Northern Italy Wine Tasting

I attended my first Taste DC event last night, a tasting class on Northern Italy led by Ron Brooks with Winebow Importers. Ron was very engaging and knowledgeable, and presented the wines in a down to earth, humorous style. Below is a list of the wines we tasted:

• 2007 Cortegiara Pinot Grigio, Veneto $11.99 – A nice nose of citrus and honeysuckle followed up by a tart apples on the palate, I found this much more interesting and enjoyable than most pinot grigio. In fact, pinot grigio is never on my wine shopping list because I find it boring, but this had enough presence that I would buy this as a nice patio sipper or to accompany shellfish or other lighter style foods.
• 2007 Zenato Lugana, Veneto $12.99 – The grape that makes up this wine is a clone of trebbiano. Again, not something I usually find very interesting but this wine had pretty, soft aromas of clover, honeysuckle and pear, and a pleasant, balanced acidity.
• 2007 Bruno Giacosa Arneis, Piedmont $29.99 – It was with a 2002 Nebbiolo d’Alba from this producer that my love affair with wine began, so I was excited to see this on the menu. I was not disappointed. A sultry, smoky nose layered with lanolin led to a voluptuous and well-structured body and a respectable aftertaste. The price makes me somewhat ambivalent about purchasing this, as I usually limit my purchases of more expensive whites to Burgundies, but I could be tempted to make an exception here. Although Ron did mention that this is normally only available to restaurants, so it might be a moot point.
• 2007 Tramin Gewurtztraminer, Alto Adige $23.99 – This had a gregarious nose of lavender and lychee, and a slightly viscous but well balanced mouthfeel. A fun wine and very Gewurtz, but I’m not enough of a fan of the grape to buy it. However, if you like Gewurtz this is a nice one.
• 2007 Allegrini Valpolicella, Veneto $13.99 – This was the one wine of the night that I really didn’t enjoy, although others did. The nose was far too modern for my tastes…black fruit and vanilla vied for attention but neither was an interesting enough representation of themselves to garner mine. It just smelled artificial, like some sort of nasty jelly candy a kid would buy at the movies. The palate was way out of sync, the acidity overwhelmed the wan fruit that was lurking but too embarrassed to come out. I was amazed to find out that this didn’t see any oak. I would have pegged it for having shared time with chips or staves.
• 2005 Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre, Veneto $21.99 – I felt that the producer redeemed itself with this rippasso, although honestly it was still a little too contrived for me. An intense and serious nose of black cherries was followed by a velvety texture. It had enough structure to nicely accompany food like roasted game and maybe even some hearty cheese, but was also soft enough to play the part of cocktail wine. With its broad appeal, I would consider serving this at a party with a diverse guest list.
• 2006 Cortese Barbera, Piemonte $21.99 – This had a wonderful barnyard nose and rustic but nicely balanced palate that made it my WOTN. I will definitely be picking up several bottles, the only reason I’m not buying a case is because I’m trying to bring down my inventory of near-term drinkers before I move overseas in May.
• 2004 Prunotto Barolo, Piemonte DOCG $59.99 – This, of course, was the wine we had all been anticipating, but its impact got somewhat lost in the chatter surrounding the 1998 Prunotto Bric Turot Barbaresco that Ron had brought along last minute. Once both had been poured, most of us broke with the order and the nose on the latter overpowered that of the former. Also, I was beginning to experience some fatigue at this point (unfortunately that happens easily with me and more powerful reds). So my notes on the Barolo are lacking, but I do recall that it was very nice, although not necessarily noteworthy.
• 1998 Prunotto Bric Turot Barbaresco – The importer had come across a forgotten case of this, the conditions under which it had been stored somewhat unfavorable. So they decided to pawn it off where they could, and our group was a recipient. As mentioned above, the nose was initially promising…some earthy, tobacco like notes. That, however, is where it ended because the palate was flat (except for the occasional mouthful of gritty sediment!) and we declared it DOA. Too bad, but it was a freebie thrown in at the last minute and a good lesson in what can happen to a good wine when left for too long and not stored well.

A side note: There was a gentleman sitting at our table named Jonathan, who I found out runs a Greek restaurant called Mourayo in Dupont Circle. I asked him if they served Nostos wines (the brand from Manousakis vineyards in Crete, where I’ll be “interning” this summer) and he said yes, and that he knows the Manousakis family well. He raved about the beauty of the vineyard, and it got me excited all over again about my pending trip. Kind of a fun, small world encounter.

