Italy at Your Table kicks off!by Filippo BartolottaSo here we are in the US for a few months.I broke my camera, so I haven't been uploading too many pictures recently, but I'll get one in the next couple of days.Meanwhile I have a Milo and Daphne getting ready for School:)Milo seems to be born in the Big Apple. We found a place near China Town, in a lovelyneighborhood and an amazing school: "Love a Lot Children School". Milo is so happy that when we go to pick him up he doesn't want to leave!I am not over jet lag and so i taking it easy at the moment with few walks in the blue sky winter NYC sunny days.Taking the children to school at 0800 in the morning isawesome. Everything is quite, at every cross road there's a kind person checking that car stop, saying hello to the kids, then steamingcoffeeshops are offering the best beagles in the world: the New York Bagels!!!Daphne would eat half on the way to school, which is only a few blocks away from home: Milo instead bounces around like a small kung-fu hero! His mood is 110%, I think he feels the Big-City's energy.While the kids are in school, Vanessa, Barbara and I instead are working in a near bycoffeeplace, where our cups are refilled every hour!I got to NYC after the big dinner with John Malkovich and the TechnoBohemian gang and the TB wines.Technobohemian Winesfor TB mindsBy Filippo BartolottaThe WinesAfter sharing some thoughts aboutwine, food and life-enjoyment withPierpaolo Moroni and SimoneRamilli along the lines of JohnMalkovicheuros new collection and theTB movement, I have selected a fewne wines for you to savour. Theresult isneurot just a gathering of nebottles, but the participation ofgreat men and women wine makersin this extraordinary project.Elvio Cogno Following in the steps of themythical Elvio Cogno, Valter Fissoreand his wife Nadia Cogno produceone of the very best Barolo wines.Barolo Vigna Elena 2004 andBarolo Bricco Pernice 2005 areextraordinary examples of twototally different wines coming fromadjacent vineyards.Le SorgentiFilippo and Christian have beenworking for a few years to revitalizea project initially started by Filippo'sfather. Today they have successfullygotten the attention of the topItalian oenologists without loosingsimplicity and independence ofthought. Their style is best shown intheir Scirus, a warm, dense andstructured wine with incredibleaging potential.Mattia BarzaghiA worker in the wine cellar for manyyears, Mattia nally found his ownway by producing one of the mostavorful, succulent and mineralVernaccia di San Gimignano everproduced in the shadow of the eurocityof a hundred towerseuro. Anextraordinary interpretation withforce and expressiveness.PetrioloAn old and authentic Tuscan farmhouse in the remote hills of Empoli,with a wine cellar which still hascement fermentation vats that wereused before the over take of steel.Here, in this lesser known area, theyproduce a Sangiovese with a puredetermination and thickness thatsurprises everyone with itsperseverance and elegance.Stefano AmerighiYoung Stefano has been drinkingand tasting the best Syrahs in theworld for over 10 years. Now heproduces his own in the countrysidearound Cortona. He has chosen toproduce his wine according to thebiodynamic method to respectnature and with the ultimate goal ofbottling the purest fruit possible!Tenuta delle RipaltePiermario Meletti Cavallari has ahighly rened palates and a freemind. After having launched andmade famous the GrattamaccoEstate in Bolgheri, he now has anew and even more difcultundertaking on the Island of Elba.Here he is producing a unique sweetred wine with hints of berry and alittle saltiness!Tenuta di FessinaMusumeci is born from the lavacovered slopes of Mount Etna. Ajuicy, succulent, rich and mineralred wine with incredible drinkability.In just a few years, Silvia Maestrellihas successfully used his Tuscanexperience in Sicily with masteryand wisdom.Terra al SoleEclectic Mario Bollag is the owner ofone of the southern most wineries inMontalcino. His indipendent spiritresults in a spectacular dense, smoothBrunello packed with fruit.GrattamaccoOne of the oldest and most well respected Super Tuscan wines. From the pristine hills of Bolgheri, two miles from the sea, this is a wine of structure and austere class.Le Baccanti SELECTION OF FINEITALIAN WINES AND FOODS Elvio Cogno Barolo Ravera 2005 Elvio Cogno Barolo Vigna Elena 2004 Terralsole Brunello di Montalcino 2004 Le Sorgenti Scirus 2006 Mattia Barzaghi Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2008 Villa Petriolo