"Where are the vineyards?" jibed one friend, "at the end of the runways?"
"So," quipped another, "are the grapes crushed by the toes of Eagles cheerleaders?"
The good-natured Razzi laughs at the zingers ("I know I have an uphill battle," he says with a shrug as Italian as his rich accent). But the Abruzzi-born Razzi, 64, a well-known wine importer and a maker of highly rated wines in Italy, knows what he's doing around grapes. His "Symposium," a profoundly good montepulciano d'Abruzzo, has won 90 points or better from the Wine Spectator ever since the first vintage (1997) was issued.
And as he led me past the state-of-the-art winery equipment that fills the unmarked stucco building across Saville Avenue from his importing business, Viva Vino, it quickly became clear that Penns Woods wines are no joke. When we entered the tasting room, I saw his wines posed for a test-sip against two of France's most famous bottles.
"When you want to do something good, you can do it anywhere if you have the passion, dedication and knowledge," Razzi said.
He then proceeded to pour his 2005 Ameritage, a $55 Bordeaux-style red blend, against a Bordeaux legend, a 1998 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild that runs $253 in Pennsylvania. We sipped his 2005 Chardonnay Reserve ($33.50) against a 2003 Corton-Charlemagne from Laboure-Roi (about $100), one of Burgundy's most storied whites.
Remarkably, the Penns Woods wines held their own quite well - even if they did not have quite the resonance or complexity of those French classics. The Ameritage, mostly cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot (with a splash of nebbiolo), was plush with licorice, cassis and cedar, riper and more balanced than almost any other local red I've tasted. The chardonnay was touched with butterscotch and zesty tangerine, but also braced with a long and flinty, mineral finish. Other Penns Woods wines, such as the lively sauvignon blanc and rich gold pinot grigio, were also impressive.
