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Making the connection between Italy and the U.S.
As we head into Italian Wine Week Feb. 3-9, with special events held in New York City, it’s fitting to remember the roles of five men key to the wine connection between Italy and the U.S.
With the Jan. 5 passing of winemaker Harry F. Mariani of Banfi Wines, another chapter in that American wine history could be written.
Mariani, 78, and his brother John, who survives, made their fortunes introducing
Harry and John Banfi, 1986. Banfi Wines
Americans to Italian wines. They were working for Banfi, founded in 1919 by their father and his three brothers, when in 1967 the brothers began importing Riunite, a chilled, sparkling sweet red wine that by 1973 was the nation’s largest-selling imported brand.
If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember Riunite Lambrusco’s promotional slogan, “Riunite on ice, that’s nice,” which was updated in 2002 to the trendier “Just chill.”
Imports of Riunite peaked at 11.2 million cases in 1984 and accounted for 27 percent of all foreign wines sold in the United States, according to Banfi Wines.
That success as importers allowed the brothers to branch out, purchase their own vineyards in Italy and on Long Island and by the mid-1990s Banfi was the nation’s leading wine importer, according to the New York Times.
Today, Italian varieties are the leading imported wine in the U.S. and Americans now are drinking more Italian wines than Italian themselves, said the Italian Wine and Food Institute.
Which brings us to three other major players in the Italo-American wine connection.
Ernest Gallo
In 1933, brothers Ernest and Julio Gallo founded E. & J. Gallo Winery, eventually producing 16 brands of wine and cornering more than 25 percent of the American market.
At one time the company owned nearly half the vineyard acreage in California with annual revenues estimated at $1 billion.
Ernest was in charge of marketing and his desire, according to his biography, was to see the company become the “Campbell Soup Company of the wine industry.”
The Gallos marketed their cheap White Port and Thunderbird wines in inner city markets along with a catchy jingle that in part went, “What’s the word? /Thunderbird/ How’s it sold?/ Good and cold/…”
The company gradually shed its low-rent image to become the largest winemaker in the country and today is the largest privately held wine company in the world.
Ernest Gallo died at the age of 97 on March 6, 2007, less than a month after his brother Joseph. Julio Gallo died in 1993.
The third of our Italian triumvirate is Robert Mondavi, who, dismissed in 1952 from
Robert Mondavi
Charles Krug, the Mondavi family winery, went on to build his own eponymous winery and his great fortunes.
As Mondavi noted in his 1998 memoir, “Harvests of Joy,” he found his mission doing “whatever it took to make great wines and to put the Napa Valley on the map right alongside the great winemaking centers of Europe.”
In 1968, he took Sauvignon Blanc, at the time an unpopular variety, and rebranded it as “Fumé Blanc,” figuring it was something Americans could pronounce. The wine was so successful that Fumé Blanc became an accepted synonym for Sauvignon Blanc.
By the time Mondavi sold his winery in 2004, it was sixth-largest winery in the U.S. with annual sales of 9.7 million cases, according to Wine Business Monthly.
Mondavi remained as chairman emeritus until his death on May 16, 2008 at the age of 94.
In 1993, Mariani told the New York Times that wine was always a part of his life, “it was never taboo.”
And at every meal, Harry Mariani would toast: “A tavola non s’invecchia,” which can be translated to “At the table with family and friends, one does not grow old.”
Take note: It’s time to make your own memories
Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio) is the most-popular imported wine in the U.S. More than 6 million cases were sold worldwide in 2014. Photo Wikipedia Commons
Wandering recently around a near-deserted Crossroads Fitness, I heard a distant voice say, “Don’t worry. Next week all the New Years’ resolutions will kick in and this place will be packed.”
Making a New Years’ resolution about wine is like promising to lose weight or improve your math – without an occasional reminder, we forget what path we’re on.
What path will your wine world take in 2016?
You could drink more, meaning not in quantity but rather in quality, but why do so unless you do it mindfully?
To me, that means paying attention not only to what’s in your glass today but what may be in it tomorrow and the other 363 tomorrows in 2016.
It includes being aware of the growers and the vintners and the grape varieties that bring you the juice to fill your glass.
You don’t need to be an expert, whatever that is, but simply a person who goes beyond quenching a thirst.
A couple of examples:
So-called “Grower Champagnes” became a bit of a rage in 2015 when Champagne lovers turned away from mass-produced Champagnes from the better-known big houses and instead focused on wines made by the same estate that owns the vineyards (rather than buying the grapes to make the wine).
The theory long espoused (Ed McCarthy wrote about Grower Champagnes in 2012) is that these growers/vintners would know how to make the best wine possible from home-grown grapes.
And most times, they do.
Yet if it’s consistency you want, it’s likely the “better” (just different, that’s all) Champagnes come from the large and better-known Champagne houses, who makes their wines from a blend of grapes from top vineyards.
That same goes for any wine. You can follow what’s trending, which is fine as long as you know why you’re following it and what it is you’re looking for.
Drink Pinot Grigio? It’s the second-most popular white wine (behind Chardonnay) in America even though most of the stuff poured at bars and restaurants is awful. It’s cheap (to make and to pour) and generally forgettable stuff.
But good Pinot Grigio (and Pinot Gris, the French name) can be charming and satisfying, ranging from the full-bodied, spice and stone-fruit wines of Alsace, France, to the luminous acidity of peach and nectarine from Northern Italy and the pear, ginger and allspice notes of Pinot Gris from J Vineyards in California.
If you learn what Pinot Grigio should taste like, you won’t be satisfied with the norm.
Perhaps you like the science side of wine and winemaking?
Erika Szymanski is studying for her doctorate in microbial enology and in her spare time writes the scientifically leaning (and always informative) blog Wine-o-scope, which she describes as a wine geek keeping notes. Her latest column for the online wine magazine, The Palate Press, is titled “The Some science behind canned wines.”
Which brings us to taking notes.
Nothing fancy or complicated, maybe no more than few words scribbled on a label, but a reminder of what you liked or didn’t like about a particular wine.
Rick Rozelle at Fisher’s Liquor Barn loves to recount stories about people asking for a “wine like the one I had last night.”
“Sometimes all they remember is that it was red or white,” Rozelle said. “It’s tough to find the right one.”
A few simple notes, either by hand or using one of the apps available for your smartphone (don’t forget the phone’s camera), will make wine in 2016 much easier to remember.
Wine Openers 