I bacari ... Venice's wine bars

At my local, Al Bacon di Vino, in Campo Santa Margherita, the local market-stall owners have their first coffee at 8am, read the paper, glance at their stall ... wander away...then, wander back at about 10am for their first ombre, or glass of red wine. Then, at 12pm, they fight the hoards to get their hands on the steaming warm mozzarella in carrozza (sp?!), cod balls or sandwhiches with some more wine. This goes on all day until 5pm, when the hoards return again for their spritz and the stall-holders mingle with the students and the those walking past on their way home from work.

Here are a few more local secrets - I will keep adding to this. I have just returned from making the rounds!

Pantagruelica - Dorsoduro 2844, Campo San Banarba

This is a wonderful little deli across from the church with the Leonardo da Vinci museum. It is filled with the necessary luxuries and a small but perfect selection of wines.

Cantinone Schiavi (now known as Al Bottegon) Fondamente Nani) - Dorsoduro 992

Located on the canal facing the only gondola factory still remaining. This is both a great wine bar with snacks as well as an Italian wine shop. It is a favourite after-work hang-out for that daily Spritz.

Mille Vini - San Marco 5362

This is a serious wine shop offering wines from all over the world that transforms into a hub of evening social activity. It can get a bit touristy at night, so do your wine shopping during the day and then return later if you want to join in the fray.

Billa - several locations

This is one of Venice’s supermarket chains selling really inexpensive Italian wines, with an emphasis on local Veneto wines. The Zattere shop has a limited but satisfactory selection, but the one on the Lido’s main street is the best.   

Vinaria Nave de Oro - Dorsoduro 3664, Campo Santa Margherita (and many other campos)

These are fantastic little holes in the wall where the locals queu up with their empty plastic litre bottles and get them re-filled with local bulk wines stored in demi-johns in straw baskets .. for a couple of euros, if that. These local bulk wines all seem to taste the same - I cannot taste the difference between the Refosco and the Pinot Nero and the Cabernet Sauvignon - they are all a bit sweet -  but very quaffably so…

Vino Vino - San Marco 2007a, Calle del Cafetier

A great selection of Intalian, international and local wines .... many by the glass, and a great snack bar - usually better than their restaurant. 

Amarone ... my favourite wine

Amarone is not the name of a place. Nor is it the name of a grape. Amarone is a wine-making method, a style of wine.  Amarone, once tasted, is forever inscribed on one’s palate, and the memory of it …variations on a theme of spiced cherries, smoky plums, chalky mineral, and moist, dark earth … forever haunts the mind like an unobtainable lover: impenetrable and indecipherable… yet intoxicating.

Amarone is a style of the dry red wine from Veneto’s Valpolicella. Amarone, Recioto and Ripasso are all styles of Valpolicella, and are all issued from the same grapes: Corvina, Molinara and Rondinella. The variable is the degree to which the grapes are allowed to dry before being pressed: so, its sweetness. Unadulterated Valpolicella is the driest style, the starting point, and is light-bodied, zesty with a fresh grape flavour and is meant to be drunk young.  But when the same grapes undergo the air-drying method or appassimento, usually on straw mats for several months, until they are nearly shrivelled to raisins, we are rewarded with Amarone, a highly alcoholic, heavy, complex, black, almost bitter, velvety concoction. It needs years to fully mature, so buy the newer vintages now for cellaring. The great appeal of Amarone is its double personality. It toys between the dry and the sweet, the masculine and the feminine, the powerful and the elegant… always enticing us back for more.

TWO TO TRY

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Doc “Punta di Villa”, Roberto Mazzi, 2004

This is a traditional, elegant interpretation with a restrained approach – no flashy fruit. It builds up slowly and explodes on the palate and is not dominated by oak.www.grossiwines.co.uk £31 approx

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Doc Il Bosco¸ Cesari¸2005

Also in a classic style, with a very grown-up and sophisticated veneer which belies its decadent opulence. www.fiandaca.co.uk  £28 approx

 LJ Johnson-Bell

2007 Villa Belvedere's Amarone

Such opulence ... plump raisins, fragrant violets, sharp balsamic, spicy plum, fruit of the forest, toasted almonds ... Heaven.

