Cellar Report: 1997 and 2001 Brezza Barolos

I could just bottom line both of these and say they are really freaking good. In fact, maybe those nose-in-the-air...or in this case in-the-glass....publications like the Wine Spectator would probably be well-served if they started saying things like that. But god forbid they appeal to anyone but boring wine dorks. Editorial rants aside, I found myself fortunate enough in the last week to have both of these pinnacles of Italian winemaking art.

A quick lesson that will leave you as smart as 98% of wine geeks: Barolo is a small appellation in northwestern Italy's Piedmont region (the orange blotch on Italy in the map at right). It is made from 100% nebbiolo grapes and along with it's more feminine styled fraternal twin from the Barbaresco region (also made from 100% nebbiolo) are two of the greatest Italian red wines. In fact two of the greatest wines in the world. The Brezzas I was loving come from the small family firm Giacomo Brezza, an old school producer located in the town of Barolo in the Barolo appellation. Follow me so far? Yeah, right!

Okay then, two Barolos from two vintages considered well above average. I found the 2001 Brezza on a local wine distributors price list at a crazy price and brought it into the wine shack. In a great act of altruism I took one home and opened it to be sure it would be acceptable to my valued clientele. The 2001 was, in a word, young. A baby. An infant that has barely learned to vocalize and will need years to be able to communicate all it has to share with the world. Tight, tannic, with cherry, floral notes, and earthy, tarry aromas and flavors barely....just barely....starting to peek out. 2001 was a CLASSIC vintage, with fruit, tannins, and acidity in perfect balance, destined to sing like ABBA at the height of their powers. Oh, wait, bad analogy. ABBA sucks. But you know what I mean. These reds, especially the Barolos and Barbarescos, will need a minimum of ten years to really start throwing their weight around the wine world. The Brezza 2001 is all about potential, and it has boatloads!

The 1997 was another beast all together. It was a single vineyard wine from their Sarmassa vineyard. The 1997 vintage, not quite as good as 2001, was known for a lot of heat, which led to a lot of ripe fruit. These '97s are more near term wines (I know, calling any ten year old wine "near term" is kind of stupid), but they don't have the potential to go 15-20 years like the 2001s. We shared this bottle at dinner wth friends the other night, and it was nebbiolo nirvana at it finest. Drinking perfectly right now, with most of its hard edges whittled away leaving behind beautiful, heady aromas and flavors....first off a leathery earthiness, followed by mellow cherry, blackberry fruit, hints of that same tar that nebbiolo is known for (sounds weird, I know, but it is amazing), followed by rose petals and spice. On the palate this was intense, mouthfilling, the kind of wine that is the reason I have all those bottles laying around the basement. So smooth, with a long, luscious finish that echoed all of the pleasures listed above. A perfectly delicious wine, so good, so ITALIAN! One of those wines that when you taste it you know it could come from nowhere else (when wine doofuses talk about terroir, that is what they mean). It really won't get any better, so if you have any 1997s hanging around, you'd best be popping corks!

Cellar report: 1990 Produttori del Barbaresco "Rabaja" Barbaresco

"Just because one is out in the wild doesn't mean one has to act wild."

Truer words were never spoken, especially since I was the one who spoke them. Which is why when I find myself on a camping trip, there are certain amenities I feel must come along. For our last car camping trip, two of those necessities were the makings for Campground Carbonara and a bottle of 1990 Produttori del Barbaresco "Rabaja" Barbaresco. Oh, and a couple of Stolzle burgundy wine glasses to make sure the wine had every chance to show its stuff!

I knew the carbonara would be stellar, as I was using Marcella's perfect recipe and had everything pre-prepped and in the cooler (btw- if you've never eaten spaghetti with a "spork", you're in for a treat!). The '90 Barbaresco was another matter. 1990 was a stellar year in Italy's Piedmont, the nebbiolo grapes achieving near perfect ripeness levels. But still, I hadn't had a bottle of '90 for years and years, so was hoping for the best. As it turned out, I shouldn't have worried. This was an absolutely awesome bottle of vino rosso. Pouring it into the glasses I could already get whiffs of ripe blackberries, and when I really got my nose into it that scent and more...earth, spice, smoke, tar...all came rushing out. With the first sip I knew we were in for a treat. This had that perfectly aged taste, but didn't taste old at all. Hard to describe, but you know it when you taste it. All the sensations from the nose came through, but with even more intensity. This was so complete, the beginning, middle, and long, long finish meshing perfectly. The tannins weren't tired at all, and the acidity was still fresh and vibrant. And it all just got better and better as the wine sat open. Barbaresco at its absolute peak, what all wines wish they could grow up to be! If you ever have a chance to try a well-stored 15 or 20 year old bottle of Barbaresco or Barolo, promise me you won't say no. After about two hours we finished it while sitting around our campfire, listening to the river rush by. Roughing it, indeed!

Piedmont pleasures at Alba Osteria

A quick hit about another awesome dinner at Alba Osteria, chef/owner Kurt Spak's temple to all things Piedmontese and delicious. We went last Saturday and were once again knocked out by what we ate, and the integrity of Kurt's approach to his craft.

