Ciao Tutti!

This weekend at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste a Rose’, the Bricco Lorella Vino Rosato ($24.50, 13 % ABV) from the Antoniolo Societa Agricola in Gattinara, Alta Piemonte. Since it has not yet been featured in a weekly tasting, we felt it was long overdue for its debut. The winery is now managed by the third generation of the Antoniolo family and the wine is named for the founder’s granddaughter Lorella. 

Gattinara is Alto Piemonte’s most well known and most important appellation. Mario Antoniolo founded the winery in 1948. In the 1950’s and 60’s, many Italians began to give up farming and sought work in factories in Torino and other big cities in Piemonte. Mario stayed and began quietly buying up the area’s best vineyards. Ten years later his strategy paid off and the Antoniolo family owned many of Gattinara’s best vineyards.  

When Mario’s daughter Rossana became the manager of the winery, she wisely took the advice of Luigi Veronelli to bottle two of their wines, the  Osso San Grato and San Francesco wines as single vineyard wines.  Today, Osso San Grato is considered to be one of the world’s great wines, according to Antonio Galloni of Vinous. Although some winemakers in the Langhe area of Piemonte were also creating single vineyard wines, this action was unheard of at that time in Gattinara. 

Today, Lorella and her brother Alberto manage 14 hectares of vines and adhere to their mother’s strict guidelines-integrated pest management, low doses of copper and sulfur, no chemical fertilizers, rows between the vines with natural cover crops, and slow fermentation in concrete vats with indigenous yeasts. All of Antoniolo’s Gattinaras are aged the same length of time as their Riservas.

The Bricco Lorella Vino Rosato 2024 is 100% Nebbiolo and medium-bodied.  I have not yet tasted this Rosato, so I rely upon the wise words of Eric Guido of Vinous, who rhapsodizes about its being “pretty, floral…with a bouquet of peach and pear skins…followed by ripe fruits offset by hints of candied fruit…all carried across a wave of juicy acidity…a gorgeous expression of Nebbiolo Rosato from Gattinara”. 

Come join me for a taste of this Rosato on Friday from noon to 5:45 or Saturday from noon to 4:45.

Cin Cin!

Jenn

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town Shopping Center, 218 N. Washington St., suite 23, in Easton, MD.

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Ciao Tutti!

This week at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste a white wine, the Trebbiano D’Abruzzo DOC ($19.50, 12% ABV) from the Valle Reale Winery in Popoli, near Pescara on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  Abruzzo’s geography of mountains and deep valleys lies just under the “calf” of Italy’s boot.

Valle Reale’s vineyard is surrounded by protected and unspoilt nature of rolling hills, majestic mountains and snow -covered glaciers in the greenest region of Italy. The winery is located in the middle of three national parks; Grans Sasso, Majella and Monti della Laga, part of the 36% of Abruzzo’s land that is covered by three national parks, a regional park and more than thirty nature preserves. 

The winery takes its name from its valley location that has a long history of being a wine district, some of the rows of this vineyard were planted in front of the ruins of a grotto-cellar built in the 1300’s. Benedictine monks would travel down from a nearby convent in the tiny village of San Benedetto and store their wine in a grotto-cellar whose front façade inspired the Valle Reale label’s design.  

The Pizzoli family founded Valle Reale in 1998 and practices biodynamic- organic viticulture over its 46 hectares of vines spread between Popoli and another village. Only one acre is dedicated to the Trebbiano D’Abruzzo grape. All of the grapes thrive in their terroir of a south-facing plain that is 150-350 meters above sea level with clay and sandy soils covered by a blanket of limestone, nestled in the valley surrounded by mountains.  These characteristics result in unique wines of fully mature fruits, complex aromatics and elegant, fresh perfume.  

This Trebbiano D’Abruzzo is medium bodied with delicate aromas of white flowers and bright fruit that pairs well with rustic pasta courses like my fave, Spaghetti alla Carbonara or roasted poultry, grilled veggies, Piazza’s sharp cheeses and cured meats. This wine has been in Piazza’s collection for a while but if you have not yet tasted it, come join me Friday from noon to 5:45 or Saturday from noon to 4:45.

