Christmas Eve is just a few days away and already my thoughts are squarely focused on Italy. I’m not quite sure how my Christmas obsession with all things Italian began, but I will place most of the blame on Saveur Magazine. Years ago they ran an article about an American couple who had moved to Italy to open a restaurant. To help alleviate their homesickness, they would invite their neighbors and any expat Americans they knew to sit down to a holiday feast. The pictures in that article made me want to move to Italy right away. The food, the wine, the warm glow of the candles and the happy looks on the faces of the lucky diners pretty much captured the spirit of Christmas Eve for me. So whether it is the Feast of the Seven Fishes, pasta or Mario Batali’s rolled turkey breast stuffed with roasted chestnuts, my Christmas Eve is centered around family, neighbors and Italian food and wine. I may not be able to move to Italy, but I can close my eyes and dream this one night of the year.

This is why I have decided to close out the year in newsletters with a series of Italian wines. And this one is truly special to me. In fact, I will now name it my “wine of the year.” In the 10 or so years I have been writing wine newsletters I have refrained from creating any kind of “wine of the year” lists. Not because of any concern for journalistic purity mind you. No, just the thought of trying to come up with a list like that makes my head hurt. I get to drink lots and lots of great wines in any given year and trying to narrow them down to a spiffy little list would be just too darned difficult. But this year is different. I tasted this wine for the first time about a month ago and I immediately thought it was the most interesting, thought provoking wine I had tasted all year.

2006 Castello di Lispida Amphora Bianco (54.00)

“Orange” wines are all the rage among wine geeks around the world. I have probably come across a dozen articles on orange wines in the mainstream media in the past few months. But just what is an “orange” wine? In a recent NYT article, Eric Asimov described “orange” wines as “…white wines linked together by the technique of leaving freshly crushed juice in contact with the grape skins for a prolonged period. Ordinarily, producers of white wine might permit a couple of hours or a day at most of skin contact. Pigments and tannins reside in the skins, and most producers want to avoid adding tannins and astringency to the wine. But these wines may be left to macerate with the skins for days, weeks or even months at a time, which lends the wine color in shades ranging from pink, to ruddy cider to in fact vivid orange. It also gives them a texture that be gritty, tannic or beautifully captivating.” And while producers like Gravner may have triggered a recent fad of aging these orange wines in large amphora clay pots that are buried in the ground, it is a technique that harkens back thousands of years to when wine was first made in places like the Ural mountains. So instead of calling this “extreme winemaking,” I prefer to look at it as a return to the most natural of ways to making wine.

The Castello di Lispida is a gorgeous, ancient property that lies in the heart of the Euganean Hills Natural Park near Padua and Venice. The original Castello di Lispida dates back to 1150 A.D. when Pope Eugene III decreed the Augustine monastic order as the owner of the property and the church dedicated to St. Mary of Ispida. The monastery building, which now houses the wine cellar, was built in the 1500s. The current owner (and winemaker) is Dr. Alessandro Sgaravatti, a neurosurgeon whose family purchased the property in the early 1960s. What an appropriately ancient location for the making of a wine like this!

In the underground catacombs of the old monastery, Dr. Sgaravatti has four very large amphora pots buried up to their neck. These terracotta pots, called “dolia,” are seven to eleven feet deep and they hold up to 1,850 gallons of wine. The destemmed grapes, in this case Tocai, have their skins ruptured and are then gravity fed directly into the amphora pots. After 10 days the amphora is sealed and left alone for 6 months. The Tocai grape skins are then removed and the wine is returned to the amphora and left to age for an additional eight months. No sulfites are added and there is no fining or filtration. While other wineries may get the lion’s share of the orange spotlight, Dr. Sgaravatti was the first winemaker in modern Italy to commercially release a wine made with these ancient techniques.

So what does it taste like? Well, if you close your eyes you might think you were drinking a red wine. There is body and tannic structure here that you normally don’t experience in a white wine. I personally love wines made in this style. They are challenging and thought provoking. Interesting wines for interesting times would be a good orange motto. The Castello di Lispida Amphora Bianco has a wonderfully cloudy quality and a color that reminds me of the setting sun hitting a big sandstone mesa in the New Mexico desert. Is it orange? Is it washed out watermelon? See what I mean? Just trying to figure out the color of this wine will keep a conversation going for a good ten minutes!

