Giancarlo Greco Of IGRECO Calabrian Italian Wines & Extra Virgin Olive Oil : One Infused With White Truffles - Wow!

It was great to meet Gaincarlo Greco one of the seven brothers of the IGreco winery ( Via Magenta , 33 - 87062 - Cariati, Calabria ( Cs )) that came to taste his excellent current releases with Sotiris Bafitis of Vinifera Imports.



They came last week : was it Tuesday, November 5th, 2009? It was last week and it was a delight to have Giancarlo at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) as I have just returned from Italy and want very much to keep the expereince alive and the embers from my one-week trip with my daughter burning steadily all the time from now on. That's a really steep order : but I intend to do everything that I can to make it a reality. This excellent taste of both red and white wines along with two extra virgin olive oils sure did help in this personal mission of mine.




We sampled an assortment that included : 1) 2008 " Filu " white IGT Calabrian dry, 100% Greco, 2) 2006 " Cata " IGT Calabrian red made from 100% Gaglioppo , 3) 2007 " Masino " Nero Di Calabria ( 12 months in barrique/ 12 months minimum in bottle before release ), 4) 2006 " Tuma " ( 22 months in barrique and 20 months in bottle ), 5) NV Oil Extra Vergine and 6) organic " Tartufa Bianco " extra virgin olive oil.

This was quite the tasting and quite the event. I loved it and I did take some notes which I will include here shortly. I will post this now and go up and make dinner for my family on this Monday evening at home in northern Virginia on November 16th, 2009. It's been an absolutely beautiful day on this my day-off and I have worked hard on raking and bagging leaves outside as so many have now fallen from the trees. More about that later as well as much more about Giancarlo and his strong character and personality and excellent wines and olive oils.

I'm glad to have met you Giancarlo. Cheers e a presto ... TONY


We started by tasting the 2008 " Filu " bianco that is made from the Greco grape that I am less familiar with I must admit. I do not know it as well as I would like to. I found it " was a distinct white, tasty and balanced ". I would like selling it and using it to introduce people to the Greco grape variety.




Next we enjoyed the 2006 " Cata " red made with 100% Gallioppo grapes that are indigenous to the region of Calabria as is the white Greco grape. At this point I mentioned that the winery LIBRANDI also made a 100% Gallioppo grape dry red. They insisted less than a year ago that it was the only vineyard in Clabria that made a 100% Gallioppo. I guess that that is no longer true as I was trying Giancarlo's. He knew about LIBRANDI and insisted that it was also excellent but completely different. It will be interesting to try them side by side at some point.




I liked the 2006 " Cata " and wrote that it was " soft, bright, more up-front " in it's fruit and flavor profile.

I like both these wines and will enjoy selling them. However, I do find them at the top of the price spectrum and would like to see Vinifera lowering their mark-up here to bring them more in line with what they should be. Correct me if I am wrong : but this is my humble opinion after more than thirty years of selling the whole spectrum of world-wide wines available to me/ and the Washington D.C. metropolitan region.

MOre would be sold this way and thus more people would know about the Greco and the Gallioppo indigenous grapes of Calabria. It's a win-wine situation in a difficult economy just now when everyone is trying to do with less and certainly spend less on things, wine included.




We then passed on to the 2007 " Masino " that is made from the indigenous Nero Di Calabria grape. Because of the 12 months in barrique barrels and then 12 months in the bottle ( this is a minimum ) before being released this " Masino " has a chance for it's character and personality to really develop and shine once released and when let to breathe properly and then served with food. These are all food wines that Giancarlo and his other six brothers have crafted for us to enjoy.

I wrote of this 2007 " Masino " that it had " more pepper, spice, earth - more pithy , medium to light bodied, a food wine ". I was comparing it to the 2006 " Cata ".

Of the 2006 " Tuma " dry red blend of Nero Di Calabria and Gallioppo grapes I wrote : " elegant, refined, balanced : silky yet very flavorful ". The 2006 " Tuma " spends a minimum of 22 months in barrique barrels and then another 20 months in the bottle before being released for sale.

