Wine & Spirits - October 2012 - (Page 96)

last word by Levi Dalton chinato = (barølø + sp1ce) Augusto Cappellano has a lot of tea. He collects teas as well as a lot of spices to use in his Barolo Chinato. To protect his family’s recipe, Augusto buys from many different sources, and buys many more spices and teas than he actually requires. He doesn’t want a storekeeper to guess his formula from his shopping list; as of now, he has stockpiled more tea than he could drink in several lifetimes. Augusto, who is 39, has been crushing the spices for the Cappellano Chinato since he was 15, returning home from school to do so even when he was studying chemical engineering at college. “It was one of the best gifts from my father,” Augusto says, adding that his dad Teobaldo gave him the task “because it was a pain.” He crushes them outside, by hand, with a mortar and pestle. The smells are intense, since Augusto gets some of the strongest spice examples he can ﬁnd, and avoids oil essence substitutes. A bit of the spice rubs oﬀ everywhere. “Marta, our cat, she smells for two weeks afterwards,” Augusto tells me. Barolo Chinato is a specialty of Italy’s Piemonte, and something that Augusto’s family is credited with helping to invent. While many people produce Barolo Chinato today, it was created toward the end of 19th century by Giuseppe Cappellano in Serralunga and separately by Mario Zabaldano in Monforte d’Alba. The Zabaldano recipe was lost with the passing of the last Zabaldano, Victor, in 1989. Cappellano continues on, as do producers who trace their Chinato history almost as far back, such as Giulio Cocchi and Giacomo Borgogno. They have been joined more recently by others including Roagna, Mauro Vergano and G.D. Vajra. When I arrive at the Cappellano winery Augusto apologizes for the disarray; he’s been expanding the cellar to accommodate more Barolo Chinato. His goal is to increase the 96 W I N E & S P I R I T S O C T O B E R 2 0 1 2 time that his Chinato ages from the current six months to something closer to a year. And he wants to introduce Riservas, aged for ﬁve or even ten years. He has also introduced a 500-ml bottle in addition to the family’s traditional 750-ml format. But Augusto has no plans to alter the family legacy, telling me that “the label, the bottle, the closure can change, but not the recipe.” Indeed, the China Calissaja, a tree bark that he holds up for me to smell, is the same variety the Cappellanos have always used. And just as before, his Chinato has the same amount of alcohol (17.5 percent) and the same amount of sugar added (18 percent). Barolo Chinato is produced by adding spices, often one by one and in a set order, to a solution of neutral spirits and letting them settle. This mixture may rest in stainless steel tanks for close to a month, and then it is added along with some sugar to Barolo wine. This is then aged further, often in wood barrels, until deemed ready for sale. Many producers release their Chinato far ahead of the year of aging that Augusto is striving for, although some never remove their Chinato from barrel until it is bottled. Just as recipes and aging regimes vary, producers also approach the selection of base wine differently. Augusto himself sometimes uses a single vintage of Barolo for his Chinato (the current base wine is from 2007), and other times blends several vintages together. Either way he looks for a “big body” to balance the spice. Some producers prefer older base wines; Roagna’s current release is based on Barolo from 2001. There are many ways to drink Barolo Chinato, but most producers recommend a slight chill and perhaps a slice of citrus peel in the summer months. In the winter Chinato is often served in Piemonte a bit warm, and sometimes with a sugar cube. Room tem- perature will do in spring or fall. It’s often best to decant an unopened bottle to integrate the strong China (quinine) ﬂavors allowing other spice notes to emerge in the glass. Another option is to let an open bottle sit awhile before being consumed; many households in Piemonte feature bottles of Barolo Chinato that have stood open for close to a year. Barolo Chinato is often served with a dark chocolate dessert; Cappellano oﬀers a chunk of dark chocolate with a glass of Chinato to guests in his tasting room. There are also chefs who braise meat with Chinato, or pair it with strong cheeses. Sometimes you can encounter gelato made with Chinato, as I did at a small gelato shop in La Morra, where the specialty of the house was a blend of Cappellano Chinato and chocolate. But most often Barolo Chinato is consumed by itself, as a digestivo or, as is traditional in Piemonte, as a remedy for the common cold. Worried that Cappellano’s family recipe might disappear, as happened with Zabaldano, I ask Augusto if he has shared his Chinato formula. At the moment, no one but himself knows the particulars but, he says, he hopes to share it soon. Recently, the asof-yet unmarried Augusto has been spending an increased amount of time with a girlfriend, and perhaps does not wish to put off marriage and the raising of children for much longer. Certainly he will need some help to drink all that tea.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2012

Wine & Spirits - October 2012
Editor’s Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered: Jordan Mackay on Microlists
Skin Deep
Books: Josh Greene interviews Julia Harding, MW, about Wine Grapes
Spirits: Wild new whiskies, by Lou Bustamante
Best New Sommeliers 2012
Structured California Chardonnay
Nuits Blanches
Bourbon & Country Ham
New & Notable Bay Area Restaurants
Extreme Values: Great Buys for $10 or Less
Overview
American Chardonnay
Red Burgundy
Australian Shiraz
Bierzo & Galician Reds
American
Imported
Levi Dalton on Chinato

Wine & Spirits - October 2012