Posts tagged Collio
Canary in a Coalmine
"It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop"
Paraschos “Clàr di lune” and marinated trouts
Last night I had a chance to taste another wonderful wine from this side of the “Bel Paese”, the beautiful region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy. The Collio area is renowned for its SuperWhites: some still unknown to the wine world, certainly underrated.
This winemaker belongs to the natural wines family and the wine I sampled is part of the 2nd of the two lines he produces. Its name is so poetic: Clàr di Lune, Moonlight!
Paraschos has been making wines in the heart of the Collio area since 1998 and adopted the biodynamic philosophy in the early days. There’s no use of herbicides nor fertilizer: the grapes end up in oak vats or terracotta amphoras without the use of yeasts, preservatives nor colourings.
Once opened, Clàr di Lune shows a wonderful amber colour result of natural wine making and an unfiltered, unclarified bottling procedure.
It’s so great still discovering top quality wines so close to my home town!
The food to match was marinated trout that I grilled and served to my hungry crew. We like fish as simple as possible and I generally create a marinade and then simply grill it. Good quality food generally need not much!
I feel that trout is so underrated and ignored nowadays: it’s a lovely fish, at all not expensive, nice and firm meat and very flavourful.
More recipes here if you like trout.
This time I had a little help from my favourite spice supplier: Seasoned Pioneers.
Jazz & Wine of Peace 2011
On Thursday 20th October Jazz & Wine of Peace 14th edition will start in Cormons, FVG, North East Italy. The program is very interesting and there are plenty of occasion to listen to great Jazz, tasting and sampling a multitude of regional wines and food specialities.
During this edition musicians like Bobby Previte, Gianluca Petrella, Steve Swallow, Wolfgang Puschnig, Wayne Horvitz, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell, Christy Doran, Kris Davis, Roberto Gemo, Saverio Tasca, John Abercrombie, Mark Feldman, Joey Baron, Bojan Z, Julien Lourau, Steve Coleman and many more will perform between the Italian and Slovenian Collio towns, restaurants, trattorias, small churches, vineries for the joy of the 10.000 jazz and wine lovers visiting the area.
John Abercrombie and his Quartet will be certainly on my list and I am also very interested in Steve Coleman and his Reflex trio.
Visit the Circolo Culturale Controtempo, select the concert you like and buy the tickets on line.
Give us a shout would you need any further info.
First day back at school
Sorry folks, I’ve been on holiday and I usually completely switch off.
We have been busy with lots of friends staying at Villa Giustina during these two weeks: these pics are taken while visiting Radikon and Paraschos, two reknown skin contact Collio winemakers. We drove to San Floriano del Collio by Vespa and my XT500 and spent two hours listening first to Sasa Radikon and then Alexis Paraschos while they introduced their wines and wine making procedures. They belong to the natural wine producers family and are small niche winemakers.
We sampled Radikon Ribolla Gialla and Jakot. Then Paraschos Merlot and Pinot Grigio. Wonderful products with their “amber” almost “golden” colours. Fantastic afternoon.
![HAILSTORM: BAD NEWS FOR COLLIO WINEMAKERS
Terrible hailstorm struck Collio late on Saturday night.
“‘The hailstorm, which lasted for a good 30 minutes, struck in a leopard-spot pattern [affecting] one out of every six vineyards,’ said Luigi Soini, director at the Cantina Produttori di Cormons. ‘In some cases, as in Plessiva, Zegla, and Preval, 100% of the crop was lost. In others, 80%. In the more fortunate cases, only 10-15% of the fruit was damaged… It’s been years since a calamity of this proportion has occurred in Collio.’”
Source: Università di Udine.
Note how the canopy in the photo above has been almost entirely destroyed. Even where vineyards were not affected directly by the hail, the rot that will follow can have a devastating effect on. Many wineries, said Giampaolo, including some of the biggest names, will not be producing wine in the 2010 vintage.
As much as we love Nature, she can also be cruel…
(source Do Bianchi)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_loxp9mxRyw1qbo5aao1_500.jpg)
HAILSTORM: BAD NEWS FOR COLLIO WINEMAKERS
Terrible hailstorm struck Collio late on Saturday night.
“‘The hailstorm, which lasted for a good 30 minutes, struck in a leopard-spot pattern [affecting] one out of every six vineyards,’ said Luigi Soini, director at the Cantina Produttori di Cormons. ‘In some cases, as in Plessiva, Zegla, and Preval, 100% of the crop was lost. In others, 80%. In the more fortunate cases, only 10-15% of the fruit was damaged… It’s been years since a calamity of this proportion has occurred in Collio.’”
Source: Università di Udine.
Note how the canopy in the photo above has been almost entirely destroyed. Even where vineyards were not affected directly by the hail, the rot that will follow can have a devastating effect on. Many wineries, said Giampaolo, including some of the biggest names, will not be producing wine in the 2010 vintage.
As much as we love Nature, she can also be cruel…
(source Do Bianchi)
An American journalist, a Vespa, the Collio and its vineyards
NYTimes journalist Ingrid K. Williams recently visited the North East region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Collio area in particular.
“The seed of Collio’s vino-and-Vespa idea can be traced to one historic night in late 2007 and two friends, Edi Keber, a vintner, and Josko Sirk, a vinegar producer and owner of La Subida, an area inn with a Michelin-starred restaurant. “On the day when the border was removed and Slovenia officially entered the E.U., Edi and I took two Vespas,” Mr. Sirk told me, recounting the story of the joyful celebration. “All night long, we drove back and forth across the border.”
Read more In Italy’s Collio Wine Region, Touring Vineyards by Vespa - NYTimes.com
LIKOF in San Floriano del Collio (FVG)
The weekend of the 3rd and 4th of June will be a great time for food & wine lovers: the LIKOF in San Floriano del Collio 2011 edition.
This historic and traditional celebration of the rural communities of this side of the “Bel Paese” (North East), often connected to the completion of the construction of the roof of your house, introduces the arrival of the month of May, the labour intensive day life of the local farmers and winemakers, the patron saint of the village.
Visitors will be tasting local wines, honey and olive oil, the first cherries and the traditional cuisine dishes.
See ya there!