Dal Forno Amarone with Patricia, in Verona ...

Arrived from Venice and spent the afternoon sipping Campari with girlfriends in Piazza Bra and then dear friend  Patricia Guy’s lure me to her house for a sublime surprise ... (www.patriciaguy.com)

1996 Amarone Dal Forno Romano

One of the great’s. Alcohol quite evident on the initial nose, but quickly followed by black ink, lead and mineral tones…tastes like a thick, heavy purple velvet throw on a golden bed made high with downy feather mattresses…sinking into ripe huge fat scented plums …wrapping me in black silk sheets…its corpulent, fleshy palate was still fresh and led to a long, clean finish. I nearly had to light up a cigarette…

Ristorante Messner, Dorsoduro, Venice

Corte Viola,  Soave DOC 2010 (Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave)

Very bone dry and acidic and salty with perfectly balanced fruit. Had this with home-made filled tortellini in butter and fresh sage.

Sansovino, Refosco dal Penduncato Rosso IGT 2010

Love refosco ... a particular grape. This was fresh and well-balanced (12.5% alcohol), perfect with my grilled lamb chops with herbs.

Al Bocon, Campo Santa Margherita, Venice

Another trip to Vodafone … where my key works. So, it must be the bad reception at the flat. So I have to work in cafes, where my batteries die, and I drink too much. Al Bocon in Campo Santa Margherita is now my spot. I went in at 11am for a spritzer. I have learned that 11am is the absolute earliest one can ask for a cocktail in Venice, and even then I seem to drinking alone with some pretty local-looking locals. The owner is busy getting her selection of delicacies out. The smells from the kitchen are divine. She offers me a frittata …a loose sort of round ball with the consistency of gratin dauphinois. Then I try the tuna balls and the chicken balls and the mozzarella balls. Now, I know that all of these have names …and I will look them up and add them later. The winner, the dish that will keep me up tonight with cravings, was her mozzarella in carrozza (again, will check spelling later). This is a sandwich of mozzarella and sometimes prosciutto which is then dipped into egg batter and fried. I know, it sounds a bit like the thing Elvis Presley used to do with peanut butter and bananas. But this is divine. And hers are perfect. this is one of my favourites at  home, but when I make it, it is heavy and greasy. So I ask: “Come si fa a renderlo cosi leggero?” And she tells me that she adds either beer or sparkling water to her egg batter. Aha.  So of course I need to try another, accompanied by a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio by Giovanni Bellia, to better understand how she makes this magic.

2005 "Le Bessole" Amarone, Accordini and Pantagruelica deli, Venice

I have invited the girls to dinner tonight and so make my way to the fish market in Campo Santa Margherita right after morning coffee and writing session. Dinner is grilled aubergines, onions, red peppers…burrata and San Daniele … gambas and garlic butter … spinach gnocchi with pumpkin, courgettes and parmesan … scallops in their shell with a mushroom and cream sauce and breadcrumbs, grilled ….veal scaloppini with wine sauce…and ricotta cake.

Wine: picked up this bottle in Pantagruelica, a gorgeous deli in Campo San Barnaba, next to Ca’ Rezzonico. When I chose it, the shop owner said “now that’s a nice bottle” and I agreed and believe it or not, he said, “Now, be sure not to serve it too warm.” I died! Finally, a normal person. I needed no further encouragement and dove into the story of the night before and the abruti of a restaurant owner who yelled and me and chased me out of his restaurant because I did not want to drink his Amarone at 22-effin degrees. He agrees and says, 16-18 if warm out and a bit more if it is cold out. As I as telling my story, a few of the locals listened and joined in the discussion. They all offered to go back to the restaurant with me and tell the man off. Pantagruelica owner said that most people just do not know about wine and think that because they are Italian, they know more than anyone else. Feeling very vindicated, I carried my 2005 Amarone Classico “le Bessole” from Accordini home with me ….to the delight of my friends…it was nectar.

