The epitome of Italian wine

The Bottle Kurtis Kolt

It was a recent rainy day when I found myself among many members of the local wine trade and media cloistered in one of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s banquet rooms for a seminar produced by the Institute of Fine Italian Wines—premium Brands. For the record, the moniker of this high-quality collective of producers from all over Italy sounds way more romantic in its native tongue: Istituto del Vino Italiano di Qualità Grandi Marchi.

Although this consortium of big names is known for producing excellent wine for generations, moderator

(and European category manager for B.C. Liquor

Stores) Barbara Philip brought up a very good point: the members of this group are important not only because of their wines but also for being great champions of their respective regions and being integral in putting them on the map. In many cases, their wines are the epitome of the classic styles of where they are grown.

This week, a half-dozen of my favourite wines are presented. If you are having trouble tracking some of them down or are looking to save yourself a few bucks (in many cases, what follows is each winery’s top-tier bottling), you can have faith that each producer is a solid steward of the land and faithful interpreter of its terroir. You can confidently purchase any available wine from each producer’s lineup knowing it will be an authentic representation of its place.

ARGIOLAS COSTAMOLINO VERMENTINO DI SARDEGNA DOC 2016

(Sardinia; $18.49, B.C. Liquor Stores) Fermented in stainless steel with a little bit of time spent on the lees postfermentation, this vibrant white blooms with orange blossom and jasmine, leading to juicy mandarin orange, fresh lemonade, and hints of nougat on the palate. A light salinity is carried by fresh acidity; going seafood for food-pairing is automatic. From takeout sushi to homemade linguini and clams, this wine will come up a treat!

MARCHESI ANTINORI TIGNANELLO TOSCANA IGT 2014

(Tuscany; $92.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) The Antinori family is synonymous with Italian wine, and no wonder: they’ve been at it for 26 generations. Honestly, that’s not a typo. Tignanello is a global success story, a style often referred to as a Super Tuscan. Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon grown in calcareous soil are aged for 12 months in barrel, then another year in bottle before release. Pulling the cork and giving it a solid decanting unfurls plenty of dusty cocoa, violets, black berry fruit, roasted Italian plums, a gentle earthy character, and a fresh levity throughout.

MASTROBERARDINO TAURASI DOCG 2013 RADICI

(Campania; $75.99, Liberty Wine Merchants, Commercial Drive) There’s a decent diurnal temperature swing from day to evening in these vineyards, allowing this 100-percent Aglianico to maintain bright, juicy acidity from your first to last sip. On the nose, there are forest-floor notes of dried berries, herbs, and spices, but then waves of crunchy red berry fruit, like cranberries and raspberries, wash upon the palate, with some lightly grippy tannins holding everything together. Further sips bring a mix of ripe heirloom tomatoes, a hint of cedar, and a crack of peppermint on the finish. Hot tip: the 2008 vintage is currently on Liberty Wine Merchant’s shelves, and it’s totally hitting its stride.

RIVERA IL FALCONE CASTEL DEL MONTE ROSSO RISERVA DOCG 2011

(Puglia; availability TBD) We’re a few weeks away from this wine arriving in stores like Firefly Fine Wines and Ales on Cambie Street, so consider this advance notice. (It’s gonna go quick; you’ve been warned.) Made from two indigenous grape varieties, Nero di Troia and Montepulciano, there are waves of minty black fruit up front, then umami notes of freshcarved roast beef and sun-dried tomatoes toward the very long finish. It’s juicy and opulent, with just enough toasty French oak to provide that fruit a sturdy pedestal. Before opening the bottle, I’d ensure your lamb chops are already on the grill.

MICHELE CHIARLO CEREQUIO BAROLO DOCG 2013

(Piedmont; $117.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) A true family effort begun in 1956. Michele Chiarlo is the patriarch, with his sons Stefano and Alberto now at the helm and specializing in the big-four indigenous varieties of the region: Nebbiolo, Barbera, Cortese, and Moscato. This Nebbiolo is all plums, leather, cherries, and anise, swirled together and wonderfully perfumed. Elegant and ready to drink, though giving it a few years of age will come back to you in spades.

PIO CESARE BAROLO DOCG 2013

(Piedmont; $121.65, Marquis Wine Cellars) Five generations in, this producer offers a Barolo with textbook tar and roses in its aromatics, then peppery plums, black currants, and a splash of balsamic reduction. Limestone and clay soils bring crisp minerality, but 30 months in oak also bring a good dose of tannin. Lay this one down a few years.

