Vias Imports Ltd, which was established in 1983, imports a wide selection of Italian wines to the US. The wines are distributed locally by The Henry Wine Group.
Recently, thanks to Jim Griffin of The Henry Wine Group, I had the opportunity to accompany DiMaggio Washington, owner of The Cellar Wine Bar and Restaurant, to the Vias annual portfolio tasting at The Beverly Hills Hotel.
Now, anyone who reads any of my columns will realize that I was out of my element. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the mainly California wines I think I know something about, and I have no expertise whatsoever in Italian wines.
Fortunately, I had a great tour guide in DiMaggio. Usually, when I go to tastings, I wander off on my own, but not this time. I stuck to DiMaggio like glue and tried to soak up as much knowledge as I could.
There were 22 tasting stations. Our guidebook identified each of these tables by region and then listed the wineries and the wines being poured. Per the program, the regions and wineries were:
TABLE #1 – PIEMONTE
Broglia
Araldica / Castelvero / Rapido / Il Cascinone
Produttori del Barbaresco
TABLE #2 – PIEMONTE
Damilano
TABLE #3 – PIEMONTE
Marenco
Pecchenino
TABLE #4 – PIEMONTE
Elvio Cogno
TABLE #5 – LIGURIA / LOMBARDIA / E. ROMAGNA
Colle dei Bardellini
Castello di Luzzano
Pederzana
TABLE #6 – TRENTINO
Torre di Luna
Lechthaler
Maso Poli
TABLE #7 – TRENTINO & ALTO ADIGE
Guerrieri Gonzaga
Gottardi
Strasserhof
TABLE #8 – TRENTINO
Istituto San Michel
TABLE #9 – FRIULI
Tenuta Luisa
TABLE #10 – FRIULI
Vie de Romans
TABLE #11 – VENETO
Suavia
Le Salette
Dal Forna Romano
TABLE #12 – TOSCANA
Argiano
Valle Azul (Patagonia, Argentina)
Bodega Noemia (Patagonia, Argentina)
TABLE #13 – TOSCANA
Camigliano
Poggio Vipere
Castello Meleto
TABLE #14 – TOSCANA
Bruni
Castello dei Rampolla
Cerbaiona (Molinari)
Fossacolle
San Fabiano
TABLE #15 – TOSCANA & UMBRIA
La Lastra
Fattoria del Cerro
Colpetrone (Umbria)
La Poderina
TABLE #16 – TOSCANA & SICILIA
Rocca Frassinello
Baglio del Sole (Sicilia)
Feudi del Pisciotto (Sicilia)
TABLE #17 – UMBRIA / LAZIO
Argillae
Corte dei Papi
Pietra Porzia
TABLE #18 – ABRUZZI
Cataldi Madonna
TABLE #19 – CAMPANIA
Terredora
TABLE #20 – ABRUZZI / CALABRIA
Capestrano
Statti
TABLE #21 – PUGLIA / SICILIA
Cantele
Ceuso
Colosi
Feudo di Santa Tresa / Purato
TABLE #22 – TRENTINO
Bertagnolli
I apologize for any spelling errors in the above list.
I have not listed the wines being poured at each table; there were too many to list.
I found it interesting as I went through the tasting how I would automatically try to compare certain wines to my frame of reference, such as the Colle dei Bardellini Vermentino at Table #5, which had some similarities to the Clavo Vermentino I wrote about recently, although a lighter style. And while I am not typically a Merlot fan, one of my favorite wines of the day was the Guerrieri Gonzaga Merlot Villa Gresti at Table #7.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any tasting notes from the event. I usually don’t take many, relying on my recognition of the wines in the program to jog my memory. But, all the Italian names have kind of blended together. Besides, the last table was pouring primarily grappas, and that kind of blurred the afternoon.
I do want to thank Jim Griffin for inviting me to this event. The wines were delicious. And I also want to thank DiMaggio Washington for explaining so much to me. Unfortunately, while I hoped to soak up some knowledge, I primarily just soaked up a lot of wine. I think I need to start taking DiMaggio’s classes at The Cellar.
Michael Perlis provides outsourced controller services to businesses that do not need a full-time controller. He balances this with his interest in wine: reading and writing about it and, of course, drinking it. He is still trying to figure out how to combine these two pursuits. Feel free to contact him about either at mcpfinancial@aol.com or michaelthezinfan@aol.com.
