Rooms

[hectorm]

you bought it in 2012 but from which millésime is the wine ?

This Frappato was 2010. Bought 2 bottles and drank the first in 2012. It was an eye opener regarding Sicilian and "natural" wines (Thanks, Michael).
I kept the second bottle four years more under the same conditions I keep the rest of my wines, which might be less than optimal but very decent. Don´t get me wrong, the wine was still drinkable but nothing compared to the first experience and, although a two bottle affair is not enough for drawing conclusions, I just wanted to let the participants in this thread know.

[alden]

Hectorm

I can imagine the 2010 vintage after six years losing a bit of its punch. Frappato is a wine to drink on the fruit.

I have consumed hundreds of bottles (cases?) of this elixir over the last decade and it is without question one of my favorite spring/summertime reds. Served like a Gamay, a bit cool, it is a delight with all that our extraordinary Med diet provides.

If you want to try a Sicilian red that ages well, you might buy some Nerello Mascalese from Etna...Frank Cornelissen's reds for example. Another lovely local Sicilian red wine is made from the Pignatello grape, try that made by Nino Baracco. It is my absolute favorite with grilled Tuna.

Cheers

[davidhuh]

This Frappato was 2010. Bought 2 bottles and drank the first in 2012. It was an eye opener regarding Sicilian and "natural" wines

Dear Hectorm,

I couldn't resist drinking the 2010 rather quickly. Currently, I have 2012 in my cellar, which is in perfect shape. Last week, I tasted the 2014. Simply delicious. In my opinion (shared by my friend who is the importer for Switzerland), Arianna is getting better every year. Generally said, Frappato should be consumed rather young, as Michael says. In my friend's opinion, it has some ageing potential which I'm still figuring out. It may depend on the vintage. I promise to report

Cheers, David

[hectorm]

I couldn't resist drinking the 2010 rather quickly. Currently, I have 2012 in my cellar, which is in perfect shape... it has some ageing potential which I'm still figuring out. It may depend on the vintage.

Now I see that Wine Spectator is advising to drink the 2013 until 2021. It maybe so, but my own experience suggests that there is not much to gain on the palate from ageing it and there´s always a risk to go over the hill, so it´s better as you say to succumb to the temptation and drink this already famed Frappato young.
In any case, the 2012 and 2013 are gone around here, (I mean walking distance from home) and there´s only 2014 available. I´m also inclined to try Occhipinti´s red SP68. At almost half the price of the Frappato it might turn an extraordinary value.

If you want to try a Sicilian red that ages well, you might buy some Nerello Mascalese from Etna...Frank Cornelissen's reds for example. Another lovely local Sicilian red wine is made from the Pignatello grape, try that made by Nino Baracco. It is my absolute favorite with grilled Tuna.

I´m taking notes.
I love when someone highly recommends me a wine related to a specific dish. For me, safe for some very special cases, that´s the way wine should be enjoyed.

[alden]

I would skip the SP Hectorm. Find more bottles of Frappato and drink 'em!

Cheers

[davidhuh]

Now I see that Wine Spectator is advising to drink the 2013 until 2021. It maybe so, but my own experience suggests that there is not much to gain on the palate from ageing it and there´s always a risk to go over the hill, so it´s better as you say to succumb to the temptation and drink this already famed Frappato young.
In any case, the 2012 and 2013 are gone around here, (I mean walking distance from home) and there´s only 2014 available. I´m also inclined to try Occhipinti´s red SP68. At almost half the price of the Frappato it might turn an extraordinary value.

Dear Hectorm,

Wine Spectator seems to confirm what my friend is telling me. Note that Arianna started wine making around 2004/2005 at a very small scale, and the first Frappato was likely around 2009. She has become better every year since. Buy the 2014. It is very good.

Regarding the SP68: As Michael, I would rather buy more Frappato - but it is a good wine at a very good price. So well worth the money.

