Colli Orientali, Colutta, Grappoli, Italy, Picolit, Westpark, wine
In Uncategorized on June 20, 2009 at 8:49 pm
A Few Notes on Picolit
Our Thursday tasting this week features the wines of Giorgio Colutta as presented by Lauren Tompkins of Grappoli Imports. The Colutta farm and winery is located in the farthest reaches of northeast Italy, in the rolling hills of the Colli Orientali. This area is closer to Austria and Germany stylistically than to the rest of Italy, and it’s no surprise that white wine grapes flourish here. However, the most highly prized white grape in the Colli Orientali, Picolit, produces lightly honeyed, sweet wines, but struggles annually and challenges growers:
-The grape itself is small, but with large pips (seeds).
-The vine is extremely vigorous, requiring time in the vineyard to restrain it.
-Early, sparse flowering, and late ripening combine for a long growing season, and exposure to unwelcome rain and hail.
-Picolit suffers from a genetic mutation that aborts flowers before pollination, resulting in precious few berries per bunch.
-Because of its flowering habits, late ripening and vigor, the vine requires some of the best hillside vineyard sites- those with excellent sun exposure, poor soils, and good ventilation.
-Many producers, including Colutta, dry the grapes to further concentrate sugars (the vine has already done a lot of the work in this respect).
The above challenges present themselves even in the best vintages. Growing and producing Picolit requires lots of time, attention and resources, and as a result, many producers have abandoned production. Total production is around 150,000 bottles, most of which are 375 or 500ml.- that’s 12,000 cases, in mostly small bottles!
Join us Thursday for a rare opportunity to try Picolit.
Ale, beer, North Coast Brewing, Virtual, Westpark
In Uncategorized on June 12, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Why call it the Beer Theater? Originally, we planned on having an amphitheater like beer diplay where we could have different beers fight to the death in the center ring of the “Beeriseum.” However, the recent dip in the economy didn’t call for more of an expansion in our malty real estate, so we shelved the idea for the time being.
Enter the spring and our winemaker videos (two of which aren’t even up because of my novice video mistake of shooting sideways) and our burgeoning interest in mulitmedia. As with the winemaker videos I expected to shoot discussions on style, flavor, and quirky stories; perhaps, even include the occasional beer brawl.
I’m sure many people would enjoy us talking about the nuances of lagering versus ales and the specifics of style, but wouldn’t it be better to hear it from the brewers themselves?
This is not a particularly challenging question. Instead, let’s ask what never get’s asked – within the craft world, where is the deeper discussion of beer’s place and purpose?
Consider the legions of beer drinkers who also homebrew, and understand the process intrinsically. Given the opportunity people who are even modestly educated in wine will graduate from taste and flavor profile to food pairing, regional significance, cellaring, stylistic comparisons to other available examples. One has to wonder what’s next?
Certainly there’s a host of culturally significant topics to discuss when we move past beer tastes good… so where’s the discussion? More importantly, how do we find out what’s on the minds of the people who make it?
Now we have an interesting situation. Here, we get to speak to people who make what we love – leaders in the field, in fact. So what will you ask?
While I enjoy the flavor of the “Beeriseum,” pitting ale on ale in a flavor grudge match for supremacy, I think it would be at the cost of a more intriguing and impactful debate – both of which, would make good theater.
