Starting another trip: Montalcino

On Tuesday this week, I arrived in Rome to meet Tony Lemmo: Ristoratore, music-lover, and amateur philosopher. Tony owns Cafe di Scala in Des Moines, Iowa...a marvelous Italian restaurant with food inspired by his Calabrian family, and an all-Italian wine list. This was the start of a nine day tour, to include stops in Tuscany, Le Marche, Abruzzo, and Campania. Our very first stop, after dropping our stuff off at La Palazzetta, was the Enoteca at the Castello di Montalcino, in Montalcino proper. Along with a plate of salumi, we tasted a lineup of Brunello that included 2009 Mastrojanni, 2007 Poggio di Sotto, 2005 Biondi Santi, plus a 2008 Riserva from a producer I'd never heard of, Franci, who turns out to be one of the owners of the Enoteca. Only 1000 bottles of Franci 2008 Riserva was produced. The wine was pretty alluring - depth, complexity, length, delicious.

Our visit to Domaine Alain Voge

Near the end of our trip, we got to spend a bit of time with Alberic Mazoyer, Alain's partner and managing director of Domaine Alain Voge. The purity and minerality of the Syrah grown in these parts is absolutely unparalleled. We are very, very fortunate to get our small allocations of these wines.




Some of the steepest vineyard sites in the world, it is amazing indeed that anything can grow in the arid, decomposed granite here, but to produce wines such as these is a miracle itself. It takes about 1000 man-hours to work one hectare of this vineyard, according to Alberic. The farming methods are directed from biodynamic principles. The 8 or so hectares owned by Voge covers some 30 parcels. The lowest vineyards are at about 150 meters asl, while the highest are at about 350. There is a 3 week differential in ripening and therefore in the vendange.


Looking down on the village of Cornas from the lieu-dit "les Chailleau", where cuvée Les Chailles comes from.


Alberic talks with Peter Vars about vine-training.


This photo might start to convey the incredible steepness of these vineyards. It is truly Heroic Viticulture that is conducted here.

Lake Superior May 14, 2014

Where in the world is Joe? On the south shore of our magnificent Lake Superior, waiting for this year's nearly 100% ice cover to finally melt away, making way for another season of sailing on this spectacular body of water.

Does the concept of terroir extend beyond traditional definitions; is the idea of somewhereness apt, even beyond wine growing?

Let's not call it terroir, for that pushes even my liberal definition beyond reasonable limits. Let's call it awesomeness, let's call it amazing, let's call it yet another special place on earth, with its own gigantic personality, its own frigid charm. Let's not call it terroir but let's acknowledge that once one feels the differences that "place" can confer upon a wine, it's pretty easy to understand the magic, the flavor of a place even when that place has nothing to do with our sacred beverage.

Call it what you like.

I'll call it love. 

Domaine de l'Aigle a Deux Têtes

Our little group made a side-trip on Sunday a couple of weeks ago to Vincelles, in the Jura, where is found the cellar of Domaine de l'Aigle a Deux Têtes (of the Eagle with Two Heads). The harvest from this micro-domaine of barely 3 hectares was reduced below the point of ridiculous when the 2013 crop was decimated in part by frost, and in part by ravenous birds. What remained, however, provided the raw material for some of the most exciting wines we tasted on our entire tour, which is saying quite a lot.

The signpost outside the tiny cellars of the Domaine

Henri Le Roy shows us vines in his vineyard Derriere la Roche. According to Henri, the site is capable of growing some of the greatest Chardonnay in the world, but is very susceptible to frost.

Henri draws a taste of his marc de Jura from an ancient cask

After spending the afternoon visiting Château Chalon, the wonderful wine museum in Arbois, and all three of Henri's vineyard sites, dinner by this talented amateur chef (Bresse Chicken with fingerling potatoes) didn't start until after 11pm, and didn't finish until 130am.

Domaine du Banneret

This tiny (3.5 hectare, 8 parcels), historic property is in the process of transition to the new generation...here Audrey, daughter of Jean-Claude and Marie-Francoise Vidal, applies a label the way they do it at Banneret: the old fashioned way, by hand with a glue brush. Winery profile (finally!) coming soon to our website. Check back tomorrow morning!