Ribolla Gialla - One half of Friuli’s vinous fraternal twins
The only region that challenges the northeastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia as the king of Italian white wines is the southern region of Campania, but if I could ever arrange that steel cage match between the two, my money would still be on Friuli. Friuli is a veritable garden of vine varieties, both native and “International”, and Ribolla Gialla is one of the pillars…
The name “Ribolla Gialla” has a very specific meaning. “Gialla” simply means “yellow” in Italian (though the Friulani, who call the grape “Ribuele”, speak their own Romance language that is related to Italian, but is decidedly not the same language). The “gialla” part of name distinguishes this particular variety from the inferior quality “Ribolla Verde” (Green Ribolla) that though is not formally cutivated any longer, still grows in certain older vineyrds. The word “Ribolla” means ” (it) re-boils” due to the variety’s propensity to re-ferment in the spring as the temperatures begin to rise. And, as mentioned in the title of this piece, Ribolla Gialla is the white “twin” of the Friulano black grape variety called Schioppettino, which not surprisingly is sometimes known as “Ribolla Nera” (Black Ribolla). One variety is considered to be a mutation of the other, but whether the change went from black to white, or from white to black is still not known.
And though Friuli is unquestionably the variety’s cultivational “sweet spot”, what actually demarcates the borders of Friuli has always been fairly fluid, especially when looking east to what is now Slovenia. Even to this day, there are families that live on one side and work on the other, and most folks on one side of the border have relatives or friends on the other. Ribolla, on the Slavic side of the line is known as Rebula, and is nearly as important a variety there as it is in Friuli. And because Friuli had historically and politically always fallen into the orbit of the Venetian Republic, and the Venetians had developed an extensive network of trading posts throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Agean seas, Robola (as the variety is called there) has adopted the mountainous Greek island of Cepahlaonia as a second home.
Though many grape varieties are touted as being “ancient” ones, the hard and fairly early attestation date for Ribolla discovered in a legal contract dated 1289 confirms the fact that Ribolla Gialla was important enough to be specifically named and esteemed highly enough to be clearly separated from other white Friulano varieties. A bit later, in 1402, the city of Udine (which is still Friuli’s main city) issued an edict strictly forbidding any merchant from misrepresenting other wines as Ribolla, or even blending it with any other variety.
In the glass, Ribolla wines are lively little buggers! They’re actually somewhat good-hearted Doctors Jekyll and Misters Hyde, with the wines always displaying a zesty, even pointy acidity, but with an overarching round, mouth-filling texture. The variety tends toward flavors and aromas of dried white flowers, citrus juices, and chestnuts. In the end, Ribolla Gialla is a very lively and inviting wine that is rarely barrel aged to preserve this spunky character.
Ribolla pairs well with very specific dishes, and strangely, one of these is soup, especially creamed soups. Ribolla works equally well with white-fleshed fish dishes, especially ones with richer sauces, as well as light ocean-based appetizers, and has a particular affinity for crustacean nibblers like lightly boiled shrimps with mayonnaise sauces, and smoked or natural fish carpaccios and therefore, sushi plates as well.
TOM CIOCCO
Care to check out a Ribolla Gialla or three? Here you go…As always, tasting notes are welcomed and encouraged here as comments…
P.S. - Just one caveat - though no one will be likely to take a flyer on an $88 Ribolla Gialla (FEAR NOT! - none of the rest listed are even close to that expensive!) the Josko Gravner Ribolla is an EXTREMELY idiosyncratic take on the variety from a great, but very controversial winemaker…just to give you an idea, Gravner uses ancient Georgian winemaking techniques that involve 40 and 50 day macerations in HUGE terracotta jugs that are buried in the ground - all without temperature control!…’nuff said, right?)
TC
In praise of the “BYOB” restaurant
Now for those of you who live in states/territories/countries in which bringing your own bottle to an eatery is verboten, my deepest sympathies - this piece is not intended in any way to “rub it in” or gloat, but that move you’ve been considering might be worth re-visiting…(just kidding).