Cin Cin,

Jenn

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town Shopping Center, 218 N. Washington St., suite 23, in Easton, MD.

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Ciao Tutti!

This week at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste two Chiantis, the Chianti Classico DOCG ($28.99, ABV 13%) and the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Radda ($61.95, 13% ABV) from the Istine winery in Radda in Chianti, Toscana. Founder Bruno Fronti’s first business was Agrichianti, for the construction and management of vineyards. In 1982, he planted a vineyard to grow grapes for bulk consumption. 

After his daughter Angela graduated with a degre in enology, she soon convinced her father and his brother that they needed to up their game and create their own label. After all, they were blessed with a location in the historic Chianti Classico designation, as the black rooster decal stamped on the neck of the bottle signifies. Another asset was that their 26 hectares of vineyards, in separate plots, are some of the highest vineyards in the Chianti region that imparts elegance and freshness to their wines. Their first harvest was in 2009, and they achieved organic certification seven years later.

Angela soon became a rising star in Chianti wine and seven years later, the winery was certified organic.  From the 2012 vintage forward, Angela began separate vinification of  their Sangiovese grapes to reflect the vineyard of origin. Now, in addition to the Istine Chianti Classico, they produce three different ‘crus’ of Chianti Classico coming from three distinct vineyard sites: Casanova dell’Aia, Cavachione and Istine. Each cru is vinified identically so the  unique characteristics of each specific terroir can be identified. The graphics on the cru labels are abstract representations of each vineyard.

 For Chianti lovers, this is a great opportunity to taste two levels of Chianti from a master winemaker. Angela Fronti’s Chianti Classico DOCG’s has scents of balsamic and ripe plum on the nose, followed by fruity black raspberry and cherry on the palate with a minerally finish.  I have not yet tried the Vigna Istine, but my trusted wine sources described its scents of mountain herbs on the nose, followed by juicy red blackberries on the palate-works for me! Many of our customers have already discovered the Istine Chianti Classico but if you have not yet tried it, come join me Friday from noon to 5:45 or Saturday from noon to 4:45. Then go to the next level and enjoy a taste of the Vigna Istine-we also have stocked bottles from the two other vineyards too. 

Cin Cin!

Jenn

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town Shopping Center at 218 N. Washington St., suite 23, in Easton, MD. 

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Some plants win your heart through their beauty, others through their ease of cultivation, and still others through their ability to attract birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. But milkweed (Asclepias) scores the perennial plant Trifecta. 1. It’s beautiful. 2. Depending on variety, it produces clusters of tiny pink, mauve, or pinky white flowers perched like a Tiffany brooch atop tall, stiff stems, or bright orange sprays of clustered blooms or even sprays of purple. It’s low-maintenance and deer-resistant. And 3. Milkweed is both habitat and food source to a host of fascinating critters. 

“There’s a whole ecosystem that revolves around Asclepias,” says Cindy King, horticulturist and naturalist at The Mill at Kingstown. “It’s not just the Monarchs.”

Most people know that milkweed is the specific host plant of endangered Monarch butterflies, but in addition to Monarch caterpillars, milkweed attracts the milkweed leaf beetle (Labidomera clivicollis), the red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus), the milkweed tussock moth caterpillar (Euchaetes egle), the Eastern milkweed seed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus), and red aphids (Aphis nerii) along with their predators: ladybeetles (Coccinellidae), in both beetle and red dragon-like larval stage. Interestingly, virtually all of the creatures that congregate on milkweed are red and black or orange and black, colors that advertise their toxicity.

“The insects get toxins from eating the milkweed plant,” explains Dr. Sara Tangren, formerly University of Maryland Extension, now Coordinator at National Capital PRISM. Milkweeds contain cardiac glycosides, which are toxic to humans in large amounts.

“Deer don’t go for them, which is really nice, because of the sap, but tons of wildlife goes to them,” agrees horticulturist Ruth Rogers Clausen, author of Deer Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast.

While the deer leave them alone, if you have Monarch caterpillars and other insects visiting what they view as a buffet, you will see some plant damage.

“People buy milkweed for the Monarchs and expect it to stay pristine,” says King. The likely reason is that most think of butterflies sipping nectar, but forget about the munching caterpillars, who are an earlier incarnation of the winged beauty. 

