Restaurants in Verona: Antica Bottega dei Vini and the "Valpolicella Ripassso episode"

We recently had a meal at the Antica Bottega dei Vini in Verona, set up as a restaurant, and wine and food shop in Verona’s centre. You can also find a Bottega del Vino in New York, remarkably similar in its style, though I’ve never eaten there, so that’s extent of my comments on the New York arm of the business.

I had previously eaten at the Bottega dei Vini in Verona a few years ago and as the experience was positive, I was keen to go back. I also wanted a slightly up-market restaurant as we had guests with us and it seemed the place we could impress a little while enjoying a good meal.

To say the visit was disappointing would be an exaggeration. We had a good meal, managed to navigate our way around the enormous wine list (more and less) and paid what we had expected for four people.

There were a couple of downfalls, though: our guests didn’t know much about Italian wine so ordering something “from the region” and then attempting to explain they were all native grapes, and not cabernet sauvignon, merlot or chardonnay was not easy.

We had a Valpolicella Ripasso as I was caught between choosing a classic wine (say a Bardolino Superiore) and something more geared toward new world, international tastes. The explanation got very long winded though, when I had to start at grape varieties, moving through what Amarone is, and then to Ripasso. Our guests, rightly so perhaps, had already lost interest.

I also made the error of not requesting advice from the wine waiter or sommelier, so we could have had something perhaps more adequate and exciting. In addition, I’ve decided any attempts to budget in a place like the Bottega Dei Vini is best left at the door. We spent 30 euros on the wine as it was, and it was one of the cheapest on the menu.

The major disappointment was that despite my intrepid navigating through the enormous wine list, the restaurant then didn’t even have the one I ordered. And so the head waiter or wine waiter said, “I don’t have that one, will this do?” and promptly plonked a different bottle on the table. He was not overly friendly towards my request of the vintage (two years younger than the previous bottle requested), and not knowing what to do, I accepted it.

The wine was okay, and I have no way of knowing whether the first bottle I had ordered was any better, but it’s a lesson in stock for the restaurant. There’s no point in having hundreds of labels on the list if then they’re not subsequently available. And a more elegant way of suggesting a second bottle would certainly have been appreciated.

The big problem came down to comparing the meal we had there at 236 euros, compared to the 100 euros for four people we spent at “Il cielo di Biancaneve” the night before: great food, friendly service, and a wine we liked better (still a Ripasso) at only 20 euros. Thoroughly recommended.

For more information (in Italian) on Valpolicella Ripasso, also known as "Baby Amarone" or "Super Valpolicella" see "Berevino" and "Tigulliovino".

Pomerol Trotanoy 1982: a wine as old as me

Or should I say as young as me...? Thanks to a former colleague, yesterday I had the great privilege of drinking a bottle of 1982 Trotanoy in La Brisa restaurant in Milan.

We did a little BYO in Australian style (though I can't mention this to said colleague as nothing from the new world will ever be adopted in the old!) though on a grander scale and strolled the streets of Milan with our precious bottled wrapped in alluminium foil on our way to the restaurant.

The food and service at La Brisa is very good; genteel but not stuck up, with that "relaxed but tablecloth" air of restaurants that can keep up appearances without being too pretentious.

As for the wine, I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed. I was expecting Trotanoy, being mostly produced from merlot grapes, to be very soft and easily drinkable. Instead it still had excellent back bone acidity and some tannin, that proves its ageing potential is by no means over. The bouquet was nothing bombastic: quite closed and delicate, with some dried flower notes and earthy overtones.

It was the "stoffa" as we would say in Italian, that really impressed. "Stoffa" is like fabric or stuffing, and the Trotanoy 1982 has good body and structure that will last it well. Leaving it in the glass a while, it becomes softer and changes slightly, warming to a more open bouquet.

Not bad at all for a wine dating 27 years and making me feel like I have plenty ahead of me, proving that 1982 is a vintage to be reckoned with ;-)

Italy's restaurant industry in crisis: waiters abandon the profession

The weekend edition of Milan’s newspaper Corriere della Sera, had a great piece on the crisis in Italy’s restaurant industry. The feature article examined the fact that the profession of the waiter is in serious decline.

The article revealed that old-style service and waiters can now only be found in upper-class restaurants as people, especially young people, abandon the profession. And I should imagine the same goes for being a sommelier.

The reasons behind the move away from the service industry as a full time job include the low pay, most of which is also what Italians call “black money”, meaning you’re not on the books. Statistics show that nearly 36 percent of people working in this industry are in unregulated work circumstances, meaning while many taxes go unpaid, wait staff are unlikely to receive the minimum 1,000 euros a month for 40 hours a week work, as stipulated by law.

Italy’s institute for hoteliers reveals that in hospitality schools, 70 percent of students are choosing the kitchen, rather than the dining room, as their choice of profession; meaning that chefs have a boost in image, while waiters struggle to increase their ranks with professionals dedicated to a career.

Upper class establishments, including luxury hotels, are becoming the last bastion for professional waiters in Italy. The owner of Harry’s Bar in Venice, Arrigo Cipriani says: “Waiters providing service take away 35 percent of earnings. The cost of personnel on the whole is 53 percent, compared to 29-31 in England.”

Admittedly, Harry’s Bar has a total of 78 employees, 23 of which are waiters dedicated to service only. It’s a big establishment, but as revealed by other restauranteurs and hoteliers, it’s difficult to find professional staff.

For me this is not a problem restricted to Italy. I worked some dodgy waitressing jobs in Sydney and none of the owners paid taxes on their staff, and none of the establishments paid award wages. In Australia, as in other countries, it’s considered the part time job for students, which is why many restaurants have appalling service and extremely high staff turnover.

Even students though, are shunning the profession, as reported by a café in Sydney a while ago who couldn’t even get a backpacker to do the day shift at $20 an hour; I used to waitress at half that.

Apart from limited social time and skipped weekends, the waiters’ profession can be rewarding if you have the right training and work in the right place. I think you have to love the grind of it, though, and you should always come away from your shift with at least one gratifying episode.

As shown in the Corriere article, being a waiter is now reserved for really top notch Italian restaurants. The profile on Umberto Giraudo, head waiter at Rome’s three Michelin star restaurant, La Pergola, reinforces this. La Pergola is the Rome Hilton’s restaurant and Giraudo has had the opportunity to learn different languages and travel the world with his profession. He now works with internationally renowned chef Heinz Beck, and has served some of Italy’s VIPs, once receiving 1000 euros as his biggest tip.

But I think at this level we’re talking complete devotion, not just dedication, to the art of being a waiter. And who wants to skip their Saturday night for low pay to cop a rude customer and a boss who’ll work you into the ground?