One of the parts of Italian life I miss most is the concept of “ponti” or long weekends where you go on a “gita fuori porta” meaning you take a brief but exciting trip to another city or country. At the beginning of the year, everyone begins counting how many long “ponti” there are in a year. This weekend is a special one for Milan, my adopted city for 10 years, la festa of their Patron Saint- Saint Ambrogio which translates into Sant’Ambroeus in the Milanese dialect.
The famous cafes in New York on Madison Avenue, in the West Village and in South Hampton are named for this very saint. Sant’Ambroes is December 7 and December 8 is also a holiday, the Immaculate Conception. December 7 is generally also the opening day of the Opera Season at La Scala in Milan. This year’s opening night will have a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Don Carlo. If you aren’t going to be in Milan anytime soon, you can always learn about opera in New York from a true expert – Fred Plotkin. I met Fred last year at the Tre Bicchieri tasting and have discovered that he is quite an expert not only in Italian food and wine but in opera as well. He will be speaking about Opera at New York University on December 16.
Each city in Italy has a patron saint and the saint’s day is always celebrated. I would invariably leave Milan during these many “ponti” and travel around Italy or to a nearby country. Some of my most memorable “ponti” were spent skiing at a friend’s house in Chatel, France in the Haute-Savoie region.
We would ski all day and then make fondue and drink the local wines at night. There was also an incredible thermal bath area in nearby Switzerland called Lavey-Les-Bains where I once sat in a heated pool during a beautiful slow snow storm. Truly a memorable experience. While I doubt I will have the Alps in the background while sitting in an amazing thermal bath complex in New York City, I have found wines from the more remote regions of France at a wine bar I like in the East Village called Solex. Owned by Frederick Twomey of Bar Carrera and Bar Veloce fame, this chic bar has a great wine list and wonderful food. I tried a lovely Cremant de Jura made with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It was buttery and yeasty with hints of almonds. I then tasted a Roussette de Savoie 2006 made with the indigenous grape Altesse. It had a lovely nose of apples, burnt pear and was quite minerally on the palate. I also tried a Savagnin, another indigenous grape from the Jura. This is the grape that is used in the Vin Jaune or yellow wines from the Jura. This particular Savagnin showed a considerable amount of skin contact which I generally favor. It had an interesting bouquet of apple, butter and nuts on the nose and a lovely enveloping mouth feel with similar flavors on the palate.
For the Vin Jaune, the grapes are picked in November when they are fully ripe and have reached a sugar level which can translates into a high alcohol wine of 13%-15%. This wine ferments like many others but then spends some time in old oak barrels and undergoes an oxidation process similar to a fino sherry. While Sherry sees the addition of fortified wine, Vin Jaune does not. A layer of flor called voile grows and covers the wine creating oxidized, sherry flavors. The voile takes time to grow. The wine is ready after six years and three months. If you like sherry, I think you will love this wine. I love a good sherry and really enjoyed this distinctive wine. I was very pleased with all the wines that I tried at Solex. I was a francofile before I fell under Italy’s spell. Solex piqued my earlier curiosity. Intrigued with the wine and the food, I definitely plan on a second visit.