I don't know much about economics, just the basics of supply and demand, a little bit about how monetary policy plays into it, and random bits that I've picked up from the Economist or other reading.

Politically, I land squarely in the middle of the libertarian section of the chart when I take those online quizzes, so it's no surprise that I would experience concern over the current measures being taken in regards to the "economic crisis".

I've been trying to work it out in my head with the limited knowledge I have, and am resorting to those same tired analogies to a sick patient that the politicians have been utilizing.

OK, so if the economy is a patient, it seems to me that there are two "conditions" that it experienced that led to it's rapid and continuing decline. One was the drop in housing prices, which is a healthy and normal reaction to over-priced assets in the market (when prices increase, demand drops, ultimately resulting in a decrease in price). Let's make this analogous to someone who has eaten too much and ended up with a really bad tummy ache. The normal process would now be for the patient to experience some discomfort as the food makes its way though the system, allows the usual elimnation processes to occur, and then resumes normal eating habits going forward (or at least until the memory of the unpleasantness recedes enough that they go back and do it again). However in this particular case, the patient also unknowingly ingested a dangerous micro-organism and some toxins that had been added to the food (subsitute for the sub-prime mortgages, credit default swaps, etc.) So now the patient is REALLY sick, losing it from both ends, severely dehydrated and possibly looking at death if something isn't done to stabilize it.

And THAT is where I get confused as to what exactly the enonomy doctors are trying to do to stabilize the patient. They're throwing all sorts of meds into the patient haphazardly, not taking the time to analyze exactly how these meds will interact, or even knowing for sure how some of these meds work. And hey by the way, a bunch of pharmaceutical reps are here and thought that maybe we'd like to buy some of these trial meds that they've been wanting to try out on a real, live patient. Just $1 trillion dollars! Of course, we have a more sober team of doctors also working on this case who believe that they must first address the "root" of the crisis. And here again I get confused, because they maintain that it's the drop in housing prices that is to blame for all the ensuing chaos, and if we can just stabilize housing prices then we can work on treating the rest of the problems. But if the drop in housing prices was a normal, rational market occurance, just like digestion is a normal occurence for over-eating, wouldn't tinkering with the pricing (either directly or through incentives) be akin to force-feeding the patient food at this juncture? And how could that be a good idea, when the original food is still working its way out? Or am I looking at this wrong, and should I be viewing the interventions into the market as an IV instead of more of the same?

I don't know. And what's really bothersome is that I don't think the doctors know, either. Yet they keep pretending like they do, and charging us top dollar as they go experimentally along. And since we don't have "economy" insurance, that's going to be a whopper of a bill when it comes in. I think I'll stop checking the mail.

Ambivalence

ambivalence: [am-biv-uh-luhns] n. The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings toward a person, an object, or an idea.

I learned the definition of this word years ago and always appreciate it when I hear others using it correctly, as it is widely misused and misunderstood to mean an uncaring attitute towards something.

It very adequately expresses the feelings I experienced recently when I was copied in on the following emails to my boss regarding the search for my replacement at work:

1. My Exec. Assistant will be moving to the DC area in a couple of weeks. She saw your posting and mentioned it to me. She is an excellent worker and is familiar with all of the Wachovia systems. She's been with the company about 5 years. Give me a call if you haven't already filled the posting. I'll be glad to tell you more about her. My number is (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Thanks-C.I.

2. Good Morning Bill, Thank you for forwarding this to me and keeping me in the loop. Have you had the opportunity to speak with Chris? Since I don't have his Assistant's name I don't know if they've already posted for the position. If you'd like me to reach out to Chris I would be happy to help. I have been conducting phone screens last week and this week. I was hoping to circle up with you Wednesday or Thursday to discuss the candidates I've spoken with. We have a decent candidate pool started already. I also have some additional ideas about next steps that I'd like to share with you. Please let me know which day would work best for you to circle up. If you need to reach me today I will be working remotely at (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Thank you and have a great day! Danielle

On one hand I experienced elation at the thought that my long awaited six month sabbatical and exit from an industry I've grown weary of is fast becoming a reality. On the other, there was something rather sad about realizing that I am expendable, that someone new will step into the place I've filled for the last 11 years and before long, I'll just be another name that is floated in casual conversations about people who "used to work here".

Ambivalance. And maybe a little melancholy.