Frascati - one of wine’s Rodney Dangerfields - and a recipe

Poor Frascati. It never really had a chance. Those of you who have delved a bit into the Italian wine classification system know all too well that all DOCs are not created equal, and the Frascati norms seem almost to be a set up for failure for this historic wine. Perhaps it is due to the Frascati zone’s proximity to the “belly of the beast” that is Italy’s lawmaking epicenter called the Campidoglio (a small sliver of the Frascati zone is actually WITHTIN Rome’s city limits), but Frascati’s DOC regulations do it no favors in terms of quality. The first problem is yields. The permitted harvest limits per hectare are just too high (the more grapes a vine is allowed to produce, the poorer the quality of the fruit). There are indeed some growers that “self-police”, and voluntarily reduce yields, but when permissable yields for all of your peers are that high, and most of them push right to those limits, there is little incentive to produce higher quality wine because the DOC encourages quantity over quality thereby tagging Frascati as a simple “jug wine” style drink - sort of like saying that your novelty company makes the finest fake doggie doo in the world - perceptually, what does that really mean?

The other major problem for Frascati is its permissable grape varieties. Frascati’s uvaggio (grape blend) is truly a kitchen sink…It is:

Malvasia Bianca di Candia 50%-100%
Trebbiano Toscano 10%-20%
Malvasia del Lazio 10%-40%
Up to 30% total (but not required), in any combination, of Greco, Trebbiano Giallo, Bellone, and Bombino Biano
Up to 15% total (but not required), in any combination, of other white varieties authorized for the region of Lazio

So what do these numbers really mean? Well, Malvasia di Candia is perhaps the LEAST characterful of all of the Malvasia siblings, and the Frascati DOC requires 50%, and does not forbid even 100%! Trebbiano Toscano is useful to bring acidity to the blend, but it contributes little else, and producers are REQUIRED to use at least 10% in the blend. Malvasia del Lazio is considered by many to the MOST interesting member of the Malvasia family, and is ironically one of the most traditional grape varieities in the area, but puzzlingly it cannot exceed 40%. The group of varieties in the next line, apart from the fairly neutral (and redundant - see line 2) Trebbiano Giallo, are very interesting, unique varieties, but none are required, and together or separately cannot exceed 30% of the total blend. The same rough idea applies to the “authorized” varieties mentioned in the last line. So with the kind of latitude allowed in yield and grape variety, there is Frascati, and there is FRASCATI if you know what I mean…

But, when Frascati is cropped correctly, and the grape blend is well chosen, Frascati is an easy, characterful, charming, and fresh wine, and it’s inexpensive to boot. So if you look below, you’ll see a link to a really lovely single vineyard (that’s a real rarity) Frascati. Hopefully, some of you can find it in your hearts to give a few bottles of this wonderful wine a good home. And to encourage an adoption or two, here’s a recipe for Frascati’s favorite dance partner at the table - Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Try the two together and you’ll see why they’re so much in love.

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA

1 lb. of Italian spaghetti
1/3 lb. of pancetta, in one thick slice (in a pinch use fatback, American bacon is smoked, and using it will change the dish)
good pinch of red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
4 eggs
1/3 cup of FRESHLY grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/3 cup of FRESHLY grated Pecorino Romano
Abundantly FRESHLY ground black pepper

- Set the water for the pasta to boil.
- Heat a tablespeoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.
- Cut the pancetta into small dice (lay flat and SLICE “matchsticks”; keep them aligned and turn the whole round 90 degress and repeat; don’t “rock” the knife, or “chop” at it)
- Add the pancetta to the pan with the red pepper flakes. Cook until the pancetta is well rendered and lightly browned. Turn off flame.
- In a pyrex bowl add the cheeses, the eggs, and the black pepper. Whisk until a thick, homogenized mixture is formed
- Just before the pasta is cooked “al dente”, in a pyrex measuring cup, remove about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the boiling water from the pot.
- FROM THIS POINT IT’S ALL ABOUT WATCHING YOUR HEAT AND A BIT OF SPEED…
- Drain the pasta. IMMEDIATELY, temper the egg/cheese mixture by whisking in the hot pasta water.
- Dump the spaghetti back into the (now empty) pot in which it was cooked
- OFF THE HEAT(!), add the pancetta/red pepper soffrito to the pasta, and IMMEDIATELY the tempered eggs/cheese mixture.
- Stir quite vigorously until the heat from the pasta begins to stiffen the sauce to a thick, creamy consistency. Serve immediately.

*NOTES*
This dish, like so many Italian dishes, is quite simple and its ultimate success depends on QUALITY ingredients. Use only FRESH cheese (NOT pre-ground!) eggs (organic), pasta (Italian) etc.

Too much heat in the final, somewhat hectic assembly phase, will RUIN this dish. If you add too much hot water too fast to temper the eggs you may ultimately wind up with either a too soupy sauce or scrambled eggs. The same is true for the mixing phase - if the pasta is too hot (it shouldn’t be if you are mixing it up OFF THE HEAT) again, it will scramble the eggs, and while it will not taste BAD, it will taste DIFFERENT (and I think not as good), and that unctuous, decadent sauce will be just lumps and oil, and that stinks.

The picture I chose above is more or less what the final dish should look like. Just to be clear, and at the risk of being called a food nazi, Carbonara contains no cream, no garlic, no mushrooms, no nothing else - this is the dish. There is a variation of Carbonara called Pappalina that adds chopped onions and green peas. To make this variation, fry the onions with the pancetta, cook the peas separately, and then follow the directions above.

Buon Appetito!

REAL, GOOD FRASCATI!