From two perfectly appetizing starters (including my beloved carne cruda...and why doesn't anyone else in town do this? When is some chef besides Kurt going to have a little faith in their customers and give them a little credit? Kurt says they blow through this at Alba), on through the "salad" (right) of greens, walnuts, & pear topped with a duck confit leg which may be the best salad course ever...maybe second only to a crazy "salad course" of lentils cooked in duck fat the we had at l'Ambassade d'Auvergne in Paris...with the confit perfectly cooked, crispy outside, moist inside. The kind of dish you'd dream about but never think you'd actually see. Then of course we had to move on to his spot-on tajarin pasta (left), which simply blows away any other in Portland, the pasta ethereally light with a touch of butter sage sauce.




For entrées, because more must be better, right?, I had his spectacular sweetbreads, again cooked as they should be: crispy outside, moist and tender inside. Kind of like a chicken mcnugget for the non-chickenshit eater. I love this particular gland, and I appreciate those animals who gave theirs so that I might smile. w had the snapper (or was it sole, or...? This came well into our second bottle of wine after cocktails at Teardrop, so I do have an excuse...sort of...). Anyway, it was awesome, the filets (right) lightly breaded and pan fried with a black olive tapenade-like dressing on top, with a buttery smooth mound of mashers and greens on the side. Really nicely done. Then of course two desserts and a couple of glasses of Moscato d'Asti to make sure our physical and mental impairment was complete. Once again Kurt showed our appetites no mercy, throwing down one stellar dish after another. For some reason, every time I walk through the doors at Alba, my ability to say "no" somehow disappears. I know I've said it before: this is as good as it gets...anywhere...for authentic Italian cooking!

Portland to the Piedmont in one night!

I'm back from blog-hiatus, and with a stellar offer for all of you living in Portland. For the rest of you, should you find yourselves with plans to visit our fair city, pay attention. Here's the deal: In the next five minutes or so you spend reading this, you can have an extra $3,000 in your pocket! I know, pretty fucking crazy, right? Check it out....

About four months ago w and I took a trip to the Piedmont region of Italy for some serious eating and drinking research. The wine was incredible, and the Piedmontese cuisine was completely off the hook. We pine for it all the time. Including a few days in the Cinque Terre and five days in Paris (BTW-you can read all the delicious details by going back in the blog archives to late April/early May 2007), and the fact that our wallets were bludgeoned by the Euro-dollar beatdown, we dropped a few thousand each. Any of you with plans for the same trip, get your finances in order. So what about that 3G savings deal? Here's all you have to do: Get in your car, drive about 10-20 minutes out to 6440 SW Capitol Highway here in PDX, and dig in to owner/chef Kurt Spak's dead-on Piedmontese creations at his sublimely satisfying restaurant Alba Osteria. This is food as good as anything you'll eat in town, and measures up to the best meals we had on our Italian sojourn.

Where to begin? How about with a couple of glasses of fizzy prosecco and a dish of perfectly prepared fritto misto, lightly battered and fried Willapa Bay oysters and shrimp with a fennel salad. Then to go old/new school surf and turf, we also had a plate of Kurt's exceptional carne cruda, which is fresh, lean, raw chopped beef with lemon, olive oil, and Reggiano. Why most chefs seem to fear this dish and lack faith in their customers sense of adventure I have no idea. Our waiter Jeff said they sell tons of it, so obviously it's not a customer problem. And besides, it is something I LOVE, so get with it you guys!

We followed those 2 plates of satisfaction with their baked sweet peppers with Oregon albacore, anchovy, and olive oil. This was fantastic, beautifully presented, perfectly balanced. And with a glass of Arneis, the signature white from the Piedmont, it was swoon-worthy.

Now, when we were in the Piedmont, we had some crazy multi-course feasts that went on for two to three hours, which is the only way you can eat that much food. We were going for the same effect at Alba, and next time I think I'd tell Kurt we wee in no hurry, and space the dishes a little further apart. I know most Americans freak out if one plate doesn't slap down on the table the moment they're done with their last dish, but with this kind of cooking, it's all about pace, taking the time to enjoy each bite, and the nuances and subtleties of flavor. Even without that pacing, we were going for it this night, so our next plate out was a shared dish of ricotta gnocchi with chanterelles and cream. Oh, man, perfectly pillowy gnocchis blanketed in a luscious mushroom cream sauce that made me want to curl up with them. So good, not heavy at all, just seasonal satisfaction at it's finest.

There was more on the menu, so we had to keep going. w had their fish special of mushroom stuffed trout which she loved, but sadly by then couldn't finish due to all the indulgence. I had the Alba pork fest, aka an incredible plate of slow roasted pork belly, cotechino sausage, and a Grive Monferrato which was an amazing pork and pork liver sausage patty. All this served with some silky smooth potato puree. Oh, and I had brought a bottle out of the archives of 1997 Ausario Barbaresco that was perfection, slowly opening to reveal it's rich, ripe, earthy blackberry fruit. Wow!

Then, despite w's admittedly weak objections because she loves it as much as I do, we had his gelato trio. Three scoops of house made hazelnut, vanilla, and caramel gelato that were creamy goodness defined, and left us stuffed, satisfied, and deciding that if we can't be in Italy, this isn't a bad way to go.

We talked with Kurt for a few minutes on our way out, and you can't help but feel his passion and commitment. He takes regular trips to the Piedmont with his sous chef to recharge and keep up with what's happening, and then comes back and dishes it like nobody else. This is the best Italian food in town, and as good as anything I've had at any Italian restaurant in the country. Yeah, it's that good. Plus, those 3G's in my pocket are feeling pretty good!