Italian Village Chicago Team Dinner

Italian Village Chicago Team Dinner features Super Tuscan and Barolo Nebbiolo wines

For a team dinner we dined at our regular go-to venue in the Chicago city centre, a few blocks walking distance from our office and our hotels, Italian Village Chicago, in one of their select private tables. 

We chose two wines from the extensive Italian Village winelist from their extraordinary cellar which serves all three restaurants under normal times, two Italian labels to accompany our dinner.

Normally we'd be served by Wine Director and dear friend Jared Gelband but he is touring Italy visiting several producer estates. We were served by Gerardo who in normal times would manage the upscale Vivere restaurant but is helping manage the Italian Village floor during these crazy Covid times.

Tenuta di Arceno Valadorna di Arcanum Toscana IGT 2013

This is a 'Super Tuscan' Blend meaning it is from French Bordeaux varietals grown in the Italian Tuscany region. The producer, Tenuta di Arceno is an old historic Tuscan estate with a diverse portfolio of the highest quality wines across two classification levels – three wines centered on the native Sangiovese grape in the Chianti Classico DOCG collection; and three wines from the estate’s international (French Bordeaux) varieties under the Toscana IGT designation. 

The estate is situated at the southernmost-edge of the Chianti Classico region in the butterfly-shaped commune of Castelnuovo Berardenga, near the village of Siena, often referred to as ‘the most Senese Chianti Classico,’adjacent the scenic ancient walled town of San Gusmè.

The sub-region is home to several world-renowned producers who produce stylistically distinct wines. 

The Tenuta di Arceno estate is 1,000 total hectares (2,500 acres) of which 92 hectares (220 acres) are planted to vineyards – the remaining land preserved for native vegetation including 50 hectares (125 acres) of olive orchards. The vineyards are separated into 63 blocks, the vineyards planted to 50% the region's native Sangiovese, and the remaining 50% with international varieties such as Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. 

This is a Merlot-based blend sourced primarily from the Valadorna and Capraia vineyards' blocks, known to produce the estate’s most complex and mineral-based expressions of this variety. The Merlot blocks, located in the cooler part of the estate, naturally irrigated by a nearby stream, with sandy brown soils and lower yields than typical, are often the last Merlot blocks to ripen on the estate.

The recent 2019 vintage release of this label received the coveted Tre Bicchieri (“Three Glasses”) award. Each yeara a panel of prominent wine experts review wines from each of Italy’s 20 regions evaluating over 23,000 wines from 2500 producers and awarding scores ranging from 0 to 3 Glasses (“Bicchieri”) according to the quality of the wine. Tre Bicchieri wines are generally recognized in Italy and by the international wine community as Italy’s best. A Tre Bicchieri award is a really big deal for a winery. The tastings are done blind so there is no favoritism or influence on the outcomes.

Winemaker's tasting notes: "The 2013 was a classic vintage, yet on the cool side, which favors the perfect ripening of Merlot. The Valadorna Merlot was picked on October 1st, allowing ample time on the vine for perfect maturation and tannin development. The nose jumps from the glass with exotic spices of jasmine, cumin and vanilla bean. The fruit expression is of raspberry and black cherry. The mouthfeel is dominated by long flexible tannins framed by slight tingling acids. The immediate sensation of blueberry pie gives way to an uplifting bright sour cherry finish. As the fruit subsides, what remains on the palate are hints of sweet cedar and cigar box notes. The 2013 is an elegant vintage and will age gracefully."

This is a Bordeaux varietal blend of 74% Merlot, 13 % Cabernet Franc, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, and
1% Petit Verdot. 

This was an ideal compliment to my pasta with a tangy meat sauce. 

Dark purple-garnet colored, medium full bodied, complex and intense but well integrated and nicely balanced vibrant blackberry with notes of black cherries and currants, highlights of dark chocolate, espresso, and Tuscan terroir cedar, dried spice, smoke and tobacco with hints of vanilla, and leather, with firm but approaching tannins on the lingering finish. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3296253

https://www.tenutadiarceno.com/en

For a second wine, I selected from the IV winelist this Italian Barolo, a native Nebbiolo varietal to accompany our Italian cuisine. Ideally, we would've tasted this stylistic varietal first ahead of the more complex, more concentrated Tuscan blend however it was an appropriate pairing with several of the folk's Italian entree dishes.

