1998 Azienda Agraria de Juliis Montepulciano d'Abruzzo "Casanova"

[RAD]

Can anyone give me any information on this wine? I've tried WS, wine-searcher, google, etc., all to no avail. The closest thing I found is that this farm/winery also produces olive oil, which apparently won some sort of prize. The cork says Vestea-PE-Italia. I believe PE is Pescara, in Abruzzi on the Adriatic Sea.

Had this at an Italian restaurant here in NYC last night on the recommendation of the waiter, and was pleasantly surprised. He described it as "organic."

Any and all info appreciated--

RAD

P.S.--Yes, it's "Juliis", two "i"s, not a "u"--not a typo.

[This message has been edited by RAD (edited 09-02-2001).]

[This message has been edited by RAD (edited 09-02-2001).]

[Botafogo]

Rad, we had a really interesting debate with the standista (girl working the booth) of this winery at this year's VinItaly:

She was going on and on about how they were the only producer of organic wines in Abruzzo and we stopped her and asked her about Emidio Pepe (the most traditional and natural winery in the WORLD as far as we can tell) and her response was "he SAYS he is organic but he is not certified, so how can you believe him?"

WELL, she had obviously never been in the same room with Emidio who was probably the Roman god of Integrity and Trust in a previous incarnation (and is also an imposing figure physically and I would not want him to respond to such an accusation with fists!). But, she was young so we humored her. I asked her, "I think you are very pretty and I bet you do too but has anyone CERTIFIED that fact?". That got a laugh and she actually threatened to show us her "stamp of approval" under her blouse but said it "would not be proper here". This led to a discussion of the conflict between the inherant anarchism / individuality of Italians vs any Government or other sanctioning authority who would need to inspect them and, ultimately, I told her "You know, this was the reason Martin Luther nailed his renunciation of the Pope on the church door....he didn't need a middle man with God".

WELL, that got her so addled that she agreed that "I have never thought about this this way before....I will have to go and visit the Pepe winery....ya da ya da"

We ultimately did not buy the wines because they were expensive for what they were but it was fun (and she was REALLY cute!).

Roberto

[Botafogo]

PS: it's Azienda Agricola de Iuliis Antonio (there is no "J" in Italian) and their info is as follows

Azienda Agricola de Iuliis Antonio
65010 Civitella Casoanova (Pescara)
Contrada Torre delle Valli, 44
Tel and FAX 085-8466169

e-mail: a.deiuliis@tiscalinet.it

[RAD]

Interesting and funny anecdote as always, Boto. Thanks.

I truly did think it was a decent wine for the money (~$35 in the restaurant, which I'm guessing translates to ~$17 at retail)--not super-cheap, but obviously there are many factors that go into valuation, which we've discussed before.

Then again, maybe I just need to spend more time going over your weekly email! [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

RAD

[Botafogo]

Compared to stuff from Toscana or Napa, maybe. BUT, the value to be found in Abruzzo and the Marche are astounding and that stuff was overpriced (in lira, at the source) by half. This could make for an interesting thread on "Gee, my wine is a good as X even though it costs me much less to buy so I could charge the same as X and get rich" which is so often in the minds of importers bringing stuff from value regions.....

[Thomas]

Roberto, that kind of pricing permeates the wine industry ocean to ocean and coast to coast.

As for the so-called organic claims: that subject drives me to distraction becasue, as the Italian young lady pointed out: some people are certified, some aren't and some who are shouldn't be. To make matters worse, each entity has its own idea of what constitutes organic wine--some start in the vineyard but ignore the winemaking process; others go overboard with controls; still others just claim that all chemicals are organic and throw up their hands.

Maybe we could get a thread going on this topic, and maybe get some qualified chemists to weigh in.

[winoweenie]

Will Participitation be Mandatory? WW