“The caterpillars will do some plant damage,” Tangren says, “But it is not fatal to the plant, and you are rewarded with the beautiful butterflies.”

Milkweed gets its common name from the milky juice that oozes from cut stems, which can be a skin irritant, particularly if you cut the bloom for a bouquet. (Clausen recommends searing the cut end to prevent sap ooze).  Milkweed is also sometimes called ‘silkweed’ for the silky threads attached to the large, tear-shaped seedpods in fall. Those silky threads are like eiderdown to hummingbirds.

“In spring, hummingbirds try to find that downy attachment on those seeds to line their nest,” says King. “On the inside, they like spiderwebs and soft things. There was a study on hummingbird nests I read once, and close to 40% had down from milkweed seed.”

There are several types of milkweed, most of which are North American natives. The varieties we see around here, some growing in the ditches along the road are: A. syriaca, with big leaves that look like big green tongues; A. incarnata, called swamp milkweed, which has smaller clusters of bright pink flowers and grows 5 feet tall; and A. tuberosa, most often called butterfly milkweed or butterfly weed, which grows 2-3 feet tall and is usually flame orange, though hybridizers have cooked up new colors for the garden. For example, K. van Bourgondien sells a butterfly milkweed mix that includes everything from creamy yellow through fire engine red to pink, purplish and almost white. 

“’Ice ballet’ is dead white and they get fairly large, and they’re very fragrant,” notes Clausen. “If you want them to branch out, pinch them when they’re younger.”

 Most are fragrant to one degree or another. The volunteer A. syriaca in my garden wafts perfume while in bloom, as do the fields of A. incarnata that was seeded in a meadow on a local farm. Despite the tuberosa’s common name (butterfly milkweed) all milkweed can host Monarchs and other butterflies, which makes them great plants for virtually any garden. While there is a ‘plant it and they will come’ aspect to native plants, putting them in clumps makes them more discoverable by the animals they host. King suggests having at least five in a clump, so the critters aren’t looking for a botanical needle in a haystack.

“Your milkweed goes further if you plant it in small patches,” she says. “If you’re putting in a few plants, I’d put two-to-three at one end, and two-to-three in another, and plant a lot of composite flowers around – Joe Pye (Eupatorium) and Echinacea.” 

King says those other plants will also act as attractive pollinator and predator plants.

 “It you tuck it in with other things, if you plant a batch of it, you’ll see tons of tussocks moths (caterpillars) and the milkweed beetles – they look like ash bugs,” she says. “I leave it undisturbed and just let the ecology unfold and watch. I take binoculars out so I can see them without getting into the middle of it.”

Milkweed is a snap to grow provided you match growing conditions to type.  Swamp milkweed, (A. incarnata) is a ditch plant, which is what makes it a good plant for rain gardens since it not only likes moist soil it can tolerate some shade making plant location more versatile. Butterfly milkweed (A.tuberosa), which is drought resistant, likes full sun and very well drained soil.

“Tuberosa likes it moister in full sun but does well with taller grasses around it to give it a little dappled shade like in prairies,” says King, adding, “I love that orange color.” 

And she suggests, bearing in mind spring hummingbird nests, gardeners leave the plants up throughout fall and winter, so the silky seed threads fall on the ground for nesting. It’s all connected.

Longtime journalist, essayist, and garden writer Nancy Taylor Robson is also the author of four books: Woman in The Wheelhouse; award-winning Course of the Waterman; A Love Like No Other: Abigail and John Adams, a Modern Love Story; and OK Now What? A Caregiver’s Guide to What Matters, which she wrote with Sue Collins, RN. 

Ciao Tutti!

This weekend at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste the Otto Uve Gragnano Penisola Sorrentina Rosso Frizzante DOC  ($21.50, 11.5% ABV) from the Salvatore Martusciello winery in Pozzuoli, a municipality of the City of Naples in Campania. 

“Otto Uve”  (Eight Grapes) is named for the number of grape varieties that comprise this wine, including the best known Aglianico and Piedirosso grapes. Gragnano is considered to be the quintessential red wine of Naples and the idyllic pairing for authentic Neapolitan pizza.