I also served a few wines from this wine shop around the corner …. The place where the locals buy their wine for 2 euros a litre and the wine is kept in baskets and siphoned out into used water bottles. Wanting to see if any of it was any good…I bought the Prosecco and the Refosco and the Pinot Nero. The Prosecco was light and fruity and that’s it. The Pinot Nero was way too sweet. When I asked why the Pinot Nero from Treviso is so sweet, the Rastafarian-cum- rabbi youth cheerily running the shop assured me that it was simply down to the soil type.  I am not at all convinced. I think they just piss the vines and then add a lot of sugar. You could not even tell that it was Pinot Noir. I know the Pinot Neros from further north, in Alto Adige and they are stunning – they rival Burgundy’s Volnays: very feminine, floral yet strongly-structured wines with great acidity. I am also a fan of Refosco…but again, this version was palatable  at best. So, have come to the conclusion that most Italians drink dreadful wines and don’t even know it. 

Anyway, having fed our bodies, it was time to feed our souls and so we made our way to the Scuola de Carmini to attend a concert of Operettas and ballet.

Trattoria do Forni, San Marco, Venice

Got my highlights done in the salon in Campo Santa Margherita this morning. A wonderful time-warp…yellowed posters taped to the wall…grey-haired clientele getting their weekly wash … hairdryers from circa 1950 … potions and creams in all sorts of pink bottles with fancy script writing on the labels. The older owner and her younger assistant both went to work… said my hair was too thick for one person and it would take too long. As the younger one kept asking the older one what to do next…”blonde here or dark here”? I was petrified that I would come out with two different heads. We chat and gossip and laugh. I learned so many new Italian words this morning (bleached-blonde, bimbo, full-head, half-head, foil ….)

Run errands. Walk and sightsee until I can no longer walk. Have lunch in the corner Osteria near San Basilio.  Big mistake. Bad food. Hard, green, unripe tomatoes, sliced with dry slabs of packaged mozzarella. Decided to not risk the wine list and had a spritzer. A team of men in orange suits started digging up the pavement stone right in front of my table, releasing all sort of toxins. The table to my left had too older American couples…and I hear one say “you won’t get real tiramisu here. I can tell. With a real tiramisu, they take a lady finger and soak it in liqueur, not coffee. Let’s go back to that place we ate in last night. It was better.”

It is too bright and hot to work on my laptop, and the stink is really getting to me, so I head home to work. Then I get bored, and head up to the Rialto to the cinema and see “This Must be the Place” …no subtitles, so I struggled. Got the gist of the plot…and could tell that Sean Penn had excelled himself, as usual.

At 10pm I meet my old Paris friend, Mary Gallagher and her sister Michele, for dinner. Mary and I met when we worked for Time Out’s Paris Passion Magazine. They just flew in from Milano for the weekend. We find what we think looks like a charming place – granted we are in the heart of tourist-land (San Marco) and it is late. They don’t look very happy. Mary, married to an Italian artist and so speaking good Italian, asks for a table and we are grunted towards one and told to hurry up and order. I spy a good Amarone on the list from Montresor, 2007. But I see him get it for us from on top of a high armoire, under lights near this hot kitchen … and Venice is having a heat wave this week…I ask (politely) for an ice bucket to cool the bottle down – as it is warm to the touch. He flies into a rage. Ranting, literally… “This is my house, our house, we do things our way here, you do not drink red wine cold, it should be served ambiente”. I try to explain to him that it should be served between 16-18, especially in the summer, or this heat – and maybe 19-20 in winter. And that his restaurant, this “room”, is hot and stuffy and he keeps his wine up high under lights, standing upright. He just won’t listen to me. His mother joins in …screaming at us…. “Why don’t you just go to Harry’s Bar, you tourist, you’d be much happier there!” (This from a woman whose Menu is in ten different languages). They are so rude that Mary and Michele say “that’s it” and get up…I call him a “pig” and a “plouc” and flounce out.

