quality and price first, we also have to think about our health.

Today, in most wealthy countries, consumers luckily have become much more health-conscious regarding food. More and more processed food is viewed critically and we seek out fresh, natural produce and ingredients, if possible made without the use of chemicals. For wine, we should do exactly the same. We should seek to drink wines that are not full of chemicals, products that were added during the grape-growing process or later during the winemaking in the cellar.

Unfortunately, the consumer is usually provided with very limited information on how a wine was made. By looking at the label of a bottle on the shelf, it is impossible to gather information on the real content of the wine. One would have to really know the producer in order to make a judgement.

Of course one can buy “organically made” or “biological” wines, but even then very little information is given, and some producers use these terms more for marketing and sales reasons than for an implementation in their wine-making philosophy.

At La Spinetta we are proud to grow grapes and make wine as natural as possible.

The list of chemical products that wine producers worldwide can use in the vineyards and in the cellar is extensive. Some old-world countries, like Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, have certain legal restrictions. The majority of new world countries however have almost no restrictions at all.

Generally speaking, the cheaper a wine is produced the more chemical products are necessary. When aiming to save money throughout the winemaking process, one needs to use chemicals to make up for the lack of attention or mistakes in the process. The result of this attitude in “winemaking” is a wine that is for the most part artificially made.

If the shelf price for a wine is € 5,00 or € 6,00 or under, the producer is left with € 3,00 to € 2,00 or less to make it. Under these conditions consumers should expect a wine not only of low quality but also a wine that is unhealthy to drink.

So instead of worrying whether a well-made wine has too much alcohol (14% or 14,5% alcohol), that one might think unhealthy, one should be concerned about the chemicals in a bottle of a cheap wine which are truly health damaging!

Giorgio, the farmer

List of chemicals legally and commonly used in the wine making process in Italy, but not used at La Spinetta:

Interview: speaking with Mats Hanzon Mats Hanzon is a huge wine lover, exceptional wine connoisseur, journalist from Sweden and, last but not least, a very good friend to La Spinetta. He is a very successful management consultant, whose heart has been with food and wine since 1966. His credentials include the Stockholm Cooking School, work as writer and wine critic for Scandinavia’s largest food & wine magazine, former partner in Sweden’s largest wine import company and President of Swedish Wine Academy.

Mats, when somebody reads your wine background it quickly becomes quite apparent that you know more about wine than the average winemaker, or even people that were literally born amongst vines. Where did this mad passion for wine come from?

My absolutely mad passion for wine comes from attending the City of Stockholm cooking school in the 60s, it was me and 16 elderly ladies trying to fight our way through robust Swedish cuisine and French fine cooking. I had the task of sourcing the wines to be drunk with the food we prepared and found the glorious world of wine!

You are especially mad, please excuse the re-use of the word, about Italian wines. When did you discover your love for Piemonte wines, and what makes Piemonte wines more special than wines from other regions?

I adore Italian wines and have applauded Italy´s great winemakers since a long time ago. It is the world´s most interesting wine country with exciting wines bursting out of many regions, particularly Piemonte where I find the friendly battle between the lovely traditionally styled wines and the new fruit-driven masterpieces very interesting.

Obviously somebody like you, who over the years has built his passion for wine even into his work life, leads a private life that is long determined by his passion. In what way has your passion influenced your family? For example, when having a nice meal together do you all talk about the wine in front of you? Does your family still give you anything else but bottles of wine for birthday and Christmas gifts?

Needless to say, my wife Eva and our three sons Viggo, Theo and Odd cannot help being involved in my passion for wine since wine is always present in our homes. All the family enjoys not only the wines but the whole meal which we have tried to make into an important meeting point, a time for fun and enjoyment and yes, we talk about food and wine and the lovely crazy people who make them. Last week our oldest son turned 30 and all the wines we drunk were from the 1980 vintage, including Don Perignon 1980 on a magnum!

My family believes that the wine cellar is big enough; Daddy does not need anymore bottles. So all I get for Christmas is socks and underwear!

Do you expect your sons and one day your grandchildren to carry on with your passion?

At least two of our sons are actively interested in wine and I can only hope that they will have us much fun as I have had amongst the great wines of this world and of wonderful people who make them.

How does a wine lover like you plan his holiday? Do you at all care if the hotel has a spa, a golf course or an ocean view? Or do you ask for the hotel’s wine list in advance and research the local restaurants in its vicinity with the same motive prior to making a reservation? Is a luxury vacation on a tropical island an option for you, or do you much rather prefer to stay at a nice B&B in a wine region?

Funny you ask; I am actually a partner in L´Hotel de Beaune as well as the Restaurant Bistro de L´Hotel in Burgundy. So for vacation I turn my nose towards Beaune or our house in Italy, where we also have a nice wine cellar now filled with our favorite Piemonte wines. We are also partners in the Hedges Winery in Columbia valley, Washington State, USA, which apart from great wines also have nice accommodation overlooking the Red Mountain appellation. Sandy and sunny beaches are probably very nice but I prefer to get lost in a good wine cellar somewhere!

With your passion is it possible to stay friends with people that are wine-ignorant? If so, what bottle of wine do you open when getting together?

Most of our friends are passionate about wine and food so the problem does not really exist. If somebody is ignorant enough not to like i.e. 1999 Starderi I simply serve them the Valeirano 1999 instead! And if that´s not good enough, I will probably ask them to leave and take an empty half bottle and put it up somewhere where the sun don´t shine!

