Episode 176: Back to (Wine) School With Cru Artisan College
This episode is about the Cru Artisan College experience! Full of factoids, embarrassing stories and so much more, this edition contains four incredible interviews that we hope will be the perfect late-summer vacation before heading into September. We also announce this month’s giveaway winner of a WTSO gift card.
[This episode was recorded over a period of weeks between 15 July and 2 August, 2018].
The Cru Artisan College Experience:
Developed by Banfi Vintners, the college is in its 5th year. As it currently stands, the education sessions are led mostly by Italian winemakers. These winemakers are part of the Cru Artisan collection of Banfi – a category of handcrafted, special wines.
The experience takes place in three cities, and in 2018 it came to Denver before heading to Napa and Austin. Now we are bringing a piece of it to you through this audio … in case you want to take yourself to it in 2019! Val snatched the opportunity to cruise on up to Denver and collect some extraordinary interviews and taste great Italian wines.
Interviews
Below is the bio page from the online, downloadable study guide. So we won’t reproduce them in this post.
We couldn’t interview all of the winemakers due to our editorial schedule, but included all of their information here. This in no way reflects that some sessions were more important than others, but we did want to cover some areas we have not yet discussed in-depth on this show over the years.
Page from the detailed study guide (available at http://www.cruartisancollege.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Study-Guide.pdf)
Lars Leicht (3:09)
First, we talk with Lars Leicht, Director of Trade Development for Banfi Vintners & the Director of Cru Artisan Wines.
He gives us a refresher on the Cru Artisan portfolio wines and the regions they represent. Also, he’s the brains behind Cru Artisan College, and he shares its origins.
Something else you’ll hear later in the episode, he is the translator (and if you watch him in action, the interpreter!) for the winemakers. Beyond learning the food and swearing terms, which many of us of Italian heritage know well, Lars expands on how his Italian language skills blossomed over the years. For most of us of Italian descent, it starts, as he says, with food and swearing. Right?
This episode is also rife with embarrassing wine stories, beginning with a bottle of Lars’s uncle’s homemade wine.
Alberto Lazzarino & Alta Langa DOCG (14:00)
Next we talked to Alberto Lazzarino, the Directing Winemaker at Banfi Piemonte.
He explains to us that the Alta Langa DOCG has some particular production rules, including the fact that it always has to have the vintage year on the label. That’s something we don’t often see on sparkling wine! He also explains why they use only Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes.
Alberto also explains the extended lees aging requirements (30 months minimum and 36 months for riserva!), and the philosophy behind the Alta Langa spumante wines.
Finally, he shares with us his sabrage story! We left some of the untranslated Italian in for effect.
*Extra sparkles
This is the cool article on Piemonte Sparkling wine we mentioned during Steph and Val’s “between interview” chatter. Molte grazie to Suzanne Hoffman for sending this. She was actually sitting next to Val during these sessions in Denver!
Enrico Cerulli & Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG (25:0
0)
We love this next part about Abruzzo! It contains history, grape gabs and pizza wine.
Enrico, whom you’ll meet in this interview, teaches us a few things about the wine, the land, and delivers descriptions and stories with perfect English … after he settles a score on Abruzzi vs Abruzzo.
Colline Teramane – formerly a subzone of the Montepulciano D’Abruzzo DOC – was created in 1995. In 2003 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colline Teramane became a DOCG. In 2016, the name changed to Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG. Enrico gives us the lowdown on this, as well as some historical perspective on the appellation.
We have a brief Montepulciano Grape Gab, so listen up!
Enrico helps us describe how a wine from this appellation typically shows up in the glass, using a JLo (yes, that JLo) comparison to explain its distinctive characteristics that set it apart from Montepulciano D’Abruzzo DOC.
Favorite pairing? Lamb! Any kind of lamb. Grilled, stewed, “burgered” (Val’s word), however you want to prepare it.
Roberto Magnisi, Cantine Florio (Sicily) (40:30)
From Abruzzo, we take you now to Sicily. This last conversation with Roberto Magnisi is quite diverse – like the wines, the styles, and the island of Sicily. He is the Quality Control Director at Cantine Florio Marsala, but started as a chemistry major.
A Marsala matrix, please? (51:14)
Back to Marsala. There are – get this – 50 different types of Marsala. Can someone please come up with a matrix? Roberto guides us through the style essentials in this segment. We recommend pouring a glass of Florio’s Targa before clicking play.
Grappa? That too (53:30)
We also asked Roberto, who obviously loves Sicilian wine enough to write an entire master’s thesis on it (!), what other beverages he loves, as well as some of his favorite pairings.
He admittedly does love him some grappa. Particularly grappa with Moscato or Nero d’Avola invokes the drink’s “Sicilian-ness.”