Bruna Grimaldi Bricco Ambroglio Barolo 2014

This is from the Bruna Grimaldi family estate in the hills that between Grinzane Cavour to Serralunga d’Alba, in the heart of Langhe, part of the Unesco Heritage. The Grimaldi family have been in the wine business since the 1960's when Giacomo Grimaldi started selling grapes, then his son, Giovanni Grimaldi began produce wine and selling it in bulk. 

Giovanni bottles estate wines in the best vintages with a long library of releases over the following decades. 

Since the 1990's the property and brand have been managed by the next generation, Bruna Grimaldi and her husband Franco Fiorino. They built a new upgraded winery and produce wines only from their own vineyards. Franco tends to the vineyard management and winemaking, and is the driving force in the company focusing on Langhe sourced Nebbiolo and Barbera.  Bruna manages the family business, an oenologist, she is a member of “Donne del Vino” Association. 

Since 2013, the next generation, Simone and Martina, son and daughter of Bruna and Franco, have joined their parents’ learning from their experience and their studies to promote and continue on with the Bruna Grimaldi brand. 

The best Langhe plots are selected for the production of Barolo, the Bricco Ambrogio Barolo known for great elegance. The vineyard terroir have a perfect exposure to the sun with a hot microclimate ideal for Nebbiolo which tend to picked earlier and differentiate themselves in the rainier and cooler vintages.  Their estate Barolo is known to show warm, open perfumes, tending to ripe fruits and spice notes with structure that lean on silky and enjoyable tannins.

 
This is 100% Nebbiolo from the MGA Bricco Ambrogio vineyard in the municipality of Roddi. The terroir boasts southern exposure with very steep slopes, with grey-blue layers of clay in limestone and sand. 

 

This was awarded 92 points by Wine Spectator and 90 points by Wine Enthusiast. 

 

Ruby colored, medium bodied, bright red cherry fruits with spicy notes of clove and accents of earth, leather, oak, hints of smoke with a tangy acid on a moderate tannin finish. 

 

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3073416

https://www.grimaldibruna.it/en/wines/barolo-bricco-ambrogio-docg/

 

 

 

Chez Joel Chicago Little Italy Dinner

 Chez Joel Little Italy Chicago Dinner features Croze-Hermitage Syrah

With a colleague in from out of town, we dined at Chez Joel Bistro in Little Italy on Taylor Street in Chicago on the near south side, near the UIC, not far from our office, one of my favorite neighborhood bistros. 

The ambiance and atmosphere at Chez Joel is relaxing, quaint and cozy, ideal for a business dinner. 

From the menu my colleague selected the Duck Confit with red cabbage, one of my favorites and a usual selection. I chose the petit filet of boeuf with the buttered potatoes. 

Prior to dinner we had the endive and the beet salads, accompanied by the pate with cornichons, mustard and toast points. 

We chose the wine list a perennial favorite that I have had several times, a Crozes-Hermitage Northern Rhône Syrah, an ideal pairing with the pate, our salads and the entrees.

Maison Les Alexandrins Crozes-Hermitage Syrah 2018

We've had several vintages of this label, most recently on our visit to Chez Joel a couple months ago, tonight being the first time tasting this 2018 release. 

This is from estate vineyards between the towns of Vienne and Valence,  in the Northern Rhône Valley, where the terrior is ideally suited for the Syrah grape. 

The right bank of the Rhône River is composed of old volcanic Gneiss and granite rocks with sandy-clay soils that give the wine a powerful and rustic character and minerality. 

The opposing left bank of the Rhône also has granite soil with pebbles from the glaciers, rounded and polished by the Rhône that keep the heat of the day and give it back at night resulting in  concentration of sugars and aromas.

The North Rhône River valley climate is semi-continental of Burgundy and Mediterranean as in Provence, with cold continental winters with wind and little rain and summers that are Mediterranean: hot with storms and little wind. This contrast in climate produces a Syrah with intense aromas of red fruit and spices and minerality.

