This was perhaps one of my very favorite experiences because it renewed and lit bright my faith in mankind's ability to simply be kind and helpful and do the right thing without expecting any monetary gain in the process.
I want to thank both Alessandro Nieri and his sommelier / winemaker Virgilio Del Sarto, too at FATTORIA MONTELLORI. They gave my daughter and me an incredible, unforgettable moment both in their restaurant next to their winery as well as later on a tour of their winery and grounds. We had a thoroughly enjoyable as well as enlightening time in their company as they walked us through both Italian foods and wines which included my favorite bottle of the MONTELLORI " Moro " 2005 as well a new white blend of three grapes including Viognier; as well as how to enjoy their Tuscan extra virgin olive oil, the light and flavorful frittata, and delicious vegetable soup and bread all mixed into one, and their Vin Santo that takes a minimum of 7 years in the barrels to make before releasing. We learned and observed and enjoyed so much that rather than write it all down I took many pictures all the while that either Alessandro or Virgilio were talking.
We discovered for example that Virgilio is from the town and area of Monte Carlo and I immediately mentioned the white Monte Carlo that I actually have a bottle that Jim Stutzman brought to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C., 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) to share with me and to later give to Sidney Moore Margolis as she and her parents Aaron and Helen Millman actually sold to him I believe while I still worked with them ans Michael Downey at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits? It's been a really long time since then - back in 1983-85 I recall. Wow, how many great moments have followed the many moon since that distant but bright time in our lives. Jim still comes to buy and to taste wines with us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Thanks for the bottle Jim : it was a great story for me to share on Monday, October 26th, 2009 with Alessandro, Virgilio, my daughter and our special guest and new friend Giulio Poli. Besides Giulio we made another great connection and friend I would like to think with his friend Torre Tiziani that was unable to be with us much to my sadness.
So, though this story is really about FATTOTIA MONTELLORI and rekindling a connection with owner Alessandro Nieri that came to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 12/06 / 2003 ) at least two if not three times : it is also about our incredibly serendipitous and exciting way in which we actually arrived at his restaurant this beautiful Monday afternoon around 1:40 Pm or so - late, stressed a bit but elated and smiling to finally actually be there outside of the town of Fucecchio ( Via Pistolese, 1 Tel : 0571 / 260641 info@fattoriamontellori.it ).
Alessandro Nieri was smiling and came up immediately to greet us once that Virgilio announced our arrival. Giulio was the first into the restaurant followed by my daughter and me. It was all cheerful and bubbly and I immediately asked both Giulio to stay for lunch with us as he had really saved the day by driving us in his own car here ; as well as turning to Alessandro and asking him if this was okay as we would probably not be here without both Torre's and Giulio's aid? Alessandro had no objections and so we went immediately to our waiting table once that Giulio called his mother that had lunch waiting for him at home already to explain this sudden and rather crazy series of events that had led him a quarter of a mile away from his house here to a winery that he knew of but that had never had the wines or seen the property and winery. Being a pharmaceutical student in Pisa where we met him earlier I think the wine-making process and seeing it and explained by passionate Virgilio would be of huge interest?
Alessandro explained that his cell phone was not working this day and this helped us all appreciate that our earlier attempts to contact him were not problems with our phones but with his!
Alessandro also said that he had been both to the nearby train station as well as the one in Pisa to wait for us. He called our excellent tour guide Giovanni to be sure that we had gotten onto the train earlier and once sure of this he decided to return to the winery and restaurant to await our arrival. He said he knew we would take a taxi there whenever we could.
I don't know Alessandro, we were a bit frazzled at this point and so it was really a piece of extraordinary luck for all of us that Torre introduced me to Giulio when he got on the train.
But as I said this is also about FATTORIA MONTELLORI and the really fine wines and food that we enjoyed there this unseasonably beautiful Italian fall day about thirty minutes outside of Florence where we had just enjoyed this incredible 3-hour walking tour of the city from 8-11 AM with our guide Giovanni. I was beaming head to toes from all of this and what now awaited both my daughter, Giulio and I.
I have to be off for work at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits now so I will continue this story a bit later. Stay-tuned for more.