Speaking of “Sicilian-ness” (54:25)
Favorite pairing/meal with the very versatile Marsala? He recommends pairing it with vices, like smoking cigars. Naturally dried fruits and cheeses are a great accompaniment. There are so many ways to enjoy Marsala, that the various styles can be served with courses throughout an entire meal.
There is also a tradition started in the 1700s in Sicilian trattorias to serve a hard-boiled egg with Marsala.
A hard-boiled egg in Italian, by the way, is un uovo sodo.
*Cracking an egg on some culture here
Un Ouvo Sodo, by the way, is also a song by the Italian musician Zucchero. Roberto points out, quite sternly, that Zucchero is not/NOT Sicilian.
After this interview, Val couldn’t get the hard-boiled egg song out of her head, and so here it is for you! Yay, you!
The general translation is the singer is heartbroken and feels like, well, a hard-boiled egg “without you.” Perhaps he’s drowning his sorrows in Marsala?
You’re welcome. We’re all about culture here.
Good luck getting this tune out of your cervello (brain).
*The Pirandello Reference
Speaking of culture…
Roberto references Luigi Pirandello and Lars lets out a giggle and a priceless mama mia at 45:20. Pirandello won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934. He wrote over 220 (known) short stories and plays – mostly about Sicilian life.
This is Val’s coveted dual language Undici Novelle we mentioned.
Gabriele Pazzaglia, Castello Banfi Cellarmaster (1:00:30)
The Brunello session with Gabriele Pazzaglia, Cellarmaster, Castello Banfi, was a master class in the Brunello (Sangiovese) clones and the 35 years of research that’s been done on them. They started with 650 clones, narrowed it down to 15, and then a final three.
It was a full-on geek fest as he dove into the Horizon project and fermenters. Banfi producers actually go to France to choose the wood for their barrels – and they do the toasting themselves. He finished with soils and sustainability practices.
This could be its own episode, as they gave us an entire book on it.
Andrea Sartori Family Proprietor, Sartori di Verona.
Andrea led the fourth seminar of the day on appasimento and Amarone.
He explained how only 65% of the harvest can be made into Amarone, although his quality standards reduce that to about 27%.
He also talked about Ripasso, which is only made after making Amarone. This makes sense because Ripasso uses the skins left over from making Amarone (or Recioto). We did get into all of this way back in Episode 55 in the “Factoid” segment around 22 minutes in, if you want to revisit the Valpolicella pyramid discussion.
Andrea did tell us that you have to make at least one bottle of Amarone for every two bottles of Ripasso.
The history here was a fascinating aspect as he told of how pre-war vintages were destroyed during German occupation. But he still was able to preserve 100 bottles of white recioto.
Photo: Banfi, Sartori
Shoutouts:
Thank you to Banfi Vintners and Cru Artisan College!
Big, raucous rounds of applause, please, to:
- Lars Leicht
- Alberto Lazzarino
- Enrico Cerulli
- Roberto Magnisi
- Andrea Sartori
- Gabriele Pazzaglia
- The Banfi and Somm Journal crew: Sarah, Jacob, Dan, JABs, as well as Maurizio Broggi, headmaster from the Wine Scholar Guild, and the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management at DU.
One more shout out to our listener, Scott, from Miami, who sat across from me at dinner Saturday night. He’s a hardcore podcast junkie that listens to W25 and Whisky Cast.
Links & learn more!
Cru Artisan Facebook
Twitter: @CastelloBanfiUS @BanfiWines
Weekly Tasting, our Podcast Sponsor! (1:04:18)
Shout out to our show sponsor Weekly Tasting!
Weekly Tasting is powered by WTSO, so you know the wines are hand selected by experts and signify quality. You learn about wine by tasting it, and that’s what makes Weekly Tasting’s shipments fun. It’s also perfect for gift giving… so keep that in mind.
Meanwhile, our listeners have their very own listener page at: weeklytasting.com/W25 to sign up and get started! Or just go to our web page and click on the link to get started!
Big Patreon Love (1:04:53)
Thank you to our patrons who support us on our Patreon crowdfunding platform!
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Shoutouts will be announced in Episode 177, since this was already recorded.
Welcome, ladies! xx
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Our Patreon page has details www.patreon.com/winetwofivepodcast on how to be entered into our monthly giveaway, receive exclusive content and swag.
All Patrons at the $2/month or higher donation level are entered into the drawing.
Speaking of … it’s time to draw the August winner is Sean in Ohio, who will receive a $25 gift certificate from our generous sponsor, Wines Til’ Sold Out. Yes, you can use it for … eh hem … wine!
Congratulations, Sean (and it was great meeting you in New York last week!).
Connect: (47:08)
Between each weekly chat you can find us on the social spaces @WineTwoFive, and play in our private FaceBook group called Wine Two Five Community!
Connect with Val on Twitter @WineGalUnboxed and everywhere else as @VinoWithVal.
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