Pozzuoli is the main city on the Phlegraen Peninsula, famous for its Campi Flegrei, the 24 craters and volcanic structures underneath the Bay of Naples. The ancient Romans believed that the gaseous Solfatara crater was the gateway to the Underworld to the domain of Vulcan, the God of Fire. The area’s sandy soil that covers the volcanic rock protected the area’s vines in the late 19th century when the disease phylloxera swept through Europe’s vineyards and decimated the grapes.

Salvatore Martusciello began working at his family’s Grotta del Sole vineyards and he soon became known for his dedication to preserving and extolling Campania’s indigenous grapes that had been almost forgotten.  His dedication led to his becoming the champion of  wines from the Campi Flegrei and Vesuvius. In 1991, he left his family’s estate and with his wife Gilda, established their own vineyard. Salvatore is a very hands-on winemaker and he even delivers wine to customers so he can explain to them the wine’s special characteristics that he loves so well! 

Their Otto Uve Gragnanao is not your traditional red wine. Slightly fizzy, best served chilled, fruit forward (strawberry, raspberry), light tannins, balanced acidity. Perfetto to pair with Piazza’s cured meat and cheese platters; fried foods, and my fave pairing, Piazza’s pizza on Friday!

If you have not yet tasted this refreshing red wine, come join me on Friday from noon to 5:45 or noon to 4:45 and take home a Piazza pizza!

Cin Cin, 

Jenn

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town Shopping Center at 218 N. Washington St., suite 23, in Easton, MD.

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.

This week at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste a new Rose’ that we are considering for our collection , the Scala Ciro’ Rosato ($19.50,13% ABV), from the Azienda Scala winery in Torricella di San Biagio in Calabria’s Ciro Marina area overlooking the Ionian Sea. I love the bold graphics of its eye-catching label as it reminded me of my own Architect business card. 

The Ciro Rosato is 100% Gaglioppo grape, Calabria’s flagship grape. “Gaglioppo” translates from the Greek as “beautiful foot”, an apt description for a region that contains the toes and entire ball of  Italy’s foot. One of oldest varieties, wine from this grape was offered to winners in the Olympic Games. The city of Ciro’ was famous in ancient times for its temple devoted to wine (my kind of people!) 

The winery was founded in 1949 by Antonio Scala and passed on in 2005 to his son Luigi, whose son Francesco joined the business in 2008. Francesco manages both the 13 hectares of the family’s vineyards and also the cellar. Even though current appellation laws allow up to 20% of other non-variety grapes in a wine, the Scala family strictly adheres to tradition and continues to make their Cirò Rosato with 100% Gaglioppo grapes, as they do with the grapes of  the other four wines in their portfolio. 

Calabria’s clay soils, rolling hills and particular microclimate (long, hot summers with temperature fluctuations) of Ciro’s location between the Apennine Mountains and the Ionian Sea create a unique terroir. Organic farming is easy but the main challenges are finding and keeping, staff in Italy’s poorest region and the presence of wild boars!

The Scala Ciro Rosato is the perfect antidote to Calabria’s very spicy cuisine in which the pepperoncino is dominant. This Rosato is dry, fresh and rounded with notes of spicy peach, watermelon and blood orange. Perfetto as an aperitivo or to enjoy throughout a summer meal. 

Come join me Friday from noon to 5:45 or Saturday from noon to 4:45 for a refreshing taste of this Rosato and cast your vote yay or nay for Piazza to add it to our wine selections.

Cin Cin!

Jenn

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town Shopping Center, 218 N. Washington St., suite 23, in Easton, MD

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.

This weekend at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste the Soave DOC, 2023, ($16.99, ABV 11.5%), a white wine from the Tamellini Winery in Soave, near Verona in the Veneto. The family Tameillini had been winemakers for several generations, but two brothers, Gaetano and Pio Francesco, wanted to take their legacy to the next level. Their goal was to create a stellar Soave that would set them apart from other winemakers and they founded  their own winery in 1998. 

Their label of two brothers holding a yoke of a large bunch of grapes illustrates their equal division of labor for Soave. Gaetano takes care of the growth and production of their vineyards while Pio is the winemaker who transforms the Veneto region’s signature grape, Garganega, into Soave. Their vineyard covers 30 hectares in the Soave DOC area of production that was established in 1968.