The Maison les Alexandrins Crozes-Hermitage vineyards are composed of young vines of an average age of 15 years, planted on terraces that covers the hinterland of the Nothern Côtes du Rhône, and situated on localities of the Southern Rhône, Loire, Isère, northern Drôme and north Ardèche.

This vintage release is a blend of 95% Syrah and 5% Viognier.

It was awarded 89 points by Wine Spectator. 

The winemaker's notes on this wine: "This 2018 Syrah immediately displays its colour: it is a gourmet wine that comes in a beautiful concentrated red robe. Precise on the nose, it offers an attractive variety of aromas like small red fruit and liquorice. On the palate, it already reveals its roundness, with a nice acidity on the attack and a fruity finish."

This was dark garnet with deep purple colored, medium full bodied of blackberry, black cherry and ripe plum with notes of spice, black pepper, tobacco and black tea with round full approachable tannins on the tangy finish. 

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3572666 

http://lesalexandrins.com/en/

http://chezjoelbistro.com/

 

 

 

Piedrasassi PS Santa Barbara County Syrah

Piedrasassi 'PS' Santa Barbara County Syrah 2019

I saw this somewhat modest priced Syrah at Binny's, the big box beverage superstore merchant of Chicagoland and picked up a bottle to try. Piedrasassi is the handicraft of winemaker producer Sashi Moorman, who cultivates the grapes and produces a porfolio of wines in the Central Coast of California. His partner Melissa Sorongon freshly mills American heritage grains for naturally-leavened loaves that she bakes in a hand-built wood-fired oven. The promote the bakery bread in conjunction with their wines.

Piedrasassi focus primarily cultivating and and vinifing Syrah, the grape varietal winemaker Sashi Moorman has been working with for over two decades. According to their website, "the viticultural heritage of the Northern Rhone and the pioneering ethos of the Central Coast equally inform his engagement with Syrah". 

Their wines are sourced from four vineyard sites across the greater Central Coast Santa Barbara County where there is a "remarkable east-west transverse of valleys, shaped by an era of tectonic contortion and upheaval. Here, geologic time stands on its head: diverse soils of varying epochs are often entangled. Receptive to the daily rhythms of the Pacific’s cooling winds and pervasive fog, these valleys and, in particular, their constituent hillsides, are host to some of California’s most compelling terroir for Syrah".

Piedrasassi produce three premium vineyard designated Syrahs from four vineyard sources in the Santa Maria Valley - Rim Rock Vineyard north of Santa Maria along Hwy 101, Bien Nacido Vineyard further inland, east of town, Sebastiani Vinyeard and Patterson Vineyard further south in the valley. 

Arroyo Grande Valley Syrah - Rim Rock Vineyard
Santa Maria Valley Syrah - Bien Nacido Vineyard
Samta Rita Hills Syrah - Patterson & Casa Cassara Vineyards

This 'PS' Piedrasassi Syrah is their larger production 'entry' level Syrah, available in wider distribution, priced at half the price of the three 'premium' labels, which are each priced at $50. 

The Arroyo Grande Valley Syrah comes from their flagship site, the Rim Rock Vineyard situated along Hwy 101 north of the town of Santa Maria. Since 2016, they have leased and farmed the vineyard. Weathered shale soils on a windy slope just seven miles from the Pacific Ocean results in low yields of concentrated, high-quality fruit. They recommend cellaring Rim Rock Syrah for several years prior to opening. In 2019, only 259 cases of Arroyo Grande Valley Syrah were produced. 

 
Further inland, east of the town of Santa Maria is the Bien Nacido Vineyard, long a highly sought-after site for Syrah in Santa Barbara County. Piedrasassi have the fortune to work with the vineyard's two best plantings, X Block and Z Block. X Block, grafted from Riesling to Syrah in 1986, represents the very first cool-climate Syrah planting in North America. Z Block was planted in 1992, making these the oldest Syrah vines work by Piedrasassi. The advanced vine age slows ripening, keeping potential alcohol levels lower. 

Fruit for the Santa Rita Hills Syrah comes from two vineyards, Patterson and Casa Cassara, both planted at higher altitudes. This wine tends to be the most forward of their offerings as fruit from the Patterson vineyard comes from younger vines, which tend to produce more generous clusters with larger berries and thicker stems. Of the three cuvées, this is the wine they suggest to enjoy in its youth with its striking balance between fruit and savory characteristics best in early years. In 2019, only 188 cases of Santa Rita Hills Syrah were produced.

