So many people have been asking about Italian wines and the unique varietals that come along with those wines. Most people are unfamiliar with Italian wines outside of Pinot Grigio and Chianti. At Stir Italian wines are some of our favorites;  at Potenza, we have a completely Italian wine program, Potenza Wine store has 50% of it’s stock in Italian wines and Zola Wine & Kitchen has a wonderful selection of Italian varietals.

We work to price our wines at a level that allows people to explore wine without spending a great deal of money. At Zola for instance, our wine by the glass program has 18 wines by the glass and all are under $10.

So how do you go about and try an Italian wine without knowing about Italian wines? Start with thekind of wines do you prefer. Last week a guest replied, “I usually drink a Merlot”. Perfect that is an easy one. I poured her a taste of a Valpolicello from Murari. She loved it. With Merlot, I figured in a very basic sense that she would appreciate warm ripe fruit with little or no tannins.  Well rounded with hints of blackberries and or currants. Valpolicello has warm, ripe fruit with no tannins and is very approachable and easy to enjoy. It sounds simple but it works.

Another guest mentioned that he was tired of drinking Pinot Grigio all the time and wanted something new. Again keeping it in a taste profile that is close to what the guest is comfortable with. I gave the gentleman a taste of a Tocai. It is from Borgo Visgone from Friuili. It is a medium bodied wine with ripe fruit with tastes of red and yellow apples and had a wonderful crisp dry finish. It’s funny when I turn a guest on to something new and they enjoy it, I can see there’s a always a brief moment when they are wondering how pricy it is. The Tocai is $6 a glass and the Valpolicello was $7. Both are huge values and great quality.

 Now it doesn’t always work the first time we taste a guest on a wine by the glass, but that is why in any of our restaurants, Zola and Potenza, you can taste all the wines by the glass before you agree to have the glass. I never understood why more restaurants don’t do this. You order a wine by the glass and it comes to the table from a mysterious place, maybe the bar, you never see the bottle and then it’s placed in front of you. We like to present the bottle and have you taste it. When you order a bottle of wine you are generally given a taste before accepting the bottle, why should a single glass of wine be any different?

It is the same idea when I go out to dinner and look at a wine list, always before I ever look at the food menu. Because to me, and I know I might be in the minority on this one, however, getting the wine right is my priority.

Yesterday at Potenza a customer pulled me aside and mentioned that he was entertaining some clients for dinner and wanted to impress them with his wine selection. He mentioned that his clients were all wine geeks and one of the guys is a Pinot Noir lover and that price was no object, he wanted the wine to blow them away. I poured a wine that everyone loved. It was a Nero d’Avola from Sicily called “Saia” from Feudo Maccari. “A wonderfully rich and gorgeously delicious wine” one of his guests commented to me. After they were done he pulled me aside and wanted to thank me for the experience and the wine but he asked if he had been given a discount on the price of the wine or was there a mistake on his bill. I said why? Because when I have said price is no object, the wines that other restaurants charged him usually were between $180-$300. The wine he enjoyed that evening was $71.00. He looked like he was caught between being grateful and angry. I asked was anything wrong? He said that I took a tremendous chance at giving him a lower price wine that his guests might not like than an expensive on he was expecting. I told him I would be happy to charge him $300 if it would make him feel any better. Well he finally broke down and we had a good laugh. I just said you do not have to spend gobs of money to have a killer bottle. He appreciated that we didn’t take advantage of the situation and blew his guests away.  I did hear him tell his guests “don’t worry about it, you’re worth it” when they asked him how much money he dumped on the wine tonight. He called me this morning to make two more reservations for next week ending the conversation with, “ I am all yours”.

Salute!!