‘Vino’ author and sommelier Joe Campanale makes a case for the wines of Lazio.
Words like “ material ” and “ veritable ” tend to be stigmatized in the food and drink world . But Joe Campanale ’s sprawling young bookVinorevolves around the phrase “ genuine Italian wine ” and what has get along to define it .
Vinois not a crash course in the basics of Italian wine . The attractively illustrated book is an exstensive , of - the - import journeying through 20 ofItaly ’s vino regions . Campanale steep the reader in Italy ’s next multiplication of winemakers , a cohort that is fight the region towards sustainable and low - intervention methods , like theirnatural winemovement peers around the world are .
They are also make wine that expresses Italy authentically , rather than emulating the wine-colored of , say , France , as was done in decades past . Italy represents quality .
Lazio, Italy|Photo by Oddur Thorisson
“ Good Italian wine-colored are great , great value , even the expensive unity , when you equate them to the other expensive vino of the earth , ” Campanale says . Plus , Italy cultivate roughly 400 grapeshot varieties for the purpose of wine making — more than France , Spain , and Greece combined .
Campanale public figure three features of “ tangible Italian wine , ” or vino vero . These wines are hold from grapes native to Italy , exceptional terroir , and artisan winemakers . Out of the 20 realm he chronicle in the book , he singled out an overlooked region : Lazio .
Lazio is a central western region of Italy that is home toRome . Tuscany , Umbria , Marche , Abruzzo , Molise , Campania , and the Tyrrhenian Sea edge Lazio . It has a Mediterranean climate that is influenced by mountains , current of air , rivers , and sea .
“ It might not be super obvious because Rome is one of the major cities in the earth , and vino has been made in these hills since the ancient Romans , if not longer , ” Campanale says . “ But in the recent past , the wines of Rome were not well - regarded and there was n’t a good deal going on . It ’s just recently that there ’s sort of a Renascence in the wines from this area . ”
youthful winemakers have discovered that the farming of Lazio is optimum for winemaking . The hills are fertile with volcanic filth and limestone and have few pest . The relatively underdeveloped body politic is less expensive than more celebrated regions such as Barolo andTuscany .
“ There is a mathematical group of producers who are doing interesting affair and sharing idea with each other , ” Campanale says . “ The winemakers there are so exciting . There ’s this really gumptious , new fresh genesis breaking down the formula of the past and making wine-coloured in novel fresh way . They ’re often well - traveled and well - poetize in the wines of the reality . ”
Colle Gaio by Colli di Catone 2007|Joe Campanale
He adds the caution that origination in Lazio does not go solely to the vernal .
“ Even the producers who have been doing it for a foresightful time , and maybe in the past times might have been stubborn to change , are doing things like pulling back on their manipulation of new Gallic oak or integrate more organic growing method , ” he tell . “ So making wines that are more expressive . ”
Campanale highlights some of the area ’s winemaker of musical note . He describes Andrea Occhipinti , Clémentine Bouvéron ofLe Coste , and Damiano Ciolli as the OGs of Lazio ’s in high spirits - quality innate wine movement . He also lauds Joy Kull ofLa Villana , Maria Ernesto Barruci , Trish Nelson , and others .
Joy Kull of La Villana|Photo by Oddur Thorisson
Leading natural wine writer , Alice Feiring , has also of late highlight Lazio . In her newssheet , The Feiring agate line , she drop a line about her travels to the region , its vino , its vintner , and specifically the grape cesanese .
Campanale also cite cesanese as a must - try grapeshot . It ’s a light - to - medium embodied risque violent variety . Cesanese has grown in Lazio since ancient Rome , and in the 12 - 100 , Pope Innocent III called it the “ Wine of King . ” Over the class , it was overshadowed and forgotten , but now it is making a replication in popularity . While it tastes decided from any others , Campanale describes it as juicier than syrah and a mite more savory than grenache .
“ In Italy , it ’s those indigenous grape that are so special and so exciting to me , ” he say . “ Not only are those grapes not grown all over the public , but they ’re often only grown in the one little town in Italy that they ’re in the beginning from . When you taste a vino made from that grape , you ’re tasting something that ’s in truth unequaled and is an insight into the flavors of that field . ”
Because cesanese is very saporous with good acidulousness , Campanale recommends drinking it with a red sauce .
“ Ared saucecan actually clobber a draw of wine-colored , but a red sauce with some meat in it like Amatriciana , which is sure as shooting local to Rome , would be a really dear coupling with these vino , ” Campanale aver . “ If it grows together , it goes together . ”
If your thirst for new Italian wine to taste just wo n’t let up , Campanale named another up - and - total region worth your time and money . The wines ofEmilia - Romagnaare also single to ascertain .
“ It was really just Lambrusco land , ” Campanale says about Emilia - Romagna ’s winemaking past times . “ And for a similar grounds [ to Lazio ] , the land was n’t super expensive . producer are blending wines from different vintage and doing pet - nats . You ca n’t really take those risks in a place where the earth is super , super expensive . ”
To try these vino yourself , Campanale advocate impose a good retail merchant . If you live in New York City , Slope Cellarsin Brooklyn orAstor Winesin Manhattan , which ship nationwide , are honest places to lead off . An increasing number of Italian wine barroom and restaurants are also include them on their wine-coloured leaning , include Campanale ’s own restaurant , Fausto . ( He also have the wine - concentrate Brooklyn eating house , Lalou . )
And the best part is , as time passes , there are infinite new Italian wines to taste . Even for Campanale .
“ The exciting and also challenging part of writing about Italian wine is that it is in a constant state of flux , ” he says . “ And I ’ve been tasting Italian wine on a weekly groundwork as a wine buyer since 2007 . I still ascertain about fresh producers and fresh grapes every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . ”
