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+--- Thread: Anyone heard of Remondolo? (/thread-7983.html)
- Garbo - 06-15-2000
We had a wonderful dessert wine in a restaurant in Venice, Italy several weeks ago. The waiter told us it was a "Remondolo" (not sure of the spelling). We weren't able to find it anywhere again, even in wine shops in Venice or elsewhere in Italy. Has anybody ever heard of it? Was he pulling our legs, or is our Italian just so atrocious that nobody could understand us? It was delicious, sort of light amber-colored...served with biscotti for dipping, but better than any "vin santo" we ordered the rest of the trip...
- Drew - 06-15-2000
Ramondolo is a region of Italy and the desert wine you have was made from that region. I found a german website translated from german and I have included the link below. Cut and paste and you will see the AltaVista page, click on the "translate" button and you will be taken to the site translated into English. Hope this helps. http://jump.altavista.com/trans.go?urltext=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eaustro%2dmedia%2eat%2fcolliorient%2ehtml&language=de
Drew
- Iggywine - 06-22-2000
Ramandolo, as far as I remember, is NOT a region.. but it is a wine! Vinifera Imports, based in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, New York, imports at least one bottling of this wine. It is very sweet, and very "Vin-Santo-ish" as well.... I'm just too far removed from Vinifera to remember the name of the producer, but it MIGHT have been Valentini...
- Garbo - 06-26-2000
Many thanks for these leads...I will investigate further and when I arrive at the answer I will post the results...
I think I may have found a source here in LA.
- Garbo - 06-30-2000
Thanks to Drew and Iggywine I can now give a fuller report on the elusive "Ramandolo". The following comes courtesy of Roger Rogness, proprietor of Wine Expo in Santa Monica, California and an afficionado of/expert on Italian wine:
1. The full name is Verduzzo di Ramandolo, Verduzzo being the grape and Ramandolo being the region, a very small area in the northeast, within the Colli Orientale Del Friuli.
2. The Verduzzo grape was originally cultivated in the area by the Romans, but through the years it gradually was eradicated in favor of Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, etc.
3. There are only three producers who are making this wine. Gravner, Dru, and Cialla. They are rather passionate about the grape and believe those "other" grapes to be, well, less than desirable.
4. Mr. Cialla, whose version of the wine is called Verduzzo di Cialla rather than di Ramandolo, is the one who brought the grape back into the region. (Full label reads Ronchi di Chialla Verduzzo di Cialla.) In the 1960s he literally crawled under barbed wire to cross the border into Slovenia and bring back root stock.
5. In response to queries, it is a delicious dessert wine, sweet but yet retaining the fruity nature of the grape rather than merely being sugary. I wish I could be more specific but I'm a newbie and I haven't yet opened my new bottles and my memory of the only glass I've had is a little fuzzy.
6. Wine Expo has quantities of the Verduzzo di Cialla (750 ml)in both 1983 ($39.99) and 1992 ($29.99) vintages. According to Rogness, the prices are about half of what the true value is, owing to a distributor who didn't quite know how to market the somewhat unheard-of wine. Also according to Rogness, the younger one still has enough acidity to serve with smoked salmon or foie gras. When we had the wine in Italy we had it as a dessert wine, served with biscotti for dipping. Both vintages should keep for another 15 yrs.
For those in the area who haven't been, the Expo is friendly and Rogness is a hoot. He has a great newsletter and also a "hot tips" e-mail list you can join so you may be alerted to new wines that are available only in limited quantities. No website, unfortunately, but you can call toll free at 1-800-WINE EXPO or e-mail at WineExpo@earthlink.net.
No, I do not work there or get kickbacks, just getting out the word about a good shoppe. So good luck. I'll let you know when I pop a cork on my new Verduzzo...
- Thomas - 07-01-2000
Garbo,
I know for a fact that Marco Felluga, Collio (in Friuli Venezia Giulia) also produces a Verduzzo--quite a nice dessert wine, great backbone. Do not, however, know where he grows the grapes.