Raise a glass to simplicity
Far off in the Italian countryside lies Julius Angelini’s “labor of love.” It’s the same place the New London native once called home— 200 acres of land in San Lorenzo, in the Marche region of Italy, where he and his brother Paul returned years ago to launch a vineyard. The farm now includes eight acres of grapes in three varietals, Sangiovese, Merlot and an old, rare specimen called Pergola Rosso.
The Angelinis, former engineers, and their friend, Ron Plebiscito, launched an import/wholesale company in 1986. Along with their own wines, the Centerbrookbased Angelini Wine, Ltd., sells several other hand-selected Italian wines to more than a dozen states.
Given his background, there’s some comfort in Angelini’s philosophy on wine.
“Wine is very simple in its essence: the less grapes (on the vine), the better the wine,” he says.
And better wine, to Angelini, is authentic wine, the type crafted by Italy’s smaller wineries, where processing is limited and additives are a no-no. Customers won’t find what Angelini dubs “fruit bombs” (overly fruit-forward wines with little acidity) or “termite cocktails” (wines with too much wood added) on the Angelini roster.
“Years ago, one of the wine-makers that we deal with told me, ‘The wine is really made in the fields. If a guy goes on and on about what he’s doing in the wine cellar, run away from that guy,’” Angelini explains.
Ever aware of the growing locavore movement and frustrated by a glut of misleading information online, one of Angelini’s top priorities is conveying his company’s standards to customers. He’s planning social media campaigns, including a blog, as well as tastings in an effort to educate the public about what makes a good wine.
“There’s a lot of people who say they do quality stuff, but when you actually drill down ... it’s this big huge conglomerate that’s making it,” he adds. “So what we’re trying to do differently is we really try to work with a lot of smaller to mid-size wineries so we know (the local vintners), and we go into those wineries and we look at what they’re doing.”
What’s more, he encourages winedrinkers to trust their palates and dismiss the hype (and price) when evaluating a wine’s quality; if you like it, look it up.
“You, as a consumer, you have to kind of make a mental note when you see a wine you like ... people are intimidated by wines, but wine is very simple. Just like when you go out, if you have a really good steak, you know it? You don’t have to be a gourmet guy to know it’s a good steak. Same thing with wines.
“If you put five wines out (and people taste them all), people will gravitate to the better wine, there’s no doubt; no matter what level of knowledge that you have, you will gravitate to the better wine.”
While the process of wine-making could fill volumes, we asked Angelini five questions about his industry. The take-home lesson, though, is quality trumps any sales pitch.
“The key with everything that we look for is, is it a good representation of the grape, number 1, and is it a good value?” Angelini notes. “Not every wine has to be great, but if you’re drinking one of our wines, and it cost you $10, it should taste like a $15 bottle of wine.”
“In essence, we’re a wholesaler/importer. We’re a wholesaler in Connecticut, which means we have a sales staff (about seven full-time and two part-time people), so we go to liquor stores and restaurants and sell wine the traditional way.
“And then, since we’re the sole importers of most of our products for the United States, we sell to other wholesalers in other states.
“We (also) started the winery in Italy. So we have a very small winery, it’s about eight (planted) acres. We planted one of them in 1999, and one of them in 2001.” the wine-drinkers they think they are, they’re really pushing us to be a more honest and transparent (business).”
“If you have a wine, open it and taste it the next day. A lot of wines are dead the next day, and they should not be dead. They’re not going to be as good as they were the day before, but they still should have (structure).”
As an example, Angelini points to Chardonnays in France that are 10 to 15 years old and taste fresh, because they are well-balanced, with high acidity.
“It’s a bizarre varietal. They just classified it; I think in 2004 we got a DOC (Denominazione di origine controllata or “Controlled designation of origin”) classification. There’s only seven of us who make it. ... They think it’s related to grenache and some of these other very floral grapes. But for whatever reason, in our area, it almost seems like they put drops of perfume in it, it’s that strong. It doesn’t taste like that, but that’s what comes out. You’re getting a lot of rose petals, lavender, basil, spices. It’s a bizarre thing.”
“I don’t think it’s going to affect sales too much, quite honestly; I think though in this day and age, as a convenience, I think people should be open on Sundays. And if it means that you have to do more work, I think this is just part of being in business these days. ... I don’t think it’s going to rock the world either way.”
“It’s more of a mood and a season thing,” Angelini says, but lately he says Prosecco and some roses top the list. Another standout is Vigneti Zanatta’s Vermentino di Gallura, a white wine produced in Sardinia described as “bright lemon yellow with green reflections.” www.angeliniwine.com