I’m heading back to la belle France Tuesday with mixed emotions. As special as our little Alpine valley may be — can’t wait for those fall colors! — I’m going to be missing out on some great events in Houston over the next several weeks, including a 50-year reunion of the WHA Aeros and a gathering of Luv ya Blue Oilers to celebrate the completion of a documentary about Bum Phillips. I covered both teams for the Houston Post and they remain very dear to my heart. I’ll also be missing out on several wine tastings and winemaker visits.
But, hey, First-World problems, right?
Fortuitously, however, I was still here when Federica Rosy Boffa Pio paid H-Town a visit last week. Her story is remarkable, as of course are the family’s iconic Pio Cesare wines. It’s Federica’s show to run now — never mind that she’s only 25. And she was only 23 when she had to take over for her father, the larger-than-life Langhe legend Pio Boffa, who tragically died way before his time from COVID-19 complications in April of 2021.
She and her cousin, Cesare Benvenuto, who has been involved in the business since 2000, are fifth-generation proprietors. Poised and knowledgeable far beyond her years, Federica speaks proudly of the Pio Cesare team, adding “that’s why it wasn’t so hard” to step into her new role. Benvenuto may have two decades of experience, but he’s practically a new kid on the block compared to Paolo Fenocchio, who has been the enologist and head winemaker since the 1981 harvest.
Breaking news: The tasting tour that I’m leading through Italy’s Piemonte and Lombardy regions next spring (go to http://gourmettours.biz for the dates, itinerary and price) will now include a stop at Pio Cesare. Founded in 1881 by Cesare Pio, it’s the only one located in Alba proper and, hence, it’s the only one that can display the city’s crest on bottle labels as well as being the only a scant grandfathered-in few to produce Barolo outside the legal geographic confines of the DOCG.
The first time I visited Alba — in 1990 while covering the World Cup — I’d already concluded Barolo would forever be a go-to wine for me and Pio Cesare’s Classico was the finest I’d yet tasted. I wanted to go to the winery but, driving in circles, I was never able to find it. There’s no showy presence and the cellars, soon to undergo a significant expansion, are below ground, as all good cellars should be.
Better late than never, I will finally be paying a visit at Federica’s behest in October, getting a chance to taste some of Pio Cesare’s less widely distributed wines, including the beautiful, barrel-aged Fides Barbera d’Alba from the Mosconi Vineyard near Monforte d’Alba. (Pio Cesare also makes a single-vineyard Barolo from grapes grown on that prime piece of real estate.) Note that Fides means “faith” in the Piemontese dialect. The family has always highly valued its barbera wines and Federica promises it always will, which was music to my ears.
These days, producers in the Langhe these days are all too often inclined to pull out barbera and dolcetto vines to plant nebbiolo in order to make far more expensive wines. But, so many of those plots were time-tested for barbera and dolcetto and just don’t work as well for the higher-maintenance nebbiolo.
Federico is also putting her own stamp on Pio Cesare, having immersed herself in bringing a timorasso to the market in the near future. The once-obscure and almost extinct white grape from the Colli Tortonesi neighborhood in the province of Alessandria is trending big-time and she astutely embraced catching the wave.
Losing her father was traumatic when it happened, but the only way to honor his memory was to stay strong and attempt to fill his giant shoes. Like him, Federica enjoys traveling the world to promote the Pio Cesare brand, and she is already an old pro at handling the media attention she’s receiving.
“It is a great honor and I hope my father would be proud,” she told another writer last year. “At the very least, I know he would be happy that I am putting in 100 per cent of my passion, love, care and commitment every day.”
Oh, he’d be plenty proud, Federica.
The Sports Page
Raising a glass to . . . Coco Gauff
Just just 15 in the summer of 2019, Gauff defeated her idol, Venus Williams, and became the youngest woman to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991. Less than three years later, she reached the final of the French Open. But Gauff succumbed to the pressure of great expectations both times. In New York Saturday, however, she closed the deal, winning what should, or at least, could be the first of many U.S. Open titles. American tennis badly needs her to stay on form going forward. Ben Shelton, too. He was a surprise Open semifinalist this year. As you know, no American man has claimed a major championship since Andy Roddick in 2003.
H-town happenings
Tastings Every Saturday at French Country Wines: Noon-5 p.m. Free. http://frenchcountrywines.com
Tastings Every Wednesday at Montrose Cheese & Wine: 5-7 p.m. Free. http://montrosecheeseandwine.com
Tastings Every Thursday at Cueva in the Marriott Marquis Houston: 6:30-7:30 p.m. $40 http://eventbrite.com
Symposium Saturdays: 4-5 p.m. at Stella’s Wine Bar in the Post Oak Hotel. $75. http://eventbrite.com
Three Winemakers, Six-Course Wine Dinner: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, at Roma. $99. 713 664-7581.
Wine Tasting Event: 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, at The Classy Cork Wine Room. $65. 832-534-1900 or contact@theclassycork.com
Brunello, the Ultimate Sangiovese Tasting with Jeremy Parzen: 6:30-8:30p.m. Tuesday, Sept 19. http://eventbrite.com http://vinellowines.com
Chris Carpenter Wine Dinner: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, at Mastro’s Ocean Club in The Woodlands. $375 plus tax and gratuity. http://eventbrite.com
Paso Wine Is Headed to Houston: 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, at the Majestic Metro. $65. https://pasowine.com/consumer_events/tasting-tour-houston/
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Jeremy Parzen (http://dobianchi.com)
My Podcast partner in crime writes: “On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was heading to the Atlantic Avenue stop to catch the 2 train that would take me to the Fernet Branca space. Before I left my apartment, I called one of my colleagues to confirm a 9 a.m. meeting. He screamed at me: “Are you fucking crazy? Turn on the TV!” And then he hung up. I went upstairs to my landlord’s apartment and we watched — in absolute disbelief and absolute horror — as the second tower was struck by the plane. Had I not called my colleague, I would have been traveling underneath the World Trade Center right around the time that the second plane hit . . . “
Sandra Crittenden (http://winelifehouston.com)
Sandra writes: “Like so many of the great wine regions of the world, a river runs through France’s Rhone Valley. The Rhone River shapes the landscape and lends its character to the wines grown there. Viticulture arrived with the Greeks in the Fourth Century BC, but flourished during the Roman Empire . . . ”
Russ Kane (http://vintagetexas.com)
The Texas Wineslinger writes: “
“We’ve had a phenomenal response to my first Level 2 Advanced Specialist of Texas Wine Course offering and held live via Zoom this past April. Level 1 STW graduates came calling. This first advanced Level 2 class was sold out in less than a month . . .”
Jeff Kralick (http://thedrunkencyclist.com)
The DC writes: “Over the course of a week, I taste a bunch of wine, usually with friends, and almost always with my wife. Here are some of the wines we tasted over the past few weeks. These are wines that were not sent as samples—in most cases, I actually paid for these wines (although a few have been given as gifts) . . .”
Katrina Rene (http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com)
Kat writes: “Looking to broaden your white wine horizons? Why not do it for National White Wine Day? Yes, it’s anther “XXX” day, but I do find the wine days are fun ways to explore things I don’t necessarily think about. It’s funny, because when I first started drinking wine, you were hard pressed to get me to drink much white wine. I was all about Pinot Noir and then eventually bolder red wines. You know, after I got past my 5-gallon box of White Zinfandel phase. Hey, we all have to start somewhere! And it was that way for a while. But over the years, things began to shift.”
The Sporty Wine Guy 