The Santa Maria Valley Syrah is the most elegant and restrained of the lineup with high-toned fruits and sweet spices on the palate with softer, silkier tannins and a refreshing, acid-laden finish. In 2019, 306 cases of Santa Maria Valley Syrah were produced.

Piedrasassi began making these wines in 2003 inspired by the diversity of grapes and wines cultivated in the wide open, relatively uncharted territory that is the California wine industry.

All their labels are packaged in a distinctive 'moonshine jug' shaped bottle, shorter and more stout than a traditional 750ml bottle. 

Extract of the winemaker notes: "The PS Syrah designated Santa Barbara County a burst of sweet blue/purplish fruit followed by complex floral and savory notes of with hints of lavender, sage, mint and black pepper." Of the 2019 vintage release, 1680 cases were produced.

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, black berry fruits with notes of black pepper spices, hints of soy and sage with moderate tangy acidic tannin laced finish. 

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3974384

https://piedrasassi.com/

 

 

Arns Napa Valley Syrah 2010

Arns Napa Valley Syrah 2010 

With Sunday night dinner of grilled tomahawk rib-eye steak on the grill, baked potatoes, haricot vert and caprese tomato salad, Linda asked for a big bold red wine. I pulled this, one of her favorites from the cellar for the occasion. 

I have written in these pages before, we have been long time fans of Arns Winery and their Napa Cabernets so we arranged a visit and private tasting with producer John Arns at the estate on lower Howell Mountain during our 2013 Napa Wine Experience.

John Arns and Sandi Belcher, both UC Davis trained enologists, developed Arns Winery after years of selling grapes to local wineries. John did the viticulture and his partner Sandi was the winemaker. It was during that visit that we discovered and acquired this single vineyard designated Syrah made with fruit sourced from the Melanson Vineyard on Pritchard Hill which I write about in an earlier blogpost.

They primarily produced Cabernets with fruit from their 10-acre vineyard on the hillside of the Eastern hills of Howell Mountain near St. Helena. While it was originally a farmstead in the late 1880's, its modern incarnation began in the late 1950's when the Arns family bought the property. 

Rick, Linda and John Arns

Arns Cabernets are especially precious now because the tiny vineyard that produced them was totally destroyed by the Glass fire that raged through Napa Valley in October 2020. By a stroke of luck before the fire Sandi and John had moved all the wine in barrels to the Fontinella Winery facility on Mount Veeder that was not affected by the fire. 

Though the Arns wine estate is gone, the Arns label will continue with Sandi Belcher purchasing specially selected grapes from prime producers. 

This wine was produced from the Melanson Vineyard on Pritchard Hill in Napa Valley. For years, John managed the vineyards and obtained some of the fruit to bottle this label.

Regrettably, this is our last bottle of this label from what originally we acquired at the winery during our visit, then reordered more from them, and then actually acquired this bottle when we picked up an entire lot on Winebid.com. 

We need to find out if more will be produced as we have not seen new releases beyond the 2013 which shows sold out on their website. We still hold a few bottles of that vintage.

This is serious juice. The 2010 vintage was aged in one year old French oak for three years. The concentrated extracted fruit is apparent as soon as you pour the dark inky purple juice into the glass.

Winemaker's notes: It is concentrated, yet elegant with full-bodied, ripe, decadent notes of cassis, licorice, herbs, black pepper and violets. It has a perfect kiss of sweet vanilla from aging in French oak and is soft and smooth on the finish.

Tonight this was mostly consistent with our earlier notes for this label although at eleven years, the fruits have fallen off ever so slightly. Dark inky purple colored, full bodied, huge aromatics explode from the bottle as soon as the cork is pulled, thick, concentrated black and blue fruits are accented by a pronounced layer of sweet spicy oak laced caramel that turns to black licorice, pepper and herbs, with smooth sinewy tannins on the lingering finish.

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1809227

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/11/arns-melanson-napa-syrah-08.html

http://arnswinery.com/