Wherefore Art Thou Vino?

BY RICCARDO TARABELSI

THIS ARTICLE IS DEDICATED TO MY NONNA, ANNA BENEDETTI 1913 – 2008

If you paid attention to your 9th grade English teacher (thank you Mrs. Levis!) you will undoubtedly know that the word “wherefore” does not mean “where,” it means “why.” And that’s the question that drives us, or at least me, an enophile, wherefore art thou vino? Why are you wine? In other words, what makes wine so special, and why does it intrigue me so? As I ponder these questions during this Mother’s Day month, my thoughts drift to how special my Italian grandmother was and how women are influencing the world of Italian wine.

To answer my plethora of questions, I must go back to the original question, “Wherefore art thou vino?” which is in reference to one of my favorite plays, Romeo and Juliet. This tragic story takes place in Verona, and I was fortunate enough as a teenager to do a lot of traveling with my family, who has relatives in virtually every country throughout Europe and the Middle East. My memories of visits to Verona will always remind me of three things: Juliet’s balcony, the grapes of Valpolicella, and my maternal grandmother, Nonna Anna.

My grandmother, or Nonna in Italian, was a feisty little Italian woman who was born in Verona, a quaint town that has now grown into the second most popular tourist attraction in the region of Veneto; the first being the famous “underwater” city of Venice. My Nonna, who lived to be 94-years-old, led quite the interesting life: Imagine being born in Italy during World War I, growing up in Europe during the Great Depression, marrying a circus acrobat named Spartacus (no lie,) raising three children on your own during World War II, making a living as a seamstress in Florence, and then moving away from everything you’ve ever known to live in the United States with your daughter, sonin-law, and adorable grandson (that’s me!) Anyway, the point is that she went through a lot and had to give up everything time and time again to pursue her passions. Passion is what drives us.

In my passion to discover exactly what it is that makes wine so special, I realize that I am still in awe whenever I look at an Italian wine label. Italy is known for simplicity and elegance, but have you ever tried reading an Italian wine bottle label? You probably feel like you need Duolingo just to interpret some of the words. Who is the producer? What is the grape? Where is it from? The purpose of a label is to guide you to a wine that you might like. But if the label is not clear, concise, and specific, then how are you supposed to know if you have chosen the right wine? Why do Italians insist on making their wine labels so hard to understand?

I can still remember when I was fifteen and asking my Nonna for her “secret” Lasagna Alla Veronese recipe. Her response was, “I’ll tell you only when you are able to understand.” And so, it wasn’t until my twenty-first birthday that she told me the secret to her amazing lasagna was the Beciamella sauce. She said to me, “Write this down: latte, farina, e sale.” That’s it? I waited six years for “Milk, Flour, and Salt!”

Looking back on the simplicity of that recipe and my grandmother’s perception of its complexity, I realize now that she was only protecting the recipe’s integrity. Much like my grandmother’s harboring of the lasagna recipe, Italian winemakers guard their precious vines with their very own lives. Take, for example, the unbelievable scrutiny and care that the wine producer, Marta Galli of Le Ragose vineyards in Valpolicella takes. Working with her children, Paolo, Marco, and Marina, Marta owns vineyards that are located at the highest point in the Valpolicella zone (1,148 ft.) which was founded in 1969. Slightly north of Verona, this picturesque countryside is ideal for growing Valpolicella’s indigenous grapes, Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara, which are used to create one of the most well known wines of this region: Amarone.

The harvesting and care of the vineyards must be done by hand, as it is impossible to get a tractor to operate on the incline. Harvesting of the grapes takes place in late October, and for the Amarone, only the recie, or ears, of the grapes are picked because these are the grapes that have had the highest exposure to the sun and are therefore riper, containing a higher concentration of natural sugars. These grapes are then placed in wooden boxes and are left to dry outside until late February. Can you imagine the first time someone dumped a bunch of grapes into a crate and left them outside for three months? I’m sure everybody thought that the winemaker was crazy, but I guess they thought the same thing about people like Edison, Einstein, and Freud. Well, maybe Freud was crazy.

The point is that this wine-making process is genius. The dried grapes, or raisined grapes undergo fermentation in temperaturecontrolled, stainless steel tanks and are aged for 1 year in stainless, then 4 - 5 years in Slovenian oak casks. The average production of this wine is 600-700 cases per vintage. Because the wine is made by using the dried grapes, and because the sugar content is high in these grapes, the wine produced is a powerfully jammy wine with a high alcohol percentage (14 – 16%) and dense, ripe fruit on the nose. The Amarone has a lingering finish with dry and tannic qualities, allowing this wine to be aged for a long time. This is, by far, one of the best wines that I have enjoyed on a number of occasions, one of which was when the representative for Le Ragose vineyards was in town years ago and did a tasting of his wines. After everyone had left the event, the representative “insisted” that I stay and share a bottle of 1997 Le Ragose Amarone with him. After getting my arm twisted, I agreed to stay and enjoyed a nice conversation about Marta Galli and the respect she has gained as a woman in a male-dominated Italian wine industry. Even Marta herself has been quoted as saying, “In wine making, it is not your sex that counts, it is your soul.”

This year, for Mother’s Day, get her a beautiful bottle of Valpolicella wine that’s nice and light with lots of fruit. If she’s a bold woman (have you met my wife?), then choose to upgrade to a Valpolicella Ripasso (a Valpolicella wine that has undergone a second fermentation) or an Amarone. If you really want to impress your enophilic Mother, then I suggest getting her a set of crystal Riedel glasses. A glass is not just a glass, but an instrument to increase pleasure and enjoyment of your wine.

As I conclude this article, I look back to see that my pursuit of answering the question “why” has led me down an interesting road filled with women I respect, and I honor them here, in my writing. Juliet, my Nonna, and Marta Galli, all linked by the city of Verona, are all strong women who share similar passions for life. And therein lies the answer to my questions, why is wine so special and why does it intrigue me so? The answer was in the questioning: the things that we are most passionate about are the things we keep pursuing with all of our heart. My Nonna wouldn’t want me to do it any other way.

Riccardo and Marybeth Tarabelsi are the owners of R Wine Bar & Kitchen, Brix Wine Bar, Maribella Ristorante, and Vespa Catering, all in Downtown Sioux Falls. Riccardo will be celebrating Mother’s Day with his wife, Marybeth, and their three sons, Dante, Berent (fiancée Molli,) and Jaxon. Contact Riccardo at riccardo@rwinebar.com.