Three for summer.
It feels like languorous midsummer already. Not the weather, which has been mild. But the space around me, the untethered feeling. School’s out. Obligations are lapsed. It’ll be months before serious business and shorter days return. In autumn I feel time ticking past. Summer is an island.
In a little pause between the chaos of incoming 40’ containers, we are receiving a gift from Martin Minkowitsch, a single-item shipment intended to carry us through the heat of summer, before new vintages of his more serious wines arrive in autumn.
Olive trees at Poggio di Bortolone
Around Christmas I emailed Martin a request for help in my continuing search for a fun-and-refreshing liter bottle Gruner Veltliner, to sell as beach/picnic/party wine from Memorial to Labor Day. After a little reflection, the ever-helpful Minkowitsch replied “why don’t I make one for you?” Perfect. The affordable big bottle of Grüner that I need, with the quality assurance that comes from Martin’s always-reliable cellar in the Wienviertel.
I think Frappato is the best red wine for the heat of midsummer, for two reasons. It is refreshing: great chilled. That’s all that needs to be said about reason number one. Also, it goes well with foods we want to eat in July. Caponata, and your other favorite uses for eggplant. Grilled pizzas. Even some fish, for example sardines. Vegetable-centric North African dishes, or for that matter the cuisine of the southern and eastern Mediterranean. Also you can drink it with American food. Barbecue, burgers, fried seafood, tacos. I like it most with a salad of farro, sweet ripe tomatoes, and roasted red peppers. Maybe with some feta and sprouts or pea shoots included. Or medium-sized hand-rolled couscous topped with olive oil, harissa, and (you guessed it) high-quality canned sardines, or chicken roasted with ras al hanout.
The point is, a bottle of Poggio di Bortolone Frappato on your patio dinner table is something to reach for, even though we’ve passed a point on the calendar when most reds are deservedly relegated to insulated spaces, rooms where arctic blasts from the HVAC approximate chilly humidity-free autumn. When choosing wines to drink, why not follow the seasons? Sounds very modern and of the moment, right? Maybe I’ll create a biodynamic calendar to indicate appropriate wines for specific dates. Alicante Bouschet for the ides of March, Picpoul on July 4th, Tannat for the midwinter solstice. I’ll consult some Wiccans and a Steiner school grad for tips. Maybe I’ll ride a donkey through the mountains, wearing birkenstocks and a bandana from the festival for the Eno (2006) stopping only at art schools and craft breweries, foraging mushrooms, bartering for crystals, seeking the true pathway to seasonality. Too far?
To find a white wine with the equivalent quotient of refreshment, we travelled to the absolute opposite end of Italy. To Alto Adige, as different as a place can be from the rolling, sun-baked fields of Vittoria where Frappato thrives. At the mountainous edge of the city of Bolzano, Andreas Berger speaks German and grows Sauvignon at the top of a dizzyingly vertical field that climbs to 800 meters above sea level, overlooking the neighborhood that now surrounds his 6th generation family farm. If you want white wine of startling purity, Sauvignon absent the garishness it can acquire at other elevations/latitudes, pick up a bottle of Thurnhof. I’d pick up several, swiftly, because Thurnhof’s four hectares of vines don’t produce much wine. We’ll run out, and be sad and impatient until next spring. Drink this wine with trout, or speck from Left Bank/Alimentari (the braunschweiger they make is great too, but needs Thurnhof Lagrein) or a simple composed salad of tender lettuces, carrots, radishes, turnips, while they last.
Looking up from the bottom of Thurnhof’s mountain.
A thirst-quenching new arrival for your midsummer day drinking needs.