January 2010 – Deep Red Cellar

Castello Banfi – Montalcino

My family and I went on a trip to Montalcino recently and took some time to stop by the famous Castello Banfi Estate for a tour and tasting. I am always surprised at how these unique opportunities stare me in the face here in Italy. I scheduled our appointment on the telephone. We arrived to a friendly greeting and a personal tour of the facility followed by a private tasting in their beautiful Enoteca. I realize we were visiting during the “low season;” however, amazed that we were the only ones around to see and experience this wonderful estate.

Castello Banfi is comprised of about 7,100 acres, 2,400 of which are made up of a “constellation” of single vineyards and the remaining acreage dedicated to olives, fruits, etc. The winery was founded by John Mariani, Sr., an American of Italian heritage, and is still run by the Mariani family today. This estate produces 26 different labels, from Brunello di Montalcino, DOCG Riserva to Moscadello di Montalcino, DOC with a smattering of Brunellos and Super Tuscans in between (they also have an estate in Piedmont that produces 15 different labels). As you can imagine, this estate is massive producing approximately 10 million bottles of wine annually! They have a state-of-the-art facility and are leading the way on the experimental forefront.

I was intrigued by their hybrid tanks that they use for fermenting some of their wines. These unique tanks are stainless steel on the bottom and top with wood in the center making for a very eye-catching impression. For traditional aging, they use Slovenian oak casks and barriques of French and American oak. Always attending to detail, Banfi winemakers personally select the raw wood from the forests of France according to their origin and physical characteristics for their French barriques. They season these barriques at the estate for 3 years (instead of the traditional 2 years). According to Banfi, this gives the wood rounder and more persistent aromas. Coopers (or barrel makers) use an indirect and cooler toasting than usual for about 3x longer than the traditional period of time to produce a more uniform and balanced flavor. Their custom-made barrels are larger (350 L.) than the traditional barrique (225 L.) as it is believed to provide ideal wood surface to volume of wine ratio. Their steel tanks are numerous and vary in size but some are by far the largest I’ve ever seen. Depending on the wine, they use various aging methods and combinations. One method has them combining wine aged in Slovenian casks with wine aged in French barriques, another method has them aging wine in various sizes of oak barrels and then of course, they do steel tank aging and bottle aging.

We finished our tour with a tasting at the Enoteca which is just as beautiful in it’s own right. We were given a generous tasting flight that helped us decide on our “souvenirs.” We walked away with Poggio Alle Mura, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG (made from select vineyards producing consistently outstanding Brunello), Summus Sant’Antimo DOC, and BelnerO IGT (both Super Tuscans).

If you would like to try a bottle, or two, or three of Banfi wines, you can shop: WineAccess.com or type “Banfi” in my “Snooth” search window to start shopping.

*written with information obtained from our lovely tour guide, AnnaLisa Gori, Banfi visitor guide and www.castellobanfi.com

Delicious And Healthy!

Although I love great wine and decadent food, I actually eat quite healthy in my home. I stay away from refined foods, trans fats and bad carbohydrates. I eat whole grains, healthy fats & carbohydrates, and fresh, natural ingredients.

Like me, you’ve probably heard for years that you can eat healthy and not feel like you got jolted out of great taste…then a plate of sand-paper is set before you. It’s not a very positive argument to go down the healthy road. But I have found as I’m not getting any younger, my desire to take care of my body and live a healthy lifestyle has increased. With that determination, I’ve found that it is possible to eat healthy and have food packed full of flavor. Here’s my simple method to accomplish this. I look at a recipe or food that I like but may not be healthy and replace the bad with the good (i.e. white flour for whole wheat flour, fatty meats for lean ones, white sugar for natural sweetners, etc.). It’s quite simple but has big dividends.

This leads me to one of my favorite healthy recipes – chocolate muffins! Yes, you read correctly – chocolate muffins that are actually healthy…good for you no less! I eat them for breakfast with absolutely no guilt. One of the key ingredient changes in this recipe is flaxseed meal in place of the fat (i.e. butter). I hope you try the recipe as it’s written but if it sounds too scary, you can lighten it up a little by using a combination of flaxseed meal and coconut oil. I encourage you to try the recipe and if you like it, then go ahead and turn over a new leaf. Replace the bad ingredients in foods you love with good, healthy ones. You will see just how easy it is to make these small changes resulting in satisfying eating that your body will thank you for!

Chocolate Muffins

1 1/2 c. high quality semisweet chocolate chips or pieces

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla

2/3 c. skim milk

1 1/2 c. flaxseed meal*

1/2 c. Splenda brown sugar mix**

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F

Line muffin cups with foil liners (foil works best but paper liners or spraying is fine).

Melt 1/2 cup of the chocolate pieces in a double boiler (or just a plain bowl set over a pan of simmering water), cool.

Whisk vanilla into skim milk and set aside.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together.

Beat flaxseed meal with Splenda brown sugar mix and eggs until pale. Add the melted chocolate and stir to incorporate.

Stir in the flour and milk mixtures until combined.

Fold in the remaining 1 cup of chocolate pieces.

Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

*You can use 1 cup of flaxseed meal and 3 tablespoons of coconut oil for a lighter texture

**if living in America, I’d use fructose or agave nectar for the sweetner

Serve warm with Adagio Teas

The Best Stocking Stuffer Ever!

I received the best stocking stuffer ever this year for Christmas…..a bottle of 2005 *Gaja Barbaresco! Who would do that? Who would put such a pretigious gift in with miscellaneous crackers, m&m’s and magazines? I tell you who…..my awesome husband, that’s who!

Christmas dinner was quiet at our house this year. We had an intimate family setting of just me, my husband and our daughter (i.e. only 2 drinking age adults! 😉 ). It was as if I had planned for this gift well in advance. The menu was simple – grilled filet mignon, sauteed green beans and oven roasted potatoes. My husband is a grill master so the steaks were cooked to carnivorous perfection. And somehow, the garlic splashed, sauteed green beans and roasted potatoes seemed to turn out perfectly as well.

About an hour before dinner, we opened and decanted this lovely red. Of course, I probably should admit that we couldn’t help but have a teeny taste right away. When we sat down to dinner, we thanked God for our many blessings, poured, looked, swished, smelled and sipped. This barbaresco was young when we drank it but it lived up to the Gaja name as usual with a beautiful ruby red color. I can see where more aging would greatly enhance it. It had medium body with berry, licorice and spicy notes. The tannins delicately sliced through the steak and the finish was long.

As I write this, I believe I’ve come down with a case of the flu. Regrettably, that means I won’t be having any gourmet food or wine for a little while. In the meantime, I’ll have to live vicariously through the memory of our great Christmas dinner and the best stocking stuffer ever!

*If you’d like to know more about Gaja wines, click on the June 2009 archives.