As you might surmise, being ITB (”in the business”, though I really DO hate all these interweb acronyms…) I don’t go out to that many wine-list-equipped restaurants. Now surely, there is this or that place that is just SOOO damned good, you just HAVE TO bite the bullet (and either pay the prices, or take a pass on the wine for that meal (Gasp!)), but when you know what something costs wholesale, and you see, at times, mark-ups that approach or even EXCEED TRIPLE the wholesale cost, you begin to wonder why you’re voluntarily balling up that fist and aiming it right at your own wallet…
So with the option of purchasing or not purchasing a wine service license, why would someone choose to do one and not the other? Actually, the question posed as is is meaningless - the factors that determine this decision are completely contingent on the precise language of the laws governing alcohol in your location. Here in New Jersey for example, liquor licenses are literally OWNED by the person/company to whom it is issued and the state limits by population the number of licenses that can be in circulation at any given time, so here, liquor licenses are like houses in that a “house” does not necessarily equal a “house” in terms of value…in an affluent town like Montclair, a liquor license can be sold for upwards of $500,000, while one issued to a shop or restaurant in the same sized space just down the road in economically depressed Irvington might not fetch even a tenth of that figure. Here in New Jersey, a liquor license is represents major EQUITY for the bearer - one owns this license outright, and can sell it for what the market will bear, so in a start-up restaurant scenario, one could opt to open your dream on the cheap (without a liquor license) to keep costs down, but in doing so, you will be forever leaving the potentially huge profits derived from wine sales “on the table”.
Just across the border in New York, there are an unlimited number of licenses that can be issued by the state. There is a relatively small charge (something like $500 for 2 years) to obtain the license, but getting it is just a matter of making the application, and just waiting for it to be mailed to you. Now the clear upsides here are two - if you want a liquor license, you just scrape a few bucks together, fill out and send in some forms, and its yours, i.e. it’s cheap, and you cannot be turned down. But, with the good comes the bad - unlike in New Jersey, you own precisely NOTHING, therefore no equity at time of sale. Further, if the state of New York will issue liquor licenses to anyone that wants one and has a few bucks in his pocket, the competition is, at least in theory, limitless. The long and the short of it is in NJ, it’s MUCH harder to get into the business, but easier to stay there, and more lucrative when/if you exit. New York dramatically reduces the height of the hurdles to enter the community, but you’ll need to earn your keep every day, because there are 5 neighboring shops/restaurants looking to knock you over the head, and the license itself is worthless upon sale of the business.
So what about the over/under for the consumer? The ADVANTAGES of the BYO restaurant are legion and well known. The first advantage is cost. Wines that cost $20 on a liquor store shelf will go for AT LEAST $40-$50 on a restaurant list. ‘Nuff said. The second factor is choice. There is no way to improve upon the ability to select EXACTLY the wine you want to pair with your meal, and to pay a fair price for it…
So if you’ve got in theory an unlimited selection of wines, and they are as inexpensive as one could ever hope to find them, what positives could the restaurant list possibly offer to offset these crucial factors? Well there are a few, but it’s still a question of where your priorities lie…
The first blessing of the wine list is selection. Yes I know, I did just offer the same reason as a an advantage for the BYO - what gives? Well, a “selection” of wines clearly points to a good mind behind that selection (or at least it should), and indeed a good list will have been made by an educated and creative sommelier, so this expert’s choices might help you to discover some new things or break some old/bad habits when it comes to wine you drink. Another related factor is the sommelier him/herself. If you’re having a bout of indecision regarding your wine, a good sommelier can often swoop in and help make short work of what might have been a marathon rumination on your part.
The second edge lists have over BYOs is convenience. Properly constructed wine lists should be made with painstaking attention to the chef’s menu, so pound for pound, wine lists are more robustly “useful” vis a vis the menu in question. With a BYO, only if you are INTIMATELY familiar with its menu, and/or have called ahead for the daily specials, will you be able to make a better selection from the bottles from your own stash or from the bottle shop nearby the resataurant than from the well-matched collection of foods and wines at a decent restaurant. Finally, there is service. If the “I don’t want to have to touch a thing” concept is one to which you subscribe regarding dining out, “full service” restaurants are usually both better equipped and more willing to pamper the customer, especially when it comes to the wine…
But despite all of the legitimate counter-arguments, this wine guy is still a BYO’er. As I said, this is not necessarily the right answer for everyone, but if you are as particular as I am about the wines you drink with your meals, and you know your stuff, any but the very best, most creative wine lists can provide more frustrations than answers to your drinking dilemmas. And though I don’t consider myself to be a cheapskate, it is EXCEEDINGLY difficult to part with $100 for something that you could have bought for $40 at the shop before having left for your weekend…
How many of you have access to BYO restaurants in the places in which you live? Do you like them or not? Are there variations or permutations on the wine list/BYO dichotomy in your neck of the woods? Do you have any suggestions for a sort of “middle course” or even totally new proposal for how best to deliver wine to the mouths of thirsty diners? Have at it, folks!
TOM CIOCCO
Baga - The tough kid turns sweet
Very few Portuguese grape varieties come tripping off of the tongue, even off of the tongues of real serious oenophiles. Aside from the fact that Portugal has only recently begun to make some waves in the greater wine wolrd, the Portuguese wine culture is famous for its blending skills, and rightly so. In fact most Portuguese wines are blends, so while there are some “leading men” varieties, there are very few “one man shows”. The Baga grape is one of the exceptions (though we will see it blended in one of the recommended labels below).