I was also reeling from the extraordinary kindness and warmth of everyone involved here. Cheers, TONY
As I said I would include more. I feel a bit bad that I devoted the first part of this story more to the people and less to the wines. I realize more and more these days that I am following my artistic tendencies and that is to complete more of an entire moment and not just focus on one of the areas and virtually ignore the others.
The obvious one to amplify because of my business is the wine. That's easy and it has become easier and easier for me to register and record in my brain my impressions of each and every wines as I taste.
Now I chose to do more than one thing at a time as I snap away photos that I compose or that I find pretty much composed for me. There are those photos that I take to record images and memories that I want to recollect like foods and wine labels so as to speak more intelligently about them as well as for them to help you piece together whatever you can that means something to you from both. It's a lot of work and it does take me a " wee " bit away from simply tasting and recording my impressions on paper.
Oh well, I hope you like this larger image that I hope I am providing. I hope that it adds to the equation of things that are already available in abundance about the wines and how various people have tasted and evaluated them.
The wines that we tasted are the 1) Mandoloro 2005, the 2) Chianti 2007 red, the 3) Moro 2005 red , the 4) Dicatum 2004 red ( named and in honor of Alessandro's father , the 5) Salamartano 2004, and the 6) Vin Santo 2001. Of course we also tasted the excellent extra virgin olive oil that I have mentioned.
These are my brief notes on the wines :
1) the 2008 white Mandoloro ( a dry blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Viognier ) was bright, full-flavored, very immediate and impressive from the first sip. I liked it's character and nuances of distinct flavors that continued to deliver different elements as I spoke and listened and tried the antipasti assortment of salami, olives and cheese ( Pecorino I believe ).
2) the 2007 red Chianti was youthful with good promise; lush, full, up-front flavors and delicious with the assortment of salami.
3) the 2005 Moro was fuller, rounder, softer, smoother : more elegant and yet to me still very much a diamond in the rough that still needs time to reveal all of it's buried treasures of tastes.
4) the 2004 Dicatum ( on top of the hill, named after the father Giuseppe, from one vineyard site ) is 100% Sangiovese and I loved the dry rose-petal/fruit in the nose very much and then the power and the finesse of this wonderful single-vineyard Tuscan red. Again, I could hold it much longer before drinking.
I think that all of Alessandro Nieri's wines are for the long term as they will all age some and some quite a lot and it is a shame to be in a rush to drink them. Evaluate carefully before you do as you may really be missing many of the flavors at a young age as they have not clearly developed or formed yet.
5) Salamartano 2004 I also enjoyed thoroughly and enjoyed it;s power and earthy and rustic and lovely dusty-dry characteristics that speak to me of the entire growing season as the grapes hung and baked and dried and developed so many intoxicating flavor components that cry to be heard as well as tasted with flavorful Tuscan meals. It's another gem that you can enjoy down the road and not rush into immediately.
6) the 2001 Vin Santo came more and more alive to all of us later as Virgilio took us on a tour of the vineyard and showed us up a narrow staircase into a long rectangular room lit by a few light bulbs and back through the mesh of a partition into the back room where the grapes were still hanging and drying and awaiting their next step. The room before was filled with these smaller, darker, aged barrels that held the liquid promise of vin santo for years to come.
Virgilio said that they never wash these barrels and that they keep each vin santo in a barrel for a minimum of 7 years. He said that you could use these same barrels up to 200 years and there's a picture of six or so that I took that are this old. That's incredible and hard to imagine that they could have survived for so long.
Virgilio said that the combination today with vin santo is no longer the biscotti but rather with Gorganzola and honey. The three together and " you are touching the sky ". Either Virgilio said this or me : but I believe it must have been Virgilio this time. We did try the combination and it did work beautifully with so many pleasing nuances of flavor sensations that were subtle and intriguing : and which really should have been given more of my undivided attention if not for all of us being gathered there with many things still to do as we left the dining table and headed outside for the winery.
I could so easily have continued to sit at the table and enjoy all of these excellent wines more as they were just starting to open up and reveal their core personalities.
It would also have been fun to have drawn more sketches of everyone as I was really beginning to enjoy this.
Oh well, thanks everyone. Caio, and stay-tuned for more pictures. I still have many to include here ... TONY
Virgilio or Alessandro also told us about the vineyard and lands. They are 500 years old and originally had cows in the beginning and then later the vines.
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