Once you get around to smelling the wine in your glass the fun really begins. So much is going on here. There are aromas of day lillies, exotic brown spices and a trace of what seems like mint. After a few minutes of warming in my hand the stone fruit aromas began to emerge. Definitely not your average white wine experience, this exotic Tocai from the Veneto.

The flavors in this wine are truly a rainbow. There is a bit of fino sherry-like nuttiness and a citrus flavor that is like a dried lemon peel that has been pulverized with a wet rock. Part of the rainbow is a big band of orange peel, along with lots of apricot and mango fruit. But is doesn’t stop there. The third wave of flavors included lilac talc, dried thyme and a beeswax note that reminded me of waxing my skis. And finally, there was something else in there I couldn’t quite figure out. After about an hour of contemplation it hit me. The mystery note was reminiscent of one of those delicious half-sour New York pickles at the Bunk sandwich shop in Portland. And trust me, when I finished drinking this wine I was just as contented as I am when I finish one of those huge Bunk sandwiches.

I have been enjoying wines from folks from Gravner, Radikon, Movia i Clivi and Edi Simcic for several years now. But this is my new favorite orange wine. It has more fruit than a lot of those other wines and the tannins are a bit softer. So I will now recommend this wine to folks who are looking to go orange for the very first time. And once again, this is my “wine of ther year.” No one bottle of wine has given me more enjoyment this year or provided me with more entertainment than the Castello di Lispida Amphora Bianco. A lot of wines will make me think for a few minutes and then I just drink them. This wine, like a favorite college professor or a good documentary, challenged me to think and ask questions all the way through. So whether you are an experienced fellow orange traveler or an open minded and adventurous tyrol, I highly recommend you check out at least one bottle of this remarkable and provocative/evocative wine. A ten percent discount will be applied to any order of three or more bottles. Then you too can tell all your friends, “orange you glad I got you to try it?”

And I’ve just discovered 54.00 is a pretty good price for this wine. Which might be because we are working directly with a Pacific NW importer that brings the wine directly to us from the winery. Whatever the reason, a quick perusal of various search engines shows it to be selling from 60.00 to 80.00 a bottle in the very few areas that have it. So take the plunge and treat yourself to something exotic this holiday season.

Wednesday Buon Natale Tasting, Dec. 23, 5:00-8:00PM

This will be our next-to-last tasting of the year so I really wanted to do something special. Wednesday evening we will be opening up bottles of the wines featured in the last two newsletters. Drop by anytime between 5:00 and 8:00PM to sample the 2007 Pietradolce Etna Rosso “Archineri” (34.00) and the 2006 Castello di Lispida Amphora Bianco. In addition to these two notable Italian wines (the Archineri is hot of a Tre Bicchieri award from Gambero Rosso), there will be samples of two very nice Italian bubblies from Castello di Lispida’s Alessandro Sgaravatti. The first is a dry sparkling Tocai wine called H Hispida Spumante Brut. The other sparkling wine is a beautifully dry pink Sangiovese wine, the H Hispida Spumante Rosato Brut. Both of these bubblies are 29.00 and I can promise you they will impress even the most jaded palate. So, if you would like to enjoy a little antipasti, some great Italian wines and a bit of holiday cheer, drop by Storyteller this upcoming Wednesday evening. There will be no charge for this tasting. Crazy, huh?

Holiday Hours:

Tuesday December 22, open from 11:00AM until 8:00PM

Wednesday December 23, open from 11:00AM until 8:00PM

Thursday December 24, open 11:00AM until 4:00PM

Friday December 25 through Tuesday December 29: CLOSED

Wednesday December 30, open from 11:00AM until 8:00PM (wine tasting from 5-8PM)

Thursday December 31, open from 11:00AM until 4:00PM

Cheers,
Michael Alberty
Head Elf

PS If you are looking for a warm, cozy way to start your Christmas Eve, may I suggest dropping by Bar Avignon? My favorite wine bar and small plates hangout in all of Portland will be open from 4:00PM until 10:00PM on Christmas Eve. If you get there early enough you may even catch me with my entire family. Special treats that night will include pacific oysters on the half shell and a Dungeness crab chowder. Bar Avignon is located at 2138 SE Division in Portland, Oregon.

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