…Giovanni Arcari.
Above: Giovanni Arcari, the Bruce Springsteen of Italian sparkling wine. This man is crazy and I thank goodness for him.
We first met in September of 2008, when he, Franco, and I visited Ca’ del Bosco together, where we tasted 1979 Franciacorta by Ca’ del Bosco (owner of Ca’ del Bosco, Maurizio Zanella, was just elected president of the Franciacorta consortium, btw).
We connected again at Vinitaly, where we got thrown out of the fair for hanging around his booth after hours, drinking Franciacorta and eating salame.
Above: In March, Giovanni led a tasting of artisanal “grower-producer” Franciacorta bottlings at Ceri Smith’s excellent wine shop in San Francisco, Biondivino.
The last time I saw him, he still hadn’t launched his new blog, Terra, Uomo, Cielo (Earth, Man, Sky), “a small man, on a small plot of land, under a small sky.” The blog is now live and so I felt it time to share my vision of the future with you: Giovanni has spearheaded an innovative winemaking program and agenda in Franciacorta, consulting with grape-growers who previously sold their fruit to the large commercial producers of Franciacorta. In doing so, he has helped to create a new genre of grower-producers who make excellent hand-crafted, artisanal expressions of Franciacorta.
Above: Ceri Smith (left) with Giovanni at their March tasting in San Francisco. One of the things I like the most about Giovanni is that he doesn’t just help the growers to make great wines. He also helps them to market the wines. There’s no point in writing a song that no one will ever hear and while there are plenty of reasons to make wines that will never make their way to the market, Giovanni’s wines are too good not to share with the world.
That day in Verona, we tasted a number of bottlings by Andrea Arici’s Colline della Stella and the Dario and Claudio Camossi’s Camossi di Camossi, each tasting better than the last. When sampling these terroir-driven wines, you cannot help but be impressed by their freshness and their structure. The secret, Giovanni will tell you, lies in when the wine is disgorged.
Chapeau bas, Giovanni!
The wines are not currently available in the U.S. but you can find them at Vittorio Fusari’s excellent restaurant and food and wine shop, Dispensa Pani e Vini in Torbiato di Adro in the province of Brescia (Lombardy). Even if you don’t read Italian, check out the photos is this review of legendary chef Vittorio’s new enterprise.
Do Bianchi 
Damn, that E-Street band were some cool cats. That ’75 Hammersmith concert is great, though I thought you might have gone for “Spirit In The Night”, which contains perhaps the only reference to wine in Springsteen’s entire oeuvre:
“Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake
It’s about a mile down on the dark side of route eighty-eight
I got a bottle of rosé so let’s try it…”
Great, informative post. Thanks.
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Grazie di cuore pazzo amico mio!Bruce…
Jeremy, too many compliments for our friend Giovanni! “The Bruce Springsteen of Italian sparkling wine” is a fantastic definition…
so when are we going to franciacorta, 2b? :X
A luglio, aspetto tu e Tracie in Franciacorta! Vi metto a disposizione una vespa. Franco salirà sulla mia…
Some may not remember John Landau’s now legendary review of Bruce in 74: “I have seen rock ‘n’ roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” I hope that I am such a visionary! ;-)
Giovanni’s wines are fantastic: thanks again Franco for turning me on to them and thanks again Giovanni for sharing them…
VinoNYC (JT), my favorite is still Greetings… Go cart Mozart was checking out the weather chart, seeing if it’s safe to go outside… 100% genius…
Vinogirl: check out the wines if you get a chance…
Tracie B., are you busy, say, next February? ;-)
2B, i seem to have some sort of engagement…;)
is this a wedding announcement? :)
I love the way he believes in producing wine ….he is the most obstinate and tought man I ‘ve never met in the wine world , sometime he can be a very “rompi palle ” but absolutely a funny guy.
I believe Landau spells his name J-O-N. I know this because on the first pressing of “Born To Run” Columbia Records misspelled his name on the back sleeve (they had to cover the mistake with a sticker). I’ve always preferred “The Wild, The Innocent…” to “Greetings…”: “Sparks fly on E Street when the boy prophets walk it handsome and hot…”