Baga (which means “berry” in Portuguese) is nearly synonymous with the region from which it comes - Bairrada. Bairrada is located in north-central Portugal, bordering Dao on the east, and reaching almost to the Atlantic ocean in the west. The Baga variety accounts for over 90% of the total amount of black grapes grown and harvested in the region.
The variety is very thick-skinned as well as very vigorous (producing large amounts of foliage), but is quite sensitive to a common vine malady called powdery mildew, and despite its thick skins, is also fairly prone to rot in Bairrada’s cool, damp climate which is further exacerbated by its late ripening date. Baga’s wines are famous for their youthful “fire”, derived from the formidable levels of both acids and tannins present in the fruit as well as those tannins that are derived from the stems which in Bairrada are less commonly removed before maceration and fermentation. So much fire can Baga display that most of it has to be barrel aged for several years, and then further fined in the bottle for at times up to a decade or beyond depending on a given wine’s particular style and the quality of the vintage to really tame its “wild child” structure.
In the glass, as was mentioned above, Baga is a BEAR in its youth unless full de-stemming and a partial carbonic maceration is employed. But after the requisite stint of aging, Baga wines shed their tough shells, becoming deep and sweet. More than a few critics have likened well-aged Bairrada Baga to a slightly more rustic Barolo. The variety most often sports flavors and aromas of both red and black currants as well as an earthy mixed berry quality, and a general bold, powerful mouthfeel.
And thought there are a bevy of Baga growers and winemakers in Bairrada, the unchallenged doyen of the zone is a man that is known to be almost as prickly as the wines he makes: Luis Pato. Pato has been the unquestioned “point man” for the variety and the region for years, and his wines still dominate both the domestic and foreign markets in the Bairrada category.
Baga is undoubtedly a wine for meat, pairing especially well with Bairrada’s great culinary specialty, leitao (a roasted suckling pig served with a hot sauce called piri-piri), but it also works very well with barbecued beef or lamb dishes as well.
The first and the third Baga wines listed below are drinking quite well now. The second and fourth would benefit from a bit more cellaring. As always, if anyone picks some of these wines up, please post your tasting notes here as comments…
Luis Pato Bairrada Baga/Touriga Nacional blend
Pseudobacchus Difficilis
100% of the customers that pass over our threshold come in “thirsty” - that one’s a gimme. And roughly 90% of that 100 come in with an open mind, and are willing to take many of our staff’s recommendations, or at very least politely hear us out. Then there are the folks who, after some familiarity with their patterns, one realizes that they pride themselves on their self sufficiency. They are quite comfortable in this habitat, and are essentially solitary creatures that hunt and harvest without assistence. And of course, though we are always ready to engage, this species gets the space it likes and needs to thrive.
But there is a third rare species that moves in and out of this ecosystem, and contrary to what one might think, this species is not nocturnal or particularly reclusive. And while this type has been well-observed in the wild, a precise understanding of its behavior, as well as its taxonomy is still subject to much debate…perhaps some of you who also deal with the public can aid us in fully understanding this creature…
Though both sexes of this species exist, females seem to outnumber males by a factor of about two to one. The species is fairly aggressive, and regularly advances on floor staff, though whether they view salespeople as prey or threats to their ebbing and flowing territories is still not fully understood. The species is fairly vocal, and can heard to say lots of perplexing things, but the one that most often identifies the species is the cry “I don’t know that much about wine, but…” This should be a clear sign to the observer that he or she is about to witness first-hand the bizarre behavior of a most peculiar bird.
