"Full Bodied..."

Last time, on Roaming Nobles:

Castles, bridges, cannibals.

Giovanni di Verrazzano never made it back to Castello Verrazzano, having been eaten by the unfriendly natives of the Bahamas. We, however, did.

The foundations of the castle are over 1200 years old, and remain in perfect condition; the castle, not so much. It was destroyed by the forces of Siena when, after a long and protracted battle with Florence, Siena finally emerged victorious and began a methodical campaign of retrebition against all who had come to the aid of Florence. Seriously, they had a book. Castello Verrazzano was on page 163, written in pink, sparkly ink just above "Suzie Henderson in Homeroom". (Don't cross the Sienese. They will remember.)

As the Tuscans say, "when life gives you grape skins, make grappa." So the Verrazzanos built a expansive villa on the foundations of the old castle, where they continued to live untill the late 1800's. When the last Verrazzano died leaving no heirs, the castle reverted ownership to the state, from which it was purchased by some other noble family.

The castle has been producing wine for its entire 1200 year history, which was until recently an entirely manual process. For example, in order to fully ferment red wine, the skins--which are prone to floating--must be continuously pushed down into the fermenting wine. Men working over these large fermentation vats would occasionally succumb to the wine's vapors and fall in, from which comes the term, "full bodied wine."

Nowadays that job falls to robots, who constantly regulate the young wine's temperature and circulate the grape skins (all while plotting, plotting, waiting, waiting). Between the robots, the men who service them, the rocky soil, the Tuscan sun, and the cool castle cellars, Castello Verrazzano produces a fine array of wines. They also produce: grappa from grape skins remaining after all flavor has been removed from them by the fermentation process, olive oil from the groves of olive trees which surround the vinyard, and salami and prosciutto from their own "wild" boar.

All of this and more was recounted to us by Gillian, our unexpectedly British host, when we visited Castello Verrazzano for a 5-wine, 5-
course, paired tasting lunch extraveganza and tour.

First course, antipasta: Salami and prosciutto. Paired with Verrazzano Rosso (table wine).

Second course, pasta: Fusilli with tomato sauce, sprinkled with a mixture of red pepper, dried parsley, dried garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Paired with Verrazzano Chianti Classico (DOCG).

Third course, meat: white beans with olive oil, boar bacon (for lack of a better word) and boar liver. Paired with Verrazzano Chianti Classico Riserva (DOCG).

Fourth course, dessert: almond cantucci (aka, biscotti). Paired with Verrazzani Vin Santo (dessert wine, DOCG).

Fifth course, coffee: coffee. Paired with Verrazzano Grappa.

Impressions:

* First, a note: Italian wine has four grades (actually, three grading systems and "ungraded") of increasing quality and restrictiveness: IHT, least restrictive and lowest standards; DOC, restrictions on recipes and ingredients, high quality standards; DOCG, restrictions on recipes, ingredients, additives, processes, and extremely high quality standards.

The Rosso table wine was very good for its price--about €6,50. Because the DOC/DOCG stamps impose almost fascist restrictions on a vintner's recipes in the name of the "classics", this wine is ungraded. Its recipe is relatively modern--at least when compared to the centuries-old recipe for Chianti. Very flavorful, this wine is best served with spicy foods, which would threaten to overwhelm a more mild wine.

The salami and prosciutto were fantastic.

The Chianti Classico (~€13) and Riserva (~€26) were also very good, though I doubt the Riserva was twice as good as the Classico; buy two bottles of the Classico and be better off than with one of the Riserva.

So, you're at a mountaintop villa, being served estate wine, and they
come out with spiral pasta and red sauce, and you're like, "Pssh? Thanks, Chef Boyaredee." But try this at home: mix up one part each of crushed red pepper, dried parsley, and dried garlic. Or maybe two parts parsley. Sprinkle on pasta. Salt heavily. Delicious.

After the main course, our hosts brought out plates of Parma cheese, and instructed us to place our spoons on our plates. They then came around and poured a single spoonfull of balsamic vinegar into each. It was thick like hot maple syrup, and more sweet than sour. And at €48 per 100 ml, you could make the worlds most expensive salad dressing. (If you do, pour it over a salad of spinach, mint, strawberries, and goat cheese. Yum!)

Vin Santo is a local Tuscan desert wine, made at home to serve to guests. Apparently the Pope visited Tuscany in the 13th century and after being served the drink declared that it tasted like God's own tears. (I know what you were thinking: that he banned it for encouraging salacious thoughts. I was thinking the same thing. But no, he was an alcoholic. And probably had like 18 mistresses.) So that humble, homemade dessert wine is now served at communion in Tuscany, and called "vin santo", or "holy wine". And of course it now falls under the jurisdiction of those perfectionists at the DOCG.

Cantucci (or in English: "biscotti") is meant to be dunked in vin santo, never coffee. However, both the wine and the cookie tasted better separately. The sweetness of the cantucci inhibited the same of the vin santo, leaving only alcohol and a slight astringent flavor. However, perhaps that's your thing. In which case...

Grappa is a testament to that Italian efficiency which Elizabeth mentioned. Why throw away that stinking mass of used grape skins when you can extract more alcohol from it? After enough fermentation and distillation, you get this flavorless, astringent alcohol which is better used for disinfection or paint removal than drinking. And then you put it in your coffee! Caffé correcto: coffee which has been corrected by the addiction of grappa. Or: a method of rendering grappa slightly less offensive. Or: a low-calorie alternative to rum & coke for getting your caffinated alcohol on.

All in all, t'was a fantastic lunch.