We are breathless with rage and still starving…and this is poor Michele’s first time in Venice, so I am feeling pretty awful. We wander into a few more places but they all say, it is late…our kitchen wants to close, so you can eat if you hurry up. Finally, Mary spies a tucked-away place…Do Forni. They welcome us and are received like goddesses and are led through a maze of long rooms with cosy, fabric-filled side rooms, like a luxury railway car, until we reach a back room with red velvet walls and dim lighting ….packed full with Italians.. no rushing…all smiles…they act as if they are happy we are there. Meal is good, wine is good, ambiance and service are excellent…we have a great evening and are allowed to stay until well after 1am…and we are not the last.

Osteria Al Carroarmato, Verona, Italy

Arrive in Verona late…meet my friend Patricia Guy for dinner at her local Osteria, Al Carroarmato. This is the place that she and her husband Michael call "home" ... their daily watering hole. the owner was a witness t their wedding.  I met Patricia when judging at Vinitaly last year. I was hobbling to the bus in high heeels and she was amused...until I pulled out and slipped on my super slick black leather shoes from Venice: perfect walking shoes. She had a very similar pair and we bonded over footwear...as real women do. Later, when I caught her name ... I realised that  we’d both contributed to a book together (Wine Tours of the World ...available on Amazon ..wink wink nudge nudge).  Patricia is my authority on Italian wines, period. The meal began with a refreshing Spritzer of white wine and Campari – it is boiling hot today…

Then, antipasti of artichokes and courgettes and aubergine …then the house’s home-made tortellini …so thin they were translucent … with a sprinkling of fresh sage and a drizzle of butter. And although it is not quite appropriate to drink a heavy Amarone with this…Patricia allowed me to ….and chose for me…Zanoni’s Amarone. Perfect.

Masi's Costasera Amarone 2006 Veneto, Italy

My sister and I drank this while dining at the Azurea at One Ocean Resort in Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville, Florida. One Ocean is the dreamiest Art Deco revival-style hotel. So stylish - not at all contrived. And the dinner was near perfection. After a week of eating huge portions of bland, flavourless meals that were taken from my dining table and put into styrofoam containers (never have I more wished that I actually did travel with my dog), I was wowed into submission. I had the Hudson Valley Duck Two-Ways. This was seared foie gras with a dusting of sea salt with a French toast of brioche, also with a spring roll with confit of duck with a shallot jam, that had some sweet chilli sauce, I think. This was followed by the Tenderloin with a white truffle herb dauphinoise. My sister had the Porcini Mushroom Raviolis with raosted garlic and confit of fennel and baby tomatoes in a sherry cream sauce ... simply to die for.

The Wine List was very extensive and obviously chosen by a well-travelled eye: a strong representation of the Old World. But I wish that better European wines got into mainstream US distribution. Masi was the only Amarone I could find. I have nothing against Masi, but it is the starting point: the reliable, basic, the homogenous version of this great wine. Drinking it, my sister was in rapture, and when I explained to her that it was probably a 5/10 of what Amarone can be, she thought that was not possible.

The 2007 Costasera (70% Corvina, 25% Rondinella, 5% Molinara) was drinking well: dark opaque robe, a nose of spice, dried herbs, stewed cherries and cinnamon and violets ... and even after being vinified "appassimento", drying the grapes on straw or bamboo racks to concentrate the sugars, the alcohol was 14.5% ...which preserves its freshness and complexity - unlike the dry reds from Napa that have 15.5% + ...pure alcohol.