If you’re interested in Piemonte wines it’s worth checking out this new I’ll Drink to That! But this is one of the more unusual podcasts from Levi Dalton.
The first hour+ (of this 95+ minute excursion) is not about Lorenzo Accomasso at all, but instead is a fairly meandering recount of Italian history starting with World War II, then progressing through the 50s and 60s. I’m not sure wine is really mentioned until maybe 30 or 40 minutes in. At this point we start getting the post war history of wine in Piemonte, with short quotes from many notable winemakers of the region. It’s really fascinating and discursive. If you want to hear about the fathers and grandfathers of your favorite Barolo makers, and how they managed the transition from poverty farming to craft wine making then it’s a worthwhile tour.
Eventually we get to Accomasso. He’s been making wine on his family farm in La Morra since the 1940s, so the history lesson is also the story of this winemaker. The last 30 - 40 minutes is a sort of interview with him. We get to enjoy Accomasso’s random musings on the changes in wine making in Barolo, his life, what he thinks of many different vintages. It’s fascinating, opinionated, and very conversational. Imagine you’re sitting in his home listening to his stories and you get the tone.
Levi hasn’t been producing much the last year, and this hodgepodge feels like it was built in the studio and not an organic interview. But he’s still engaging as usual. And now I’m curious about the wine.
Yes, a lame effort. Pales in comparison to all the other podcast episodes from all the other shows that feature Lorenzo Accomasso in English. Sad, really.
I found this podcast to be magnetic. I could not stop listening and had to play it a second time. I have enjoyed every one of his podcasts. I have learned more about wine form Levi Dalton than any book on wine. I have missed the shows in the recent months. I hope they do not stop.
Levi’s contributions through his podcast place him in the top rank of those contributing to our understanding of wine and viticulture around the world. They are also quite entertaining. I am grateful to hear he is producing shows again.
Hey, you did a great job— I learned a lot. My French and U.S. schooling skipped over the details of Italian history : ). As for the the wine making with Accomasso, those macération times are crazy. So interesting to understand why that was the tradition… and one of the factors for the “Barolo wars”.
I assumed Levi’s response was a tongue-in-cheek joke, especially considering the OP was generally very favorable.
Don’t know Levi though…could be wrong.
I’ve enjoyed a bunch of Levi’s pod casts, especially the Italian episodes, but I don’t think he takes criticism very well. His response does not surprise me.
Yep, I completely agree. I used to enjoy the podcasts but stopped listening after I saw Levi respond to Buzz on Instagram with some completely inappropriate and totally uncalled for comments to a very innocent question. It was kind of bizarre really. I know everyone has bad days and all…but it was rough.
There sseem to be two Levi Daltons, the one who does the podcasts, to which I listen with great pleasure, and the one who shows up on wine boards. I try to stick to the former.
Levi, I had never listened to your podcasts before today, but I listened to a few of them and found them very interesting. The two with Bruce Neyers were really good. He is a fountain of information and he can tell a story…I miss going to France with him.
But before you write this place off, try contributing for a while on other topics. You might learn something, too.
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