Above: Pecorino aging in the cellars of the Caseificio di Mario in Pienza, a stone’s throw from Montalcino, Tuscany.
Yesterday’s post on the differences in tasting Italian wines on either side of the Atlantic (“Is restrained sulfur the reason why Italian wines are easier on the body when consumed in Italy?”) elicited a tide of insightful comments where readers shared their experiences.
On the Facebook, the indomitable Silvana Biasutti, artist and mother to two of Montalcino’s most famous winemakers, wrote this (translation mine, although Silvana is fluently bilingual and literary):
- When I’m in Italy, in Tuscany, I go to the store to pick out an excellent Pecorino. Years ago, when I was still living in Milan, I would go to Tuscany and eat that Pecorino. It was so good that I would take a big piece of it back to Milan with me. Unfortunately, in Milan, it would lose a lot of its extraordinary flavor.
- When a food and wine are genuinely (and not just rhetorically) an expression of a land (of terroir), they lose something when they leave their natural environment. And they are always better when consumed with people from that place. Landscape, people, language, air, aromas, sounds — they are all part of a flavor. This isn’t just an impression of mine. It’s the way it is.
Truer words have never been uttered so eloquently.
Her notes were echoed by another keen observer of terroir, my wonderful friend and hero of the medical profession, Andy Pasternak, who wrote:
- So many variables contribute to this and you mentioned some of the main ones. I know it’s an old trope, but “if it grows together, it goes together” definitely holds true more in Italy. Another consideration that I’ve been thinking about is eating/drinking outside versus indoors and just some of the other aromas you get that interact with your food and wine. For example, the same white wine is likely going to taste different if I’m eating crudo outdoors on the coast of the Adriatic versus drinking it at a restaurant in a casino in Las Vegas.
Check out the thread and more comments here. And thanks to everyone who commented. It’s a reminder that our love and passion for great gastronomy continues to bring our vibrant community together.