The medieval town of Soave was once a strategically located fortress equidistant from Verona and Vicenza. Writings from the Roman era show that wine has always been made in this area, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that Soave was among Italy’s best-selling wines.  The grapes for the Francesco brothers’ DOC Soave is grown on the valley floors at the foot of the Lessini Mountains. The deeper, more fertile volcanic soils are rich in clay and sedimentary material, which makes their Soave DOC wine crisp, with refreshing acidity and minerality.

Soave’s primary flavors are ripe pear, white peach, and green apple. I like to pair it with seafood risotto, grilled shrimp, roast chicken, salads with a citrus vinaigrette or grilled veggies. Since Friday is the beginning of the dog days of August and a glass of chilled Soave. This wine is best served in a glass with a narrow bowl and opening, to maximize the fragrant and floral aromas and intense velvety flavor with a hint of the perfect antidote to August’s hot, humid days. 

Soave has long been a customer favorite but if you have not yet tasted it, come join me Friday from noon to 5:45 or Saturday from Noon to 4:45.

Cin Cin!

Jenn

August Wine Dinner: Check Piazza’s website for info on our next wine dinner on Saturday, August 9th, celebrating wines from the Dogliani region of Piemonte. Emily and Chef Chris have compiled another stellar four-course dinner accompanied by wines from the Dogliani production area. Cost is $90/person; tickets are available online now. 

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town Shopping Center at 218 N. Washington St., Suite 23, in Easton, MD

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Ciao Tutti!

This weekend at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste a new wine in our collection, the De Fermo Rosso 2023 ($28.99, 12.5% ABV) from the De Fermo winery in Loreto Aprutino in Abruzzo. This region’s geography is long and narrow and is located between the Adriatic Sea to the east and the snow- capped  10,000 foot high Gran Sasso, which is part of the Apennine range.  

De Fermo is a story about wine but it began as a love story. Proprietors Stefano Papetti and Eloisa De Fermo met while studying law in Bologna. They discovered their mutual love of wine and Stefano was intrigued to learn that since the 18th century, Eloisa’s family had a large farm with a vineyard, but the grapes were only sold to cooperatives. From a very young age, Stefano had been intrigued by the aroma of wine. He even bought bottles of wine to smell the wine’s aroma so he could better understand what he was reading in his mother’s cookbooks!

Stefano’s first visit to Eloisa family farm was in 2007 and soon he was visiting the farm on weekends, which led to their courtship and marriage. The couple abandoned their law studies to become winemakers at the family estate.  Stefano found a long abandoned winery, dating from 1785, on the grounds that was buried under the family’s house. Stefano began restoration of the winery and then began making wine. The couple took over the farm management in 2009 and launched their first vintage in 2010. 

From the beginning, Stefano and Eloisa banned chemicals from their vineyard, adopted biodynamics in 2008 and became certified a few years later. In addition to the 17 hectares of grape vines, the 420 acre diversified estate includes 20 hectares of olive trees, and parcels of herbs, legumes and grazing land for the cows.  De Fermo is now among Italy’s largest biodynamic estates. They neither use nor add yeasts and they don’t control fermentation temperatures. They also do not fine and/or filter their wines.

“De Fermo” translates as “ from a standstill” and is an apt name for the winery’s  trajectory from a source of bulk wine to its reputation today as one of the finest sources of Abruzzo wine. This highest level of quality soon captured the attention of  the legendary wine importer Neal Rosenthal. He had been searching for years for a producer partner in the special Abruzzo terroir and he welcomed Stefano and Eloisa to his family of growers.  

De Fermo’s Vino Rosso is 100% Montepulciano grape and is aged in concrete for 12 months, with aromatics of wild strawberries and dark cherries, juicy and fresh with smooth tannins-enjoy it slightly chilled for its maximum effect. 

Come join me Friday from noon to 5:45 or Saturday from noon to 4:45 to taste this popular grape. 

Cin Cin!

Jenn

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town shopping center at 218 N. Washington St., suite 23, in Easton, MD

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.