I was impressed with all these wines so far and had no idea that I would soon be blown away by the Tartufa Bianco/truffle-infused extra virgin olive oil. Yes I liked the regular olive oil, too : but we must carry the white truffle-infused one and introduce people to it.




The truffle-infused extra virgin olive oil from Calbria will sell for $25 or so dollars for a 500ml bottle but it is totally worth it! I'm convinced, no doubt at all in my mind here.

Giancarlo said that it would be excellent with pasta and beef dishes because of the white truffles. I wrote of this " " so intense - the bouquet, with no bite, no burn : fabulous, so smooth, silky and elegant-refined. It's a " must buy " ". This will be fun to sell and add into gift packages at the store when our customers want to give a really special gift. The addition of a 500ml bottle of this stunning extra virgin olive oil infused with white truffles will floor people and make them stop everything that they are doing to concentrate completely on the enjoyment of this experience.




I have more to say and pictures to add but I am posting this now. Enjoy and stay-tuned for more. Cheers, TONY





The name of the estra virgin olive oil ( 95% ) with the white truffles is called : " Valle Nika " Al Tartufo Bianco. I have taken lots of pictures of it along with all the pictures of the wines here.




You can see that I like to take pictures through the wine glass as so many things are captured and distorted and added that you would never expect with the bright lights above the store captured and adding accents and framing often both the wine or the olive oil or the people themselves. I love this.




I also love how in some of the pictures there is a yellow/golden coat on the Reidel wine glass that I photograph Giancarlo through. I like these as you can still see through the oil.




These pictures tell a story and a time and a place and a moment and the items and the characters involved such as our customer Steven that I invited to taste as he entered the store. He accepted. That was nice to include him.




Also rep David Enright of Grappoli Imports came in with his Italian Tuscan, Montalcino export manager Vittorio Zoppi ( MASTROJANNI ) and as I was so very excited over discovering this extra virgin olive oil infused with white truffles that I immediately invited them to taste it, too. And they did and I think they both really enjoyed it as I did.




Being an artist I am interested in framing and capturing the whole moment that I am sharing with others with an artist's eye. It's all important to me and I love capturing it both with my photos and with my words.

I don't think I have ever had an extra virgin olive oil infused with white truffles and so this is why I have spent so much time on this. It's a brand new experience for me and a wonderful one at that. Thanks Giancarlo and Sotiris.




I also like the story of the people that are behind the wines and other products like the olive oils that we sell at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. I like hearing about the people.

It caught my attention when I heard Giancarlo say that he was one of seven brothers. What do the other six do in the wine-making process or that of making the olive oil? I'd like to hear more about them sometime. What more can you tell me Giancarlo?




It's personal on many levels for me. Sure it is business but it is a business run by people and they are key players in what products and wines are made and why.

I will add more soon but it's now time for bed as I have lots of wine to sell tomorrow. Cheers ...

Vittorio Zoppi Of MASTROJANNI, Montalcino, Tuscany @ Cleveland Park With Current Releases, Nov. 5th, 2009 : Excellent Across The Board

It was great to meet Vittorio Zoppi on November 5th, 2009 with our Grappoli rep David Enright. Vittorio is the Brand Manager for MASTROJANNI of Montalcino, Tuscany and we had already bought some of Vito's wines. Their visit was more a courtesy visit according to them as I had already bought some of the wine.



I beg to differ : it was a vital visit as I like to make associations between the people and their wines. More so, I like to taste the wines. I bought them as I recall vaguely now on this direct import basis because Alberto the owner of Grappoli had told me about how excellent the wines were and are. I agree, they are. I did not find one wine in the bunch that I tasted that I would not be pleased to put on our shelves at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 www.clevelandparkwine.com anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com ). You were correct Alberto.




