Brush Up on Your Enology

Going to Club 50 this Friday is not going to help disabuse you of the idea that Italy is filled with wealthy nobility and huge estates. That’s because the guest speaker at the Viceroy Wine Series is none other than Sandro Chia, renowned painter and owner of Castello Romitorio Winery...

By P. Scott Cunningham

June 25, 2009

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Going to Club 50 this Friday is not going to help disabuse you of the idea that Italy is filled with wealthy nobility and huge estates. That’s because the guest speaker at the Viceroy Wine Series is none other than Sandro Chia, renowned painter and owner of Castello Romitorio Winery in Montalcino, Tuscany, home to some of the world’s best Sangiovese Grosso Brunello grapes. Yes, his 12th-century castle lies on a hillside overlooking a picturesque medieval village. And yes, the surrounding 187 hectares of gorgeous vineyards belong to his family. And yes, like some demon figure sprung from your American jealousy, Chia indeed spends all day painting and making great wine.

But if you can suspend your envy for two hours, from 5 to 7 p.m., Chia will personally introduce you to his superior vintages. You’ll also get to purchase bottles at special sale prices and pluck juicy tidbits of wine knowledge straight from Chia’s brain. And somehow the Viceroy has made this event entirely free with a reservation in advance. “I make wine with the same passion with which I paint — it is devotion, a sacrifice, that ultimately brings the greatest reward,” Chia says. OK, now you’re just rubbing it in, buddy.
Fri., June 26, 5 p.m., 2009

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