After their initial cry, they most often begin to mimic the behavior of the garden variety customer (the current scholarship suggests that this is done as a sort of camoflage) - they plainly ask for some recommendations. The salesman, using his extensive training with such beasts, tries to draw a bead on what the creature is hunting more specifically - price, varietal, place of origin, style, etc. This attempt at refinement usually sends the species into an evasive mode, much the way that rabbits, when persued by predators, run in ever-widening circles…The actual behavior to note usually sounds something like: “Well, show me what you’ve got.” This maneuver usually produces the desired effect of puzzlement in the salesperson, but he or she continues his or her observations, and begins “at the beginning” so to speak. The salesman recommends a $10 Cotes du Rhone. The creature says “No.” Nothing more. The saleman, in trying to ascertain why the wine was rejected straight away, asks the appropriate question, and receives the reply “What else you got?” The salesperson, in an attempt to appeal to the creature’s practical side then moves further mainstream - a $20 California Cabernet. “That’s too expensive” is sqwaked back. The salesperson then tries one at $10, and the creature replies “I don’t think that I like Cabernet”. Undaunted, the salesperson thinks the creature might be playing possum, and decides to try to wow her with some esoterica. He leads her to the the shelf of Portuguese wine, puts a bottle of well-aged Bairrada Baga in her hands, and begins to extoll its virtues. Halfway though the description, the creature puts the bottle back in its place, and clearly stops listening…
By now the salesperson has passed confused, is driving through frustrated, and is about to cross the border of exasperated…The salesperson might then try to appeal to the creature’s trendier side, and lead the bird to drink some Oregon Pinot Noir. There is a spark of recognition, and the creature says: “This stuff was nothing until that stupid movie, and now it’s the best thing since sliced bread. I think it’s all a lot of bunk…” This last exchange finally dashes any theories or hypotheses of understanding this frustrating species that the salesperson might have begun to formulate, and he ends the observation by saying “I’m going to give you some time to think about the suggestions. If you have any questions, just shriek.” and then quickly trots off to his desk to sob while he shreds his wine school diploma, but not before the salesperson overhears the creature saying to another unsuspecting colleague “I don’t much about wine, and I need a little help…” The first salesperson now needs a drink himself…
If any of my fellow “scientists” have any insight into the motivations of this wine drinking(?) oddity, please post YOUR articles here for a full peer review…
TOM CIOCCO
Not in my place you’re not! - A restauranteur takes a stand
…My first of what I hope to be many truly food-focused posts…
This is a true story that I’ve told to friends, colleagues, etc. over the years, and it never fails to elicit a strong opinion…where do you stand?
In my first job as a wine salesman in NewYork City, I used to call on a restaurant in Greenwich Village run by an Italian husband and wife team. Lovely people - he was an amateur painter, and what amounted to the “executive chef” - the kind of guy that once he knows you as a customer won’t let you order off of the menu but rather asks you what you’re in the mood for, and then insists that he make you something special if you would humor him…and it was usually the right move too, by the way…This gentleman’s wife was the archetypal tough but sweet southern Italian matron - the sort of person that immediately commands respect with a queit steelyness just behind her gracious hospitality. Let’s call her Cinzia. On one particular visit she told me this story…
One evening a 30 something-woman arrived at the restaurant on the late-ish side of the dinner service to dine alone, presumably after a late night at work. She was seated and brought a menu and a wine list. She perused the menu standards, the wine list, as well as the daily specials. Since it was already a bit late, she decided against any wine, but she was quite hungry, so she ordered chicken liver pate` crostini topped with a cannellini/tomato/basil mixture, and spaghetti “frutti di mare” (with clams, mussels, shrimp, squid, in a white wine/garlic sauce).
Shortly after ordering, her appetizer was brought by her server, and because of her considerable appetite, and the relatively late hour, she made short work of her toasts, enjoying every bite, and began to eagerly anticipate her pasta dish. When it arrived, it was being carried not by her waiter or server, but by Cinzia herself - like any good restauranteur, she was well aware how much more the “Is everything to your liking?” question means to a patron when it’s coming from the mouth of an owner…The question was asked, and “Yes, delicious, thank you” was the reply. As they were chatting, Cinzia set down her customer’s pasta dish, and asked her if there was anything else she needed. The customer said yes, just a bit of Parmigiano for her pasta. Cinzia’s eyes popped, and her jaw hit the floor. She paused momentarily, gathered herself, and kindly but firmly began to explain to her patron that this dish is customarily served without cheese, and that is why she didn’t bring it to the table with the dish. She explained that this dish traded on the delicacy of the fresh shellfish, and that any sort of strong, hard cheese like Parmigiano or Pecorino would destroy those subtleties. The woman politely thanked her for the expalnation, and asked once again for the grated cheese. Cinzia, a bit of her temper showing, refused to bring the cheese. She explained that this was just simply not done, and since this place was an offering of HER food, she couldn’t with good conscience allow her to do it. She politely but firmly gave the patron three options:
- Choose another dish onto which she COULD sprinkle cheese at no extra charge…
- Eat the pasta as is
- Leave now, no charge for anything, and go to one of her “competitors” that would let you put hot fudge on lasagna, anchovies in your espresso, anything else for that matter…
The customer clearly felt put upon, and was visibly irate, but VERY reluctantly agreed to keep the dish. Cinzia thanked her, and continued about her business throughout the restaurant. About 15 minutes after their terse exchange, the patron summoned Cinzia to her table. Cinzia certainly expected the worst, but upon arriving at the table, the customer demurely apologized, and then thanked Cinzia for her advice - she told her that the dish was DELICIOUS, and that she had never enjoyed it as much before, and told her that she had learned something, and would never put grated cheese on this dish ever again…She left happy, and has become a regular customer.
So what are your thoughts? What do you think of Cinzia’s approach? What about the patron? I’m going to hold my thoughts until I get a comment or two, but I’m hoping we can put together another lively discussion with this one…fire away!
TOM CIOCCO
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