Also, I hit it off immediately with Vittorio. He had waited patiently with David for me to try the IGreco wines of Cariati ( Cs, www.igreco.it ) in southern Italy. He had observed my interaction with Giancarlo Greco, one of the owners ( one of the seven brother? ) of IGreco. Actually, he had been invited by me almost immediately as he walked through our front door to taste Gancarlo's extra virgin olive oil with white truffles. I was just tasting this delectable extra virgin olive oil and I wanted to share my joy over it with both David and Vito. They both pretty much accepted my invitation immediately.




This thus started a open dialogue between all of us as well as one in Italian between both Giancarlo and Vito. I think that the bonds were forming between us all and that is the way that I like to run Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Everyone is welcome: everyone is welcome to join in. Let's make our moment memorable and a real treat for everyone fortunate enough to be gathered around at any one time in our store. This is our moment and I want it to be both special and one that we don't forget immediately but rather carry with us as we continue. I want it to nourish us later as well as of the time of our meeting.




It will be good to get these new MASTROJANNI wines into our store. I know we need more Rosso di Montalcino as well as more Brunello. You can never really have enough of either as they are pretty amazing and do help set both mood/melody/madness divine/mayhem mastered wel and marvelous mighty moments - memorable.





I will write more about the individual wines and vintages that I tasted when I return to work on Tuesday. I forget to bring all the notes and paperwork with me.

I just enlarged on my screen here the one picture of the three wines that I sampled with Vito. We tasted the 2007 Rosso di Montalcino, the 2006 Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon that the call San Pio ; and the 2004 Brunello di Montalcino. Both the Rosso 2007 and the Brunello 2004 will be in the store next week. The San Pio 2006 old-vines Cabernet Sauvignon will be available in December or possibly January 2010> I can't remember : they were taking pr-eorders with the open bottle.

I found the San Pio to be quite excellent : old-world and tasty, balanced and with lots of unique character. I liked it quite a bit and it will be fun to introduce to our customers as something special and unique and well-worth trying when they want to treat themselves to an original experience and a memorable one at that. It's a food wine : not a casual sipping wine. It's earthy and spicy and speaks of the warmth of the summer and fall days before the grapes were picked. It tells stories of the nutrients that these old Cabernet Sauvignon roots had to dig deep for : of the sweat, toil and efforts that they had to go through to stay alive and get the water and nutrients that they needed. It speaks of the wrinkles and the groans, the moans and the squeals of joy and the peels of nervous laughter and relief when they made it through another day to develop the flavors in the grapes just that bit more that would eventually become this delightful 2006 that I was drinking with Vito in David Enright's company.

This was quite an turning point for me as I had never had this experience before and I learned from it. I liked that quite a bit and it really made me focus my thoughts on it as I realized this. Even after forty years of experience enjoying wines I still learn things - sometimes really exciting and memorable to me - each and every day that I allow myself to be open to new experiences. This was one.






All I have are Vito's wonderful words that he wrote for me before leaving to continue on his journey with David. This is what he wrote: " Tony and Vito, We could be two characters of a Scorsese's movie. Instead we are two wine lovers. We love wine and the beauty of life. Thanks Tony, thanks for the business and even more for your passion for Italy. Do it again Tony! " Vito




Thanks/ grazie Vito. It's been quite the experience tasting with you your MASTROJANNI Tuscan wines. Our meeting will make it all the more enjoyable and meaningful to sell your wine here at Cleveland Park Wines.

Next time you come to Washington email me and let's plan on you doing an in-store/wine-tasting of the MASTROJANNI wines. That could be a grand success, really and we could sell lots of the MASTROJANNI wines. In the meantime Mike Martin and I will do our best to sell your wines. We might even get David to come and taste them as well with our customers.

It was great to meet you just after my return from Montalcino, Tuscany. It's funny to think that we were both there at the same time the week before and that we both came to the United States probably around the same time?

Cheers and by the way Vito I really liked Martin Scorsese's movie/documentary done on Bob Dylan's early years leading up to just when and after he released the electric version of " Like A Rolling Stone " that upset the entire folk music scene here in the United States. I love the song : it's pretty amazing, just like the MASTROJANNI wines.

Caio, TONY