A week in Paris: I love this city….

The view from our apartment.

For the last five years, every trip to France and Italy has revolved around my work: importing Italian (and a tiny bit of French) wine into Australia. Whilst we eat like kings on these trips, the constant watch of the clock, with appointments at lunch and dinner and lots of kilometres travelling to each destination means that whilst it a fantastic experience, it is far from a holiday.

That is why, a trip to Paris and Italy with my family, with zero work commitments has been something I have been looking forward to for quite some time. We have spend our days in the gardens of Paris, drinking lot’s of Champagne plus great value Bordeaux and eating lots of typical French cuisine: frites, cheese, bread and meat.

A typical lunch in Paris..

We have stayed in two apartments and it has been our second apartment in Saint Germain that has impressed me most: not so much the apartment, more the location. We have some of the best wine stores, cheese shops, bakeries and butchers I have tried in any city around the world. Whilst this trip is about family, it has certainly given me lot’s of inspiration for when I return to Australia and has also shown just how lucky I am to be involved in  multiple businesses revolving around food and wine that I truly love. I could not imagine doing anything else.

What a love about Paris: the amazing food and wine shops…

This famous cheese shop is no more than 30 meters from our apartment. Certainly gives me inspiration for what we can achieve in Australia.

Vintage 2013 Salami: done and dusted…

Yesterday ten mates got together to make 300kg of top line Calabrese Salami. The meat looked fantastic and we will know the results in a few months time.

2008 Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino to debut in Australia in July….

One wine that bowled me over in Montalcino in April was the 2008 Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino. Up against Soldera and Salvoni 2006 Brunello this wine was no slouch and if anything was my prefered wine of the night.

Traditional, structured and age worthy: it had me in a spin. After trying it Laura gave us the bad news that there was only 82 bottles available and it had already sold out. Well a month after arriving back, Laura gave us the great news that a European tender for the 2008 had not come through and we grabbed everything we could. Affordable but so complex Brunello available in July via @mondoimports

From July, Birranova will be available in Australia from @mondoimports….

http://www.birraartigianalepugliese.it/

On my trip to Italy last year to judge at Radici del Sud, I tried some amazing wines, ate some of the best food I have ever eaten and drank artisan beer that blew me away. Well two months ago I returned Puglia and again drank Birranova, an artisan beer from Puglia.

From July, Birranova will be available in Australia from @mondoimports and our first shipment from the brewery just left Italy. It will be priced slightly above beers like Peroni Grand Riserva and I have no doubts that it will be really well received in Australia.

In two weeks I will be back in Puglia and can’t wait to again eat Puglese food, drink Puglese wine and drink beer from Birranova.

Five Decades of Wendouree….

The line up on the night.

My good friend Mathew recently held a dinner @scorpi featuring five decades of Wendouree. The wines looked so good and showed me just how long Wendouree can age for.

Click on the link to read more about the dinner from Mathew…

http://www.thewanderingpalate.com/profiled-wineries/five-decades-of-wendouree/

Cheers

Anthony

Our last stop in Montalcino: a visit to the cellars of Franco Biondi Santi…

The drive way leading to Biondi Santi

Earlier this year, we were ecstatic to be appointed by Franco Biondi Santi as his agent in Australia. Being a traditionalist at heart, I have always admired the wines of Biondi Santi so to be given the opportunity to be representing one of Montalcino’s (and Italy’s) most historically important estates and illustrated to me why I love my job as an importer of Italian wine.

Normally I like to visit a region every second year and this normally means that my annual trip to Italy will either focus on the South or the Central/North of Italy. However, after just a very quick visit to Il Palazzone last year and taking on the responsibility of Biondi Santi in Australia, it was worth a detour this year to spend time visiting both wineries.

The house and cellar of Franco Biondi Santi

However, whilst we were at Vinitaly we received the sad news that Franco Biondi Santi had passed away aged 91. At some stage, we will all leave this world but with his passing the world has lost one of the great men of Italian wine and he will be missed for generations to come.

Our visit to see Franco Biondi Santi was planned a few days after his subsequent death and whilst we were not expecting the winery to be open during this short time after his passing, it was Franco Biondi Santi’s son Jacobo Biondi Santi who lead us through the tasting of the wines and philosophy of the estate.

Inside the winery at Biondi Santi

Whilst Jacobo has his own estate, called  Castello di Montepo in Maremma, he has for the past few years divided his time between his house in Sienna, his own estate in Maremma and also Il Greppo in Montalcino.

It seems that this will continue for the time being and also the the current direction and philosophy of both wineries will continue along their existing path.

After visiting the cellars and talking with the staff, we sat down to try both current vintages and also a back vintage of one of Franco Biondi Santi’s favorite wines, the 1997 Riserva. The wines looked fantastic and we were lucky enough to try the 1997 twice in the space of a week.

After finishing the tasting, we were given a bottle of the 2008 Brunello di Montalcino as a gift and instead of taking this bottle back to us in Australia, we decided to open the bottle on our last night in Rome and celebrate a fantastic two weeks travelling around Italy.

This trip had everything. After starting in Rome, we did Campania (with the highlight being eating a three of the best pizzeria’s in Naples and the world, in the space of a few hours), Puglia, Veneto, Tuscany and then back to Rome. In the space of nine days, we did more than 3000 kilometers and ate and drank more than what I normally do in a month. It was a great trip and it was fantastic experiencing it all with my brother Stefano and amico Matteo.