Surette is surrounded by a cast that manifests Sinha’s vision. An ensemble of up-and-comers and award-winning veterans populates Happy Place’s inpatient facility: Diane Brown, Nicola Cavendish, Sereana Malani, Adele Noronha, Laara Sadiq, Colleen Wheeler, and Donna Yamamoto are seated around their director in a loose circle. It’s been almost 20 years since Surette left both Vancouver and Touchstone Theatre. Not only is he directing the Vancouver premiere of Happy Place, the first show of Touchstone’s 2017-18 season, he’s resuming his role as the company’s artistic director, a position he occupied from 1984 until 1997, when he departed for Victoria’s Belfry Theatre.

Laara Sadiq, a friend and colleague of Sinha’s, originally brought Happy Place to Surette’s attention. He loved the sprawling, darkly funny, emotionally wrenching play about a diverse group of women, linked only by their therapist and a history of attempted suicide. When Diane Brown, actor and artistic director of Ruby Slippers Theatre, approached him about a coproduction with her company, Surette suggested Happy Place.

“When I read this play and I saw these incredible roles for women, I jumped onboard right away,” Brown says. “We discussed having a multicultural cast, and it’s clearly multigenerational. All these things are a beautiful and poignant way to redefine ‘normal’ on Canadian stages, which we both know needs to happen.”

Diwali in B.C. came on as Happy Place’s third presenter around the time the cast came together. Some of the actors credit Surette as their motivation for signing on, while others were already fans of the play itself. Cavendish is the only one who said no, initially.

“When I first read it, I didn’t want to do it, primarily because the material is tough and the writing on the page is secretive—until you get into the depth of it that Roy Surette and the cast have helped to open up,” Cavendish explains. “It’s quite a different game now.” Cavendish’s character, Mildred, is older than the others and “she’s got a mouth on her.” She’s also deeply traumatized, and it’s this subject, the painfulness of it, that Cavendish resisted at first. Happy Place, she says, requires her and her castmates to delve into unknown reserves, dig deep, and pull up whatever is there.

“It’s such an esoteric and inarticulable thing,” she says. “It’s not a very healthy play to be in. Literally, it’s not, if you commit entirely—and acting is not about pretending, acting is about real response to real impulse. I don’t like being in it, but I’m so proud to be in it. It’s so vitally important that this voice come out into the public. I’m thrilled that my stupidity has had an about-face, and I’m honoured to be in it.”

Negotiating the play’s themes has been difficult for everybody involved. Many of the actors have worked together before, but they are now bonded as a group. Throughout the interview, they offer each other subtle gestures of comfort, strength, and solidarity: leaning into each other, squeezing each other’s hands, smiling understanding, touching a knee gently when one tears up.

Donna Yamamoto, who plays Louise, the counsellor, has been acting for decades, and is also a director and theatre producer. She didn’t expect Happy Place to affect her the way it has.

“Because these women are such incredible actors and bringing these truths out, I find it hard to go home sometimes,” Yamamoto says. “I think about this stuff when I go home, and I didn’t think I would do that. But there’s been some nights where I—I actually was at Superstore on Thanksgiving and I was just going over my lines, I had some quiet time before going over to my brother’s, and I just started crying. I was very surprised.”

Sadiq’s character, Nina, is “a woman who has craved and yearned for connection all her life, and has never really had it”.

Sadiq mentions that in Happy Place’s acknowledgments, Sinha talks about the value of her family. “She says, ‘Your love propels me forward,’ ” Sadiq says, choking up. “I’m sorry, that just really gets me. There’s something about that, about love propelling you forward, that resonates in this play, that really gets me on a human level.”

“The thing that struck me first about this play is the incredible amount of humanity she [Pamela] brings to all of these characters,” says Brown, whose character, Joyce, is a woman deeply in denial about her problems. “She’s putting a really human, nuanced face to mental illness.”

Human is a word that comes up again to describe the power of Sinha’s writing, and it echoes with the cast’s youngest members as well. Sereana Malani and Adele Noronha play Celine and Samira, respectively. Malani’s character has been triggered by trauma that her four-year-old son has gone through.

“It’s been interesting finding the similarities and the parallels [to Celine],” Malani says. “She has huge resistance to a lot of the counselling and a lot of the work, a lot of digging that is required of her to move forward, to heal, and I can really relate to that.”

Noronha’s Samira is essentially an extension of the primary character in Crash, inspired by Sinha herself. Noronha recalls how years ago someone told her that one day she should aim to be able to do Crash.

“I remember going to it when it came to the Gateway and going, ‘Holy crap, no,’ ” she says with a laugh. “I mean, it’s an astounding play, but it’s so raw and so big.”

Since then, Noronha and Sinha have talked occasionally by phone sharing their experiences of playing some of the same characters. Then Happy Place came along.

“You never know what someone’s going through, and you don’t know what they have to keep going with,” Noronha says.

Wheeler, who plays the wealthy, troubled Rosemary, also responds to the script’s empathy for its characters.

“The brilliance of what Pamela has done in this

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Happy Place.