Golpaja 2006 Stefano Amerighi Syrah 2006 Tenuta delle Ripalte Alestico 2006 Tenuta di Fessina Musumeci Etna Rosso 2007Simone Ramilli and Alessandra Ofir Ortolani the inventors of the TechnoBohemian have also put together the new TechnoBohemianBlog: http://roqkrealitybook1.wordpress.com/, go and check it out if you like and follow all the new adventrues here!All of the wines above where tasted and then drunk by the TB Group including the Designer -philosopherRiccardo Rami: www.riccardorami.com; Alex from Abaco: www.gruppoabaco.it and of course the Simone, Alessandra, Rosalba. John loved the wines and we carried on till 3 in the morning! Here John, Imai and myself. Just before dinner we spent the afternoon in Riccardo Rami's Studio which is a super Zen open space where I will be soon doing a wine tasting.For our TB WINE MAKERS amazing news: Riccardo Rami was ateetotalertill he met me and your wines.When in March I am back from the US we will put together a very cool tasting evening: thank you Riccardo for your magic words of wisdom (by the way I am way taller then you...ha!ha!).The evening with John was very enjoyable, long but enjoyable.John is like a Diesel engine that never stops. He has track loads of inspiring stories.I like his way to tell stories, following his direction, then pausing to listen to people and changing his direction a bit to the left, then some else is pushing to the right and he is listening and adjusting.Herememberseveryone and everything and handles everything personally with no middle men what ever the business!He has a passion for cinema andliterature I discovered while sipping the first glass of Mattia Barzaghi's Vernaccia: Pasolini is still one of the mostindependentand unique writer we have ever had, he says.From Pasolini we jump in a second to Anna Politoskaya, then Mastrojanni and Catrhine Deneuve: the TRUTH was the thin red line of our conversation. At this stage Silvia's Nerello Mascalese Tenuta di Fessina opens the red wines tasting. John ask if that was an Italian Pinot, giving me a clear clue that he has an idea of what good wine is about. Musumeci was a little cold for me, but he likes red wines that way. Massimilia at Ratz Mataz in Prato brings some nibbles while we are waiting for the rest to join Rosalba, John, Pierpaolo and me. John is never late.Moving on to Petriolo, Silvia's Sangiovese John show again to be able to appreciate fine wines with quick snappy descriptors while having a bite to eat: this has tighter tannins, but is still very good.We open Mario Bollag Terra al Sole Brunello 2004: a deep, clean fruit and smooth Brunello.Mario just managed to get away from a majorheart-quakein Haiti where he spent an important part of his life and where he found inspiration for a lot of good things in his life and for his wines too. If you buy any of Terra al Sole wines he will give away 20 per each bottle plus his giving 300 bottles to contribute for this cause. If anyone wants to help send an email to Mario: mario@terralsole.comJohn and I manage to talk about the TB wines. On the 19th of this month we will be tasting here in NYC some TB wines to decide how to dress them with new John Malkovich designer'slabel.Barolo Cogno Vigna Elnea 2004 and Bricco Pernice 2005 need decanting as they were too tight. Meanwhile everyone arrives and so we start ordering some food. John never stops talking and telling people interesting stories andanecdotesof his personal life and professional one.Vigna Elena seemd easier to drink from the beginning while Bricco Pernice, unlike John, needs some seriousoxygento start talking, but then is a true pleasure.We end our dinner withoverwhelmingly energetic Amerighi's Syrah 2006: everyone love it and here again we had to open more then one bottle to make sure we got the point across: finally we get it!The day after is the preparation of John's show at Museo Pecci.He is always calm, looking after everysingledetail on his own. I have to say that I was a littleskepticalabout Malkovich's fashion line with Rami. I though: this is another VIP brand adventure with neither content nor soul.I am not a big fashion guy, but his creations are just like him:eclectic, kaleidoscopic, decadent, romantic, karmic and full of life andcolor. It's like all his characters, films, trips, dreams are condensed into his creations. Riccardo has been working really hard to make John's dream come true, and now it is happening.So now its time to celebrate and enjoy it.Thank you John for sharing all that with us.See you soon,filippo