E Wine of the Week

E Wine of the Week
By Bruce Cochran

Hello Everyone,
This week and next I’ll introduce a couple of red wines—one dry and one sweet—that I refer to as “Bruce’s Italian Wines.” I discovered them in parts of Italy where you seldom see Americans.

Over the past few years I’ve taken many people there on our food and wine excursions, and now I’ve imported them into Arkansas and a few other states as well.

Bruce
Gutturnio?

The unanticipated things you discover while traveling can be the most fun and educational parts of a trip. It happened to me in a medieval village, surrounded by vineyards, in northern Italy. I found a dry red wine the locals call Gutturnio (“goo TUR nee oh”).
It’s an odd name, I’ll admit. The locals say that it’s an old Roman word for a wine goblet. It does come from one end of an old Roman road. The Via Emilia stretched across northern Italy from just south of Milan to the Adriatic as a bulwark against invading barbarians.
I’ve never seen an American in this village, which is why I went there in the first place. I don’t even want to publish the name, for the same reason. There’s a great restaurant there that I’ve been to at least a dozen times. The owner is the local wine expert and has been teaching me about Gutturnio for years. He’s very proud of it.
I’ve taken several groups there and people always ask the same question: “Can I get this wine back home?”
My answer of course was “I don’t think so.” But when I got my distributor’s permit this year—the first issued in Arkansas in 16 years—I went back there. Now you can get it in Arkansas and even a few other states.
Since I’m the one who imported it into Arkansas, I won’t say that it’s good (though I might ask why would I bring in a wine that wasn’t good). I’ll just tell you what it is.

Gutturnio is a dry red wine from northern Italy, in the rugged foothills of the Apennine Mountains south of Milan and east of Piedmont. The grapes are Barbera 60 percent and Bonarda 40 percent.  If you aren’t familiar with Bonarda, it’s blended roughly 10 percent in a Nebbiolo-based Piedmont red called Gattinara. In Milan they drink Barbera with Osso Buco and Risotto alla Milanese.
I imported two examples, both made by Massimo Perini, leading grape grower and winemaker of the area. The first is Ferrari & Perini.  It retails in the $15-$20 price range and is aged in large oak barrels so it’s more of a fruit forward style. The second is Villa Giannelli (“ja NELL ee”).  It retails for around $25 or so and is fuller bodied and aged in small French oak barrels. Both are very deeply colored and I believe classic examples of their type.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to the electronic version of E Wine of the Week, email Bruce at: bruce@brucecochran.com

E Wine of the Week
By Bruce Cochran

Hello Everyone,
This week and next I’ll introduce a couple of red wines—one dry and one sweet—that I refer to as “Bruce’s Italian Wines.” I discovered them in parts of Italy where you seldom see Americans. Over the past few years I’ve taken many people there on our food and wine excursions, and now I’ve imported them into Arkansas and a few other states as well.

Bruce
Gutturnio?

The unanticipated things you discover while traveling can be the most fun and educational parts of a trip. It happened to me in a medieval village, surrounded by vineyards, in northern Italy. I found a dry red wine the locals call Gutturnio (“goo TUR nee oh”).
It’s an odd name, I’ll admit. The locals say that it’s an old Roman word for a wine goblet. It does come from one end of an old Roman road. The Via Emilia stretched across northern Italy from just south of Milan to the Adriatic as a bulwark against invading barbarians.
I’ve never seen an American in this village, which is why I went there in the first place. I don’t even want to publish the name, for the same reason. There’s a great restaurant there that I’ve been to at least a dozen times. The owner is the local wine expert and has been teaching me about Gutturnio for years. He’s very proud of it.
I’ve taken several groups there and people always ask the same question: “Can I get this wine back home?”
My answer of course was “I don’t think so.” But when I got my distributor’s permit this year—the first issued in Arkansas in 16 years—I went back there. Now you can get it in Arkansas and even a few other states.
Since I’m the one who imported it into Arkansas, I won’t say that it’s good (though I might ask why would I bring in a wine that wasn’t good). I’ll just tell you what it is.

Gutturnio is a dry red wine from northern Italy, in the rugged foothills of the Apennine Mountains south of Milan and east of Piedmont. The grapes are Barbera 60 percent and Bonarda 40 percent.  If you aren’t familiar with Bonarda, it’s blended roughly 10 percent in a Nebbiolo-based Piedmont red called Gattinara. In Milan they drink Barbera with Osso Buco and Risotto alla Milanese.
I imported two examples, both made by Massimo Perini, leading grape grower and winemaker of the area. The first is Ferrari & Perini.  It retails in the $15-$20 price range and is aged in large oak barrels so it’s more of a fruit forward style. The second is Villa Giannelli (“ja NELL ee”).  It retails for around $25 or so and is fuller bodied and aged in small French oak barrels. Both are very deeply colored and I believe classic examples of their type.

For questions, comments, or to subscribe to the electronic version of E Wine of the Week, email Bruce at: bruce@brucecochran.com