Fiorano Wine Tasting, 6/8 @ 6.30PM, $75

We are quite fortunate to have in our possession two very rare cases of wine, which we hope you will take part in tasting with us. I know this is last minute, but we weren't planning on opening this event up to the public at all. We happen to have a few open seats, and are excited we can offer them to our 'Exclusives' members, on a first come, first served basis. Please email us ASAP if you are interested in attending.

Now, let's talk about the wine. There was once a prince, the Prince of Venosa, living in a large estate outside of Rome called Fiorano. By all accounts, Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi was an eccentric man, to say the least. When he took over his family estate in 1946, which was planted to a variety of nondescript indigenous Latium grapes, he ripped out all the vineyards. He replanted with merlot, cabernet sauvignon (long before these grapes became common in Italy), semillon, and malvasia di candia. He practiced organic viticulture before the word 'organic' meant anything in the wine world. He vinified wines in large oak barrels that he continually reused, and bottled both reds and whites unfined and unfiltered. After bottling, the wines sat in his cellar, and after a while, a thick white mold began to grown on them. The Prince considered it beneficial to the wines, and did nothing to eradicate it.

Tales of the Prince and his wine gradually seeped out to wine writers in Italy and the United States. Many became fascinated -- obsessed even -- with these wines, though few had ever tasted them. Occasionally a bottle would be released and tasted, whispers of its glory and singularity spreading like wildfire. But, the Prince believed that all his wine was too young to drink, and so hoarded the bottles in his cellar. He sold small amounts of it in the 1970s and 80s, but quit making wine and selling it all-together in the mid90s.

Luigi Veronelli, a prominent Italian wine writer, was one of the first to realize the full potential of Fiorano's white wines. "To obtain his cru is practically impossible," Mr. Veronelli once wrote. "If I lived in Rome, I’d beg for them at the prince's door every morning." And, beg Mr. Veronelli did. Finally, the Prince took a meeting with him and agreed to sell him the entire parcel -- 14,000 bottles -- provided that he distributed it appropriately. The agreement reached with the American importer was that the bottles could appear in a select number of restaurants (I believe there are about a half dozen restaurants in the US that have Fiorano), and only one wine retailer: Italian Wine Merchants in New York City. Until now, the only way you could taste these wines was to buy a bottle at a restaurant for $200+ or buy a mixed vintage case from IWM for $1000.

As I said, we are very fortunate to have two mixed-vintage cases of these wines. On Tuesday, June 8th, at 6:30pm we will be conducting a vertical tasting of eight of Fiorano's wines.



1992 Bianco Botte 26 (*the "Bianco" bottlings are made from malvasia di candia)
1993 Bianco Botte 25
1994 Bianco Botte 26
1989 Semillon Botte 48
1990 Semillon (*no additional info available on this bottle)
1992 Semillon Botte 46
1993 Semillon Botte 22
1994 Semillon Botte 47


And now, the details: The cost to attend is $75. We will have a selection of meats, cheeses, and crackers to munch on, but the focus will definitely be on the wine. Attendance will be capped at 15 people. We will probably not have space for invitees to bring a guest, but let me know if you are interested, and we'll see what we can do. The event will take place at our West Town location, 1412 W. Chicago Ave. Select bottles of Fiorano will be available for purchase, though, obviously, there is a very limited amount. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in attending. You can email us, or call the Roscoe location at 773-281-8888. We will need to take credit card information to reserve a spot, though no one will be charged until the day of the event. In the event of a cancellation, we will have to charge the card on file if we can't find someone to fill the spot. (Thanks for understanding!)

We are super excited about this event, and hope that you will be there with us. Don't hesitate to call or email with questions.