It has been two weeks since we hosted our last grand wine tasting. This report is overdue, but I have been busy planting our garden, coaching baseball (yes I still coach and my sons “retired” over five years ago, I am a baseball lifer and still can hit a mean fly ball with a fungo) and working.
As usual all enjoyed the wines, cheeses, olive oils and food (which included home-made gnocchi) at the tasting. But there were a couple of surprises that are worthy of special note. For the first time I included a Rose’ wine in the tasting; Luigi Reale’s Getis, a blend of the per’ e palummo (80%) and tintore (20%) grapes. I have not had many Rose’ wines over the years so I do not have a baseline for making an assessment. But based upon comments from our friends and how quickly the two bottles were consumed, Getis is a Rose’ for fans of Rose’ wines and for the wine drinkers in general. To purchase Getis stop by Bin Ends at 236 Wood Road, Braintree. http://www.binendswine.com
Also for the first time I served Burrini cheese. Per usual I went to DePasquale’s Market, Bricco Salumeria and Past Shop, 11 Board Alley, North End, Boston http://www.briccosalumeria.com. As in the past I bought Moliterno cheese which is made in a town close to my Grandparents’ home town of Corleto Perticara, Potenza. A pear shape cheese caught my attention. The store manager, who was born in a small town outside of Matera about an hour and half drive from Corleto Perticara, informed me that the cheese is called Burrini and is a Southern Italian cheese produced in the Regions of Molise, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria.
Burrini, (a/k/a as Butirri, Burielli, Provole and Manteche) is called the “butter cheese”. A provolone type cheese (also similar to caciocavallo) is molded around about a half ounce of unsalted butter. This cheese is not the same as Burrata; a cream filled mozzarella cheese that should be consumed shortly after purchase. A favored type of Burrini cheese is made from the milk products of the Podolica cattle which are known for their natural grazing in the Apennine Mountain range in Northern Potenza, Basilicata near the Campania border. Why butter in cheese? Per Lucano tradition (Lucano is the ancient name for the Region of Basilicata and its two Provinces, Potenza and Matera), since so many Southern Italians use olive oil in lieu of butter dairy farmers had an excess supply of butter and needed to store it. With no refrigeration storing butter inside a cheese ball was a natural way of preserving butter.
Below are photos of the wine served. All were favorably received as a couple bottles of each wine was consumed. And of course special shout out to the cooks who prepared the food for the wine tasting!