Cheers, David

[davidhuh]

Dear Hector,

after your message about the 2010, I went digging in my cellar and found a last remaining bottle of the 2010 vintage. I just drunk it. Honestly, the wine was in perfect shape. The nose unchanged, in the palate perhaps even more peppery and less fruity than before - which is what I would expect.

It may be you had an unhappy bottle or an unhappy cork. It may be that my wine cellar is too perfect (meaning messy but 120 years old like my house). If you don't believe me, ask Costi who came over for dinner - may be you join next time? The problem is that the 2010 is gone now - but feel welcome nevertheless!

Cheers, David

[hectorm]

It may be you had an unhappy bottle or an unhappy cork. It may be that my wine cellar is too perfect (meaning messy but 120 years old like my house). If you don't believe me, ask Costi who came over for dinner - may be you join next time? The problem is that the 2010 is gone now - but feel welcome nevertheless!

Thank you for your very kind message, David.
Good to know that your cellar is messy too. My house is a venerable 166 years old lady but, despite its age and restorations, it never had a proper cellar, so the wine in the very frequented basement has the steady cool temperature but lacks the privacy. But as I said, a two bottle affair 4 years appart like mine with the Frappato is not enough for telling much. The first bottle had been a discovery and I thank the LL for it. My best guess now is that the relative disappointment with the second one was less a matter of cellaring or an unfortunate bottle, and more a matter of unmet and unreasonable expectations (mine).
And, yes, I would gladly join you for dinner next time I'm in the neighborhood.

[alden]

David, great news, sort of, since I don't have any 2010 either. But still great news.

So that is where Costi has been hanging out....livin the good life You guys deserve it.

I get about 4 cases of douze every year and nary a one survives to tell the story. I have three bottles left that I am saving for Christmas. That's it for this year. Can't wait for next year!

Cheers

[lxlloyd]

I recently had some delicious foraged mushrooms with an excellent orange wine (A Qvevri white- long skin contact on a white grape) from the new world. The label was awful but the wine required me to delay my excursion to the cocktail bar I was supposed to be going to next door and was very reasonable. Having looked up the menu I believe it's Alpha Box & Dice (Australian vineyard names ) Golden Mullet Fury (Semillon/ Viognier). Did I mention the very awful label?

[Sammyo77]

Interested as I am in light-bodied natural wines I am taking this back to fungi!

My wife's family live in a beautiful, heavily-forested part of Germany where Summer and Autumn brings out a range of great mushrooms including pfifferlinge (i.e. girolles or chanterelles); various puffballs; the occasional steinpilz (porcini/cep) and, above all, the maronen (Bay Bolete). Finding them is an art - my mother in law can fill a basket in the time that I have managed to find a handful of maggot-eaten specimens but the entire process (a walk in the woods, an hour or two around the garden table brushing them clean and finally the eating of them, depending on the mushroom typically cooked in oil or cream with parsley and perhaps some bandnudeln (tagliatelle)) is hard to beat.

[troutonthefly]

The morel is king in Minnesota. Every May we roam the woods searching for these treasures. Simply sauteed in butter, I could eat them by the forkful.

They can also be dehydrated and used throughout the year. We save quite a few this way for use on fresh venison steaks after the fall hunt.

[alden]

Morels are tasty...I agree.

Cheers

[Luca]

The morel is king in Minnesota. Every May we roam the woods searching for these treasures. Simply sauteed in butter, I could eat them by the forkful.

They can also be dehydrated and used throughout the year. We save quite a few this way for use on fresh venison steaks after the fall hunt.

If I may offer a modest suggestion, reflecting Italian practice, I would add, to that commendably simple combination, a healthy pinch of finely chopped, flat-leaf parsley.

[hectorm]

For those LL mushrooms lovers who -at some point- had enjoyed the tortino di funghi in one of
his easy-going London cafés:
https://www.economist.com/news/obituary ... vember-8th