On the contrary, what does an evening look like, when you get together with friends, that share your passion for grape juice? An evening with friends would most likely start with grape juice with lots of bubbles in it. A great Champagne, preferably a blanc de blanc from Guy Charlemagne or Gaston Chiquiet or even a mature Franciacorta from Ca’ del Bosco. Equipped with nice bubbly our guests would probably gather around the kitchen island for a few nibbles, then grab a few glasses of different white wines to go with Swedish fish at the table. The game bird will be accompanied by some  Piemonte wines plus a few cheeses. Finally, my wife Eva would do a light dessert to accompany a lovely Moscato d’Asti or Ramandolo. Really good espresso and a Grappa would finalize a rewarding evening and then we send them all back home by taxi.

Can you roughly describe the dimension and content of your private wine cellar? Or do you even have more than just one?

Yes, I had the privilege of collecting wines since I was 18 years old. To be absolutely sure that we will never run dry of wine, we have cellars in Stockholm, on our island in the Stockholm Archipelago and at the house in Mondaino, Italy. In the early days I promised myself to drink every wine I have collected, but now at the age of 64 I realize I have to give it up, much to the satisfaction of our three sons!

The cellars are basically equipped with wines from all over the great world of wines, but I have to admit that the large part is wines from Italy and France and there is lots of them.

When you meet with winemakers like you meet with Giorgio, are they all impressed by your wine knowledge or do they sometimes feel even a little intimidated?

First of all let me confess that I get as much pleasure out of meeting the winemakers as I get out of drinking their superb wines. Some of them are not all that interested in tasting other peoples’ wines which means they don´t have a wider tasting experience like I have, tasting over 4000 wines a year from every corner of the world. But with Giorgio it´s different because he is always as curious about any wine from anywhere as I am and we have so much fun digging into the cellars as well as doing barrel tastings at the winery.

I have the humble impression that winemakers respect my nose and palate since it has been around a few wines for over 40 years!

How many winemakers can you call your friends?

I believe I have at least 20 wine making friends that I have the privilege of calling my friends, friends that make wonderful wines and share my happy respectful attitude to wine.

VinItaly 2010 just ended. Is the time of the fair still a very exciting time for you? Did you make any new discoveries?

This year, I actually missed visiting Vinitaly for the first time in over 20 years, mainly due to the 30th birthday that I mentioned before. Vinitaly is the best wine show in the world because everybody from the producer side is there; it is the most complete manifestation of any wine country in my opinion. Viva Italia!

From a wine-lover’s point of view, it seems that you already live the dream life. Is there anything left that you dream about and would like to realize in the future? 

Yes, I have been very fortunate in my wine life and had the opportunity of tasting an abundance of exciting wines and meeting their wonderful producers, but if I did not have any wine dreams left I would probably drop dead right now!

No, I am still dying to get to taste Giorgio’s 2009 wines which I understand will be outstanding, I will always look forward to my annual meeting with my friend Ferran Adria at the El Bulli Restaurant north of Barcelona to explore hilarious wine pairings with his beautifully bizarre food. I would love to see somebody like Giorgio to challenge the potentially great Arneis grape variety and take it to its full potential.  And I would love to expand our small hotel and restaurant in Beaune into a group of such pleasure units into other wine areas i.e. Piemonte. I can dream of such a delightful place in La Morra overlooking the vineyards of Piemonte and having a few glasses of Barolo and Barbaresco with you in the afternoon sun. And so on…

Michael Skurnik, owner and managing director of Michael Skurnik wines NY will be answering our questions in the next newsletter.

A Summer in Piedmont, there is actually more to this region, than just food and wine…

A summer in Piemonte brings you outside. The ritual aperitivo, the early evening drink to refresh yourself after the hot afternoon sun or whet your appetite before dinner, now is often held outdoors. You meet up with your friends and neighbours at the little tables set up outside your local bar, drinking a cool glass of Langhe Bianco or Moscato d’Asti while the bar offers a board of small antipasti – pieces of creamy tomino or savoury raschera cheese, fresh salami spiced with pepper and nutmeg or a taste of insalata russa, served with the typical grissini breadsticks.

As the evening settles, you discuss the events of the day and make plans for the weekend: maybe you will go to visit a music festival – there are many outdoor concerts during the summer, in Alba and the villages scattered through the Langhe region. Well worth the visit is the annual Jazz Festival at Monforte d’Alba. The old medieval town quarter of this Barolo wine village clings to a steep hilltop, crowned with a tower, beneath which a natural amphitheatre offers a stunning setting for top-class jazz musicians.

Cooking Piemontese with Giovanna Rivetti

Vitello Tonnato Giovanna Rivetti was born in 1947. She is our "vineyard manager" and our "in-house chef". She learned the work in the vineyard from her father and the work in the kitchen from her mother. Both parents taught Giovanna skills which until today are great assets to La Spinetta. In each newsletter Giovanna will share one of her secret recipes with us.Today she is teaching us how to make Piemonte’s famous Vitello Tonnato, cold veal roast with tuna sauce. This classic antipasti is a bit tricky to prepare, but following Giovanna’s recipe, very rewarding. You will need the following ingredients to make Vitello Tonnato for 10 people (minimum portion and size of meat in order to roast meat to a perfect rose color): 1,2 kg topside of veal, 50 gr butter, 50 gr anchovies in oil, 30 gr salted capers, some rosemary, 35 gr of canned tuna, 0,75 l Lidia Chardonnay, 150 gr mayonnaise, 20 gr lemon juice.

Thoroughly tie meat together with a thread. Then slowly roast it with butter in a frying pan on low temperature. Add the capers and rosemary to the meat, as well as the oil of the anchovies. As soon as the meat has taken some color, add a glass of Lidia and continue to cook for 30 minutes. Keep turning the meat so that the inner part will remain pink. Let the meat cool down with the lid on the pan. For the magic sauce:Use the remaining liquids from the meat and add it together with the tuna and the anchovies into a blender. Blend everything to a fine sauce. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice.