Sad night last night as I cracked:
- ArbeGarbe WhiteWine RRV/SonomaCnty (14%; 55% Catie’sCorner Malvasia Bianca/
30% Tanya’sVnyd Ribolla Gialla/15% Pagani Ranch old vine Tocai Friulano) ArbeGarbe/Enrico Bertoz/Flora Springs/St.Helena 2017: Med.gold color; very strong floral/Malvasia bit white pepper/Ribolla slight nutty very Friuli-like lovely complex nose; some tart lightly w.p./Ribolla some floral/Malvasia somewhat spicy rather savory bit complex lovely flavor; very long/lingering very floral/spicy finish; a lovely savory white that speaks lightly of Ribolla & Malvasia. $30.00
More kizzlefret from TheBloodyPulpit:
- It was a sad night last night at Beef&Leaf. I found out last week that Enrico died several weeks ago from Cancer. I thought this would be a good opportunity to celebrate a life well lived. I shared the btl around the restaurant and it was very well received & brought smiles to everyone’s face.
Enrico became a winemaker at Noninno in Friuli, the first producer of high-quality Grappa in Italy. He moved to SoCal & then moved to the NapaVlly, where he became the winemaker at FloraSprings, specializing in CabSauv.
But his real passion was making Friuli-style wines in Calif. Arbe Garbe means “wild weed” in the Friulian dialect. He also made a few wines under the Benandants label. One of the best Charbono around in Calif.
I first met Enrico & his wife, Latezia Paulette & his two boys, Benedetto and Francesco, at the first Ribolla Fest held by Steve Matthiasson. I took an instant liking to the entire family. We had dinner w/ his family several times. One time we met at FloraSprings to barrel taste & have some light Friulian apps Latezia had assembled. I took along a game, Tip-It, I had bought that was one of my favorites to play w/ my Lunch Buddies at school. The boys loved the game & we played for almost an hour. I gifted the game to Molly & Lars two kids but when we started to play I found that two of the tokens were missing. Turns out the two boys loved the game so much, they filched two of the tokens. Latezia returned them to Molly at Sequoia Grove Wnry.
In addition to this WW, Enrico also makes a pure Malvasia Bianca. Usually, Calif Malvasia has a strong tutti-fruity in your face rather Muscato somewhat sweet character. Enrico has the best touch w/ Malvasia and his Malvasia has more of a Friuli-like Malvasia di Istriana, much more savory in character. He is the master of Calif Malvasia.
Anyway, it was a bittersweet evening at Beef + Leaf. Lots of fond memories of a very special guy. The other people in the restaurant loved my stories of Enrico. It was nice that he brought smiles to some faces one more time.
Thanks for all you gave us, Enrico.
Tom